Intimate Views: Watercolors Along the Chicago River

The Chicago River is an integral part of our city’s history, identity and vitality. This new exhibition presents the river as it is experienced in the everyday by local architects and artists who know it best.

Intimate Views features a series of watercolor paintings by the EveryOther Watercolor Group—a collective of architects and artists who meet every other Sunday to paint in different parts of the city. The group often gravitates to the Chicago River, captivated by the many personas it takes on across all three branches and various neighborhoods.

Of the many tools available to the artist or designer, watercolor sketching encourages one to look and quickly document the world as it is seen and felt in the moment. Such focused observation deepens our understanding of the world and adds to our shared literacy about natural and built environments. But Intimate Views offers something even more immediate: a sense of the city itself.

On display are over 80 watercolor paintings by 36 painters. They cover a wide array of subjects, ranging from nature and wildlife to industrial buildings, infrastructure and renowned architecture both new and old. Intimate Views is on view August 12 through October 18, 2022.

Curation 

Intimate Views: Watercolors Along the Chicago River is curated by Phil Enquist, with CAC Director of Exhibitions Eve Fineman and CAC Senior Curator Michael Wood.

Graphic Design is by Jeannine Colaco, Studio J9.

Artwork is courtesy of EveryOther Watercolor Group.