What are the opening hours?

Monday 9:30am - 5pm Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm Thursday 9:30am - 5pm Friday 9:30am - 8pm Saturday 12pm - 4pm Sunday 12pm - 4pm

University Galleries of Illinois State University

Name: University Galleries of Illinois State University
Address: 11 Uptown Circle, Suite 103, Normal, IL, 61761, US
Telephone: (309) 438-5487
Price range: Not applicable

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University Galleries of Illinois State University

University Galleries' mission is to integrate an awareness of contemporary art into the cultural lan

University Galleries of Illinois State University has developed a multivalent approach to exhibitions and support for artists. Our program comprises rings of access that extend outward from the exhibitions we create and travel, the books we publish, and the tours, performances, lectures, and outreach programs we provide. Our exhibitions feature both emerging and established artists, often those wh

ose work has not been previously presented in a comprehensive manner. University Galleries has organized museum surveys of works by: Jim Lutes, Nadia Hotait, Jason Lazarus, Michelle Grabner, Tony Tasset, Stephanie Brooks, Allan Sekula, Jeanne Dunning, Siebren Versteeg, Martin Wong, David Wojnarowicz, Jane Dickson, and many others. University Galleries is open year-round: daily throughout the academic year and Monday-Saturday during the summer. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the general public. Please call 309.438.5487 to schedule a special tour for your class or community group. Programs at University Galleries are supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

09/04/2026

Thank you to Jason Lazarus for joining us in so many capacities this week!

He gave a phenomenal public lecture and led an inspiring session of Creative Practice Lab, University Galleries' professional development group for ISU students. He also met with students from Washington Community High School who were touring the exhibitions with to conduct research for their own projects that will later be on view at University Galleries.

Lazarus's untitled photograph from his series 2004-Present is on view in Love Letters, a permanent collection exhibition curated by .

Thank you to the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust and the Lori Baum and Aaron Henkelman University Galleries Community Fund for supporting this programming.

📷 1, 5: AJ Westley. 📷 2: Lisa Lofgren. 📷 3, 4, 6, 8: Kendra Paitz. 📷 7: Tanya Scott

09/01/2026

We're flashing back to February 2011, when we premiered Jason Lazarus's first survey exhibition (in our previous space in the Center for the Visual Arts)!

Your Time Is Gonna Come was co-curated by Barry Blinderman and Kendra Paitz. We published an accompanying monograph in 2013 (bookstore link in comments).

Lazarus's work was first on view at University Galleries in 2009, in a group exhibition titled unfiction, which was curated by Bill Conger.

📌 Join us tomorrow (Wednesday, September 2 at noon) for a free public lecture by Jason Lazarus!

This event is supported by the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust and organized in conjunction with Love Letters, a permanent collection exhibition. Additional support is provided by the Lori Baum and Aaron Henkelman University Galleries Community Fund.

📷: Installation views of Jason Lazarus: Your Time Is Gonna Come, University Galleries of Illinois State University, 2011.

08/31/2026

THIS WEEK! Join us for a lecture by artist Jason Lazarus on Wednesday, September 2 at noon! Free and open to the public.

(ISU students—Lazarus will be at our Creative Practice Lab session on September 2 at 6:30 p.m. Register at link in comments.)

Jason Lazarus is a Tampa-based artist “exploring vision and visibility. His work includes a range of fluid methodologies: photography, found and appropriated images, text-as-image, photo-derived sculptures made individually and collaboratively with the public, live archives, film, video, LED light images, and public submission repositories, among others.”

Lazarus’ work has been exhibited at MASS MoCA; Art Institute of Chicago; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Queens Museum of Art, New York; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. He is associate professor of art and art history at the University of South Florida.

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This event is organized with Love Letters (curated by Kendra Paitz), a group exhibition that features works by Lazarus, Bethany Collins, and Rafael Soldi. Read more about Love Letters at the link in comments.

This event is supported by the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust and the Lori Baum and Aaron Henkelman University Galleries Community Fund.

📷: Jason Lazarus, studio outtake. Photo credit: Laura Meckling.

08/30/2026

Mark your calendars for September 14!

08/26/2026

Thank you to Ruth Burke for bringing 3 Wonsook Kim School of Art and Design at Illinois State University video classes to University Galleries yesterday! We had so much fun during these tours of Selina Trepp's solo exhibition.

Want to schedule a free curator-led tour for your class or community group? Contact us at [email protected].

📷: Ruth Burke.

08/21/2026

Going to the Sweet Corn and Circus Festival in on Saturday? Stop by University Galleries from 12-4pm to add to a circus-themed stop-motion animation!

You can use these characters or create your own with the provided materials. Free and no registration required.

While you're here, check out artist Selina Trepp's animations on view in her solo exhibition, Unprofessional Practices.

Photo by AJ Westley.

08/19/2026

Join us for a printmaking workshop on August 29 at 1:00 p.m.! Register at link in comments.

We'll take a brief tour of the Love Letters exhibition and then make monotype prints inspired by ' works. Participants are invited to bring a found, gifted, or personal piece of handwriting to incorporate into their work.

This all-ages event is free, open to the public, and supported by the Lori Baum and Aaron Henkelman University Galleries Community Fund.

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This workshop is organized in conjunction with Love Letters, a permanent collection exhibition featuring lithographs and photgraphs by , , and .

The works include a variety of handwritten expressions of care, each composed for a different audience or purpose. The exhibition title not only refers to the correspondence that one may traditionally think of as a love letter but also plays with the idea of appreciating language: literally loving letters and what their combinations can convey.

Love Letters is curated by and is on view through October 3.

📷 1: Bethany Collins, "and love all hearts entwine (God Bless our Sunday School)" (detail), 2022. Two-color lithograph. Collection of University Galleries, printed in collaboration with Normal Editions Workshop. Photos by AJ Westley. 📷 2: Installation view of Bethany Collins' lithographs in Love Letters.

08/18/2026

Welcome back, Redbirds!

We've loved having so many of you in the space already, even if we were distracted by the storm and didn't take many pictures.

University Galleries is open 7 days per week and is always free. Stop by as you're walking through Uptown Normal!

08/12/2026

Happy Welcome Week, Redbirds! Join us for new exhibitions and events!

📌 Friday from 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Welcome-back reception. Have a cookie with friends and explore the new exhibitions.

📌 Saturday from 12:30-3:30 p.m.
Stop-motion animation workshop. Experience artist Selina Trepp's stop-motion animations and make your own. Register at https://events.illinoisstate.edu/event/all-ages-animation-workshop-at-university-galleries-3/

📌 University Galleries is open 7 days per week and is always free. Read about our current exhibitions at https://galleries.illinoisstate.edu/

📷: Installation view of Selina Trepp: Unprofessional Practices. Photo credit: AJ Westley.

Address

11 Uptown Circle, Suite 103
Normal, IL
61761

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5pm
Friday	9:30am - 8pm
Saturday	12pm - 4pm
Sunday	12pm - 4pm

Telephone

(309) 438-5487

Website

http://galleries.illinoisstate.edu/

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