Entry No. 93 — the Chicago file — filed under: art
National Veterans Art Museum
The permanent home base of the artists behind Above and Beyond — the installation of 58,320 individually hand-stamped dog tags, one for every American killed in Vietnam, currently hanging on long-term loan at Harold Washington Library downtown — this Portage Park gallery is where the veteran-artists themselves show rotating work, from a 2026 series of Gregory Rick egg-tempera paintings on the War on Terror to Kurt Vonnegut's own screen prints.
The story
In 1981, a small group of Vietnam combat veterans formed the Vietnam Veterans Art Group to process the reality of war through paint, sculpture, and printmaking. When former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley saw their traveling exhibit, he pushed to secure them a permanent museum space in 1996 on Indiana Avenue. Over the years, the museum expanded its focus beyond Vietnam to collect works from veterans of WWII, Korea, the Gulf War, and the Global War on Terror, dropping 'Vietnam' from its title in 2010 before relocating up to a second-floor loft space at 4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Portage Park in 2012.
You will not find sanitized military history or sanitized patriotic slogans here. The collection holds over 2,500 raw pieces by more than 250 veteran-artists—ranging from Kurt Vonnegut's screen prints to Gregory Rick's egg-tempera paintings detailing the War on Terror, alongside works probing service trauma, alcohol, suicide, and combat gear. It is also the home base of the four veteran artists who spent two years operating a vintage military Graphotype machine to hand-stamp more than 58,000 individual steel dog tags (plus a single black tag honoring post-war deaths from service-connected causes) for the famous installation *Above and Beyond*.
What it's like
Head to the Portage Lofts building at Six Corners and take the stairs or elevator up to the second floor. You will sign in at the reception desk for free entry into a quiet, airy loft gallery where rotating exhibits hang alongside permanent collection pieces. The atmosphere is deeply reflective and uncrowded, allowing you to examine complex multimedia works at your own pace. For the complete experience, pair your visit with a trip downtown to Harold Washington Library (400 S. State St.), where you can stand directly beneath the massive *Above and Beyond* dog-tag canopy suspended over the third-floor escalators.
The move: See the current show at the Portage Park gallery (Tue–Sat, 10am–4pm, free), then swing downtown to stand under the actual dog-tag installation at Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St. — the two locations make a strange, sobering two-stop pairing.
- 📍 Portage Park
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60641
Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Ed Paschke Art Center — Pair raw combat-veteran art with another free Northwest Side art space dedicated to Chicago Imagist painter Ed Paschke's neon, glitch-distorted portraits.
- Patio Theater — Follow a sobering afternoon at the gallery with a show inside a 1927 Portage Park movie palace beneath a ceiling painted like a starry night sky.
- Read-Dunning Memorial Park — Connect two quiet sites of memory on the Northwest Side, moving from veteran canvas art to a park resting over thousands of unmarked 19th-century graves.
- Bohemian National Cemetery — Extend a day of quiet reflection by heading two miles northeast to explore historic 1877 cemetery grounds packed with elaborate monuments.
Good to know
How much does it cost to visit?
Admission is completely free, though visitors are asked to sign in at reception upon arrival.
What are the gallery hours?
The Portage Park museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, though you should confirm current hours before planning your trip.
Where is the dog-tag installation 'Above and Beyond' located?
The installation of over 58,000 hand-stamped dog tags is on long-term loan from the museum and is displayed hanging from the third-floor ceiling at Harold Washington Library Center at 400 S. State St. downtown.
How do I get there via public transit?
The museum is near the Six Corners intersection and accessible via the #56 Milwaukee, #80 Irving Park, and #54 Cicero CTA buses, or about one mile from the Irving Park Blue Line 'L' station.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: nvam.org · chipublib.org · Wikipedia · pritzkermilitary.org
last checked: 2026-07-19