The Traveling Gallery

Chicago & Cook County, Illinois

Free art, chosen by elders, for their own walls.

The Traveling Gallery brings a pop-up art gallery to nursing homes — and every resident leaves with a piece to keep. No cost to anyone. Ever.

Share Your Art Host a Gallery Volunteer

Bare walls on one side. Forgotten art on the other.

Every spring, art rooms across Cook County fill with finished student work that never gets picked up.

Neighbors downsize and box up paintings no one has room for. Meanwhile, a few miles away, nursing-home residents live with blank walls — and under Illinois Medicaid rules, there's nothing left over for a picture. The Traveling Gallery connects the two.

$30/ month

The entire personal needs allowance a nursing-home resident keeps under Illinois Medicaid — for haircuts, clothing, and everything else personal. Unchanged since 1988, and tied for the lowest allowance of any state. Source: Illinois Department on Aging, 2026 Medicaid Income Standards & Resource Limits.

How it works

The journey of one piece of art, in six steps

1

Collect

Art reaches us through several doors: end-of-year studio cleanouts, college studio departments, youth arts centers, museum education programs, and neighbors downsizing. We come to you for pickup.

2

Sort & evaluate

Volunteers sort by size and condition. Anything torn, damp, or not right for a care-home setting is gently set aside.

3

Prepare

We flatten curled pieces, mat or back where we can, and attach a small card — the artist's first name, grade or school, and year. Simple clip frames finish the look.

4

Stage the pop-up

Volunteers bring a display rack or boards into the home's common room and set up a browsable gallery: Choose a piece to keep.

5

Residents choose

No limit on looking, no pressure to hurry. Volunteers carry the chosen piece to the resident's room and hang it that day, with the facility's approval.

6

Close the loop

With permission, we take a few photos and share back with the school or artist: your work now hangs in someone's room.

“We don't drop off boxes of decorations. Residents browse and select, the way anyone would in a gallery. Picking your own art is a small act of ownership in a place where most things are chosen for you — and that choice is the whole point.”

Where we are now

The Traveling Gallery is a new community project, currently preparing its first gallery visit on Chicago's North Side in September 2026. We're building relationships with schools and care homes one at a time, and we report only what we've actually done — no inflated numbers.

After the pilot, this note becomes a short "our first visit" story with real counts and a couple of permitted photos.

Art teachers & artists

Give your unclaimed work a second life.

Share Your Art →

Activities directors

Bring a gallery day to your residents, free.

Host a Gallery →

Neighbors

Donate art, frames, or an afternoon.

Volunteer & Support →

For schools, studios & neighbors

Give unclaimed art a second life

If you're an art teacher, a studio department, an arts organization, or a neighbor with a closet full of pictures, we'd love to hear from you. The art you're about to store, recycle, or throw away could be hanging in an elder's room by summer.

Art teachers & schools

We know the end-of-year routine: portfolios go home, and a stack stays behind. Instead of the recycling bin, let us pick it up.

  • We coordinate a pickup date around your calendar — late May and early June are our busiest weeks, so book early.
  • We label every piece with the student's first name, grade, and school.
  • We send photos and a short note after the visit so you can share that the work found a home.

Please confirm the work is the school's to give away first — a note home to families usually covers it.

College studios, arts centers & collectives

Surplus studio pieces, monoprints, thesis studies, finished showcase work — all welcome. Rolling or end-of-semester pickups, with your organization credited on the artist card if you'd like.

Neighbors & community donors

Downsizing, or more art than wall? We accept framed and unframed works on paper, small paintings, prints, and photographs in good condition — especially bright, recognizable subjects under about 36 inches.

We aren't able to take large canvases, glass-fronted frames over 16×20, or content unsuited to a care setting.

Art Donation Inquiry

Tell us what you have — we'll follow up within a few days.

Saved to The Traveling Gallery's inbox — Kathy will follow up by email or phone.

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Thank you!

Your donation inquiry is in. We'll be in touch about pickup within a few days.

Help the gallery roll

This runs on borrowed trucks, donated frames, and a few free afternoons

Here's where you fit. Most roles take a couple of hours and no special skills.

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Pickup & transport

Collect art from schools and donors — a car with a flat back seat is plenty.

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Sorting & prep

Flatten, mat, label — a good evening task for a small group or a scout troop.

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Gallery day

Set up, help residents browse, hang pieces.

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Photography & storytelling

With consent, capture the day and help share it back with schools.

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Behind the scenes

Spreadsheets, outreach emails, flyer design.

Donate supplies

Our wish list is short and cheap. Frame shops, hardware stores, and anyone cleaning out a craft closet can help:

Clip & simple frames (8×10–16×20) Mat, backing & foam core board Damage-free hanging strips Flat storage bins A folding display rack or easels

Give

The Traveling Gallery is currently an all-volunteer community project — we're not yet set up to accept financial donations. The best help right now is art, frames, and time. Leave your email below and we'll let you know the moment tax-deductible giving opens up.

Volunteer Sign-Up

Tell us how you'd like to help.

🙌

Welcome aboard!

We'll reach out about the next pickup, prep session, or gallery day.

Got it — we'll email you the moment tax-deductible giving is live. 🌻

About The Traveling Gallery

What we believe

Dignity through choice
Residents don't receive random decorations. They browse and select.
Nothing wasted
From student pieces facing disposal to art gifted by neighbors, good work gets a second life.
Two generations, one gift
Student artists learn their work matters to a real person; elders feel seen by the young.
Free, always
No cost to residents, families, homes, or schools.

Who's behind this

Kathy, Founder

Kathy is a Wilmette-based social worker (MA, University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice) whose earlier career spanned nearly two decades in healthcare industry leadership. Her work with schools and older adults led to a simple observation: schools have more finished art than they can keep, and care homes have more bare walls than anyone should. The Traveling Gallery exists to fix both at once.

Our approach to numbers

We publish only what we've actually done. As the pilot produces real counts, you'll find them here, updated each season.

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Pieces rescued this season
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Residents who chose a piece
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Partner schools & homes
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Student artists reached

Contact

Serving Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. Email: info@thetravelinggallery.org

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Message sent

Thanks for reaching out — we'll reply as soon as we can.