Norman Teague is a Chicago-based designer and educator whose practice focuses on using design as an agent for change and as a mechanism to empower black and brown communities.
In 2012, Norman worked with Theaster Gates on “12 Ballads for Huguenot House” dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, Germany. He exhibited in Milan at Rossana Orlandi Gallery in 2015, and shortly thereafter was featured in his first solo exhibition at Blanc Gallery in Bronzeville. In 2017, Norman participated in “Wall of Respect: Vestiges, Shards and Legacy of Black Power” at the Chicago Cultural Center, which chronicled the legacy of a seminal mural developed for and within Chicago’s Black South Side communities located at 43rd Street and Langley Avenue, and unveiled to critical acclaim in 1967.
In addition to his own practice, Norman is a partner along with Fo Wilson at blkHaUS studios. The team blends 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. “Sounding Bronzeville” a current commission by the Burnham Wildlife Corridor, the Field Museum, and the Chicago Park District, is a public arts project that teams Norman and Fo with designer Chris Buchakjian.
Norman was recently named as a creative collaborator on the exhibitions team for the Barack Obama Presidential Library with design lead, Ralph Appelbaum Associates. Past projects also include partnerships with Leaders 1354, The Silver Room, The Exchange Café, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and the Art Institute of Chicago.