There are so many interesting places in Elmhurst, but from the outside some of these great places may not seem too interesting. To some students, the Elmhurst Art Museum (EAM) looks like another boring museum.

“It’s pretty good for a local museum but it doesn’t have a lot of interesting pieces,” said sophomore Brennan Wall. “You might as well go if you haven’t been and have nothing to do.”

A few mediocre reviews can’t define the museum for all of the Chicago-land area; some York students even find the museum to be one of the best places in Elmhurst.

“The art museum is one of my favorite places in Elmhurst,” said sophomore Jacquelin Cyriac. “The artwork there is absolutely phenomenal and very creative and unique. And the best part is that it’s free when you’re a student.”

Cyriac isn’t the only sophomore with that opinion. Adam Haukland also thinks that the Elmhurst Art museum is an extraordinary attraction in Elmhurst.

“It’s a great place to walk around and examine all the pieces of artwork so many people have put into this museum,” said sophomore Adam Haukland.

Some high school students enjoy the museum, while others don’t, but if you haven’t been it’s definitely a good experience. Regina Merrill, the Associate Accountant Executive at Silverman Group, a group of professionals in the Chicagoland area who work to promote the arts, thinks it’s important for students to visit all of the exhibits at the museum.

“It is important for high school students to have access to information as well as a creative environment where they may find surprising new passions,” said Merrill.

The largest exhibit currently at EAM is Hebru Brantley’s “Force Field”  (check out the brochure here). For Brantley, learning about a certain graffiti artist helped him find his passion.

“When Hebru Brantley was 16, his mother gave him a book about Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was a New York-based graffiti artist,” said Merrill. “Learning about Basquiat was a turning point for Brantley, and it inspired him to become an artist.”

The museum isn’t directed towards a specific age group and is a great way to get out of the house. Also, visiting the museum is a great way to connect art to current events and help one learn and grow.

“The museum provides learning opportunities to curious minds of any age and any level of art/museum experience,” said John McKinnon, Executive Director of the Elmhurst Art Museum. “[We seek] to engage with people of all ages through exhibits and educational programming – you never stop learning.”

Not only is EAM a good way for students and other members of the Elmhurst community to learn but it is also a very creative way to see issues in the world through an original view.

“The artwork was honest and appealed to a lot of feminist movement stuff,” said senior Riley Olsen.

Olsen was commenting on an older exhibit, but even current exhibits have a more or less political background. The current leading exhibit at EAM surrounds contemporary Afrofuturism, which is an artistic movement surrounding black culture and history.

“Brantley also speaks of Flyboy’s reanimation in the final gallery as an emancipation from the history of African Americans in America,” said Merrill. “The character is running without being tied or weighed down by the world.”

With art there are so many connections one can make to the world he or she lives in, and there are so many possible ways to see it. Everyone has lived through different experiences and those experiences can help them see each piece differently and take something different away from the piece.

Art also has a way of teaching those who haven’t experienced something but know some about it. Art is a creative platform in which an artist can express himself/herself to teach and influence other people.

“Our goal at the Elmhurst Art Museum is to enrich people’s lives by providing more knowledge of art of our time, promote visual art, and spark individual creativity,” said Merrill.

The York students who have visited the museum before liked a lot of the exhibits. Cyriac liked the exhibit with the rearrangeable colored pencils and the “Skycube”; Olsen liked the charcoal exhibits.

“I like the mirror on the outside. Oh! And I loved when they had those inflatable blow up exhibits,” said Trevor McKenna, junior. “Also [I loved] when they did the Christmas one. I saw that.”

Your classmates have made it clear that the museum isn’t just another boring building in Elmhurst.

So whoever you are and whenever you have time, there will be an exhibit for you to enjoy. Whether you’re drawn to visual art on canvas, sculptures made of resin, or architecture and interior design, whether it’s the history of a certain architect or your newfound interest in oil paintings, EAM has something for you to discover.