Date: 
Mon, 06/22/2026 - 10:00am to 11:00am

South Shore Arts

Art in Focus

The Art of Industry, Identity, and the Modern America

June 22nd  *  10:00 - 11:00 am

Free Event
Center for Visual and Performing Arts
1040 Ridge Road, Munster, IN

LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Continuing towards the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, we continue to look at the artists and the artworks which shaped this nation. Beginning in the aftermath of the Civil War and continuing into the early twentieth century, this lecture examines how American art evolved alongside industrialization, immigration, urban growth, and cultural change. From the realism of the Gilded Age and the landscapes of westward expansion to the innovations of the Ashcan School and early modernism, the presentation explores how artists captured both the promise and tensions of a rapidly changing nation. Framed through the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the lecture considers how art documented the country’s transformation into the 20th and 21st centuries.

Art in Focus, the popular art appreciation series founded in 1996 by retired educator Rita M. Ray, resumes for adult learners of all ages this winter. Sessions are held at the Center for Visual & Performing Arts and are led by South Shore Arts Curator & Exhibits Manager Brandon Johnson and feature distinguished guests.

Thanks to the generous support from Powers Health, Art in Focus is free for adult learners of all ages who are interested in the arts and its impact on our world, past, present, and future. Sessions are held every second and fourth Monday of the month at The Center for Visual & Performing Arts in Munster. Presentations run between 45 and 65 minutes.

       
To see the Art in Focus schedule, please visit our website at southshoresrtsonline.org. Feel free to contact Exhibits Manager Brandon Johnson at 219/836-1839, ext. 108, or Brandon@southshoreartsonline.org if you have any questions or suggestions about programming.