In honor of the museum’s late founder Susann Craig, who passed away earlier this year, Intuit opens Building a Legacy, an exhibition featuring works of art from its collection donated by Craig, on view beginning Thursday, October 14.

Building a Legacy: Gifts from Susann Craig features works by artists Minnie Evans, Justin McCarthy, Sister Gertrude Morgan and Albert Zahn, among others. The exhibition celebrates Craig, her excitement for outsider and self-taught art, her friendship with many of the genre’s renowned artists, and the long-term impact of her stewardship of Intuit.

“Susann was incredibly passionate about Intuit from its very beginning, and she made it her mission over the last 30 years to use her powers as a people connector to introduce and engage people with the museum,” said Intuit President and CEO Debra Kerr. “Her energy and enthusiasm for the organization were boundless—part of the personality of the place—and the staff and board team misses her smiles and laughter every day.”

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1936, Craig was an entrepreneur from a young age. She studied at the College of Wooster and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning her master’s in art history and opening the first of her many stores, The Gallery, Ltd., in the area. Craig moved from Champaign to Chicago, where she played a prominent role in the city’s art and fashion industries as a lecturer at Columbia College Chicago and the owner of The Susann Craig Showroom. In 1991, Craig joined a handful of Chicago collectors, artists, educators and art enthusiasts in founding Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. She served on the museum’s board of directors for 29 years before being elevated to a member of the Vivian Society of life trustees in 2020. She was a recipient of the Visionary Award, the museum’s highest honor.

Building a Legacy: Gifts from Susann Craig is curated by Alison Amick and will be on view until Sunday, January 9, 2022.

ABOUT INTUIT

Founded in 1991, Intuit is a premier museum of outsider and self-taught 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—to celebrate the power of outsider art—is grounded in the ethos that powerful art can be found in unexpected places and made by unexpected creators.

Intuit is open 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and by appointment on Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, please visit www.art.org/visit/.

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Tags: Alison Amick, Building a Legacy: Gifts from Susann Craig, Chicago, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Susann Craig, West Town