A Love Supreme expands on Norman Teague’s personal connections with Chicago including Bauhaus design influences; life experiences; the power of jazz, funk, and blues in the city; and architectural influences through new work by the artist and other BIPOC designers. Along with a collaborative group of peers, Teague uses the Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House to transform its interior away from upper class white suburban living to a space celebrating Black and Brown pride including acknowledgments of overlooked historical figures from Chicago. This exhibit serves as a classic example of Mies van der Rohe’s larger-than-life influence on the city’s architecture but reimagined through a new lens. Performances infuse the influence of jazz, funk, and blues music to reflect how avant-garde performers changed Chicago. Teague’s new sculptural works and furniture designs in the main galleries further amplify the work in the house.

Norman Teague is a Chicago-based designer and educator using design as an agent for change and as a mechanism to empower black and brown communities. Teague was one of five artists selected to participate in the United States Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia 2023. He worked with Theaster Gates on 12 Ballads for Huguenot House for dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, Germany. His participation in Wall of Respect: Vestiges, Shards and Legacy of Black Power in Chicago, chronicled the legacy of a seminal mural developed for Chicago’s Black South Side located at 43rd Street and Langley Avenue. With Folayemi Wilson, Teague was a partner in blkHaUS studios. blkHaUS blended contemporary aesthetics with locally sourced materials to create furniture, objects, and spaces that transform common typologies into original works representative of twenty-first century design. Teague was named a creative collaborator on the exhibitions team for the Barack Obama Presidential Library. He is an assistant professor of industrial design at University of Illinois Chicago.

John McKinnon has over fifteen years of curatorial and administrative experience. Since his appointment as executive director of the Elmhurst Art Museum in 2017, McKinnon has managed the fundraising and restorations of Mies van der Rohe's McCormick House—revealing the full exterior for the first time in nearly 25 years. Under his leadership, the museum changed physically and philosophically, including rebranding and programming expansion. In 2022, McKinnon was featured in Newcity's Design 50: The Fifty People Who Shape Chicago. He currently serves on the City of Elmhurst's Public Arts Commission and the Arts DuPage Advisory Committee. His previous positions include program director of the Society for Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, and assistant curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The Elmhurst Art Museum was founded in 1997 to cultivate a creative space where art is for everyone. As a leader in the Chicagoland area for contemporary art, arts education, and mid-century modern architecture, the museum sparks creativity and cultural enrichment through the visual arts, education, and architecture by providing thought-provoking, diverse exhibitions and programming.