Everyone’s A Designer/Everyone’s Design begins its journey at the Calumet Cultural Center in South Chicago, an area long known for its heavy industry, strong communities, and natural surroundings. Featured in the exhibition is local resident Tim Heppner’s wood-framed bungalow.

Utilizing carpentry skills and a passion for learning about environmentally responsible design, Tim has transformed his house, originally built in 1875, into a net-positive-energy home. The structure is completely self-reliant for electricity, water, and heat. Additionally, during warmer months, Tim’s backyard garden provides fresh produce that lasts him through the year. Tim is now an ambassador for Chicago’s Green Homes Project and an expert in sustainable design.

Please join us at an opening reception where we celebrate South Chicago and Tim Heppner with family-friendly activities and free food, drink, and music. Visitors can tour the exhibition and also contribute to the Society of Smallness’s “Small Accounts of Style,” an archive of how you’ve created your home that is going to travel with the exhibition from site to site before ending at the Chicago Cultural Center.

More about the exhibition

Everyone’s a Designer/Everyone’s Design, produced by Illinois Humanities, is a free traveling museum exhibition that explores and celebrates everyday Chicagoans’ influence on art and design in the city. Travelling across Chicago’s Cultural Centers, the exhibition tells the stories of 5 people, the homes they’ve made uniquely their own, and the rich design and architectural history of their neighborhoods.

Learn more about the exhibit at ilhumanities.org or contact Paul Durica at paul.durica@ilhumanities.org.