The Elmhurst Artists' Guild (EAG) invites the public to experience "Light As Language," a solo exhibition by Chicagoland fine art photographer, Louie Jones. This show is on view July 26 through August 23, 2026, at the EAG Gallery inside the Elmhurst Art Museum. The exhibition showcases Louie’s captivating light painting and long-exposure photography, exploring themes of introspection, transformation, memory, faith, and the human experience through the expressive power of light.

Come join us at the free Opening Reception on Friday, July 31, from 7 to 9 PM, where you can meet the artist, enjoy refreshments and experience the exhibition firsthand.

Louie, an Elmhurst Artists' Guild member, developed the Light As Language philosophy through years of dedicated studio practice, using light not simply to illuminate a subject but as a visual language capable of conveying emotion and meaning. This exhibition marks his first major solo show and features a cohesive collection of works created entirely in-camera using long-exposure techniques.

The Elmhurst Artists' Guild Gallery is located inside the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 S. Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information about the artist, visit www.louiejones.com.

*Above Image: The Damascus Road Experience, by Louie Jones*

Elmhurst Artists' Guild Gallery: Louie Jones - "Light As Language"

Meet ceramic artist and Gulf War veteran while he makes hundreds of cups in the museum for the fall exhibition Resisting the Long War: A Revolution of Values. Visitors can meet Ehren while he works  during the museum’s normal open hours. 

Ehren received his MFA from UC Berkeley in 2005, and has made and given away more than 27,000 ceramic cups. His work is heavily influenced by his time in the Marine Corps and the ways that military and civilian cultures collude and collide. 

Don’t miss a special 1-day workshop with Ehren on July 22! [Tickets available now!](https://shop.elmhurstartmuseum.org/collections/classes/products/hand-to-hand-a-workshop-with-ceramicist-ehren-tool-july-22-2026)

Ehren Tool at Work

The [Elmhurst Artists' Guild](https://www.elmhurstartistsguild.org/) presents their Summer Members' Show, with featured artist, Rebecca Russow, from June 28th through July 24th 2026.

__The Opening Reception will take place on Friday, July 17__

Rebecca Russow works in collage, encaustic, and clay.  Her deep connection to nature is reflected in the organic shapes, patterns, and textures that emerge in her work.  She's drawn to the challenge of combining diverse elements and finding harmony within complexity.

Rebecca explains, "While I often begin with a general idea, I rarely rely on sketches.  Instead, I let the process unfold intuitively; observing how materials interact and responding to what the piece needs.  I allow the work to guide me, letting it speak as it evolves.  Some of my pieces are explorations of form and material, while others carry more personal meaning.  My hope is to create work that invites viewers to linger, giving them space to connect, interpret, and discover something for themselves."

Participating artists:  Anthony Abboreno, Joe Abboreno, Dalia Alshurafa, Lauren Anhalt, Bernard Bahr, Sandy Bechtolsheim, Margherita Bernardi-Trahan, Peter Bialecki, Paul Callahan, Benjamin Calvert III, Jay Chuang, Susan Crady, David Cyl, Caroline Dorion, Judy Druschitz, John Duffy, Jane Erlandson, Brett Evangelista, Mijeong Field, Emily F Friel, Mohammad Gafoor, Teresa Gierwielaniec Rozanacki, Cherylyn Gnadt, Fletcher Hayes, Joan Heitmanek, Nancy Hlavacek, Randi Holt, Maya Lantsova, Kim Laurel, Karen Lecker, Charlene Lee-Freislinger, Lynn Mackenzie, Julie Mars, Jeane McGrail, Susan Nester, Dave Pryor, Janet Roller-Schmidt, Jennifer Starchvill, Nancy Staszak, Ted Strandt, Karen Sugay, Cassandra Swierenga, Maureen Swiertz, Anna Toberman, Alicia Urbanski, Debra Vaccaro, Ana Vitek, Marlene Vitek, Jennifer Wambach, Rosalie White, Shannon Yeh

Above image:  Holding What Remains by Rebecca Russow


Elmhurst Artists' Guild Gallery: Summer Members' Show

Elmhurst Art Museum hosts another lively creation by artist Elle Ziemianin as part of the Elmhurst Pride Collective's annual initiative in support of LGBTQ+ people of all ages and provide an opportunity to spotlight LGBTQ+ artists in [Paint The Town In Pride](https://www.elmhurstpridecollective.com/pride-26 "EPC website"). During June, the windows west of the main entrance to the Museum features Ziemianin's new outdoor painting titled "Gazing". The artist states, "I wanted to create a soft and welcoming environment, using a rounded style and LGBTQ+ motifs, that the community deserves to always have."

__About the Artist__

Elle Ziemianin holds a BA, specializing in acrylic painting, from Elmhurst University. Her work explores how we interact with our environment and how we process it, combining to create the hues of life that surround her. Her compositions are often filled with movement and a variety of colors to draw viewers into her painted worlds. 

This exhibition is presented in partnership with ![Pride logo](//images.ctfassets.net/df2y673eghyz/508i3lyLW8STHRPa0237gF/f25852aa5f230ff2580d812570b569a1/epc_logo.jpg)


PAINT THE TOWN IN PRIDE 2026: Elle Ziemianin

*I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.*
    —Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam,” 1967

In the May 1967 issue of Ramparts Magazine, Martin Luther King, Jr. published a condensed version of his searing “Beyond Vietnam” speech under the title "Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam." In it he named militarism, materialism, and racism as the “giant triplets” threatening American democracy and called for a “revolution of values.” 

Just days later, Dr. King led a march to the United Nations during which, for the first time, a group of Vietnam veterans marched under a banner declaring Vietnam Veterans Against the War. This public act of defiance marked the birth of one of the most radical anti-war organizations in US history, demonstrating that those trained for war could become some of its fiercest opponents. 

*A Revolution of Values* traces this lineage of resistance through the work of veteran artists who have turned away from militarism and toward solidarity. The exhibition includes ceramics, sculpture, papermaking, printmaking, photography, poetry and other forms that show the range of ways veteran artists examine their military experiences and critique militarism across generations.

__Featured artists include: Drew Cameron, Brittney Chantele Aston, Rodney Ewing, Eric J. Garcia, GOODW.Y.N., Gina Herrera (Costa Rican and Tesuque Pueblo), Nathan Lewis, Eric Perez, Gerald Euhon Sheffield II, Ehren Tool, Yiran Zhang, and archival materials from Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Iraq Veterans Against the War.__

*A Revolution of Values* claims and centers this lineage of resistance to celebrate the way veteran artists turn from militarism towards solidarity, exemplifying the “revolution of values” Dr. King called for.  The exhibition highlights the vast array of creative processes veteran artists use across generations to express this radical turn.

*A Revolution of Values* is one of the four featured exhibitions of the 2026 Veteran Art Triennial, RESISTING THE LONG WAR curated by Aaron Hughes, Mohamed Mehdi, and Amber Zora. The Triennial highlights artists’ creative defiance to war and militarism. The featured artworks lift up overlapping legacies of war resistance, presenting alternative visions of peace, healing, and justice generated by diverse communities impacted by war. 

Additional featured exhibitions will be at the Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center, and Walls Turned Sideway. Exhibition receptions will take place during the Veteran Art Summit November 5-8, 2026.

This exhibition is supported in part by the DEMIL Art Fund and 
![RTLW lock up](//images.ctfassets.net/df2y673eghyz/5po9AmbBJeF1h5T6IERbzl/5695fecdd884de94402035b39281fbfd/RTLW_funders.png)

Veterans and active military members always receive free admission to EAM.

RESISTING THE LONG WAR: A Revolution of Values

This intimate exhibition highlights the midcentury modern sculptures of Chicago-born artist [Abbott Pattison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_Pattison) (1916-1999). Drawn from the museum's permanent collection, the show captures the broad range of Pattison's expression, from classical figuration to bold, textured abstraction, with works dating from the 1950s into the 1970’s.

Featuring small-scale bronzes, carved stone, and welded brass works, the exhibition highlights his signature organic geometries and cubist influences. The selected works anchored by his expressive tactile surfaces, evoke human lyricism. This focused display provides a rare, powerful look at a skilled sculptor who seamlessly bridged the gap between traditional form and avant-garde midcentury expression.


Abbott Pattison: The Figure Forward

The exhibition Undercurrent highlights a decade of artwork by intuitive artist Pooja Pittie (b.1977 Mumbai) in her first major museum exhibition. The selection of works will survey Pittie’s creative energy in progress, while she adjusts her practice in search of balance, living with a progressive muscular disability. Undercurrent features 40-50 paintings, drawings, and fiber works by the Chicago-based artist that emphasize the artist’s determination to articulate the bodymind experience through material exploration. 

![Pooja Pittie portrait highres 2024](//images.ctfassets.net/df2y673eghyz/1AUf2c4ZXJtoBWjKeVaI4H/2f001a32b030d29d35d2e8b8a523b842/Pooja_Pittie_portrait_highres_2024.jpg)

Praised for her large seductive abstract paintings since 2015, Pittie has had to shift her mark-making gestures to accommodate her changing body. The result is a masterful exploration of hand-crocheted objects informed by painting. Through experiencing Pittie’s work, the viewer is invited to enter a tactile, meditative space to reflect on our relationship with the body in the built environment. This exhibition, public program, and related catalog is dedicated to the relevance and context of Pittie’s work in a society that renders disability invisible.


Pooja Pittie: Undercurrent

Matthew Girson’s paintings invite us to see in diminishing light. At 4:00am colors dissolve into grey and our eyes struggle to discern detail and form. As in previous work, Matthew relies on restrained color and the physicality of the paint to reflect on loss, absence, and things we may be lacking as we look at brush marks on his painted surfaces. The marks and the surfaces are just as important to him as the subjects he paints, but the things he paints are not as important as the things he chooses not to include.

These still life paintings depict empty domestic vessels and floral prints. Absent are the flowers themselves, their color, and their intimations of caring and beauty. Instead, the caring is in the attention to touch, nuance of brushwork, and subtle shifts in color. That color is present although slow to reveal itself. The paintings are generous, albeit slow to give. Their beauty is gleaned in the duration of time taken with them, as they patiently make themselves present.

__Matthew Girson Bio__

Matthew Girson makes paintings that explore the depth and range of the discipline as a physical medium, historical subject, and poetic opportunity. Specific themes in his paintings over the past 30 years include the relationship between abstraction and representation and how they operate within modern democracies. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and will be an Artist In Residence at the Lost and Found Lab in Connecticut in March 2027. His work is held in numerous public and private collections including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. He is a Professor in the Art School at DePaul University where he teaches painting, drawing, and seminars on contemporary art.


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Upcoming Exhibitions