The 92nd Exhibition of Visual Artist Members
January 27–March 7, 2026
As I wandered through the expansive exhibition, which features more than eighty works of art, I found myself reacquainted with recent pieces by artists I have either worked with in the past or whose careers I’ve followed over the years.
Throughout the show, I became aware of the recurring theme of stitching and threadwork. The exhibition offers a number of fiber-based works, reflecting what seems to be a broader trend in the contemporary art world. For decades, fiber and textile arts were marginalized as craft. Today, that distinction continues to blur, as exhibitions increasingly highlight fiber as a conceptual and critical medium—recognizing the artistic relevance rather than dismissing it as merely decorative.
In a world saturated with digital imagery, curators seem drawn to artists whose handmade fiber-based processes highlight environmental issues—sustainability, consumerism, and their long-term impact on the planet.
One intriguing piece, to gather by Tanya Gill, brought to mind Kintsugi—a Japanese practice of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer mixed with powdered precious metal, intentionally highlighting the fracture. Rather than attempting to restore the object to its original state, kintsugi accepts the break as a part of the object’s life. It is believed that the object becomes more meaningful—highlighting modesty and impermanence—in its new state.
But Gill offers a new twist on this idea. Using a found vessel and thread, Gill reconstructs a shattered vase by meticulously reassembling its broken segments with a web of carefully intertwined fibers. On her website, Gill explains the conceptual origin of the work. A stroke survivor, she describes the firsthand experience of her brain repairing itself—highlighting that her traumatic experience is not unique, but part of the collective story. She says, “We all experience traumatic events that change our course, demanding that we remake ourselves.”
Vanessa Filley, The Sunlight Dragged Me Here (detail), 2025, watercolor and colored pencil on paper with thread.
Another highlight of the exhibition is the geometrically precise The Sunlight Dragged Me Here, by Vanessa Filley. A watercolor and colored pencil work on paper, adorned with meticulous pinholes and stitched lines of thread, the piece exudes quiet refinement that invites the viewer into a meditative world of precision.
The 92nd Exhibition of Visual Artist Members features an impressive range of work. While attending the show, be sure to seek out pieces by Susan Aurinko, William Conger, Lisa Goesling, Katherine Lampert, Maggie Meiners, Sandro Miller, Eric Steele, and Serene Wise.
The exhibition continues through March 7th. The Arts Club is located at 201 East Ontario Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 11-6 and Saturday 11-3. The Arts Club is closed on Sunday and Monday. Learn more at www.artsclubchicago.org.
Vanessa Filley, The Sunlight Dragged Me Here (detail), 2025, watercolor and colored pencil on paper with thread.
TANYA HASTING GILL is a multimedia artist and educator whose work explores collapsing environments, adaptation, and restoration through object making, painting, drawing, video and fiber. Material investigation is central to her practice; she is invested in material properties, limitations and context. Gill constructively plays with material limits and combinations, drawing out new meanings. Her work shifts between the political, social and personal realms, endeavoring to visually articulate and reverberate feelings that we all share. Gill has been a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, as well as in residence at McDowell, Haystack Mountain School of Craft and The Ragdale Foundation. She received a BFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and earned a MFA in painting at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Gill calls Northern California, Northern India, and Chicago home. Currently she is nestled in Chicago, IL where she is a Community Artist in Residence at Hyde Park Art Center.
Since 1916, THE ARTS CLUB OF CHICAGO has been a preeminent exhibitor of international art, a forum for established and emerging artists, and a celebrated venue for performers from around the world. For over 100 years, The Arts Club has opened its membership to artists and patrons of the arts, and its exhibitions to the public. At its inaugural meeting, the mission of the Club was defined as: “to encourage higher standards of art, maintain galleries for that purpose, and to promote the mutual acquaintance of art lovers and art workers.” The mission of the Club has since grown and expanded, and is now:
To encourage, foster, promote, and sponsor activities and presentations which would aim to increase public interest in the arts and related activities;To expand the artistic horizons of a public interested in the arts and related activities, which will include lectures, lecture/demonstrations, symposia, gallery talks, films, music, and dance presentations, and related educational programs designed to further these purposes; To maintain a facility for the presentation of these activities and exhibitions; To acquire by gift or purchase, and maintain a permanent collection of fine art, and to present temporary exhibitions of the fine arts in a gallery open to the public.
The Arts Club continues to uphold this mission, offering between three and four public exhibitions per year, a permanent collection including work by many modern and contemporary masters, and a diverse calendar of programming offered to its membership and guests.
