A SpaceX Dragon and a biofeedback belt worn by astronaut Mae Jemison will go on display May 19 as part of the newly renovated Henry Crown Space Center at the Museum of Science and Industry. Jemison, who was raised in Chicago, was the first Black woman astronaut in space.
The Dragon spacecraft, which was briefly on display after MSI acquired it in 2022, ferried cargo to the International Space Station in 2017 and 2019. In addition to spacewalk equipment, vehicle hardware and computer resources, the Dragon carried NASA’s Cosmic-Ray Energetics and MASS (ISS-CREAM) — a refrigerator-sized experiment designed to examine particle acceleration mechanisms.
The Henry Crown Space Center first opened in 1986 and showcases the Apollo 8 Command Module and the Mercury Aurora 7 Capsule. Admission is included in the museum’s entry fee.
9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily beginning May 19 at the Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive; tickets $14.95-$25.95 at msichicago.org
Georgia O’Keeffe’s urban landscapes at Art Institute this summer
Georgia O’Keeffe’s early urban landscapes will be the subject of “My New Yorks,” an exhibit opening June 2 at the Art Institute. The New York skyline was the subject of a series of works created by the Modernist artist in the 1920s and ’30s.
“One can’t paint New York as it is,” O’Keeffe said, “but rather as it is felt.”
Featuring about 100 photographs, drawings, pastels and paintings, the exhibit offers a counterpoint for those who know O’Keeffe best for her depictions of flowers and the American Southwest — and provides context for how this work fits within her broader career. O’Keeffe’s New York paintings will be hung alongside examples of other periods of her work, demonstrating themes that echo, no matter the subject matter.
Curated by the Art Institute’s Sarah Kelly Oehler and Annelise K. Madsen, the show also features contemporaneous photographs by O’Keeffe’s husband, Alfred Stieglitz.
June 2 to Sept. 22 at the Art Institute, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; tickets up to $42 at artic.edu
A return for the American Writers Festival
With about 75 authors, the second installment of the American Writers Festival promises to pack a whole gamut of literature into the afternoon of May 19. The lineup includes novelists Lydia Millet and Michael Zapata; historians Kevin Boyle and Harold Holzer, literary critic Marie Arana; journalist Mark Bowden; comedian Jamie Loftus; and young-adult novelists Samira Ahmed and Claire Legrand.
Presented by the American Writers Museum and the Chicago Public Library, free panel discussions will be conducted alongside writing workshops, literary crafts and book signings. Although events will be held in the South Loop’s Harold Washington Library Center, the American Writers Museum, at 180 N. Michigan Ave., will waive admission fees on the day of the festival.
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 19 at Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St.; free, more information at americanwritersmuseum.org
National Museum of Mexican Art has a new space
The National Museum of Mexican Art has acquired a Little Village fire station to expand community arts programming for teens and young adults. Once home to Chicago Fire Department Engine Co. 109, the Whipple Street station will offer a second location to Yollocalli Arts Reach as well as a community gathering space.
The museum currently runs programming at the Little Village Boys and Girls Club. The new space could double the Yollocalli program’s capacity, from 300 students.
Wallin-Gomez Architects and Civic Projects Architecture will work on the renovation project, which is estimated to cost $4 million. The museum plans to pay for it with grants, donations and in-kind funding.
The building, which the City of Chicago sold for $1, will house recording facilities, a gallery, a ceramics studio, performance and meeting spaces as well as offices. The museum aims to open the facility early next year.
More information at nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org
