BARELY THERE: micro art showcase
How small can you work and still maintain your style?
After last year’s Microcosm Exhibit, you know what to expect! Think dollhouse meets fine art gallery. Can you capture your artistic vision in miniature while creating an immersive viewing experience?
Challenge accepted!
PERMISSION TO WORK: OPAL Student Exhibition
Calling all current and past OPAL students and instructors! Kick off 2027 with us at the Student & Instructor Exhibition, a celebration of the work happening inside our classroom studio all year long.
Figure & Portrait Exhibition
OPAL invites artists to submit figurative and portrait work in any medium for our judged annual Figure & Portrait Exhibition.
/wEirD/ReAMs/ Abstract & Surrealist Exhibition
Step into the strange and the sublime. OPAL's /wEirD/ReAMs/ exhibition celebrates abstract and surrealist works. We want to show pieces that bend logic, dissolve form, and follow the subconscious somewhere new.
Spring Artist Member Exhibition
Our Spring Member Exhibition is a showcase for OPAL's own community of exhibiting artists. We are proud of the unique artists voices who show in the Carriage House Gallery, and this is a chance for active members to share their latest work on the gallery walls that have exhibited generations of artists work.
Young Artist Exhibition
OPAL invites middle and high school artists from across the area OPRF, Hinsdale, and beyond, to join a school-year-long collaboration culminating in a fully student-run exhibition.
AvantGardeN ~ Botanicals Upside Down
AvantGardeN turns the garden and nature on its head. For this juried exhibition OPAL is looking for bold, unconventional botanical work — nature reimagined, turned inside out, not just observed — for this extended-run summer exhibition.
Guest Exhibition: Chicago Sculpture International
OPAL's Carriage House Gallery and courtyard garden become one big gallery. We're hosting a guest group exhibition of sculpture by members of Chicago Sculpture International, installed both inside and out in the garden.
Fall Artist Member Exhibition
Our Fall Member Exhibition is a showcase for OPAL's own community of exhibiting artists. We are proud of the unique artists voices who show in the Carriage House Gallery, and this is a chance for active members to share their latest work on the gallery walls that have exhibited generations of artists work.
ALT MYX: Material Exploration
ALT MYX celebrates material thinking and innovation in the form of assemblage, found object work, mixed media, collage and more. Go crazy! Put something in the mix that will be a treat to read on your gallery label. This is your call to bring us the unexpected material choices and the stories they tell.
STORIES OF WONDER - Jane Sirinek
Jane Sirinek is a paper cut artist and maker based in Berwyn. She is also the founder of the Berwyn Lantern Parade in partnership with Berwyn Public Art Initiative.
Her work is inspired by the hidden beauty in nature, stories both true and fantastic, strange creatures, and the wonder of the everyday. Her passion is bringing thoughtful narratives to life in the simplicity and delicacy of a single piece of paper. Connection is of utmost importance in working with paper cut art, and is shown in this series of tiny cuts. She tells the story of family through symbolism and narrative.
All artwork is $85. Framing included in the price, will be framed before delivery.
Fall Artist Member Exhibition
Celebrating 105 years of venerable history and five generations of Oak Park Art League Artist Members, this biannual exhibition presents a curated showcase of work by OPAL's current membership.
Artist Members are invited to exhibit works that best represent their studio practice.
Organize and Care; OPAL Interns Micro Show- Emilia Moore and Garnet Harper
Organize and Care
OPAL Interns Micro Show
Emilia Moore and Garnet Harper
BREAKING THE SILENCE
Our August exhibition 'Breaking the Silence' offers our gallery space to veterans, honoring their service and the power of art to process their experiences serving our nation.
See all exhibition related events here.
RECIPROCAL CAPTURE - Cathleen Cramer
RECIPROCAL CAPTURE
Cathleen Cramer
My current work uses the prints of John James Audubon, American artist and naturalist, to explore the manufactured boundaries between humans and “the natural world.”
BLOOM: Art of Flowers, Foliage & Fruit
We invite contemporary artists to explore the timeless yet ever-evolving relationship between humanity and the botanical world in BLOOM: Art of Flowers & Foliage & Fruit. This juried exhibition celebrates the diverse ways artists interpret, reimagine, and respond to floral and botanical subjects through contemporary perspectives.
From intimate studies of botanical detail to abstract interpretations of natural forms, from environmental commentary to cultural symbolism, this exhibition seeks works that engage with flowers, foliage, and fruit as more than mere subject matter—as vessels for deeper artistic inquiry and expression.
Juried exhibition timed to align with OPRF Garden Club Garden Walk
Designer Call: HOUSE OF OPAL
Be a part of OPAL’s Annual Gala! The House of OPAL needs fashion designers to show their looks!
HOME: Art of Architecture Everywhere
Explore the architecture that surrounds us daily—from grand buildings to humble furniture, from urban landscapes to intimate interior details. This exhibition celebrates design in all its forms: built environments, indoor and outdoor spaces, furniture, and everyday objects that shape our lives.
CALL for Garden Art
CALL for Sculptural, outdoor works, available to be on exhibit June 1 - August 31 2026 in the Oak Park Art League courtyard garden during the Oak Park River Forest Garden Walk.
105th Anniversary Artist Member Spring Exhibition
Celebrating 105 years of venerable history and generations of Oak Park Art League Artist Members, this biannual exhibition presents a curated showcase of work by OPAL's current membership. This exhibition honors our rich legacy while showcasing the diverse artistic voices that continue to shape OPAL's vibrant community.
Artist Members are invited to exhibit works that best represent their studio practice.
Portals of Knowing Victoria Pater
Portals to Knowing
Victoria Pater
In an era of throwaway stuff and fleeting experiences, Form & Funk’s founder Victoria Pater enthusiastically creates with balance and intention. Her values-led studio believes form follows function — and she can’t help but add a groovy twist.
@AtomicVictoria
OPAL Student Showcase
The Oak Park Art League celebrates emerging talent with works created in our historic classroom studio and taught by award winning artist instructors.
Our OPAL Student Showcase, highlights the creativity, vision, and artistic development of student artists of all ages and skill levels creating in our studio class room as well as work by OPAL teaching faculty.
This showcase provides a supportive platform for student artists to share their work, connect with the community, and celebrate the vital role of art education.
Mars Mythos Tripartite Heather Lowe
Mars Mythos Tripartite
Heather Lowe
This installation of lenticulars and a few sculptures was primarily inspired by re-reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I was struck by how his messages of colonization, prejudice, peace and harmony still resonate so strongly today.
Being Human: Figure & Portrait show
In an age of digital connection and physical distance, how do we capture and portray what makes us most human? What does it mean to be human in this moment? Through figure and portrait, artists have long explored the complexity of human experience—our vulnerabilities, connections, contradictions, and resilience.
AERIAL Jacqueline Rueckert Lakely
AERIAL - Jacqueline Rueckert Lakely
Feb 12 - March 8
This series of tiny mixed media pieces is called Aerial, evoking a view from a secluded, safe, elevated perspective, suggesting peace, nature, and a sense of freedom.
Revolutions/Resolutions
Art has always been a compass for navigating uncertainty. Help us map the territory between renewal and resolution. As we complete another revolution around the sun, we find ourselves at the threshold of new beginnings while carrying the weight of unfinished business.
This moment—suspended between what was and what could be—invites artistic exploration of transformation, persistence, and purposeful redirection.
Holiday Bazaar
Artists and collectors alike can enjoy a vibrant pop-up Holiday Bazaar featuring member artworks and guest vendors who will exhibit and sell original works, all thoughtfully priced to make perfect gifts.
“Unfiltered” Elaine Luther & Ralph Romero
“Unfiltered”
Elaine Luther & Ralph Romero
Photos by Ralph Romero, printed as cyanotypes by Elaine Luther
Art for Social Change: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
This open call exhibit asks; what are your best or strongest memories about food, or eating in community? What are your feelings about food and how can they be conveyed in an artwork to continue the long tradition of food as subject? All media welcome.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Abstract Alternatives to Depicting Our World
Whether your art is inspired by the implications of quantum physics, metaphysics, spirituality, formal design or any combination we invite you to submit your abstract explorations of art to this national juried exhibition.
FASHION: Fall Artist Member Exhibition
During OPAL’s Fall Fundraiser, the work by current OPAL members on the gallery walls will create a rich backdrop of creative expression, epitomizing OPAL’s mission and reflecting our unique artistic community. Artists will interpret the multiple meanings of the word ‘fashion’ - the concept of fashion, the verb to fashion, to create in your own unique style an artwork that can only be made by you and is immediately recognizable as your work.
Stories from the Soul: Emerging Curator Exhibition
Emerging Curator Exhibition: Stories from the Soul is an innovative art exhibition designed to foster meaningful dialogue between artists of diverse backgrounds. Curated by OPAL Artist Resident alum Shanelle Harrison, this show will feature five invited artists whose works reflect personal narratives, cultural heritage, and unique life experiences.
SPIRALING: Eco-Art for Kid’s Sake
This open call judged exhibition seeks to showcase innovative “green” eco-art works and aligns with Plastic-free July, seeking to inspire action and social change through the use of found objects, repurposed for art.
TAKE PRIDE: Hair & Fiber
Explorations of how fiber can be used to reflect the interweaving of community while still representing artifice, facade, pride, protection or disguise are all welcome interpretations and valid explorations during Pride month. All media welcome, made of or depicting hair.
Mi·cro·cosm: Group Micro Art Gallery Exhibit
How small can you work and still maintain your style? Find out! This national open call will feature a group of artists, and each artist will have a solo show, but there’s a catch! The solo show will be in a box gallery that is 12” x 12” x 12”
EXPO + OPAL Members Show
This exhibition aligns with the excitement of EXPO in Chicago by featuring the artist members of OPAL in our 104th Anniversary Spring exhibition. What artworks of yours would you want to be shown at EXPO?
POSE! Juried Figure Exhibition
This juried exhibition seeks to showcase a diverse spectrum of work based on the human form yet pushing the boundaries of how we depict ourselves and the bodies we inhabit.
Opening Reception and Awards
Saturday, March 15, 1-4pm
Jurors:
Artist Susan Hall & William Ewers, Executive Director of Palette & Chisel