EXPO Chicago and its jam-packed lineup runs April 24-27 inside Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. The sheer size of the fair can seem daunting, but we’ve got you covered with these programming highlights, plus some tips on how to broker a deal if you’re looking to grow — or start — your own art collection. Listen here.

As long-time fans of the sculptural designs by Minnesotan artist and architect Jonathan Muecke, our antennae went to high alert when we heard he was working with Knoll on his first foray into manufactured furniture. The ‘Muecke Wood Collection’ consists of a dining table and chairs that beautifully express their construction with stacked cylindrical dowels, here shown with a walnut finish. Read the full article here.

In 1966, ceramicist Howard Kottler (1930–1989) began affixing commercially available decals to store-bought porcelain plates. The decals often featured imagery that even art rookies could clock: from Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, ca. 1503, and The Last Supper, 1495–98, to the starchy homesteaders of Grant Wood’s American Gothic, 1930. In many cases, the artist transformed or manipulated the designs, obliterating some parts, replicating others, nipping and fussing until he achieved a kind of decorous irreverence. Read the full review here.