The Elmhurst Art Museum recently opened two new exhibits: Lifeloggers: Chronicling the Everyday and Prismatic Nature. These are great programs for families with young children and teens alike.
Lifeloggers: Chronicling the Everyday
Elmhurst Art Museum describes "Lifelogging" as “the extensive documentation of one's personal experience. Previously the domain of scientific research and recently individual health and fitness analysis, the impulse to track, map and graph now animates artistic practice. The thirteen artists in this exhibition produce work in different media--from low tech to high tech--that demonstrates the chronicling impulse, not as an objective record of every second lived, but as a thoughtful and studied approach to revealing the complexities of human existence.”
Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Lifeloggers artists turn personal bits of data and lived experience into works of art:
- Suzanne Szucs chronicled the passage of time through fifteen years of Polaroid self-portraits.
- Clive Smith painted miniature self-portraits on wood blocks every day for a year.
- Jennifer Dalton documented both market and sentimental values for everything she owned at a particular time in The Reappraisal.
- Elise Engler archived all of the things she carried while traveling in a series called Suitcase Drawings.
- Stephen Cartwright charts his movement through the world around him, logging his longitude and latitude every hour of every day to translate the numerical data into kinetic sculptures.
- Nathalie Miebach transforms scientific weather data into colorful, woven sculptures and musical scores.
Other works by Leona Christie, Richard Garrison, Katie Lewis, John Peña, Madelyn Roehrig, Renato Umali and Jorinde Voigt explore the interesting ways lifelogging has become part of contemporary art practice.
Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As with all Elmhurst Art Museum exhibitions, there is a full schedule of free LifeLoggers Public Programs. All information provided by the Elmhurst Art Museum, so please check with the museum for any updates:
Artist Talk by Stephen Cartwright
Friday, June 27, 6:30 pm
Since 1999, Cartwright has recorded his exact latitude, longitude and elevation every hour of every day and uses digital and traditional fabrication techniques to translate his collected data into a variety of sculptural forms. Cartwright is currently assistant professor at The School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Free admission.
Tour of Lifeloggers exhibition by EAM Chief Curator Staci Boris
Friday, July 18, 12 pm
Free admission.
Book Discussion: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Friday, July 25, 6:30 pm
Read former television writer Maria Semple's hilarious and heartfelt satire about parenting, privilege, genius, resilience and life in Seattle. Called clever and inventive, the novel chronicles 15-year-old Bee's search for her notorious mother Bernadette through an imaginative compilation of documents, including e-mails, letters, school report cards, emergency room bills and police reports. Discussion led by Elmhurst Public Library staff and held in EAM's McCormick House. Free admission.
Performance: The Top Umali Award Speeches of All Time
Friday, August 8, 7 pm
Artist Renato Umali will present highlights from his own humorous personal award ceremony. Each year, the Umali Awards acknowledge all the small and large events that make up his life, such as Most Consumed Beer or Best Dining-Out Experience. The highlight of the ceremony is the much-anticipated DIWITTY (Days In Which I Talked To You) awards, given to the 10 people he talked to most often throughout the year. Audience members will be able to vote for their favorite speech. Free admission.
Prismatic Nature
The second new exhibit is Prismatic Nature, Heidi Norton's multi-part installation presenting nature in a suspended state using custom-made window inserts, sculptural objects, interactive hot houses and living plants. Using Elmhurst Art Museum's history and park setting, its light-filled, glass-enclosed architecture and its relationship to modernism as its inspiration, Norton's project will fill Hostetler Gallery, Mies van der Rohe's McCormick House and the corridor that links these two prominent and transparent spaces. Norton, EAM's second artist-in-residence, is developing several public programs focused on ecology, gardening and photography and designing a Field Guide to Elmhurst, a takeaway map and self-guided tour that locates and describes places, objects and histories related to her exhibition.
There is a full schedule of free Prismatic Nature public programs. All information provided by the Elmhurst Art Museum, so please check with the museum for any updates:
Summer Solstice Celebration - Planting by the Signs
Saturday, June 21, 2pm
Family Program
Heidi Norton invites visitors and community members to assist in building a small urban garden on the EAM grounds. Using Firefox Books (1972) as a guide, she will discuss and demonstrate planting by phases of the moon and the signs of the zodiac. Free with Museum admission.
Artist Talk by Heidi Norton
Sunday, July 13, 2pm
Hear Heidi Norton discuss the many components of her plant-focused installation at EAM and her myriad influences ranging from Charles Darwin to the Bauhaus to New Ageism. This special Artist Talk is scheduled to coincide with the 19th annual Elmhurst Garden Walk and Faire. For tickets and details, visit www.elmhurstgardenwalk.com. EAM will offer FREE ADMISSION to visitors with an Elmhurst Garden Walk Guide Book on the day of the walk!
Explore Elmhurst with Heidi Norton
Saturday, July 26, 11am
Heidi Norton will use her Field Guide to lead guests on a unique, fun and informative walking tour of Elmhurst, visiting nearby nature-based sites. Stops include the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, the Arboretum at Elmhurst College, public gardens and more. Wear comfortable shoes! Free with Museum admission.
Anthotype and Sun Print Workshop with Heidi Norton
Saturday, August 9, 11am
Family Program
Heidi Norton will lead a demonstration on how to make prints using plant material as emulsion and the sun. Norton and students will forage the landscape for plants of various colors and use different coating and sun exposure techniques to make contact photographic prints. Free with Museum admission.
The Elmhurst Art Museum is conveniently located in downtown Elmhurst, close to the Elmhurst Union Pacific West Metra Station. The Museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, and 12-5 p.m. Sunday. The Museum is closed on Mondays. Please visit www.ElmhurstArtMuseum.org for more information.
