Celebrate Artist Mr. Imagination at Inuit's Renovated Museum

Celebrate artist Mr. Imagination at Intuit’s renovated museum!

Finally, a dedicated arts education studio at Intuit honoring artist Mr. Imagination will inspire creativity and connection for youth, special needs groups, teachers and audiences. Your support is needed today.

Intuit is embarking on construction to transform its facility into a modern, accessible museum, tentatively scheduled to reopen summer 2024.

Led by Campaign Co-Chairs Jan Petry and Stacy Wells and President and CEO Debra Kerr, the renovated museum will also accomplish… …a richer museum experience with nearly triple the public space, including galleries dedicated to showcasing the collection.

…heightening Intuit and Chicago as the preeminent outsider and self-taught art destination by drawing thousands more national and international guests.

the reimagined Darger Room and interpretive exhibition, with innovative storytelling about the world's most iconic outsider artist, Chicago’s own Henry Darger.

…a beautiful, modernized façade and accessible entryway to reflect Intuit’s ethos as a welcoming museum for all.

Contribute to the legacy of Mr. Imagination. $250,000 remains to be raised for the new museum, including designing the Mr. Imagination Education Center. To make a donation of any amount, contact Claire Fassnacht, development manager, at claire@art.org or 312-624-8000.

Above photo by Link Harper.

INTUIT—JUST IMAGINE! the campaign for Intuit

Meet Intuit, Chicago’s unique museum and the world’s preeminent outsider and self-taught art resource

Founded in 1991, Intuit is a premier museum of outsider and selftaught art, defined as work created by artists who faced marginalization, overcame personal odds to make their artwork, or who did not, or sometimes could not, follow a traditional path of art making, often using materials at hand to realize their artistic vision.

By presenting a diversity of artistic voices, Intuit builds a bridge from art to audiences. The museum's mission is grounded in the ethos that powerful art can be found in unexpected places and made by unexpected creators.

Intuit’s critical programs include:

• World-class outsider and self-taught art exhibitions and collections

• Public learning programs like Art After Work, lectures, film screenings and workshops

• IntuiTeens Summer Youth Program

• Teacher Fellowship Program multidisciplinary professional development for K-12 teachers

• The Outsider and other scholarly publications

Since 2014, under Debra Kerr’s leadership, Intuit has demonstrated incredible audience growth and financial resilience:

• Intuit’s attendance has doubled

• Foundation and donor support has increased, growing the budget from $450,000 to nearly $1 million

• Audiences of color have grown to 35%, compared to the industrywide 11%

• Media attention has increased fivefold, boosting public awareness and attendance

• A Young Professionals Board was launched and is thriving

• Intuit has added more than 100 exemplary donated artworks to its growing collection

Introducing the Mr. Imagination Education Center

$242,500 of $250,000 remains to be raised

Gregory Warmack (1948–2012), also known as “Mr. Imagination,” was an obvious choice to honor in the new education center. The celebrated Chicago self-taught artist was a friend to all, including the many children with whom he enjoyed sharing messages of creativity, peace and kindness. Mr. I transformed everyday objects and found materials into elaborate headdresses, totemic scepters, powerful head busts and thrones. Discarded paintbrushes became fantastic faces, and bottlecaps became jewels. He dedicated himself to making art that would give meaning and self-worth to all those curious and courageous enough to embrace imagination.

The Mr. Imagination Education Center will serve students K–12, teachers, people with disabilities, adult groups, and groups of all ages and backgrounds. It is expected 3,000 guests will benefit during the studio’s first year alone. Visiting groups will enjoy learning, art-making, special events and other opportunities made possible through the new space.

The studio will offer pictures, books, articles, online tools and other objects that showcase Mr. Imagination’s powerful artwork, teachings and lived experiences, so that all who pass through the studio may find inspiration from the beloved artist.

Donations to the new museum support the new accessible entrance, costs to promote the museum to Chicago schools, families, special needs groups and national and international audiences, and costs to design the Mr. Imagination Education Center.

Photo provided by Cleo Wilson (Mr. Imagination) Gregory Warmack (American 1949-2012). Untitled (Castings of the artist's hands), 2009. Plaster and paint. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Gift of Lisa Stone and Don Howlett, 2021.11

Explore the planned museum

Jan Petry Gallery

Friends came together to generously name the new, largest gallery space in honor of an Intuit Founder and Past Board President, who chaired the exhibitions committee for 25 years. Intuit continues to accept donations in Jan Petry’s honor for this important space.

Petry has overseen more than 135 exhibits for Intuit. In 2015, she received Intuit’s Visionary Award, given to those doing outstanding work in the outsider and self-taught art genre. Petry is a sculptor and retired VP Associate Creative Director at Leo Burnett, an international advertising agency.

Photo courtesy Jan Petry

CLEO: Center for Learning and Engagement Opportunities

Museum guests will enjoy a community room that offers films, books, refreshments, lounging and art-making space, and much more, on a daily basis. Program audiences will partake of music, theatrical and dance performances; spoken word and poetry readings; artist and curator talks; film screenings; Teacher Fellowship Program presentations; and countless other opportunities in the museums learning and gathering space.

The high-volume space will be used nearly every day as the backdrop for a myriad of gatherings at Intuit and is the primary rental space for corporate and cultural partners.

Cleo Wilson has served Intuit as a founder, volunteer, board member, chief editor of The Outsider magazine, curator, executive director, board president (twice) and board member (again). She was the recipient of Intuit’s Visionary Award in 2012, in honor of her service to the field of outsider and self-taught art. There’s a reason that the first hit when you search Wilson’s name online is her feature in SeriouslyBadassWomen.com: Her dedication to changing the world and down-to-earth personality are infectious.

Photo by Cheri Eisenberg.

INTUIT—JUST IMAGINE! the campaign for Intuit

Susann Craig Gallery

This first museum gallery will be one of the two prime spaces to showcase Intuit’s rapidly growing collection of outsider and self-taught art. It will be the first home to rotating exhibitions of the collection, which has never before had a dedicated space.

It was a combination of her interest in craft and an encounter with a folk artist in Leland, Mich., which led Susann Craig to purchase her first piece of folk art, and her journey as a collector began. This fixation led her to prominent figures in the Chicago arts scene, such as Roger Brown, Ann Nathan, Bob Roth, Cleo Wilson and many others who would eventually consolidate and found Intuit.

Craig played an active and crucial role in exhibitions, events and fundraisers, such as the celebrated Closet Clearance Sale, throughout her 30-year involvement with the museum.

Large Special Exhibitions Gallery: $500,000

A large, modern, second-floor gallery will feature changing special exhibitions and highlight the prominent as well as emerging artists in the outsider and self-taught genre. This space will benefit from significant marketing and promotion as it will host three to five exhibitions each year.

Small Special Exhibitions Gallery: $200,000

This gallery will also feature changing special exhibitions and highlight the prominent as well as emerging artists in the outsider and self-taught genre.

Left: Sister Gertrude Morgan (American, 1900 1980). Chart of Revelations 10, 11, 12, 13, c. 1970. Pen and paint on poster board, 22 x 28 in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Susann Craig, 2002.4

Right: Photo by Sean Forrest, courtesy of the Craig Family

Take the Next Step with Intuit!

Engrave a stair with your name: $15,145 per stair Fewer than 10 steps remain!

The cost of each stair $15,145 represents the number of pages in the epic manuscript of one of the most famous outsider artists, Henry Darger. The stairway is a prominent feature where guests ascend from the first-floor permanent collection gallery to the second-floor collection gallery.

By “Taking the Next Step” with us and engraving your name on the staircase, you’ll connect guests with a richer museum experience that expands to three levels of outsider and self-taught art experiences!

Campaign Breakdown

Campaign phase: Public/Fundraising

Goal to raise: $7.25 million

Raised as of September 2023: $7 million

Construction completion goal: September 2024

Donations to the new museum support the new accessible entrance, costs to promote the museum to Chicago schools, families, special needs groups and national and international audiences, and costs to design the Mr. Imagination Education Center.

Staircase with engraved steps like the planned staircase at Intuit.

INTUIT—JUST IMAGINE! the campaign for Intuit

The World of Henry Darger Experience (Right)

The newly-designed immersive experience reveals the secret life of Henry Darger. Guests arrive in an introductory space, enjoy guided tours around the Henry Darger Room, and move through the Henry Darger experience, an expanded and dynamic exhibition devoted to the artist and the fantasy world he created.

Utilizing interactive digital screens, photos, signage and visual access to his belongings, the exhibition tells Henry Darger’s history and captivates audiences like never before.

Museum Façade

Part of what makes Intuit extraordinary is its vision to be truly accessible in every sense. Not only will the new facility be ADA-compliant, but the façade will invite and welcome each person into a safe space. The art itself and the extended programming is relevant to audiences regardless of their ability, race, orientation or socioeconomic background.

Scott Lang and JoAnn Seagren Store (Right)

Debra Kerr Office Suites

Curation Studio

Donations to the new museum support the new accessible entrance, costs to promote the museum to Chicago schools, families, special needs groups and national and international audiences, and costs to design the Mr. Imagination Education Center.

Recognition Wall in Museum Entryway Intuit will proudly recognize all donors of $5,000 and above on the capital campaign donor wall, including tribute gallery donors of $5,000 and above. Pledges can be paid over 3-5 years.

Contact Claire Fassnacht, development manager, at claire@art.org or 312-624-8000 today to pledge your gift and build your legacy with Intuit.

Above: The former installation of the Henry Darger Room Collection at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Photo © John Faier

The popularity of the genre is exploding!

At the heart of outsider and self-taught art is the deep and real humanity infused in the artwork. It’s critical, now more than ever, that the genre is preserved, celebrated and given a home.

With the growing interest and recognition of intuitive and outsider art in the United States and around the world, now is the time to invest in Intuit to expand its public exhibitions space to showcase some of the most important art and artists in the genre, along with upgraded systems and new guest-focused space. The transformation will ensure the collections are cared for and exhibited in a modern space to inspire future generations to appreciate and study.

INTUIT—JUST IMAGINE! the campaign for Intuit

“For those who think they’re just not interested in art, this museum, that preserves, displays and studies the work of artists who aren’t influenced by the mainstream art world and conform to nothing but a personal vision, will thrill.”

Intuit celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016 by revisiting the Corcoran Gallery’s groundbreaking exhibition, Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980, with Post Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980-2016, celebrating the impact the original exhibition had on Chicago audiences, who viewed it at the Field Museum.

The new Henry Darger Experience

Celebrating the world’s most renowned outsider artist

The crown jewel of Intuit’s collection is the Henry Darger Room and Archive. Your support for Intuit’s transformation ensures that the re-imagined Darger exhibit will include a replica of Darger’s room and a two-level interpretive exhibit about his influences and the times in which he lived. The expansion will allow for extended programming and space to display collections, including source materials and personal documents of Darger’s.

Intuit’s renovation will not only solidify its status as the preeminent museum for outsider and self-taught art, but it will ensure that, arguably the most influential outsider artist, Henry Darger is recognized for his contributions and work for generations to come. Investing in Intuit means you will be part of the emerging national and international recognition of and interest in outsider and selftaught art, with the Henry Darger exhibit at the heart of it.

Pictures above: The former installation of the Henry Darger Room Collection at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.

Photos © John Faier

“Intuit is [a] major Darger study source. It has the Henry Darger Room Collection, a sort of interpretive recreation of the space in which Darger worked, on permanent exhibit.”

Steve Johnson Chicago Tribune

“Now, therefore, I, Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of the City of Chicago, do hereby proclaim April 12, 2017, to be Henry Darger Day in Chicago, and urge every Chicagoan to visit Intuit to learn about the inspiring life and legacy of Henry Darger… and about the impact of outsider art….”

Rahm Emanuel Former Mayor City of Chicago

IMAGINE! the campaign for Intuit

Intuit Campaign Leadership

HONORARY CO-CHAIRS

David Byrne

Robert A Roth

CHAIR EMERITUS

Scott Lang

CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS

Jan Petry and Stacy Wells

PRESIDENT AND CEO

Debra Kerr

BUILDING COMMITTEE

Steve Thompson, project manager

Patrick Blackburn

Spencer Blaney

Tracy Holmes

Debra Kerr

César Montenegro

Tynnetta Qaiyim

Michelle Woods

Fabiola Yep

ARCHITECTS

Doyle & Associates

STRATEGIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

Susan Baerwald

Michelle T. Boone

John Jerit

Victor Keen

Ashley Smither Langley

John Maizels

Frank Maresca

Douglas Robson

Leslie Umberger

Jeffrey Wolf

Scott Lang, Council Chair

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tracy Holmes, President

Patrick Blackburn

Dana Boutin

Tim Bruce

Robert Burnier

Cheri Eisenberg

Lewis Greenblatt

Robert Grossett

Scott Lang

Rob Lentz

Bonnie McGrath

César Montenegro

Elizabeth Nelson

MAJOR PROJECT FUNDING FROM The City of Chicago

Benedicta Nordenstahl

Jan Petry

Tynnetta Qaiyim

Phyllis Rabineau

Kevin Sampson

Jerry Stefl

William Swislow

David Syrek

Stacy Wells

Cleo Wilson

Zachary Wirsum

Adam Wolford

Michelle Woods

Shawn Grenald, ex officio representing the Young Professionals Board

VIVIAN SOCIETY

Lifetime Trustees

Richard Bowen*

Susann Craig*

Kevin Cole

Ralph Concepcion

Harriet Finkelstein

Marjorie Freed

Carl Hammer

Eugenie Johnson

Ann Nathan

Robert A. Roth

Judy Saslow

Lisa Stone

*Deceased