Hairy Who

Jim Nutt is born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Karl Wirsum is born in Chicago.

Gladys Nilsson is born in Chicago.

Karl Wirsum attends Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as a child.

Gladys Nilsson receives a scholarship to attend junior school classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jim Nutt attends high school in St. Louis.

Gladys Nilsson attends Lake View High School in Chicago, where she minors in art.

Jim Nutt briefly attends college at the University of Kansas, then the University of Pennsylvania, then Washington University in St. Louis. He eventually settles on the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he meets his future wife, Gladys Nilsson.

Karl Wirsum is awarded a full ride to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt meet at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), which they both attend.

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt get married.

Karl Wirsum earns his BFA from SAIC.

Roy De Forest often hangs out at Adeliza McHugh’s Candy Store Gallery, where Nut artists and Hairy Who artists gather.

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt begin teaching children’s classes at Hyde Park Art Center.

Five recent SAIC graduates including Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum coin the term Hairy Who while working on a title for their group exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center. The name is in reference to Chicago radio station WFMT’s art critic Harry Bouras.

Jim Nutt earns his BFA from SAIC.

Don Baum recommends that Karl Wirsum be included in the exhibition Jim Nutt has proposed for the Hyde Park Art Center.

The first Hairy Who exhibition opens at the Hyde Park Art Center and includes work from Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum.

The Hairy Who group, including Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum, have their second exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Jim Nutt is offered an assistant professor of art job at Sacramento State College (now California State University, Sacramento). Gladys Nilsson and Nutt agree to move to California for two years.

Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the exhibition Now! Hairy Who Makes You Smell Good at the Hyde Park Art Center. It travels to the San Francisco Art Institute.

Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Don Baum Says: "Chicago Needs Famous Artists" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Gladys Nilsson has a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute's Clay Street Gallery.

Adeliza McHugh’s Candy Store Gallery (1962–92) in Folsom, California, becomes an important place for Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt to show and mingle with Funk artists like Roy De Forest.

Jim Nutt has solo exhibitions at the Candy Store Gallery.

Gladys Nilsson and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Surplus Slop from the Windy City at the San Francisco Art Institute. Wirsum creates a poster for the exhibition.

Jim Nutt is included in the group exhibition Three Famous Artists from Chicago at the Candy Store Gallery.

Stephen Kaltenbach teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where Jim Nutt and Karl Wirsum also teach.

Gladys Nilsson has a solo show at the Candy Store Gallery

Jim Nutt is included in the two-person exhibition Raid and the Shutterbug: Jim Nutt and Roger Vail

Karl Wirsum moves to the West to escape the Chicago Imagists’ newfound fame. During this time he teaches at Sacramento State College.

Karl Wirsum meets Roy De Forest in California and feels an “affinity” for his work.

Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Chicago Imagist Art at MCA Chicago.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Karl Wirsum teaches at SAIC. Aaron Curry cites Wirsum as an important figure for him.

Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt move back to Chicago.

Karl Wirsum has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago titled Hare Toddy Kong Tamari: Selected Objects by Karl Wirsum.

Gladys Nilsson has a solo show at the Candy Store Gallery.

Gladys Nilsson accepts a teaching position at SAIC.

Gladys Nilsson is incuded in the Hyde Park Art Center's 55th Anniversary Exhibition.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at MCA Chicago titled Jim Nutt: Portraits.

Aaron Curry attends SAIC and receives his BFA in 2002 alongside friend and classmate Sterling Ruby. Curry fondly remembers teachers Barbara Rossi and Karl Wirsum.

Jim Nutt has a solo exhibition at MCA Chicago titled Jim Nutt: Coming Into Character. It is accompanied by Seeing Is a Kind of Thinking: A Jim Nutt Companion, which included works by Nutt, Aaron Curry, Mike Kelley, Bruce Nauman, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum.

Aaron Curry, Gladys Nilsson, and Jim Nutt are included in the group exhibition Surrealism: The Conjured Life at MCA Chicago.

Aaron Curry organizes the group exhibition Press your space face close to mine, featuring Karl Wirsum, at The PIT in Los Angeles.

Roy De Forest, Gladys Nilsson, and Jim Nutt are included in the group exhibition The Candy Store at Parker Gallery in Los Angeles.

Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum are included in the group exhibition Hairy Who? 1966–1969 at the Art Institute of Chicago.