Des Plaines, Ill. (Dec. 4, 2023) - Don’t miss a chance to see selected works from the Oakton College Koehnline Museum of Art’s permanent collection at the “Gems from the Koehnline” exhibition, Dec. 14 - Jan. 26. Stop by the public reception, Dec. 14, 5-8 p.m. to get a first look and mingle with artists and other community members.
The “Gems from the Koehnline” exhibition — free and open to the public — includes a section dedicated to artist and former Oakton art instructor Bill Moll, who passed away recently. Other works include new acquisitions by Chicago-based Great Depression-era artists Todros Geller, Samuel Greenburg, Leonard Havens, David Bekker, William Schwartz, Miriam McKinnie and William Jacobs.
Additional recently acquired art on display include works by Chicago artist and educator Richard Loving, prints by Margaret Burroughs including her iconic image of Black Venus, Joseph Meert’s painting depicting a grieving crowd after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and Joe Delaney’s unfinished canvas commemorating the meeting between Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.
Oakton’s art collection focuses on modern and contemporary art. The museum’s collecting policy encourages the acquisition of works created by Illinois and Chicago artists, currently comprising about 60% of the collection. The permanent collection consists of over 4,000 objects.
Since the founding of Oakton College in 1969, the interaction between art and its audience has held integral value. The Koehnline Museum of Art is named after William A. Koehnline, Oakton’s first president, as a tribute to his advocacy for the arts. Koehnline subscribed to the philosophy that “art is a creative response to life” and envisioned the campus as an environment to enrich and stimulate students, staff, faculty and the community.
For more information about the Koehnline Museum of Art and its exhibits, please visit https://www.oakton.edu/about/koehnline-museum-of-art.