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The Chicagoland Initiative Bringing Art to Your Neighborhood

by Kate Mothes

Three geometric sculptures in white with wooden legs placed outside in a yard of a house.
Photo Credit: John T. Upchurch / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
John T. Upchurch, Gnomenclature, Forest Park, Illinois.

Terrain Exhibitions organizes hundreds of artworks in front yards around the world.

On the lawn of a home in Morton Grove, Illinois, a ceramic sculpture of a giant wolfish jaw emerges from the grass. In Fayetteville, Arkansas, 30 college students install “Color Portals” in a sunny campus window. And on the grounds of a school in Bagalkot, India, Veeresh Rudraswamy arranges colorful seed pods in a geometric “sensory channel.”

These are just a few of the artworks in Terrain Biennial’s six-week, pop-up public art exhibition in 2023, which invited artists to respond to the theme “mycelium connection.” Terrain Exhibitions, the group behind the project, draws on the myriad sustaining connections between creativity and community.

Rock-like objects mounted on top of white sticks are placed together in an outdoor field.
Photo Credit: Presley Martin / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Presley Martin, 98% Air, Benton, Wisconsin.
Long seed pods laying in a concentric, repetitive pattern on the ground.
Photo Credit: Veeresh Rudraswamy / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Veeresh Rudraswamy, Huru (Birth), Bagalkot, India.

Traversing Artistic Possibility

Since 2011, Terrain Exhibitions has grown organically from an informal artist-run project in Oak Park, Illinois. It’s now a nonprofit advocating for art experiences outside of private spaces. Founded by the late artist Sabina Ott, the project began as a way to share art and socialize. What sets the initiative apart? The artworks were accessible 24/7. The element of discovery and surprise was available to anyone in the community who happened to take notice.

“Something [Ott] used to talk about was the passerby—the importance of the person… going about their day-to-day life and experiencing these moments with artists away from the white cube,” says artist and vice president Tom Burtonwood.

Ott called the space—a versatile combination of her lawn, porch, and home—Terrain, an ode to both the literal and figurative idea of physical place and what Burtonwood describes as “the terrain of artistic possibility.” Ott passed away in 2018, but not before formalizing Terrain Exhibitions as a nonprofit organization so that it may continue to uplift and connect artists around the nation and the world.

Colorful, textural sculptures hanging from branches of a large tree.
Photo Credit: Gina Lee Robbins / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Gina Lee Robbins and IPS Summer School Students, Hope Balloons, Indianapolis, Indiana.
A white geometric three-dimensional sculpture placed on the side of brick building.
Photo Credit: Ian McMahon / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Ian McMahon, Shrink Wall .001, Newburgh, New York
An artwork made of cut tree stumps, circular stone pavers, and cylindrical objects. They are stacked on top of each other and are on the sidewalk.
Photo Credit: Nanzi Jin / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Nanxi Jin’s work ‘Nature’s Hands, The Five Elements Dance’ in Chicago, Illinois.
A brick building with large windows. One of the windows has letters printed on colorful paper. The letters spell '[bells chiming]'
Photo Credit: Jesse Malmed / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Breanne Trammell’s work, ‘Patti Smith for the Beesly Manifesto,’ as part of Terrain Biennial 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
An artwork with red and orange blocks hanging in front of a door of a building.
Photo Credit: Ziba Rajabi / Courtesy of Terrain Exhibitions
Ziba Rajabi, Longing, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Art as Connector

Every other year, the organization hosts an open call for voluntary “terrains” around Chicagoland, the greater Midwest, and further afield. Last year’s program saw pop-ups in 14 states around the U.S. and in Wales, Canada, India, and Taiwan. The 2021 edition featured more than 600 participants, and the team is excited to see what the 2025 edition will bring.

“It’s all very much about where the artists are,” says Stephanie Graham, co-chair of the 2023 biennial program committee. “We have a board member who is in India, and she takes on a whole cohort. We call them ‘super hosts,’ where it’s someone who might take on their own block—like Sabina did—or they might pick a few houses, and they’ll coordinate themselves.”

Now managed by a 12-member board of artists and a team of volunteers, Terrain Exhibitions keeps many of the original tenets of the project alive. A block party still marks the opening of each biennial. And between the shows, the group organizes a range of collaborative events around Chicago, like pop-up shows, poetry readings, and an annual fundraiser.