Nate Young wearing Junya Watanabe reversible cotton shirt, $1,015, Ikram, 15 E. Huron St. Yohji Yamamoto G-Side wool pants, $910, and Acne Studios leather derby shoes, $750, SVRN, 171 N. Aberdeen St. Stetson hat and glasses, artist’s own.
Nate Young wearing Junya Watanabe reversible cotton shirt, $1,015, Ikram, 15 E. Huron St. Yohji Yamamoto G-Side wool pants, $910, and Acne Studios leather derby shoes, $750, SVRN, 171 N. Aberdeen St. Stetson hat and glasses, artist’s own.

Nate Young

The UIC professor, who grew up near Philadelphia and moved to Chicago in 2016, has turned heads with creative exhibitions such as 2020’s The Transcendence of Time, in which he challenged the notion of linear time through religion-tinged sculpture. Young’s drawings, woodworks, and soundscapes grapple with race and history, often through a personal lens, such as exploring his great-grandfather’s horseback migration from the Jim Crow South. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This fall, Young, 43, will mount a two-person exhibition with Tony Lewis at Anthony Gallery in the West Loop.
His studio: Part of his Humboldt Park home, his workspace includes a woodshop (complete with jointer, planer, miter saw, and more), an open area for drawing, and a bar that seats up to eight people. “Carpentry is a skill I acquired in order to make art,” he says. “Same with drawing or painting or video editing. To complete a project, I usually have to learn.”

Mika Horibuchi wearing Loewe cropped cardigan, Marni leather top, and Undercover wool and polyester trousers
Loewe cropped cardigan, $1,150, Marni leather top, $1,295, and Undercover wool and polyester trousers, $1,200, Ikram.

Mika Horibuchi

The native San Franciscan and painter, whose work plays with perception and illusion, moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute, where she earned her BFA in 2013. She booked a solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2018 and received widespread praise for an ongoing project in which she reproduces, in oils, photos of her Japanese grandmother’s watercolors. Last year, the Art Institute acquired one of Horibuchi’s works for its permanent collection, allowing her to shed any last remains of impostor syndrome: “I finally felt comfortable saying, ‘I am an artist.’ ” More of her work can be seen at Patron Gallery in East Ukrainian Village.
Her studio: The Ukrainian Village resident, 33, shares one in East Garfield Park with her boyfriend, painter Daniel Rizzo-Orr. “We wanted it to feel really comfortable, not just to make art but to hang out there. So we have a bunch of plants, a lot of them from his mother’s garden in Phoenix.”

Mika Horibuchi wearing Loewe leather skirt, and cotton and silk shirt with double cuffs, and Simone Rocha glass- and brass-beaded earrings, and Jimmy Choo Cycas nappa leather ankle boots
Loewe leather skirt, $4,600, and cotton and silk shirt with double cuffs, $1,150, and Simone Rocha glass- and brass-beaded earrings, $300, Ikram. Jimmy Choo Cycas nappa leather ankle boots, $1,325, 65 E. Oak St.
Brendan Fernandes wearing Givenchy wool and mohair pleated skirt, and Simone Rocha cotton shirt with crystal embellishment, Northbound custom leather jeans, and Jimmy Choo Sammy suede ankle boots.
Givenchy wool and mohair pleated skirt, $1,950, and Simone Rocha cotton shirt with crystal embellishment, $460, Ikram. Northbound custom leather jeans, $950, northbound.com. Jimmy Choo Sammy suede ankle boots, $1,175.

Brendan Fernandes

Born in Kenya, Fernandes moved to Canada with his family when he was 9 to escape political unrest, then came here in 2016 to teach at Northwestern. His work, which has been displayed everywhere from the Guggenheim in New York City to the Getty in Los Angeles, mixes visual arts with movement. In April, he sought to reimagine conventional memorials with his New Monuments: Chicago project, transforming Grant Park’s equestrian statue of the Civil War general John A. Logan into an installation featuring a dance performance. If you’ve somehow overlooked Fernandes’s art, which can be seen at Monique Meloche Gallery, it will be hard to miss this fall: You’ll find it projected onto the Merchandise Mart, as part of Art on the Mart, through November 20.
His studio: The Lake View resident, 44, maintains a workshop in Ravenswood. “It’s organized into sections,” he says, with areas for sculpting and tables for drafting and printmaking. “It also functions as a storage facility and a chill space.”

Brendan Fernandes wearing Louis Vuitton Damier washed-denim jacket, and his own cap and earrings.
Louis Vuitton Men’s Damier washed-denim jacket, $3,050, 919 N. Michigan Ave. Cap and earrings, artist’s own.
Cheryl Pope wearing Rabanne cap-sleeve disc dress, and Rick Owens Dietrich wide-legged crepe trousers, her own Maison Margiela pumps
Rabanne cap-sleeve disc dress, $4,010, and Rick Owens Dietrich wide-legged crepe trousers, $1,025, Blake, 212 W. Chicago Ave. Maison Margiela pumps, artist’s own.

Cheryl Pope

Pope, who grew up in Palos Park, got her master’s in 2010 at the School of the Art Institute, where she interned for artist Nick Cave. After graduating, she managed his studio for two years and led tours at the Museum of Contemporary Art for seven. But now she has made her own name by exploring issues of identity through a range of media, including images of mother and child — made by needle-punching raw wool roving into cashmere — and a gold basketball rim that appeared in her Hoop Dreams series. Her art, on view at Monique Meloche Gallery this fall, can be found in the collections of such museums as the MCA and the Seattle Art Museum (not to mention Terminal 5 at O’Hare).
Her studio: Pope, 44, has two — one in Miami, where she spends her winters, and one in her Logan Square loft apartment. “In both cases, it’s all about the light,” she says. “And having that higher ceiling, honestly, I just dream bigger.”

Hair: Chrisondra Boyd/Distinct Artists
Makeup: Frances Tsalas/Option 1 Artists
Styling assistant: Ron Laxamana