Kara Cobb Johnson - Artist
  • Home
  • PRACTICE
    • lVAS
    • MANA Open Studio April 26, 2025 2-4PM
    • Animal
    • Ram Dass
    • Papinta (photos by Tom Van Eynde or Beto De Freitas or myself)
    • Almond trees
    • I love YOU…you give me fish
    • Base Matter
    • The Great Chasm is Merely a Stream
    • Activities
    • IAP Project "cloud gazing" portfolio
    • Falcon Gallery Chicago
      • April 2023, “I Find Me in the Strangest Places”, bronzes by Micki LeMieux
    • Superabundance
    • installation on stairway to nowhere at CSI Project Space 2023
    • Mama's Hand 2019
    • Circle deconstructed
    • Discs
    • Ragdale
    • Public Art
    • Installation
    • K & K
    • Patreon
    • MORE PRACTICE
  • //LINKS TO PRESS//
  • //EXHIBITIONS//
  • Archival Works
  • //bellwether//
  • //Modern Monument//
  • //Curating-COALESCE//
  • Contact
  • Curriculum Vitae
Kara Cobb Johnson - Artist
  • Home
  • PRACTICE
    • lVAS
    • MANA Open Studio April 26, 2025 2-4PM
    • Animal
    • Ram Dass
    • Papinta (photos by Tom Van Eynde or Beto De Freitas or myself)
    • Almond trees
    • I love YOU…you give me fish
    • Base Matter
    • The Great Chasm is Merely a Stream
    • Activities
    • IAP Project "cloud gazing" portfolio
    • Falcon Gallery Chicago
      • April 2023, “I Find Me in the Strangest Places”, bronzes by Micki LeMieux
    • Superabundance
    • installation on stairway to nowhere at CSI Project Space 2023
    • Mama's Hand 2019
    • Circle deconstructed
    • Discs
    • Ragdale
    • Public Art
    • Installation
    • K & K
    • Patreon
    • MORE PRACTICE
  • //LINKS TO PRESS//
  • //EXHIBITIONS//
  • Archival Works
  • //bellwether//
  • //Modern Monument//
  • //Curating-COALESCE//
  • Contact
  • Curriculum Vitae
© KARA COBB JOHNSON
Website by OtherPeoplesPixels
  • Hyde Park Herald Evening Edition 5/23/25

    Hyde Park Herald Evening Edition 5/23/25

    Artist Kara Cobb Johnson poses in front of her piece, "The Great Chasm is Merely a Stream," during the unveiling of the 55th Street viaduct gallery on May 22, 2025.
    Photo by: Marc C. Monaghan .

    Artists transform neighborhood's 'viaduct galleries' with 19 new works. The artists were tasked with submitting artworks that created a lighter, more powerful, welcoming viaduct that enhances public safety and showcased local talent,” said Strickland on Thursday. “These new 19 artists are taking their spot among Chicago legends.”

  • The Viaduct Galleries Unveiling Tour

    The Viaduct Galleries Unveiling Tour

    The Viaduct Galleries at Downtown Hyde Park highlight the work of 19 local artists from Chicago neighborhoods in a beautiful showcase of community connectedness, artistic culture and shared experience.
    Art Unveiling Tour:
    May 22, 2025
    10:00 am – 10:45 am
    Begins at 55th and S Lake Park Ave
    (Metra Station viaduct)

    Public space viewing.

  • Spring Open Studios MANA Contemporary:EXPO Chicago Events

    Spring Open Studios MANA Contemporary:EXPO Chicago Events

    Mana Contemporary and the Monira Foundation are thrilled to invite you to explore our Spring Open Studios, featuring studio visits, current exhibitions opening throughout the building, and the opening of the Monira Foundation's Purvis Young exhibition. This free event offers a unique opportunity to meet local artists, experience diverse art practices and immerse yourself in the remarkable work of Mana Contemporary artists!

    Entrance on East side of the building.

  • The Visualist April 26, 2025 Spring Open Studios MANA Contemporary: EXPO Chicago Events Visualist Press Release

    Mana Contemporary and the Monira Foundation are thrilled to invite you to explore our Spring Open Studios, featuring studio visits, current exhibitions opening throughout the building, and the opening of the Monira Foundation’s Purvis Young exhibition. This free event offers a unique opportunity to meet local artists, experience diverse art practices and immerse yourself in the remarkable work of Mana Contemporary artists!

  • Panel Discussion: The Material Dictates Itself

    Panel Discussion: The Material Dictates Itself

    The Material Dictates Itself
    September 26 @ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

    Where a knot begins and ends exhibition artists, Teresita Carson Valdez, Molly Roth Scranton, Malika Jackson, and Kara Cobb Johnson, explore the ways that material exploration inspires and drives their practice across various media, and the ways in which they intersect and diverge and inform each other through tactility. With an emphasis on techniques derived from ceramics, weaving, and the feminine mystique, the artists will also speak to the complexity of craft practices that have evolved within the contemporary context. With the hand ever present in the work, the artists question how objecthood and abstraction informs the interpretation and transformation of the work from its raw to final state. The conversation will be moderated by Christine Tarkowski, Professor in the Fiber and Material Studies Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    This discussion is in conjunction with our New Edition Professional Pathways program, which is offered exclusively for alums of Center Program, one of the Art Center’s capstone development programs for working artists. New Edition challenges a group of ten artists to build on their practice by adding new mediums to their toolbox by enrolling in a course at the Art Center to create new works, and through participation in weekly seminars.

    Register to attend www.eventbrite.com/e/the-material-dicta…

    About the Artists:

    Teresita Carson

    Teresita Carson is a Mexican, Chicago-based artist and award-winning filmmaker working across disciplines, including moving image, new media, and installation. Taking an irreverent approach to world and counter-archive building, she explores the abstract intersections between the historical, the speculative, indigenous cosmogonies, and magical peripheries. Her experimental films have screened internationally, including at the Slamdance Film Festival and the Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego. Most recently, her work was included in the Cleve Carney Museum’s Emerging Artist exhibition and was chosen for the 2024 Ground Floor Biennial. Carson has received grants from DCASE’s Individual Artists Program (IAP) and the Artists Run Chicago Fund. She is currently collaborating on a film project with the Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts community as part of her residency with CPS Lives.

    Molly Roth Scranton

    Molly Roth Scranton lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. Her studio practice uses household objects, language, and quotidian aesthetics to create “thing-poems”: sculptures, ceramics, weavings, paintings, installations, and time-based works in video and sound that mimic the objects of everyday life. Her interests lie in collaboration, beauty, longing, escapism, labor, and anxiety. Her work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, MN, the Finnish Academy of Fine Art in Helsinki, Finland, Babelkunst in Trondheim, Norway, Harvestworks in New York, and the Hyde Park Art Center, Elastic Arts, Free Range, Roman Susan, and 6018 North in Chicago.

    Malika Jackson

    Chicago-based artist and educator, Malika Jackson presents emotional narrative works in painting, drawing and sculpture inspired by her lived experience as well as texts by writers like Langston Hughes and Sonia Sanchez. Jackson is an alumna of the Art Center’s Center Program (class of 2013) and has been making her artwork between the Oakman Clinton Studios at the Art Center and her apartment studio in South Shore for over 20 years.

    Her works have been exhibited in galleries, festivals, in group and solo shows. Jackson had a solo exhibition Whispers of a World Without Words at the Hyde Park Art Center in 2022, and an exhibition with Sapphire and Crystals at Bridgeport Art Gallery, and the Addington Gallery. She has also received commissions for the Ronald McDonald Houses’ – the Ryder Cup Tournament; as well as exhibiting at the Howard Brown Center, Black Clay at Chicago State, Fast Forward, Rewind: Play, HPAC,‘From the Earth-Woman Made Gallery, Gallery D’Estees, Noyes Gallery,
    Museum of Science and Industry, Artopolis at the Merchandise Mart, Cliff Dwellers, and numerous other venues.Awards include honorable mention, Museum, of Science & Industry, Black Creativity; honored by the Diasporal Rhythms Art Association; art grant from the city of Chicago, design awards-Ann Brooks and Fur International Awards. Commissions for public artwork through the City of Chicago. Curator for Women’s Made Gallery and curator and coordinated ‘Cultural Connections African Art Bazaar for 25 years. Featured in ‘Curators of Dixon’; ‘Producing Local Color’ – Art Network in Ethnic Chicago’, by Diane Grams; ‘South Shore Current’. Jackson has taught in the Chicago Public Schools, Charter School, Community Organizations and at the Hyde Park Art Center. She received an MFA & BFA from the School of the Art Institute, and studied at Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, and participated in an artist tour of France and Italy, where she completed a ceramic workshop in Tuscany.

    Kara Cobb Johnson

    Kara Cobb Johnson (born 1976) is a visual artist based in Pilsen, Chicago. Cobb Johnson trained as a sculptor, video, and public artist in Minneapolis, MN, and graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in 2000. Her work investigates form, materials, and space while offering immersive installations that present an empowered female hand. She has curated independently as part of her practice and received a Visual Arts Certificate from the University of Chicago, Graham School of Continuing Studies in 2016. Cobb Johnson has been awarded the Individual Artist Project Grants from both The Illinois Arts Council and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to create new works in 2019 and 2023. She held panelist and executive board positions for Chicago Sculpture International and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in 2023 and 2024.

    About the Moderator: Christine Tarkowski

    Christine Tarkowski is an artist working in a variety of formats including the making of permanent public sculptures, propositional drawings, cast glass models, and textile yardage. Her current works are in pursuit of the abstract, drawing on history, craft tectonics, and archetypes. She employs methods of dimensional abstraction to evolve narrative elements that refer to dissolution of order through processes of alchemy or heat.

    She has been commissioned to create public works by; University of Illinois Chicago, DCASE, Millennium Park, City of Chicago, Socrates Sculpture Park; Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University, and private clients. She has exhibited works at; Corning Museum of Glass, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, RISD Museum, The Renaissance Society, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Devening Projects, Priska Juschka Fine Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center. Her awards include; Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media Columbia College Chicago/3 Arts Fellow, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Individual Artist Award, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, Franconia Sculpture Park Grant Jerome Foundation, and Creative Capital Foundation.

    Tarkowski is a Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she’s the Chair of Fiber and Material Studies.

  • New Edition 2024

    New Edition 2024

    July 13 – October 6, 2024
    Hyde Park Art Center
    Kanter Family Foundation Gallery

    Where a Knot Begins and Ends
    curated by Jeff Robinson

    FEATURED ARTISTS
    Alexandra Antoine, Dawn Brennan, Kittisak (Wa) Chontong, Mary Farmilant, Tanya Gill, Malika Jackson, Kara Cobb Johnson, Caitlin Ryan, Molly Roth Scranton, and Teresita Carson Valdez

    Opening with Artists: July 27th 1pm-4pm



  • Presently

    Presently

    Exhibitions:
    Presently, 2024
    On view through May 27, 2024
    Second floor
    Group exhibition featuring Alice Hargrave, Amanda Mulcahy, Amay Kataria, Andrew Boynton, Anika Steppe, Ashley January, Carisa Mitchell, Cassidy Skillman, Cydney M. Lewis, Dana Major, Deirdre Fox, Delaina Doshi, Fengzee Yang, Frank Vega, Galina Shevchenko, Hale Ekinci, James Jankowiak, Jenal Dolson, Jingqi Wang Steinhiser, John Caleb Pendleton, Jonathan Michael Castillo, Joseph Josué Mora, Josiah Ellner, Julie Anderson Mathias, Kara Cobb Johnson, Karen Azarnia, Katherine Desjardins, Kathryn Rodrigues, Kelly D. Pelka, Kevin Maginnis, Kim Basile, Krista Anara Cibis Pintuck Studios, Laura Kina, Lisa Jenschke, Marzena Ziejka, MMM (they/them), Monika Niwelinska, Natalie Eva Clark, Natalia Villanueva Linares, Olea Nova, Rory Monaghan, Saúl Aguirre, Sara Selmić, Sarina Shane, Samuel Schwindt, Shaqui Reed, Sona Kim, Squitieri 95, Spiral Body: Mami Takahashi & Adrian McBride, Vida Sacic, Vida Sačić, Violet Luczak, Volodymyr Pydlyak, Xuanlin Ye

  • Madron Chicago Gallery News 4/2/2024

    Madron Chicago Gallery News 4/2/2024

    Artists’ opening at Madron Gallery of American Art for System and Dialectics of Art on April 4th 5:30-8:30pm. 1000 W. North Avenue 3rd floor, free parking.

  • Chicago Gallery News: System and Dialectics of Art, curated by Rachel Wakeman at Madron Gallery of American Art March 4, 2024-June 14,2024

    Chicago Gallery News: System and Dialectics of Art, curated by Rachel Wakeman at Madron Gallery of American Art March 4, 2024-June 14,2024
  • Well Versed link

  • Terrain Exhibitions: Biennial Map North Side 2023

    Terrain Exhibitions: Biennial Map North Side 2023

    Link to Terrain Exhibitions North Side map to my piece “Earth Calling Universe”

  • The Visualist: COALESCE Press October 2023

    The Visualist: COALESCE Press October 2023

    COALESCE was an exhibition that I curated and designed. It began with the ideas for new works by 5 Inclusion Fellowship artists at CSI. The artists worked collaboratively to install their work, create workshops and invite the public to enjoy artist talks introducing their practice at CSI Project Space in October 2023. I was honored to realize this exhibition with this talented group.

  • Artists to Watch 2023: Kara Cobb Johnson

    Artists to Watch 2023: Kara Cobb Johnson

    I am honored to be included in Comfort Station Logan Square Artists to Watch 2023 list. Scroll down on the webpage to see my contribution and work.

  • Chicago Loop Alliance: Arts, Culture, & Recreation Events

  • State Street to host last of two Sundays on State Events-Block Club Chicago

  • Timeout Chicago: Things to do August 13, 2023

  • WTTW: Trashion Revolution Triveni Institute Press

  • Jay Gentile: Thrillist Trashion Revolution Triveni Institute Press

  • Green Community Connections: Trashion Revolution Triveni Institute Press

  • The Curio: Trashion Revolution Triveni Institute Press

  • Be The Light: Trashion Revolution Fashion Show 5/20/23 The Narcissus Room, Macy's State Street 7th Floor

    Be The Light: Trashion Revolution Fashion Show 5/20/23 The Narcissus Room, Macy's State Street 7th Floor

    I have been creating an avant-garde garment out of every piece of plastic trash that would have gone into our recycling from February up to May 2023. The resultant trashion garment will walk the runway on professional model Colby James on May 20th, 2023 at the Narcissus Room, 7th Floor, Macy's State Street, 111 State Street, Chicago. I am excited to bring awareness to the single use plastic issue that our planet faces. This is a fun and challenging creative way to bring attention and build community. The event also celebrates humanity in all its forms and beauty by representing models of all ages, shapes and diversity, employing mostly trans and BIPOC models along with established artists and designers from international reaches. I would like to thank Jordan Parker, Colby James, Micki LeMieux, and Victoria Fuller for supporting my efforts in this project.

  • EXPO CHGO Art After Hours April 14, 2023

    EXPO CHGO Art After Hours April 14, 2023

    It's A Studio...these are working projects and a glimpse into the first table show for Falcon Gallery. #913 MANA Contemporary 6-9PM April 14, 2023. Open to the public.

  • The Visualist: Intersection Press January 2023

  • Chicago Gallery News: Intersection Press January 2023

  • Evanston Made Calendar November 2022

    Evanston Made Calendar November 2022
  • Responding to Rhythms CHICAGO SCULPTURE INTERNATIONAL

    Responding to Rhythms CHICAGO SCULPTURE INTERNATIONAL

    Responding to Rhythms
    Chicago Sculpture International
    Curated by Nathan Peck
    Opening November 11th 6-8 PM
    Beverly Arts Center
    2407 W 111th St, Chicago, IL 60655


  • RSVP Here

    RSVP Here

    Mama's Hand: A Solo Exhibition of Installations by Kara Cobb Johnson at Polsky Exchange North.

  • Fall 2022: Chicago Sculpture International

    Conceptual works in paper, installations, and painted sculpture. Experience creating work to enliven dynamic workspaces, curating contemporary group exhibitions in Chicagoland area for years. Currently, Kara is available for Teaching Artist projects and Artist Interventions for all types of participants at all levels. Experiences include play-doh, wooden objects, and painting on 3D surfaces. Commissions welcomed.

  • bellwether A project by Kara Cobb Johnson at Space 900 Gallery Evanston

    bellwether A project by Kara Cobb Johnson at Space 900 Gallery Evanston

    When you take your stuff to the people and throw caution to the wind...

  • Mama's Hand Article

    Mama's Hand Article
  • Tactical Viewing DNA info article by Linze Rice

  • Tactical Viewing: Recommended Exhibition

  • Trail Art: Site as STudio photo gallery

  • Site As Studio: Trailside Museum of Natural History June 12, 2016 noon-3pm

    First event of this nature in nature along the trails.

  • Trail Art: Site as Studio Directions/Map and details

    Map and details from the Trailside website.

  • Blueprints Exhibition link from Roman Susan

  • Review by Astri Snodgrass: A Surprise in the Process

    Third Coast Review: A Surprise in the Process: Exhibition Review March 31, 2016

  • Chicago Reader, Best Bets, Visual Arts, March 10-16 issue, Vol. 45, No. 22, page 6

    Opening Night, A Surprise in the Process, Best Bets for your weekend gallery scene

  • Chicago Artists Resource, Notable Events March 7-14th

    Opening Night, A Surprise in the Process, at Chicago Art Department through March 25th by Appointment

  • DNA info article

    Description and public invitation to attend 11AM Water Jewel Drop of 3000 balls down 2 flights of stairs for off the wall amusement.

  • Front & Center: 2015 Center Program Final Exhibition Sunday, September 13, 2015 3-5 PM

    Gallery 1, 2 & Cleve E. Carney

    Artwork by:

    Ali Aschman
    Mara Baker
    Javier Carmona
    Kara Cobb Johnson
    Michelle Collazo-Anderson
    Lily Dithrich
    Christine Forni
    Elizabeth Gadelha
    Rami George
    Samantha Hill
    Regin Igloria
    Jeremiah Jones
    Rita Koehler
    Katherine Lampert
    Ivan Lozano
    Dana Major
    Carlos Matallana
    Lars Nordby
    Connie Noyes
    Kunal Sen
    Naqeeb Stevens
    Tina Tahir
    Erin Toale
    Julian Williams
    Zachary Williams

    A cap-stone program for artists who are ready to push their practice to the next level, The Center Program is the Art Center’s answer to traditional professional development offerings for artists. The Center Program offers the unique opportunity to develop new work, receive feedback from professionals in the field, and work towards an exhibition to be held in the Art Center's main gallery. Over the course of six months, a supportive peer network, guest artists, gallerists, critics, and professionals push Center Program artists to answer tough questions, evolve their art, and ultimately produce strong, new work to show.

    The 2015 Front & Center exhibition is guest curated by Tricia Van Eck.
    Prior to starting 6018North, Van Eck was Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art,Chicago (MCA) where for 13 years she organized more than 70 exhibitions and programs, much of which were experimental, audience engaged, performative, or extended the MCA's reach into the community.

  • Vista

    Sunday, June 14th 2015 1PM

    Forest Preserves of Cook County
    Crabtree Nature Center, Barrington Hills

    Want to find out about watercolor with abstraction in computer print? Let Artist Kara Cobb Johnson teach you a new technique in watercolor painting.

    For teens and adults. Registration required.
    REGISTRATION: Call Crabtree at 847-381-6592. Cost: Free

  • How they start floating away

    Ice orbs filled with watercolor pigments melt and create stained pools.

  • Ephemeral optical illusion: Winter Fences

    Slow walk on a beach path. Wooden fences create ephemeral optical illunsion. 01/29/2015

  • The Center Program Class of 2015

  • DNAinfo Chicago Artists Month 2014 Artwalk Article

    DNA info, a local paper, covers the events to take place for Chicago Artists Month Artwalk led by Kara Cobb Johnson

  • 2014 Watercolor Paintings + Art

    New ideas, paintings

  • Prairie Potawatomie Commemorative Mural Tour presented by Artist Kara Cobb Johnson

    Art Walk Presented by Kara Cobb Johnson

    Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 10:00am to 11:00am
    Saturday, October 11, 2014 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm
    Saturday, October 25, 2014 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm

    Potawatomie Indians believed land belonged to all living things and could not be owned. This mural plants their images firmly back into the land they were led to leave forever.

    Start at:
    Edgebrook Metra Underpass: Western Wall
    LeHigh & Hiawatha Western Wall
    Chicago, IL

    Neighborhood:
    Forest Glen

    Chicago-based artists include:
    Kara Cobb Johnson presents her artwork installed and creatively interpreted by Green Star Movement and After School Matters Teen Apprentices over the summer of 2014

  • Show & Tell For Adults

    Second Nature Exhibit

    September 30 – October 21-27, 2014

    Exhibit Locations: The artwork will be exhibited at 2 locations:
    o Evanston Ecology Center, 2024 McCormick Blvd., Evanston
    o Curt’s Café, 2922 Central St, Evanston

    As a child, your creativity led you to paint, draw, sing, dance, write, play, and a host of other activities. Then life got busy… Let the Show and Tell for Adults revive your imagination and talents from long ago with a multi-cultural arts festival.

  • "ART IN NATURE EXHIBIT" held at Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington

    September 26, 2014 to November 28, 2014

    Crabtree Nature Center and The Forest Preserve District of Cook County present local nature painted 'en plein air' by six talented Illinois artists.

  • Ragdale Retreat 2013

    Kara Cobb Johnson paints in watercolor for the summer of 2013 at Ragdale Artist Colony during a special residency sponsored in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council

  • Ideas And New Works

    New ideas 2013

  • Freedom Watercolors!

    Join artist Kara Johnson and explore painting with watercolors. Saturday, February 1, 2014. All materials are provided. This free class is a continuation of celebrating “Art in Nature” throughout the year. Time is 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Space is limited, so make your reservations soon by calling Crabtree nature Center 847-381-6592.

© KARA COBB JOHNSON
Website by OtherPeoplesPixels