Open Call: Join Terrain Exhibitions Board of Directors

Terrain Exhibitions is seeking a spectrum of enthusiastic cultural producers and community members to join our Board of Directors. The Board is composed of individuals working to drive and support the vision, strategy, and financial oversight of Terrain Exhibitions. 

Mission and History:

Terrain Exhibitions brings contemporary art where it is most needed and least expected: yards, front steps, windows, porches, and roofs in residential neighborhoods across the U.S. (and beyond). This is an act of radical decentralization, taking art from privileged urban centers and bringing it into everyday spaces. By forging partnerships between artists and citizens, we create greater access for new and underserved audiences for contemporary art, empowering neighbors to make private spaces public in a spirit of generosity and collaboration.

Terrain Exhibitions was founded in 2011 by the late artist, curator, and educator Sabina Ott. Over the course of seven years, Ott invited over a hundred artists to exhibit site specific works in her front yard and on the porch at her home in Oak Park, Illinois. In 2013, the Terrain Biennial – an international art festival that takes place on lawns, in front yards, on porches, beneath awnings, and in windows -- was launched. In 2019, Terrain Exhibitions became a 501c3 Not for Profit organization established in the State of Illinois and has been led by a working Board of Directors. Terrain Exhibitions continues to produce the Terrain Biennial, generates ancillary programming in support of our mission, and hosts the Terrain Residency in Springfield, Illinois with our partners, the Springfield Art Association, and the Enos Park Residency Program.

Nominations:

Nominate yourself or a colleague to serve on the Board of Directors for Terrain Exhibitions. Board members drive operational and strategic oversight, exhibitions and events, marketing and promotion, fundraising, and all other facets of operations. This working group of members spends an average of five to eight hours per month on committee and program activities, with an increased time commitment as necessary in advance of, and during, the Terrain Biennial. 

Terrain Exhibitions believes that its board of directors should reflect the diversity of cultural producers and community members it serves. Terrain Exhibitions strongly encourages and welcomes BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and/or people with disabilities to apply to join our board. 

Candidates should possess some or all of the following qualities:

• A knowledge and passion for accessible visual arts and public programming

• A commitment to serving and supporting marginalized artists and individuals

• A commitment to serving and supporting under-served and underrepresented communities

• An ability to foster and sustain relationships

• A willingness to commit time, energy, and resources to drive the organizational and strategic needs of Terrain Exhibitions

General expectations include:

• Serve a minimum of one two-year term and up to two terms for a total of four consecutive years of service

• Participate in Board meetings as they are scheduled, 6 to 10 times a year (remotely and/or on site)

• Serve on at least one committee

• Work to present future iterations of the Terrain Biennial

We seek individuals that are working in, or are familiar with, contemporary art, arts administration, and public art. As part of our continued effort to give shape and grow as a relatively new non-profit, we also seek nominees who are knowledgeable in one or more of the following areas:

• Finance and Accounting

• Marketing and Fundraising  

• Law

• Community partnerships

To nominate:

Self-nominations or the nomination of peers are welcome. To nominate, submit a letter of interest and a resume/CV to info@terrainexhibitions.org by October 4th, 11.59pm CST. In your letter of interest, please tell us about your interest in Terrain Exhibitions and note any skills, experience or perspective that you would bring to the Board.

Capital Terrain: Open Call >> deadline September 6th !!!!

Terrain Exhibitions: Capital Terrain

Open call

Terrain Exhibitions brings contemporary art where it is most needed and least expected: yards, front steps, windows, porches, and roofs in residential neighborhoods across the U.S. (and beyond). This is an act of radical decentralization, taking art from privileged urban centers and bringing it into everyday spaces. By forging partnerships between artists and citizens, we create greater access for new and underserved audiences for contemporary art, empowering neighbors to make private spaces public in a spirit of generosity and collaboration.

Terrain Exhibitions, along with our co-sponsors at the Springfield Art Association, are currently accepting submissions for Capital Terrain, an initiative that will feature public projects at five residential sites that are located in the heart of Springfield, Illinois’s east side, an underserved neighborhood that is historically recognized as the heart of Springfield’s African-American community. We seek artists/projects that are working in themes of social justice and that address identity and difference within contested relationships of power and structural inequality.  

Selected artists will receive a $500 honorarium to pursue the development of public projects: site-specific art installations, architectural interventions, performances, social practice, and community programs. Capital Terrain will run for five weeks, from October 10 through November 14, 2020. Residential sites will be assigned, and artists will work in cooperation with hosts. Artists will oversee the installation and de-installation of their work with support available as needed.

Springfield is the capital city of Illinois. To understand the rich and complex history and context of the east side in Springfield, we encourage applicants to read this article, ‘Discovering the East Side,” by Erika Holst, Curator of History at the Illinois State Museum. Preference will be extended to artists that take into consideration the east side neighborhood and its history:

https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/discovering-the-east-side/Content?oid=11482335

To apply: 

Please compile the following materials into a Google Drive folder and Use this form to submit it for consideration: https://forms.gle/GvZSn6zTs5WwrcbZ6 . **Be sure that the shareable link is set for public viewing to allow for the review process.** Applications from individual artists or collaboratives are welcome. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. For full consideration, apply by no later than September 6, 2020. 

ART-IN-PLACE extended to August 23rd !! New deadline July 4th !!

ART-IN-PLACE

Visit https://www.cnlprojects.org/artinplace to view current participating artists displaying work May 20-June 20. ART IN PLACE has been extended to August 23 given the current climate and the mobilization of art to be used as a vital tool of communication and connection.

To submit your artwork for ART-IN-PLACE complete this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdToxiSqH8I5xfTO4DDeAfohBFJzWQachrxzrZsb0LHa329Lw/viewform?usp=sf_link . This form is due by July 4, 2020 at midnight. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Dear Terrain community, 

Thank you for your participation and support. Your responses to our call for action have been generous, powerful and resonant. ART-IN-PLACE is a message of hope and a reminder that even when working apart we can work together well. 

When we first envisaged the project we didn’t anticipate such a strong response nor how large it would grow. We have had many requests from the community to extend the exhibition. Lori Waxman, Art Critic and Writer shared this response:

This project is AMAZING. It has been one of the few cultural productions during the pandemic that has made me genuinely happy, not least because it is happening outdoors and can be walked (or driven) by. Lucky me I happen to live near a few; I even found one accidentally yesterday, on my way to pick up the materials my kids left at school when CPS closed down in March. This is truly public art, with no gatekeepers or ticket prices, no technology needed, and dispersed throughout all sorts of neighborhoods— because artists live everywhere. Even though the humans are in quarantine, the art needn’t be. I wish we didn’t need social distancing, but so long as we do, I hope Art-in-Place continues. 

So much has evolved and changed since we embarked on this project.  In a world where so much is turned on its head and much needed reflection and awareness is taking place, we would like ART-IN-PLACE  to serve  as a means to provoke, promote and reflect on our current climate. In response, we have decided to extend ART-IN-PLACE to August 23rd to give new artists the opportunity to join the project and community members more time to see the exhibits fully.

The deadline for new and updated projects is July 4th, please click this link to access the form to submit your images and information:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1F917fgJ803Zh20GZI27SjOdAZkCT4LvkRjdY5BDCDhU/edit?usp=sharing

We invite current ART-IN-PLACE artists to keep their projects installed for eight more weeks and we will expand both our website and map to reflect new entries. If you are currently participating in ART-IN-PLACE  but are not able to extend your project beyond June 20th please email cortney@cortneylederer.com so that we can update the map and website accordingly.

Thank you for all that you do.

Chad Kouri

Art-In-Place

ART-IN-PLACE

Visit https://www.cnlprojects.org/artinplace to view participating artists.

ART-IN-PLACE (AIP) is an initiative of CNL Projects and Terrain Exhibitions. AIP was inspired by the generosity of artists and the power of art to transform and connect us. At the onset of the pandemic, we noticed so many artists began to create and offer to send small artworks in the mail to anyone that asked. They were using Instagram as a platform to share this generous offering. Artists shared collaged postcards, "corona rings”, seeds to grow, plants, and other creative works. We received about five different artworks in the mail within a couple weeks. Art became a way to connect, inspire and bring hope during a moment when we were all so suddenly disconnected from one another. I felt moved and inspired. We wanted to create a platform to share this generosity and consider what we all need right now—connection to others outside the virtual. There is no better tool for this than art. Visit https://www.cnlprojects.org/artinplace to view participating artists.

About ART-IN-PLACE

ART-IN-PLACE (AIP) invites artists to exhibit an original work of art to be displayed outside their home or from a window visible to the public. This collective action provides artists and community members in Chicagoland neighborhoods (and beyond) with a sense of hope and connectivity through the experience of public art. It offers makers the opportunity to participate in a collective action to create a sense of connectivity during an unprecedented moment of extreme isolation from community. AIP promotes the work of artists to positively contribute to their careers during a challenging moment. The project will generate financial contributions to both artists and the artist relief fund artsforillnois.org. We will also develop a postcard collection to serve as an archive of the project, fundraising effort, and platform to offer art as a way to connect with others.

How It Works

All artists across the world were invited to submit to ART-IN-PLACE. Following artwork installation, artists documented the work in situ and shared images with the project’s organizers via a google form. Final images will be published on CNL Projects’ and Terrain’s website and promoted to potential collectors, supporters and enthusiasts. Collectors have the option to purchase a beautiful set of postcards showcasing a collection of every ART-IN-PLACE participating artist. Artists can make their work available for purchase and will handle their own sales. Organizers ask that with each sale of an artwork, that the artist donate 20% to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund which, directly supports local Illinois artists. All proceeds from postcards sales will also support this fund.

About CNL Projects

CNL Projects (CNL) was founded in 2016 by Cortney Lederer to provide artists and organizations with a platform to creatively produce impactful art experiences. CNL’s work is deeply centered on their unique, collaborative approach to working with artists, businesses and organizations to advocate for the value of art and culture in our daily lives. We partner with our clients to create dynamic art programs that serve an organization's mission and aesthetic vision. We deliver curatorial expertise to individual clients, organizations and businesses on both an ongoing or by-project basis. We offer consulting to organizations with a specialization in program design, marketing, team-building and strategic development in the arts. We facilitate workshops and provide individual consultation to artists to help them to realize their vision and build a sustainable career. CNL Projects is committed to working closely with their clients to create dynamic art programs that reflect an organization's vision, while capturing the imagination and innovation of contemporary artists. https://www.cnlprojects.org/

About Terrain Exhibitions

Terrain Exhibitions makes private space public through sculpture, installation, performance and interventions. Terrain Exhibitions re-purposes private spaces such as front yards, porches, or windows and turns them into public spaces to foster dialogue between neighbors and provide opportunities for artists and viewers alike to experience new perspectives. Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 Not for Profit organization established in the State of Illinois. Founded in Oak Park Illinois by artist Sabina Ott and author John Paulett, the "Terrain Biennial" has produced three editions in 2013, 2015 and 2017. With each edition the biennial has grown in size and reach. The 2017 biennial featured installations and events in 23 locations around the United States of America, Sweden and France with over 130 participating artists and curators. https://terrainexhibitions.org/

About Arts for Illinois Relief Fund

Arts for Illinois is a collaboration between the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, and the broader philanthropic community, co-chaired by Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker and Chicago First Lady Amy Eshleman. The new online platform features talented artists – performers, singers, poets, painters, writers, and many more from across Illinois – who have made their works available for the public’s enjoyment while at home during these challenging times. This platform is a place to connect, express, and inspire. A place for comfort, laughter, and healing among all residents. https://artsforillinois.org/

Visit https://www.cnlprojects.org/artinplace to view participating artists.

Art In Place

Art In Place

CALL TO ARTISTS: ART-IN-PLACE

Terrain Exhibitions and CNL Projects are excited to partner on a new initiative, ART-IN-PLACE, May 20-June 20, 2020. ART-IN-PLACE invites artists to exhibit an original work of art to be displayed outside their home or from a window visible to the public.  This collective action provides artists and community members in Chicagoland neighborhoods (and beyond) with a sense of hope and connectivity through the experience of public art. 

Following artwork installation, artists will document the work in situ and share images with the project’s organizers via a google form. Final images will be published on CNL Projects’ and Terrain’s website and promoted to potential collectors, supporters and enthusiasts. Collectors will have the option to purchase a beautiful set of postcards showcasing a collection of every ART-IN-PLACE participating artist. Artists  may make their work available for purchase and will handle their own sales.  Organizers ask that with each sale of an artwork, that the artist donate 20% to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund which, directly supports local Illinois artists. All proceeds from postcards sales will also support this fund.

ART-IN-PLACE seeks to:

• Provide artists and community members in Chicagoland neighborhoods (and beyond) with a sense of hope and connectivity through the experience of public art.

• Offer makers the opportunity to participate in a collective action to create a sense of connection during an unprecedented moment of extreme isolation from community.

• Promote the work of artists to positively contribute to their careers during this challenging moment.

• Generate financial contributions to both artists and the artist relief fund artsforillnois.org

• Develop a postcard collection to serve as an archive of the project, fundraising effort, and platform to offer art as a way to connect with others.

To Participate:

• Exhibit an original work of art outside your home or in a window that is made visible to the public May 20, 2020 through June 20, 2020.

• Document one high-resolution image of the work in situ. Image quality should be at  least 300 dpi for up to 8.5" x 12”.

• Upload all images and artwork information (including a 2-3 sentence description of the work) to the google doc form provided here: https://forms.gle/234HPTJnYe82JKap6  by May 20, 2020 and complete submission guidelines.

• Share the rights to produce images of your work for the purposes of promoting this project. Image will be used for the following: promotion on Terrain and CNL Projects website, printing collections of postcards, prints, maps and other formats to potential collectors.

• Share the address of the artwork location for the purposes of a public map of ART-IN-PLACE.

• Promote ART-IN-PLACE with the handle #artinplace and tag @terrrainexhibitions and @cnlprojects #artsforillinois in all posts.

• Be willing to handle the sales of your own artwork and donate 20% of the sale to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund.

Additional Logistics and Details:

• All artists and designers are welcome to participate.

• All mediums accepted.

• Artist participants from any city, state or country are welcome.

• All Terrain artists are encouraged to show former work from Terrain from their home.

• We encourage site-specific works and installations. If interested in selling a work, consider how you might make a collectable work available for purchase.

• Organizers will produce a postcard collection featuring artists’ work. Organizers will handle the sales of these postcards and donate proceeds to Arts for Illinois Relief Fund.

• Collectors interested in purchasing original works of art will be invited to contact the artist directly.

• 80% of all sales of original works of art will go to the artist. We encourage artists to donate the remaining 20% to artsforillnois.org to support COVID relief for artists.

• If you do not have access to a window or storefront that is directly visible to the public, but would like to participate, please contact cortney@cortneylederer.com.

• The organizers are producing ART-IN-PLACE voluntarily.

Contact 


For questions please contact Cortney Lederer at CNL Projects, cortney@cortneylederer.org

About Terrain Exhibitions

Terrain Exhibitions makes private space public through sculpture, installation, performance and interventions. Terrain Exhibitions re-purposes private spaces such as front yards, porches, or windows and turns them into public spaces to foster dialogue between neighbors and provide opportunities for artists and viewers alike to experience new perspectives. Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 Not for Profit organization established in the State of Illinois. Founded in Oak Park Illinois by artist Sabina Ott and author John Paulett, the "Terrain Biennial" has produced three editions in 2013, 2015 and 2017. With each edition the biennial has grown in size and reach. The 2017 biennial featured installations and events in 23 locations around the United States of America, Sweden and France with over 130 participating artists and curators. https://terrainexhibitions.org/ 

About CNL Projects

CNL Projects (CNL) was founded in 2016 by Cortney Lederer to provide artists and organizations with a platform to creatively produce impactful art experiences. CNL’s work is deeply centered on their unique, collaborative approach to working with artists, businesses and organizations to advocate for the value of art and culture in our daily lives. We partner with our clients to create dynamic art programs that serve an organization's mission and aesthetic vision. We deliver curatorial expertise to individual clients, organizations and businesses on both an ongoing or by-project basis. We offer consulting to organizations with a specialization in program design, marketing, team-building and strategic development in the arts. We facilitate workshops and provide individual consultation to artists to help them to realize their vision and build a sustainable career. CNL Projects is committed to working closely with their clients to create dynamic art programs that reflect an organization's vision, while capturing the imagination and innovation of contemporary artists. https://www.cnlprojects.org/

About Arts for Illinois Relief Fund

Arts for Illinois is a collaboration between the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, and the broader philanthropic community, co-chaired by Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker and Chicago First Lady Amy Eshleman. The new online platform features talented artists – performers, singers, poets, painters, writers, and many more from across Illinois – who have made their works available for the public’s enjoyment while at home during these challenging times. This platform is a place to connect, express, and inspire. A place for comfort, laughter, and healing among all residents. https://artsforillinois.org/

Terrain Residency 2020 Open Call

Terrain Exhibitions: 2020 Residency

Call for applications

About:

Terrain Exhibitions brings contemporary art where it is most needed and least expected: yards, front steps, windows, porches, and roofs in residential neighborhoods across the U.S. (and beyond). This is an act of radical decentralization, taking art from privileged urban centers and bringing it into everyday spaces. By forging partnerships between artists and ordinary citizens, we create greater access for new and underserved audiences for contemporary art, empowering neighbors to make private spaces public in a spirit of generosity and collaboration.

Terrain Exhibitions is currently accepting applications for the 2020 Terrain residency program. The residency, hosted by the Springfield Art Association/Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists, is located in Springfield, Illinois, for a period of six to eight weeks between May 1 and August 31, 2020. Artists are invited to live and work at the residency duplex to pursue the development of public projects: public art installations, architectural interventions, performances, social practice, and community programs. We welcome contemporary artists from any background that are interested in working in/on the terrain, and in ways that align with the mission of Terrain Exhibitions. As many as four residencies will be awarded

The residency duplex, located in a historic neighborhood within walking distance to Downtown Springfield, will serve as a central site/laboratory where projects can be developed, and offers unique architecture and surrounding grounds that are also rich with potential. The duplex is a high-visibility site and straddles the experience of suburban and downtown living. Residents will have access to the Springfield Art Association studios, which include a painting and drawing studio, metals lab, ceramics studio, a digital media studio, and a newly minted glass-blowing studio. There are no dedicated private studio spaces for Terrain residents, but studio needs are met on a case-by-case basis. 

Residents reside in the spacious residency duplex. Each two-bedroom unit offers a private bedroom and a shared kitchen and bathroom. Artists are provided with a stipend of $250 to help offset material and travel expenses, and the $50/week residency fee required by the Enos Park Residency program will be paid for by Terrain Exhibitions. Meals are not provided. 

To apply:

Please compile the following materials into a Google Drive folder. Be sure that the shareable link it set for public viewing to allow for the review process.

• A statement that details your interest in the program and explains why the residency aligns well with you practice/research interests

• Specific dates within the residency period (May 1 – August 31) that you can be available for a six-to-eight week residency (multiple options encouraged)

• Current CV

• 10 to 20 work samples 

• Image script

• A list of three references

Application materials must be received by March 12, 2020, 23:59 CST. Please submit your materials by email to terrainexhibitions@gmail.com

Terrain Stories

Call for Submissions:

Terrain Exhibitions is working with a team of students from SAIC's MA in Art Administration and Public Policy program to develop a publication that tells the story of our organization. Together with the team, we are looking for submissions to the following prompt:

What is Terrain to you?

How do you see it? How do you describe it to others? We encourage you to think creatively in your response. Send us a digital file of a drawing, a photo, a haiku, or whatever else makes sense to you! Send your file and credit line to stories@terrainexhibitions.org by November 22nd. All submissions are useful for the project and will be considered for publication.

Terrain Biennial 2019 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TERRAIN BIENNIAL 2019 OPENS OCTOBER 1st 

Download Press Release PDF

It’s almost time! The Terrain Biennial 2019 will soon be underway in Chicagoland, around the country, and beyond—and we’re kicking things off with an epic block party!

With more than 250 artist projects and over 500 participants, the Terrain Biennial 2019 has grown significantly since its last incarnation!

Join us in Oak Park on Saturday, October 5th for the opening celebration of the Terrain Biennial 2019. The party will introduce exhibition sites and feature performances by artists, poets, and musicians, as well as temporary art installations, a poetry slam for local youth, and art walks around the neighborhood.

Block Party Opening Event

Saturday, October 5th, 2 - 7pm
1150 Block of Lyman Ave, Oak Park, IL, 60304

The Terrain Biennial is unlike any other art festival. It takes place on lawns, in front yards, on porches, beneath awnings, and in windows. Residents partner with artists to bring striking, contemporary artwork into their communities. The Terrain Biennial challenges the way art is often confined to institutional spaces and class-specific audiences. Building on Chicago’s rich tradition of apartment galleries and artist-run spaces, the Biennial brings contemporary art into the intimate terrain of the front yard, fostering dialogue between neighbors and providing access to new art for a wide range of people.

Focus
The theme of this years Terrain Biennial is to take stock of the landscape that people are living in today. What is the terrain that we occupy? What is the topology of our moment? Artists and hosts have been asked to reflect upon the ways in which our environment changes us and how we are changing it. 

Highlights
Projects for the Terrain Biennial 2019 will take place all over the world! Projects range from Terrain Founder Sabina Ott’s video piece at Wedge Projects in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood; to Alberto Aguilar’s stylized broken window posters in Havana, Cuba; to performances by Teresa Albor, Shubho Saha, and Back ART that examine the complexity of colonial history in Dhaka, Bangladesh; to Betsy Odom’s subversion of sports fan lawn signs in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood; and Cathy Hsiao’s Migration score for Blue House, 回家  which recontextualizes a symbol of Imperial power into an exercise of care in Cicero, IL. 

The Terrain Biennial continues to grow this year as we have added a number of satellite clusters in Newburgh, NY; Portland ME; Santa Fe, NM and Lubbock, TX. We are also super excited about returning locations in Evanston, IL; Springfield, IL and Iowa City, IA.

Terrain Biennial 2019 locations

Aurora, IL | Asheville, NC | Batavia, IL | Berwyn, IL | Chicago, IL | Cicero, IL | DeKalb, IL | Dhaka, Bangladesh | Evanston, IL | Forest Park, IL | Geneva, IL | Glen Ellyn, IL | Havana, Cuba | Homewood, IL | Iowa City, IA | La Grange, IL | Los Angeles, CA | London, United Kingdom | Lubbock, TX | Morris, IL | Newburgh, NY | New York, TX | Oakland, CA | Oak Park, IL | Pasadena, CA | Peoria, IL | Portland, ME | Riverside, IL | River Forest, IL | Santa Fe, NM | Springfield, IL | West Chicago, IL 

History

Terrain Exhibitions was founded in 2011 by the late artist, curator, and educator Sabina Ott at her home in Oak Park. The original format of the exhibition space existed as monthly installations in her front yard, from which grew the Terrain Biennial. In the summer of 2018 Sabina Ott passed away leaving behind a legacy of radical energy, caring magic, and deep community. Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 Not for Profit organization established in the State of Illinois. Terrain Exhibitions produces the Terrain Biennial, a public art event staged at locations worldwide. Terrain Exhibitions hosts the Terrain Residency in Springfield, Illinois working with our partners the Springfield Art Association and the Enos Park Residency Program.

Land Acknowledgment

Chicago is the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: The Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi Nations. Many other Tribes like the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox also called this area home. Located at the intersection of several great waterways, the land naturally became a site of travel and healing for many Tribes. American Indians continue to call this area home and now Chicago is home to the sixth largest Urban American Indian community that still practices their heritage, traditions and care for the land and waterways. Today, Chicago continues to be a place that calls many people from diverse backgrounds to live and gather here. Despite the many changes the city has experienced, both our American Indian and the Terrain Exhibitions community see the importance of the land and this place that has always been a city home to many diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

FOR QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT:

Director of the Terrain Biennial Richard Medina at richard@terrainexhibitions.org

Terrain Exhibitions - 2019 LAUNCH

Launch Party for Terrain Biennial, Residency and Nonprofit 

Join us August 29 at Aspect/Ratio Gallery

Launch Party Tickets: http://buytickets.at/terrain

Help support the Terrain Biennial 2019 and jumpstart Terrain Exhibitions as a nonprofit organization. Help us to continue Sabina Ott’s legacy of supporting artists and building community.

This year’s Terrain Biennial already has over 200 artists and locations and is still growing!

We need your help to raise funds for operating costs for the Terrain Biennial, the Terrain Residency, and our first year as a nonprofit organization.

Yard Sign Art Sale

Don’t miss your chance to bring home an original artwork!

This year’s launch party will feature ‘yard signs’ designed by Terrain artists past and present. As a cultural object, the yard sign tests the boundary between public and private--a fitting emblem for this year’s Biennial. Yard signs will be on view and available to purchase for a flat $200 each! Just a few of the participating artists include Iris Bernblum, Díaz Lewis, Judith Brotman, and Fo Wilson. Proceeds from the sales will support Terrain Exhibitions and ensure the future of our organization.

Launch Party Tickets: http://buytickets.at/terrain

HOSTED BY: JEFFERSON GODARD

SPONSORS : TRAVELZAP + C&G CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY

FOOD + DRINKS BY :

SPINNING J BAKERY & SODA FOUNTAIN | CARNIVORE 

SUGAR BEET FOOD CO-OP | LAGUNITAS

Participating Artists

Alberto Aguilar, Lynn Aldrich, Stephen Anderson, Aimee Beaubien, Iris Bernblum, Stephanie Brooks, Judith Brotman, Tom Burtonwood, Monica Chadha, Mary Jane Duffy, Karen Finley, kg, Jefferson Godard,  Erin Hayden, Holly Holmes, Burton Isenstein, Millicent Kennedy, Allison Lacher, Díaz Lewis, Jesse Malmed, Richard Medina, Jeroen Nelemans, Betsy Odom, Jason Pickleman, Melissa Potter, Jeff Robinson, Carla Fisher Schwartz, Eden Ünlüata, Fo Wilson, Phillip von Zweck

History of Terrain Exhibitions:

Founded in October 2011 by artist Sabina Ott and educator John Paulett, Terrain Exhibitions is a public exhibition space in Oak Park, IL. Terrain Exhibitions features interventions into the conventional landscape of a front yard. Contemporary artists are invited to create site-specific projects challenging the space between public and private, decoration and function, figure and ground.

Terrain Exhibitions differs from many other alternative art platforms in that the artworks are accessible 24 hours a day, year-round. Visitors, neighbors, teachers, school children, and their parents are exposed to challenging contemporary art, offering the experience of discovery and surprise to the community. Terrain Exhibitions exhibits work that expands the audience of an artwork and the function of the front yard.

BOARD — STEPHEN ANDERSON | TOM BURTONWOOD | MONICA CHADHA | HOLLY HOLMES | ALLISON LACHER | RICHARD MEDINA | JEFF ROBINSON

Terrain Exhibitions Founding Fund on Go Fund Me

Help support the Terrain Biennial 2019 and jump start Terrain Exhibitions as a nonprofit organization. Help us to continue Sabina Ott’s legacy of supporting artists and building community.

This year’s Terrain Biennial already has over 200 artists and locations and is still growing!

We need your help to raise funds for operating costs for the biennial, the residency, and our first year as a nonprofit organization.

Click button to support Terrain Exhibitions via Go Fund Me

Nora Maite Nieves, Terrain Biennial 2015

History of Terrain Exhibitions:

Founded in October 2011 by artist Sabina Ott and educator John Paulett, Terrain Exhibitions was a public exhibition space in Oak Park, IL. Terrain Exhibitions featured interventions into the conventional landscape of a front yard. Contemporary artists were invited to create site-specific projects challenging the space between public and private, decoration and function, figure and ground.

Terrain Exhibitions differed from many other alternative art platforms in that the artworks were accessible 24 hours a day, year-round. Visitors, neighbors, teachers, school children, and their parents were exposed to challenging contemporary art, offering the experience of discovery and surprise to the community. Terrain Exhibitions exhibited work that expanded the audience of an artwork and the function of the front yard.

Erin Hayden, Terrain Biennial 2017

In the summer of 2013 Sabina launched the Terrain Biennial by inviting her neighbors in Oak Park to share her passion for art and to host artists themselves. Since then, the Terrain Biennial has grown into a huge public arts festival spanning countless locations across the world. Over the past six years hundreds of artists and hosts have generously collaborated on the biennial to create something truly special.

In the spring of 2018, Sabina established Terrain Exhibitions as a 501c3 nonprofit arts organization with the mission to organize and produce the Terrain Biennial, administer the Terrain Residency in Springfield, Illinois and advocate for making public art from private spaces.

When Sabina passed away in the summer of 2018, she left behind an ambitious and innovative legacy spanning three editions of the Terrain Biennial and countless artist projects at her home in Oak Park, IL.

The 2019 Terrain Biennial

As a fledgling non profit Terrain Exhibitions has already identified over 200 artists and locations for this year’s 2019 Terrain Biennial.–– an international festival of site-specific art made for front yards, balconies, and porches that will open on October 1st and run until November 17th, 2019.

The Terrain Biennial will take place everywhere! The Terrain Biennial has centers in Oak Park, Chicago, Evanston, Portland (Maine), Lubbock (Texas), Peoria, Springfield, Oakland, Los Angeles, Dhaka (Bangladesh) and London (UK) and more! - check out Terrain Biennial Locations for the full list.

Terrain Residency

We also partner with the Springfield Arts Association to co-sponsor the Terrain Artist Residency in Springfield, IL. The 2019 resident artists Morgan Rose Free and Carla Fisher Schwartz are currently producing work to be exhibited as part of the upcoming Terrain Biennial.

What will the funds be used for?

• Biennial kickoff block party

• Biennial maps

• Residency costs

• Website maintenance

• Publicity - printing, advertising, etc

• General operating costs for nonprofit

INVEST IN TERRAIN / INVEST IN SABINA’S LEGACY!

Help us to continue Sabina’s legacy of generosity by making your gift to Terrain Exhibitions to support the organization and help us to produce this year’s Biennial and Residency programming. Terrain Exhibitions is a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization founded in the State of Illinois. Tax ID #83-0649634 Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law. Your financial support helps us to fulfill our mission.

Lisa Boumstein-Smalley and Geoffry Smalley, Terrain Biennial 2015

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Terrain Exhibitions - 2019 Launch Party

Launch Party for Terrain Biennial, Residency and Nonprofit 

Help support the Terrain Biennial 2019 and jumpstart Terrain Exhibitions as a nonprofit organization. Help us to continue Sabina Ott’s legacy of supporting artists and building community.

This year’s Terrain Biennial already has over 200 artists and locations and is still growing!

We need your help to raise funds for operating costs for the Terrain Biennial, the Terrain Residency, and our first year as a nonprofit organization.

Join us August 29 at Aspect/Ratio Gallery
Launch Party Tickets: http://buytickets.at/terrain

Event Host: Jefferson Godard

BOARD — STEPHEN ANDERSON | TOM BURTONWOOD | MONICA CHADHA | HOLLY HOLMES | ALLISON LACHER | RICHARD MEDINA | JEFF ROBINSON

History of Terrain Exhibitions:

Founded in October 2011 by artist Sabina Ott and educator John Paulett, Terrain Exhibitions is a public exhibition space in Oak Park, IL. Terrain Exhibitions features interventions into the conventional landscape of a front yard. Contemporary artists are invited to create site-specific projects challenging the space between public and private, decoration and function, figure and ground.

Terrain Exhibitions differs from many other alternative art platforms in that the artworks are accessible 24 hours a day, year-round. Visitors, neighbors, teachers, school children, and their parents are exposed to challenging contemporary art, offering the experience of discovery and surprise to the community. Terrain Exhibitions exhibits work that expands the audience of an artwork and the function of the front yard.

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March with Terrain Exhibitions at the Village of Oak Park 4th July parade

Terrain Exhibitions and the July 4 Parade in Oak Park, Illinois

Terrain Exhibitions is pleased to announce it will once again be participating in the July 4 Parade in the Village of Oak Park, Illinois. Terrain Exhibitions has participated in the annual Oak Park, Illinois, 4th July parade since 2012. Each year Sabina Ott invited an artist to produce a float or public art work to perform / parade as part of this important community event. Terrain Exhibitions intends to continue and grow this important tradition.

Terrain Exhibitions is thrilled to announce the participation of Industry of the Ordinary (IOTO), an artist duo consisting of Adam Brooks and Mathew Wilson, as featured artists in the 2019 iteration of the July 4 Parade in Oak Park. IOTO offers the following statement regarding their plans for the parade:

On a day of celebration for a unified country claiming its independence from a foreign government, it’s essential to consider what an autonomous and functioning democracy looks like, and to protect it.

We are ordinary: we are human.

Call for Participation!

Terrain Exhibitions announces a call for participation in the 2019 July 4 Parade in Oak Park. All are invited to walk with Terrain Exhibitions, and in support of our featured artists. IOTO request your assistance in the execution of their performance and work as part of the parade.

The Parade is scheduled from 9:30-12:00pm on July 4, 2019. The parade route begins at Longfellow Park at Ridgeland Avenue and Adams Street, and continues north on Ridgeland to Augusta Street, turning east to disperse near Whittier Elementary School at Harvey Avenue. You can find out more information about the July 4 Parade in Oak Park, Illinois at https://www.oak-park.us/our-community/special-events/july-4-parade.

To participate in this years parade please meet at the corner of Adams and Cuyler from 9:20-9:30am to prepare and setup for the parade. For more information, please contact us at info@terrainexhibitions.org.

About Industry of the Ordinary

Statement:

Through sculpture, text, photography, video and performance, Industry of the Ordinary (IOTO) are dedicated to an exploration and celebration of the customary, the everyday, and the usual. Their emphasis is on challenging pejorative notions of the ordinary and, in doing so, moving beyond the quotidian.

Making use of a variety of art-making strategies, IOTO have primarily been concerned with the dynamics and aesthetics of public and performative spaces. Drawing inspiration from Joseph Beuys’s theory of ‘social sculpture’ and the Situationists, IOTO have explored non-traditional sites for art works where accidental audiences can be found. Often collaborating with multiple members of the community, these works attempt to occupy and invigorate public thoroughfares. The work is intended to provoke and promote public discourse, to bring fine art out of the gallery or performing arts venue, and, without becoming didactic or pedantic, make it readily available to the non-art-trained audience.

Terrain Artists 6/12

Hi all!

As we count down the weeks to the 2019 Terrain Biennial I would like to broadcast exciting things that Terrain artists are doing outside of Terrain.

This week we have two exciting events from past Terrain artists! The first is an ongoing installation by Terrain artist Lynn Basa at the Multnomah County Central Courthouse. Basa was selected by the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) in Portland, Oregon to create a 25’ x 75’ glass artwork for the lobby of the new 17-story Multnomah County Central Courthouse.

Basa’s design for the three-story artwork – viewable from the lobby, the second and third stories of the building, and from the building’s exterior – was inspired by conversations with the project’s Artist Selection Panel, the courthouse judges and employees, as well as formerly incarcerated community members. The focus of the artwork is a landscape that reflects the ripple effect of behavior and the passage to redemption and rehabilitation in the community justice process.

Rendering of Lynn Basa’s glass artwork for the new Multnomah County Central Courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Fabrication by Bullseye Studio, project funding by Multnomah County Percent for Art, and project management by Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC). Image courtesy of SRG Partnership.

Check out the official website for more info.

Also!! Terrain artist and current Terrain Exhibitions board member / Biennial organizer Tom Burtonwood and members of the Videokaffe collective will present Vision Machines at the Supplyframe DesignLab in Pasadena, CA.

This exhibition “Vision Machines” will probe the space between observing and surveilling, watching and seeing, the virtual and the real using custom built apparatuses made from networked microcomputer systems. Burtonwood will create a series of work designed to explore how technology alters perception.

If you are a past Terrain artist and would like to share cool things you’re doing please email me the event info and I will post it here! You can send me your events at richard@terrainexhibitions.org

Updates on Past Terrain Artists

Hello!

My name is Richard Medina. I am an artist and curator, and I’m very excited to be organizing the Terrain Biennial this year along with the other members of the Terrain Exhibitions board. As some of you may know, one of the many ways Sabina Ott nurtured the Terrain community was by keeping up with former Terrain artists and sharing their accomplishments in a public forum.

I would like to continue that practice here in this format. As we count down the weeks to the 2019 Terrain Biennial I would like to broadcast exciting things that Terrain artists are doing outside of Terrain. Stay tuned for updates about past Terrain artists as we count down the days to the 2019 Terrain Biennial!

If you are a past Terrain artist and would like to share cool things that are coming up please email me the event info and I will post it here! You can send me your events at richard@terrainexhibitions.org

Terrain Exhibitions announces the Terrain Biennial 2019

Dear friends and supporters,

Terrain Exhibitions is pleased to announce dates for the 4th Terrain Biennial 2019, as well as updates to our mission and structure.

In the spring of 2018, Sabina Ott, founder of Terrain, asked Tom Burtonwood, Monica Chadha, Holly Holmes, Allison Lacher, John Paulett, and Jeff Robinson to serve on the board of the newly incorporated not-for-profit “Terrain Exhibitions.”

As you may know Sabina passed away in the summer of 2018, leaving behind an ambitious and innovative legacy spanning three editions of the Terrain Biennial and countless artist projects at her home in Oak Park, IL. There are many tributes to Sabina and her work, and Terrain was but one facet of her career as an artist, a Professor of art, an activist, a mentor and source of inspiration for young and old alike.

Oli Watt, Terrain Biennial 2017

Terrain Exhibitions will continue to organize and produce the Terrain Biennial, starting with the 2019 edition that will be staged in from October 1st to November 17th, 2019.

We are seeking hosts and artists from around the world to participate in this year’s event. Please use the google forms on this page to indicate your interest as a host, artist, volunteer, or all of the above: PARTICIPATE. Deadline EXTENDED: now June 1st, 2019.

The theme of this years Terrain Biennial is to take stock of the landscape that people are living in today. What is the terrain that we occupy? The environment that has been built? What is the topology of our moment? Artists and hosts should reflect upon the ways in which our environment changes us and how we are changing it.

Richard Medina will reprise his role as Assistant Director of the Terrain Biennial. If you have questions about the Biennial please reach out to Richard directly at richard@terrainexhibitions.org. Richard will be connecting with past Terrain hosts and artists to encourage them to participate. So look out for his emails!

Further information about the Terrain Biennial is posted here: https://terrainexhibitions.org/.

In addition to the Terrain Biennial, Terrain Exhibitions is launching a Terrain Residency in Springfield, Illinois. Working with the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists administered by the Springfield Art Association, Terrain Exhibitions will host three artists each year in Springfield. Terrain Exhibitions will host two artists in 2019, one in the summer and another in the fall. From 2020 onwards Terrain Exhibitions will host three artists a year, one in the spring, one in the summer, and one in the fall. A call for for applications for our summer and fall residencies will be is posted here, deadline for residency application materials is 04/01/2019 at 11.59pm.

Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization founded in the State of Illinois. We are seeking interns and volunteers to help with archiving documentation of past projects, volunteering for the upcoming Biennial, helping to administer the residency, and raising funds for the organization. If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch via email ( info@terrainexhibitions.org ) or click here for more information.  

We hope that you’ll join us to make the 4th edition of the Terrain Biennial a resounding success!