About
Colette Wright Adams
BFA University of Michigan
MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
I’m a painter & mixed-media artist who curates spaces and creates experiences focused on visual art, meditation and poetry.
I’m drawn to the protected natural habitats that we build to save our environment and ourselves. I cherish the borders where culture and cultivation meet. Where we cultivate the land and ourselves.
An artist’s job is to tell a story that otherwise would not be told.
An artist’s job is to move us with that story
To trouble us with worries, lift us up with hope, to encircle us with abandon
Leaving somethings to chance & always staying true.
Colette Wright Adams
colettewrightadams@gmail.com
@colettewrightadams www.ColetteWrightAdams.com
B. Mitchel Field, NY 1953
1976 BFA University of Michigan, cum laude,.Ann Arbor, MI
1979 MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC),Fellowship exhibition. Chicago, IL
2023-present Resident Artist NORTH PARK VILLAGE NATURE CENTER, Chicago Park District
Creating visual art and poetry
Creator & facilitator of art-making public workshops
2021-present BRINGWONDER: Art & Soul Experiences, Owner,Lead artist
Facilitator/ Lead Artist visual art & meditation workshops
Meditation & Drawing on location (Chicago & Chicagoland)
The Emotional Culture of Food Monthly generative conversations centered around food.
2020-2021-THE SUMMONING...A 30 DAY COLLECTION
An invitational, online Project centered on creating in our homes during pandemic lock downs.
5-12 artists participated over 3 quarters.
2018-2019 -DIY RESIDENCY GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY
Creating visual art and prose poetry while working in public at the Garfield Park Conservatory in
Chicago. Completed over 100 mixed-media drawings/paintings.
2018-2020 ART SPOT BOX Founder, co-curator Public Art project supported by Northwest Arts
Connection and North River Commission The Art Spot Box provides access to public art through a
partnership between artists and businesses in various communities throughout Chicago. It is a
re-imagination of exhibition space, bridging the traditional white box gallery, museums, and online art
platforms, formatted to ease public access to fine art and encourage informal dialogue and
conversation about the art on display.
Our first two boxes were located in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago
2017-2018 -INSIGHT-PORTRAIT Director, co-creator of community collaborative drawing project This
drawing project enlisted professional artists to participate in 4 sessions which included models from
Northside Housing Men’s transitional center (a NFP) and a shared meal between artists and models
The artists were included in an exhibition at the end of the project and sale proceeds
were donated to the non-profit
2018 -NORTH LAWNDALE ARTS FESTIVAL Created a collaboration between Uptown Arts Center
and North Lawndale Arts & Culture committee. Invented and introduced “Rotisserie Poetrie”, a
tabletop Draw-Write game, to create art and dialogue in Douglas Park Cultural Center
2011-2021 -UPTOWN ARTS CENTER (a program of the Preston Bradley Center)Founder, director,&
Lead curator.
Housed in a series of iconoclastic spaces within the historic Preston Bradley Center, I created
shared art studios, exhibition spaces and boutique performance arenas.
Created more than two dozen exhibitions of which these are the highlights:
1-Pulp Painting Residency. A collaboration with 10,000 Ripples & Indira Johnson. Co-curator and judge. Collaborated with Trisha Oralie Martin in creation of an installation of public art work at PBC
2-Em(body) an exhibition in 3 parts. Lead Curator Eden Unluata. Co-curated part 3 of this building-wide Interdisciplinary exhibition including Installation and performance art. Created and conducted Ekphrasis Poetry workshops. *Top 5 Weekend picks by Bad At Sports
3-The Sacred Show Curator & judge Created workshops on art & spirituality featuring Rev. Adam Robersmith
4-The Tarot Show Curator , Invitational
5-Urbs in Horto: 36 views Curator & judge
2010-2020 JUST GOOD ART, the comfort of creativity `
Founder & Director, a community art project : Created Drop-in-and-Draw experiences and DIY poetry events in POP-UP locations in Chicago
Created “Meditation & Drawing- The Artist’s Lair” : a participatory workshop for non-artists and artists featured on Air BnB Experiences.
SELECT JURIED EXHIBITIONS & SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 33 Contemporary, Palm Springs, FL
Online & Catalogue “Terrain: Abstract-Contemporary Landscapes”
2025 Alma Gallery, Chicago, IL Spring Gallery Exhibition
2025 Grove Gallery, Evanston, IL “Radiance”
Juror: Sergio Gomez
2025 Forshay Gallery, Chicago, IL “Drawing Painterly Conclusions”
Jurors: Dan Addington & Helen Dannelley
2024 Alma Arts & Interiors, Chicago, IL
Group exhibition: CAVA Award of Excellence
2024 Elmhurst Artist Guild/ Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
Juror: Marci Rubin CAVA Spring exhibition
2024 Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
Curator: Sergio Gomez “Awakenings: Narratives of Spring”
2024 Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
CAVA Winter exhibition
2024 Vibrant Cast Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Open Canvas”
2024 Christopher Gallery, Prairie State College
“Memory” curated by Beth Shadur
2023 Epiphany Center for the Arts
CAVA’s “The Happiness Show” Award of Excellence
2023 Oliva Gallery, Chicago
“Oceans Between VI, Culture Flow
2023 Solo Exhibition “Harvest”
Austin-Irving Chicago Public Library
2023 “Inspired Stories” CAVA winter exhibition
Dwell Gallery Co, Chicago
2023 Solo Exhibition “The Nature of Seeing”
North Shore Art League, Winnetka, IL
2022 Midwestern Biennial, Rockford Art Museum
Rockford, IL 2022
2022 Art Center of Highland Park
”Nature vs Nurture” Highland Park, IL
2022 Evanston Art Center
”Later Impressions” CAVA Evanston, IL
2022 Perkolator gallery Invitational
“Word in the World” Visual art & text Chicago, IL
2022 Mayslake Peabody Estate
Cava’s Winter exhibition, Oakbrook, IL
2021 Beverly Arts Center
“Inspired Explorations” Invitational CAVA board members
2021 Online; Sergio Gomez, curator
“Opening”
2020 Scharpenberg Gallery, Dank Haus
Chicago, IL“Urban Life”
2019 Terrain Biennial Uptown hub (3rd Space, artist & co-curator)
Garfield Park Conservatory installation, Chicago, IL
2018 Japanese Consulate, Chicago, IL
“ Our Art Working 2018 ”Hokkaido and Chicago Artists Invitational”
2018 Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, IL
CAVA: Chicago Area Visual Artists
2017 Womanmade Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Grassroots”
2017 Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
Later Impressions “Best in Show”
2016 Uptown Arts Center:, Chicago, IL
“ Mysteries & Loves” , Colette Wright Adams & Mariusz Zalesk
2014 Chicago Cultural Center, Renaissance gallery
Artists Breakfast Group
2011 Avram Eisen Gallery, Chicago
Colette Wright Adams & Janet Metzger
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2013 Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College Skokie,IL
“The Personal is Political”
2012 Polish Arts Club Exhibition, Polish Museum of America Chicago
2011 -Madron Gallery, Chicago
University of Michigan Alumni -
2010 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, judge: William Lieberman
Chicago,IL
2009 Tom Robinson Gallery, Chicago
“Drawing Attention”