Intersection of Art and Commerce

Tour the Glessner House and take in the exquisite installations of William Morris designs in tile and textiles. The Glessner family lived in this house for fifty years, through the heyday and decline of the Prairie Avenue neighborhood. The architect Henry Hobson Richardson’s shattered the designs typical for the period and created an example of one goal of the Arts and Crafts Movement: a completely integrated environment.Following the tour will be a wine and cheese with Iris Wang on the intersection of art and commerce. Born in 1954 in South Korea to parents who had immigrated from China, Wang, Founder and Artistic Director at Brentano, Inc., cultivated an interest in her Chinese heritage at an early age. At 21, she enrolled at the National Normal University, a premier Taiwanese art school. In 1978, after teaching art in Taiwan, Iris came to the United States and began work on her MFA at Kent State University. She completed her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1981 and began working with an interior designer in Chicago. It was a project involving fabric covered ceiling tiles that sparked Iris’s interest in textiles, an interest that eventually grew into Brentano, Inc.

This enjoyable evening will prepare you for the Wednesday presentation by Melinda Watt, Chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago on William Morris.

This event is in-person and we ask that all participants remain fully masked indoors. Stay tuned for more information.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Glessner House, 1800 South Prairie Avenue, Chicago, United States