Visiting Artist Series
About the Visiting Artist Series
The College of DuPage Visiting Artist Series provides opportunities for the community to interact with leaders in the field of contemporary art, design and culture. Through lectures, conversations and workshops, a diverse range of art professionals provide students with new perspectives on contemporary artistic practices.
The series is a collaboration between the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and the Fine Arts, Architecture and Photography programs. All lectures are free and open to the public. Times and Locations are subject to change.
Past lectures are available to view in our video library.
Speaker Schedule 2026-27
Christopher Gregory-Rivera
Lecture: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026 at 11am
Playhouse Theatre
TBD
Lecture: October 2026
Steven Haulenbeek
Lecture: Wednesday, Nov. 18th, 2026 at 1pm
Playhouse Theatre
Speakers 2026-27
Christopher Gregory-Rivera
Visiting Artist
Lecture: Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 11am
Playhouse Theatre
Christopher Gregory Rivera is a Puerto Rican artist based in New York City. His work interrogates how photography shapes culture, memory, and political understanding, exploiting its evidentiary qualities to question how truth is constructed and visualized. Through a practice that spans documentary, still life, and archival inquiry, he rescues, deconstructs, and reconfigures historic narratives to better understand the present and imagine alternative futures. His project “Las Carpetas” reimagines political memory in Puerto Rico by rescuing, photographing and appropriating archives from a secret police division dedicated to political persecution in the US Territory. Aperture Magazine said of the work: “Gregory-Rivera’s work offers the opportunity for us to consider the record of political persecution and to imagine new ways of healing and moving forward.” In 2025, Gregory Rivera founded the Instituto de Observación Colectiva, an initiative supporting lens-based artists, documentarians, and archival practitioners working with Puerto Rican history, identity, and collective memory. His work has been shown at institutions around the world including at the Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Abrons Center, Smack Mellon and the Maine Institute of Contemporary Art.
TBD
Visiting Artist
Lecture: October, 2026
Steven Haulenbeek
Visiting Artist
Wednesday,Nov. 18th, 2026 at 1pm
Playhouse Theatre
Steven Haulenbeek was raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and studied drawing and sculpture at Hope College before earning an MFA in Designed Objects from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006. After working as an industrial and furniture designer, he established his independent studio practice in 2010.
Over the past decade, Haulenbeek has developed a multidisciplinary body of work spanning collectible design, lighting, furniture, and large-scale spatial installations. His work has been exhibited internationally in group exhibitions in New York, Milan, and Aspen, and commissioned by clients including Four Seasons, Proper Hotels, Sonos, and Haworth. Since 2017, Carpenters Workshop Gallery has represented his ICB series, while Egg Collective has represented his RBS work since 2021.
Haulenbeek’s work has been featured in publications including The New York Times T Magazine, Wallpaper*, Dezeen, Sight Unseen, and Design Milk. He was named a T Magazine “most exciting emerging American designer” and was recognized as a 2016 American Design Honoree at WantedDesign. His work is held in private and commercial collections worldwide.
Visiting Artist Lectures Video Library
Check out our full library for more artist talks and interviews.