PullmanArts

PullmanArts Bringing together arts & culture on Chicago's far south side. Everyone deserves access to art, and creators should be treated like family.

Throwback!Before PullmanArts was a "real" thing with a permanent space and 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, our organization ...
06/01/2026

Throwback!

Before PullmanArts was a "real" thing with a permanent space and 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, our organization started out as a ragtag group of neighbors who wanted to highlight all the great artists who live and work in our community. Those neighbors worked together to create art events, performances, and exhibitions scattered throughout Pullman, and some of them eventually became our earliest board members and volunteers.

Today, we received a donation of several old shirts and posters from events that were direct forerunners of PullmanArts, including tees from the 2009 "S(out)h of the Loop" exhibition held inside the Hotel Florence in partnership with the Pullman State Historic Site.

What are some of your favorite memories from community arts activations in Pullman over the years?

A fresh round of flyers going up during the final week before Opening Reception: Shane-Jahi Jackson - "Pullman Porters &...
05/31/2026

A fresh round of flyers going up during the final week before Opening Reception: Shane-Jahi Jackson - "Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies"

We could try to be clever and tell you the painter's tape is because it's a show of painted works, but really it's just so we can take these flyers down after Friday without damaging the surfaces we placed them on.

Juneteenth weekend, our friends at Historic Pullman Empowerment Organization and the Pullman State Historic Site are hos...
05/30/2026

Juneteenth weekend, our friends at Historic Pullman Empowerment Organization and the Pullman State Historic Site are hosting a community bike ride focused on some of Pullman's earliest Black residents: the Jordan family, the LaForce family, and the Dillard family, who lived and labored in the neighborhood when it was still a company-controlled factory town.

Follow the link to register: https://tinyurl.com/BikePullmansNorthEnd

The Block House Gallery is open for our usual public hours on Saturday 5/30, but we will be closed next week in preparat...
05/30/2026

The Block House Gallery is open for our usual public hours on Saturday 5/30, but we will be closed next week in preparation for Friday's Opening Reception: Shane-Jahi Jackson - "Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies".

Drop in Saturday to chat, or hold that thought and come see us during the reception next week!

We're less than ten days away from Opening Reception: Shane-Jahi Jackson - "Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Vi...
05/27/2026

We're less than ten days away from Opening Reception: Shane-Jahi Jackson - "Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies", curated by Juelle Daley.

Last year, Jackson served as the Jan and Frank Cicero Artist-in-Residence at the Newberry Library here in Chicago, where he researched the archives of the Pullman Company to inform an evolving body of work focused on African American Pullman Porters and Maids. The resulting exhibition, informed by archives and by family stories not fully reflected in archives, opens at the Block House Gallery on Friday, June 5th.

Pullman Porters and Maids were integral to Pullman branding of “luxury” such that Black bodies would serve and ensure comfort as a carry-over from slave times, although this time as a paid laborer - even as they remained largely unseen, unheard, and unnamed.

Jackson’s work pushes back against that erasure by restoring presence, feeling, and individuality to those whom the archive too often preserves only as records. He plays with the tension between presence and absence in an effort to reclaim the humanity of these workers and to insist upon their complexity. The exhibition also reflects on the enduring legacies of their labor in the families, communities, and histories they helped shape.

Like all PullmanArts programs, the opening reception on the 5th is free and open to the public. Additional open hours for the exhibition will be announced following the reception.

Some moments from today's sewing machine cleaning and maintenance workshop with Henry Bangsberg - we were so happy to he...
05/23/2026

Some moments from today's sewing machine cleaning and maintenance workshop with Henry Bangsberg - we were so happy to help get a bunch of people's new and old machines running smoother!

Rent the Block House Gallery for your event!In between our own programs, we make our space available for community orgs ...
05/20/2026

Rent the Block House Gallery for your event!

In between our own programs, we make our space available for community orgs and neighbors to use for celebrations, workshops, and more. You can read more about what we offer on our website: https://www.pullmanarts.org/rent-our-spaces

Flyers are going up around town for Sew Clean: Drop-In Sewing Machine Cleaning & Maintenance Workshop and for Opening Re...
05/17/2026

Flyers are going up around town for Sew Clean: Drop-In Sewing Machine Cleaning & Maintenance Workshop and for Opening Reception: Shane-Jahi Jackson - "Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies"

It's going to be a busy start to the summer for us!

Address

Block House Gallery, 11137 South Langley Avenue
Chicago, IL
60628

Opening Hours

Thursday 4pm - 6pm
Saturday 12pm - 2pm

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