Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2026 Weeds Grow in All Directions, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago IL, ( curated by Mariela Acuna)2024 Flowing Within the Recesses, Riverside Center for the Arts, Riverside IL (curated by JoAnne Aono)
2023 Beauty Amongst The Darkness, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago IL
Where We Left Off, Philadelphia PA (with artist, Aura Arreola) (curated by Tally de Orellana and David Ayala-Alfonso)
2022 Colored With Iron and Lace, Fracas Gallery, Chicago IL (curated by Jan Christian Bernabe, PhD)
Terrain Vague: The Promised Land, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL (with artist, Terisita Carson)
2021 Suspended In the Realm of Possibility, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
2020 Waking In the Shade Of The Sun, Union League Club, Chicago, IL
2018 Domesticity, Lyseloth Musikerwohnhaus, Basel, Switzerland (with artist, Allison Svoboda)
2015 Escape - The City as Studio, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL (with artist, Connie Noyes)
2014 Transformed, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 Sharks Are Born Swimming, South Suburban College, South Holland, IL
2011 T.A.W.G.A. (Throw Away Won’t Go Away), Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL
2010 Forget About the Future, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Her Story, Heaven Gallery, Chicago IL (co-curated by Holly Holmes and Teresa Silva)
Not A Soft Thing, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Il, Artist Mothers Collective
Litany, Blanc Gallery and Southside Community Arts Center, Chicago IL (curated by Jada-Amina Harvey)
EXPO Chicago, Blanc Gallery and Southside Community Arts Center, Chicago IL
put a bow on it., Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL (co-curated by Francis Lee and Maggie Borowitz)
It’s Real, Heaven and Noyes Gallery with The Artist Mothers Collective, Chicago, IL
2024 ReSOURCE: Art and Resourcefulness in Black Chicago, Southside Community Art Center, Chicago, IL (curated by Bethany Hill)
Flight of the Butterflies: Adapting to an Unnatural Habitat, Public Art, Chicago, IL (located at Superior and Michigan Avenues) (curated by Cortney Lederer)
2023 Earthly Visions: Inside the Climate Crisis, Gallery 400, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL (curated by Denny Mwaura)
Amuleto, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL ( curated by Allison Peters Quinn)
We Are Us: The Human Condition, Lubeznik Center For The Arts, Michigan City, IN (curated by Lora Fosberg)
2022 Tiger Strikes Satellite, Satellite Art Fair, Miami, FL
Obsolete, Berlin, Germany, national museum
2021 Dream, Center Program exhibition, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (curated by Asha Iman Veal)
Se(h)er, Seer Gallery, Virtual exhibition
All In The Same Boat, Stola Contemporary Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019 Twisting Fibers – An Art for All Reasons, Arts League, Pawtucket, RI
Flowers in the Garden, Southside Community Art Center, Chicago, IL
Impact, Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL
2017 Over and Over, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by Debra Kayes)
Waste Not, Want Not, Northeastern University, Chicago, IL
2016 RUMINATE, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL
Portraits, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
2015 Permeated Surfaces, Beverly Art Center, Chicago, IL Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL and Saugatuck Center for the Arts, Saugatuck, MI
Adorn : Contemporary Wearable Art, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 What Comes Around Goes Around, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL2012
Adornments -13th Inter’l Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Layers, Paths and Channels, Hatch Projects, Chicago, IL (curated by Anna Kunz)
Ways of Making Art, Governors State University, University Park, IL (juried by Jason Foumberg and Aaron Ott)
This Captivating Culture, Hatch Projects, Chicago, IL Pine Feather Period, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
2011 Simply Perfect sponsored by Patron Spirits and Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
2010 Macy’s Department Store, Los Angeles, CA
Not Just Another Pretty Face IV, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Adornments, Museum of Contemporary Art Store, Chicago, IL
2009 Black Creativity, juried show, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
2008 Not Just Another Pretty Face, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Grants/Awards/Honors/Fellowships
2025 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship Nominee, New York, NY
2025 3arts Next Level Award Nominee, Chicago IL
2021 Make A Wave Grantee, 3Arts, Chicago, IL
2021 Center Program, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago IL, awarded full scholarship
2020 Artist Relief Fund Award, 3Arts, Chicago, IL
2019 Award Nominee, 3Arts, Chicago, IL
2017 Tending Space Fellowship, Hemera Foundation, Joshua Tree, CA
2015 Ingenuity Creative Schools Grant, Ingenuity Inc., Chicago, IL
2012 Best of Show, Ways of Making, Governors State University, University Park, IL
2010 Black Creativity Honorary Mention, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
2009 Black Creativity Green Art Award, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
Selected Bibliography
2025 Rachel Dukes & Rebecca Zorach, ReSource: Art and Resourcefulness in Black Chicago, South Side Community Art Center. p159 -161, 2025
Frances Lee & Maggie Borowitz, The ribbon as fuse: “put a bow on it. at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago Artist Writers, February 14, 2025, https://chicagoartistwriters.com/the-ribbon-as-fuse-put-a-bow-on-it-at-tiger-strikes-astroid/
2024 Chicago Collage Community magazine, Vol.1, November 2024 pages 1,10 Audrey Henderson, For a Chicago artist, Afrofuturism inspires a vision for confronting climate change, Energy News Network, February 13, 2024
2023 Nicky Ni, Collective Imaginary: A Review of “Earthly Visions—Inside the Climate Crisis” at Gallery 400, Newcity, February 6, 2023
LeeAnn Trotter, New art exhibition at UIC explores societal responses to climate change, NBC Chicago, September 11, 2023
Suboart Magazine International Art Magazine for Emerging Artists
All Eyes On: Cydney M. Lewis, Suboart Magazine, January 15 https://suboartmagazine.com/2023/01/15/all-eyes-on-cydney-m-lewis/
2022 Top V Weekend Picks, Visualist Chicago, Bad at Sports, May 19, 2022 https://badatsports.com/?s=cydney+M.+Lewis
2018 KT Hawkbaker, Glass Curtain takes on the brain, Logan Center visits notions of home, Chicago Tribune, December 17, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ott-see-it-now-1201-story.html
2011 Reusable Materials as Wearable Art Pieces, Neux Magazine, Reborn Summer 2011, pgs.138-144 https://issuu.com/neux/docs/neux_reborn
Teaching Experience
2023 - Present Arts Educator, Old St Mary School, Kindergarten - 8th, Chicago, IL
2025 Guest Teaching Artist, Earth Mosaics, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2024 Workshop, Dreaming Landscapes, Gallery 400, Chicago IL
2018- 2023 Teaching Artist, CPS Pathways, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2018 -2019 Guest Teaching Artist, Civic Futures, Ray Elementary School, Chicago, IL
2015 Guest Teaching Artist, It Takes a Village Project, Marquette School of Excellence, Chicago, IL
2014 Workshop, Transformed Faces, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 Workshop, Kite Flight, Smart Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Residencies/Programs
2026 Radicle Residency, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago Il
2021 Teaching Artist Residency, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2021 Residency, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
2018-2019 Field/Work Residency Program, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
2018 Residency, Lyseloth Musikerwohnhaus Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2015 Artist in Residence, A Baker Universe, Baker Elementary School, Wilmette, IL
2013 Residency, HATCH Projects, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
Other Professional Experience
2025 Panelist, Towards A New World: Envisioning Climate Futures through the Arts, Chicago Humanities Spring Festival, Chicago, IL
2025 In the Realm of Possibilities: inspired by the work of Cydney Lewis, Still Inspired Dance Company, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL
(performances on March 7 and 8)
2025 Member, Artist Mothers Collective, Chicago, IL
2021-present Member, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Artist Collective, Chicago, IL
1992 - 1999 Film Art Director, Designer, Love Jones, Beloved, Love and Action in Chicago
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0364575/
Curatorial Projects
2025 Spirit Hand, solo exhibition of Allison Svoboda, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago IL
2024 Traversing Temporalities, solo exhibition of Kristin Anahit Cass, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
2022 Asking for the Moon, solo exhibition of Breanna Robinson, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
Special Projects
2021 Inaugural Season for Opera Festival of Chicago, posters, programs and digital marketing images, Chicago IL
2018 Baobab Tree of Life - Donors Wall, 10’ x 35’, vinyl, plexiglass Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, IL
Education
2006 School of the Art Institute of Chicago (continuing education)
1988 BSAS, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
1986-87 UIUC at L’ecole D’architecture de Versailles, France