A Love Supreme: Norman Teague

A Love Supreme, a solo exhibition by Norman Teague inspired by legendary jazz musician John Coltrane, will have an adjoining installation in Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House by Chicago-based BIPOC designers. Teague uses Coltrane’s album “A Love Supreme” as a personal, cultural, and spiritual touchstone to consider design influences from his life-long home in Chicago, exploring how the power of bold improvisational jazz and unapologetic Black aesthetics have expanded the minds and inspired creative communities of color.

“I believe there is a quest for craft from the imaginations of Black America that needs to be heard, seen, and felt as safe, desired, and beautiful. And it can only come from us. This turning point of awareness in American history will only get greater as time goes on—and design history will follow,” says Teague.

The accompanying exhibit A Love Supreme: McCormick House Reimagined seeks to provide a new narrative about the bold, bright, and vast number of designers who are the future of American design. For the McCormick House installation, curators Norman Teague and Rose Camara ask, “What is your Coltrane story? Who awakened you personally and artistically?” The exhibit celebrates a variety of jazz and jazz-influenced influences on Chicago design, and will include key musical performances throughout its run.

A Love Supreme is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities. It is sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and in part by a grant from the League of Chicago Theatres and ComEd. With programming in partnership with Elmhurst University Department of Music.

A Love Supreme: McCormick House Reimagined is co-curated by Norman Teague and Rose Camara. This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Chipstone Foundation.