Visual Arts Curator: Cortney Lederer
as told to Asha Iman Veal for Arts Alliance Illinois (June 2020)
(Claire Helen Ashley, Attack of the Molecule, inflatable 96" x 120" x 96" and flags on windows 48" x 60" each, inflatable: Tyvek, expandable foam, spray paint, yarn, fan, paracord, flags: polyurethane coated ripstop nylon, 2020 / ‘The installation is a tongue in cheek reference to our current quarantine moment, through the lens of my sci-fi geek curiosities.’)
ART-IN-PLACE was a rapid response to a need. A need to look to artists to do what they do best—to provoke thought, stimulate dialogue, and to connect with others.
Given the pandemic, we wanted to move art outside of the virtual world in a way that was safe—to invite folks in a way that they could walk and experience art in person.
We wanted to give folks something to do. We wanted to create an opportunity for artists to collaborate and connect with one another, despite isolation. We wanted artists to have a platform to exhibit their work, because so many exhibition plans had been cancelled.
We’re printing a series of postcards to showcase every participating artist from Art-In-Place, in curated groups of twenty-five. The proceeds from the sales of these postcards will fully benefit Arts for Illinois. Also, the postcards are able to foster connection between people though the process of writing letters, while as well as supporting USPS during a difficult time.
/ Cortney Lederer
curator and arts organizer
(Myles Sweet Wakefield Jenkins, Twinkle Toes, 78” x 11” x 4”, fabric, paper, polyfill, nail polish, 2020 / ‘I'm 16 years old, and I'm stuck in my apartment with my parents. I thought having a giant leg out the window would be funny.’)
(John Engelbrecht, Weekly Lawn Comic, 24” x 30”, wood, paint, ink, 2020 / ‘This is a one-panel, outdoor, sidewalk-adjacent comic that I update every Sunday. I repaint the sign on Saturday, then draw the new comic on Sunday.’)
As COVID-19 hit, folks were responding with incredible virtual programming. This was so useful and needed, but also I began to feel inundated by the virtual world.
I was attempting to homeschool my two young kids, and relying on nearly ten different online platforms that were new and confusing. Things changed from being a family that had never even used an iPad with our kids, to being on the computer all day long.
At the same time, in my professional world, galleries had created virtual viewing rooms that were outstanding, and arts organizations were producing really incredible panels and discussions that were needed. But again, I found it overwhelming after being in Zoom meetings throughout the day. Also, the experience of art on screen is just so drastically different. There’s still a need for other avenues to experience art apart from the virtual.
Having participated in Terrain Exhibitions myself this past October by curating my residential block in Evanston, I immediately thought of the accessibility and success of their organization's platform for experiencing art. I wrote to the Terrain team and they responded immediately. They had already been in the process of putting together a call to their artists, so we decided to collaborate. The collaboration was fast, easy, and seamless. We shared similar goals, were fluid in communication, and divided roles in a way that felt manageable for each of us. It was a true collaboration. We just made it happen.
(Ramona Yeefah, Post Date Night COVID 19, 10” x 15”, giclee print styrene mounting, 2020 / ‘A man's love for his woman during a pandemic. Date night protective gear and social distancing.’)
We put out the call and expected to receive about 50 applicants. Instead, we received 265.
About 200 of the artists are from Chicago and cities in Illinois. The remaining 65 span the country and world, including Berlin, Canada, India, Japan, London, and Peru. Of those 265 artists, they range from very established artists such as Nick Cave, to 16-year-old Myles Sweet Wakefield Jenkins who’s stuck at home and decided to throw a fabricated leg out of his apartment window. There’s also, for example, a mother and her toddler daughter making work together at their home.
Everyone who submitted was automatically accepted to the program. We didn’t want to limit anyone nor dictate what could and should not be shown. The only stipulation was that the public must be able to safely access the work from May 20-June 20, 2020.
Again, what I admire so much about the partner organization for Art-In-Place, Terrain Exhibitions—and the late artist Sabina Ott who founded the organization and festival on her front porch in Oak Park—is that Terrain was and is always intended to be open source. By that I mean how Art-In-Place has received several calls asking if the model could be replicated in other cities. Honoring Sabina’s profound legacy, we’ve shared our model and resources, inviting anyone interested to use what we created to start a version in their home city.
(Cecil McDonald, For Sabina, 40” x 30”, mylar and pigment ink, 2020 / ‘Car garage wrapped in Mylar, waited for the colors of night, street lamps, car headlights, brake lights and the green of the surrounding nature to reflect in a spectacular fashion for the photograph.’)
(Raquel Vannucci, There And Here, 36” x 16” x14”, Brazilian fabric and synthetic filling, 2020 / ‘Through my soft sculpture constructed with a special fabric only found in Brazil, where I am from, I emphasize the malleability of space and examine the issues of cultural identity and memory.’)
All of the projects that I have designed, built, and worked on come down to the same goal: creating a platform for others to share their voice, creativity, and ideas, and for an audience to comfortably access that platform.
In referring to de-centering, it really is about that—it is about knowing when to get out of the way, out of the center—to create a space for other’s voices to rise up. It is equally about listening, paying attention to, and understanding when it’s critical to move in again and use any position you do have, to support, respond, and advocate for change.
Right now, all types of art institutions are actively thinking through how to move through the pandemic, how keep their doors open and remain true to their missions. I hope that organizations can identify ways to share art outside of their doors, and to find new and exciting ways to collaborate with one another. Resources are often so limited, that many arts organizations are often in competition with one another rather than using their energy to identify creative ways to collaborate. The pandemic has brought a lot of us together quickly, and I hope that ethos continues.
I also hope that we start to create more avenues for public art in the way ART-IN-PLACE has come together, or like the Clear Channel Billboard project by DCASE. We need art now more than ever. It is part of the solution to both pandemics.
(Alli Jaye, Wellington Rock Garden, 25’ x 6’, mixed media, 2020 / ‘…We now have well over 300 painted rocks, all painted by members of our community.’)
(Beatriz Guzman Velasquez, Hoy Hay Mas Muertos Que Vivos, 8” x 10”, newspaper, 2020 / ‘As I take shelter at home, I place newspaper word cutouts on windows to form a dialogue rather than to shut out.’)
So much has evolved and changed since we embarked on this project in early May.
In a world that is turned on its head, with much needed reflection taking place, we decided that we want Art-In-Place to serve as a means to provoke, promote, and reflect on our current climate, specifically the Black Lives Matter movement. This is critical in the social, political movement against the systemic racism, injustice, and murders of Black lives.
We decided to extend Art-In-Place (to August 23rd) to provide more artists the opportunity to join the project, for current artists to keep their work in place or modify it, and also for community members to have more time to see the exhibition fully.
Terrain Exhibitions created this map of Art-In-Place. A user only has to type in an address to see a number of locations of artworks nearby, to take an adventure to go see live art. The map showcases the artists’ names, and description and location of the artworks.
New artworks for Art-In-Place will be uploaded on the map and exhibited in-person July 13-August 23.
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