Chicago Featured Programs
The Terra Foundation for American Art is committed to promoting and supporting American art activities in Chicago, including K–12, public, and academic programs and exhibitions, as part of an ongoing effort to shine a spotlight on the city as a dynamic center for exploring the rich history of American art.
Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Q&A with Curator Lynne Warren
Alexander Calder took the art world of the twentieth century by storm; creating the mobile and fundamentally changing what people understood art to be. In the following interview, curator Lynne Warren expounds upon Calder's legacy, the Chicago collectors who helped launch his career, the visceral experience of viewing a Calder work, and her hope that audiences will be as entranced as the contemporary artists currently exhibiting alongside him. "Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy" will be on view from June 26th through October 17th, 2010.
Why is Calder considered to be such an important artist? Given his legacy, why do you think his work has not previously been recognized as an important influence on contemporary artists?
Calder is one of the pillars of Modernism. His innovation was the mobile; something that particularly recommended him as one of the pillars. Interestingly, he has never really been a part of the canon of art history as it is taught in art school. Contemporary artists from the post-war era up to the present have rarely regarded Calder as someone whom they could use as a platform for their creativity. That role was dominated by Marcel Duchamp, whose approach to making art was very cool and intellectual; he often did not even make the work himself. That way of working has become the standard in contemporary art. Calder, on the other hand, worked very directly, with simple materials and simple means.
Friends of Historic Second Church 2010 Evening Lecture Series: "Saarinen/Girard/Kiley—Miller House: An American Icon
The third in a series of evening lectures at historic Second Presbyterian Church, R. Craig Miller will discuss the Miller House, built for J. Irwin and Xenia Miller between 1953 and 1957 in Columbus, Indiana. Located in one of the architectural meccas of the United States, the complex is the result of the exceptional collaboration of three major designers—the architect Eero Saarinen, interior designer Alexander Girard, and landscape architect Dan Kiley. It is now recognized as one of the finest examples of mid-twentieth-century modern design. Miller, who is senior curator of design arts at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, will explore the design and renovation of this extraordinary complex. The lecture will be held at Second Presbyterian Church (1936 S. Michigan Avenue) on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 7:00 p.m., and will be preceded by a reception at 6:00p.m. The cost is $10.
Terra Foundation Lectures on American Art at the Chicago Humanities Festival Now Available Online
Starting in 2005 and again in 2008, the Terra Foundation awarded two multiyear grants to the Chicago Humanities Festival in support of an annual public lecture and a "master class" on the history of American art and visual culture at the organization's annual two-week celebration of the humanities. The Terra Foundation Lecture on American Art is intended to expose Chicagoans to leading scholars and thinkers in the field of American art.
If you missed a lecture, onlines presentations of the lectures from 2006 to 2009 are now available on the Humanities Festival's exciting online humanities journal. You can listen to the lecture, see a slideshow, and read a transcript online at any time:
2006 David Lubin, "Art for War's Sake"
2007 Angela Miller, "American Landscape Art and Environmental Thinking"
2008 Erika Doss, "Picturing New Deal American Art"
2009 Jennifer Greenhill, "Terra Foundation Lecture on American Art"
"Artbeat" on Chicago Tonight
The Terra Foundation has partnered with WTTW11, Chicago's PBS affiliate, to create a special series of "Artbeat" segments on American art that air on WTTW's award-winning weeknight news show Chicago Tonight. Between October 2007 and January 2008, ten "Artbeat" segments on American art aired more than forty times, with six more that began in January 2010. These "Artbeat" segments provide in-depth information and interviews about Chicago's art history, collections, and exhibitions. Each of these special segments is available online for on-demand viewing on the Chicago Tonight Web site.
Next Segment: Fieldhouse Murals
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
7:00 p.m.
Chicago Park District field houses are home to stunning works of public art. Recent restoration of these murals has revealed brilliant original colors under a century's worth of grime. The paintings were made during the Progressive Era when social reformers aimed to educate and enlighten the growing immigrant population. Some paintings are unsigned, but many were the creation of John Warner Norton, an Art Institute teacher and one-time cowboy who guided his students into mural painting. One student was William Eduard Scott, an African-American muralist who painted an ode to balanced living in a field house in Englewood in 1915. Restoration plans are in place to rejuvenate Scott's large canvas titled Constructive Recreation.
Take a Closer Look
"Take a Closer Look," a campaign held in conjunction with the Terra Foundation's American Art American City initiative (Oct. 2007–Dec. 2008), highlighted the wealth of American art treasures available in the city. For the campaign, several prominent Chicagoans shared their responses to their favorite works of historical American art, on display in Chicago museums, schools, and public spaces.
Philanthropist Lewis Manilow Describes the Sculpture Yes! For Lady Day by Mark di Suvero
"This stunning work has personally influenced me more than any of the hundreds of additional artworks that I later acquired. I had the incredible privilege of watching Mark choose the railroad tank car that made up the bulk of the work, split it into 2 parts, and assemble those parts and several steel beams into an amazing work of art...."
