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Curriculum Vitae

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Current Appointment

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Professor, Department of Sculpture, 1994 to present

Awards Fellowships Grants

Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 2014

University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute, Distinguished Visiting Artist, Senior Research Fellow, named 2014

US EPA, Phytoremdediation at Big Marsh, Lake Calumet, with Purdue University & Chicago Dept of Environment, 2011

Chicago Department of Environment, Development Grant, Innovative Models for Post Industrial Cities, 2010, 2011

Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum, Artist in Residence, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, 2002.

Kunstlerateliers Niederosterreich, International Residency, Krems, Austria, summer 2001.

Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York: Individual Artist Fellowship Award,1991

National Endowment for the Arts: Individual Artist Grant, 1986

Current Projects

Ongoing

The 606 Chicago, IL Lead Artist on Design Team
Adaptive reuse of a 3 mile elevated rail embankment for bike trail with 6 adjacent parks
Public Private partnership: City of Chicago, Chicago Park District and Trust for Public Land

Ongoing

The Art of Science Learning, Collaborator on National Curriculum Development and Innovation Incubator
National Science Foundation Funded Grant, PI Harvey Seifter, January 2013 -2015

Emerging

Un-Developing Newport, University of Rhode Island, Coastal Institute
Collaborate on University-wide Initiative to study exit strategies for coastal communities at risk from rising sea level. 2014 ongoing.

Emerging

Remediation Arboretum: A Research Arboretum for Urban Soils, New Haven CT.
In collaboration with Site Projects Public Art Yale University School of Forestry, City of New Haven.

Public Projects

2011-12

The Lima Project: Urban Agriculture and Sustainable Development for the Historic District, LIMA Peru.
Collaboration with Municipality of Lima, Peru, IPES, (NGO), and Centro Internacional de Papa, cultural heritage and urban futures.

2008-12

Embedded Artist Project City of Chicago, Depts of Innovation, Planning, Cultural Affairs & Environment.
Initiated pilot program to use creativity and innovation of artists to assist with urban challenges:

  • Slow Clean-up - Civic Experiments with Phytoremediation for Chicago Department of Environment
  • Regional Food System Plan for Chicago Metropolitan Area Planning Go To 2040 Plan 2008-10
  • Brownfields Re-Envisioning Initiative with Chicago Department of the Environment - assist in alternative analysis methods
    Develop forum for Sustainable Development for Brownfields
2010-12

Great Lakes Basin Phenologic System- Partners, Chicago Parks District, others (folded into The 606 Phenologic Project)
• Initiate and develop a phenologic planting and observation system for the Great Lakes bioregion in Chicago Parks sites.

2008-10

Waldkunst.com The Phenologic Forest- Collaboration with EUMETSAT & Deutscher Wetterdienst,weather and climate institutes. Part of The 4th International Forest Art Path "Cycles and Systems", Darmstadt, Germany.

2006-09

HoopHouse: Establish a passive solar poly-house at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study urban potentials and issues in Agri+Culture. Funded by an NEA Access to Excellence Grant, partnering with The Resource Center.

2009

SITE METABOLISM West Creek Reserve, Cleveland Metro Parks, Cultural Sustainability Consultant for planning, especially innovative visualizations and interpretive displays integrated with hydrologic site monitoring.

2009

Wesleyan University, Center for the Arts, Middletown, CT, Wesleyan Pheno-lilac, repurpose an existing heritage lilac for climate observation, in conjunction with university-wide programming on climate change

2003-08

The Green House Chicago - Collaboratively design the first multi-modal, fully- integrated, alternative energy home/studio in Chicago with William James, architect/builder.

2005-07

SUPERORG.net Multi-site collaborative public art and design project focused on the development of sustainable models along the historic Towpath Canal. Lead Artist Cleveland Metroparks, Spaces Gallery, Cuyahoga Valley Initiative, Cleveland, Ohio, producing site masterplan

2007

Green Bulkhead Fish Habitat Design for industrial waterways. Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan and US Army Corp of Engineers.

2006

The Diaspora Garden: Concerning the Transatlantic Exchange of Plants and People, Drayton Hall National Historic Trust, Spoleto Festival USA, Estates Management Company (commissioned but remains unbuilt)

2004-06

Private Absolutes Design/Build custom tile bath for Jacob/Lewis Residence Chicago based on hydrology of Great Lakes

2004

Lincoln Park Conservatory Great Garden, Mapping the Lake in the Great Garden, Chicago Park District and Notebeart Nature Museum.

2004-06

Spoleto Festival USA, Evoking History Program, Places with a Future “Water Table”, The opening work of the project, a temporary wetlands installation and community conversations with multiple stakeholders and subsequent related works.

2003

Vinnistu Art Museum, Vinnistu, Estonia, Mapping Mohni Island, creating a map and wildflower catalogue for the Island.

2000

National Endowment for the Arts and U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Arts & Appalachian Clean Streams Program, Acid Mine Drainage
Pollution Remediation site, “Ball Diamond Project”, Murray City, Ohio.

1996

Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri. “Hortvs Obscurus(the dark garden)"

Selected Writing and Presentations

Whitehead, Frances. Cultural Investigations EU COST Action- Investigating Cultural Sustainability, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, May 2015

Whitehead, Frances. Future Practice, Ice Fest: Art, Science and Activism in Dialogue Conference, Christ Church City Council, New Zealand, October 2014

Whitehead, Frances. Seeing Climate Change, The City Speaks, National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, 2014

Whitehead, Frances. The New Earth Work, USDA Soil in the City Conference, Chicago, IL, Keynote Address, June 2014

Whitehead, Frances. Civic Experiments Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, Civic Art Practice and Social Justice, 2013

Whitehead, Frances. (Post-Normal) Cultural Heritage, Urban Ecologies Conference, Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto, Canada, 2013.

Whitehead, Frances. Post-Normal Art, The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA, in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Foundation Grant for Program Development, 2012-2013.

Whitehead, Frances. Ethics + Aesthetics Symposium on Ethics & Sustainability, Center for Humans & Nature, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL 2012

Whitehead, Frances. Slow Cleanup -Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, The Art and Science of Environmental Change, New York, 2012

Whitehead, Frances. Civic Experiments -American Studies Association Annual Conference, Plenary session, Art and Democracy, Baltimore, MD, Oct 2011

Whitehead, Frances, “The Tacit Knowledge of Artists”, in What Do Artist’s Know?, 2009 Stone Summery Theory Institute Proceedings, James Elkins, ed. University of Pennsylvania Press (2012 )

Whitehead, Frances. 51 Declarations for the Future: A Manifesto for Artists + NOTES on the Manifesto "Opening essay for The New Earthwork: Art, Action, Agency," ISC Press, (Jan 2012). Edited by Twylene Moyer and Glenn Harper. fig. pg 16-20.

Whitehead, Frances, What Do Artists Know?, Princeton University School of Architecture magazine, Pidgin, Vol 12 (Spring 2012)

Whitehead, Frances; Graham, David S.; Schwab, AP. Integrating Aesthetics and Technology in the Remediation of Soils at Abandoned Gas Stations, US EPA Sustainable Remediation 2011 Conference, June 1-3, 2011, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Selected Exhibitions

2014

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2013

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2012

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2012

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2011

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2011

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2011

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2011

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2010

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2010

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2009

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2009

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2008

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2007-08

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2005-08

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2006

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2005

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2004

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2004

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2003

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2003

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2002-04

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2001

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2000

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1996

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1994

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1993

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Selected Bibliography

H Hawkins, Sallie A. Marston, M Ingram & E Straughan (Feb 2015): The Art of Socioecological Transformation, Asso of American Geographers

Creativity Breaking the Ice, The Press, Christchurch New Zealand, Oct 10, 2014, p.A19

Hart, Joe, Artist as Leader, Whitehead on The 606, Public Art Review, Summer 2014.

BACKSTORY: New Earth Work, Landscape Architecture Magazine June 2014, page 222

Shimizu, Hiroko, Earth Art Catalog, Frances Whitehead USA, Vol 3, March 2014,

Chameides, Bill. Art Makes Environmental Change Real, Huffington Post, 1.24.2014

Greenfield, John. Bloomingdale Will Integrate Art, Chi.StreetsBlog.org, January 1,2014

Ingram, Mrill. Material Transformations: Urban Ecological Art and Environmental Justice, in Restoring Landscapes: History, Ecology, and Culture

Havlick,David; Hourdequin, Marion, Editors, 2014

Rotenburk, Lori, Artist Lets Trees do the Talking, Grist, December 3, 2013

Rojas, Laurie. An Arty Oasis for the Windy City, The Art Newpaper, London, October 1, 2013

Ohmes, Jeremy. Trail Blazer: Modeling New Pathways for Artists, Events & Disruptions, September 2013

Borrelli, Chris, On the Trail of Art, Chicago Tribune, August 9, 2013

Green, J. Watch Out Highline, Here comes the Bloomingdale Trail, The Dirt, American Society of Landscape Architects, 04/25/2013

Anderson, Aengus. The Conversation: In Search of the New Normal, Radio/web Interview, Episode 25

Ingram, Mrill. Sculpting Solutions: Art-Science Collaborations in Sustainability, VENV: Environment: Science & Policy for Sustainable Development, July/Aug 2012, Vol 54 No. 4, pages 24-35.

Newcombe, Jodi. The Art of the Eco-City Report for the City of Melbourne, International Case Study 3, page 17-18, April 2012,

Vargas, Silvia. Retratan al Medio Ambiente, Diario de Moreles, MX, July , 2012

Ingram, Mrill, The Diplomacy of Art: what ecological artists offer environmental politics, Royal Geographers Conference, London, 2012 Politics of Art and Alchemy at an Abandoned Gas Station, Chicago, Inhabiting the Micro Panel, American Association of Geographers, Feb 2012, NYC

Corris, Michael, What do Artists Know? Contemporary Responses to the Deskilling of Art, ACT Lecture, MIT, Feb 2012

Lori Waxman, Can happiness really be as Simple as Looking at Art?,Chicago Tribune, Nov 23, 2011

Englestad, Janeil, Make Art with Purpose, Interview, Project Page and Opensource, 2011

Art- Science: Collaboration, Bodies, Environments: Case Study artscience.arizona.edu/research_site_slowcleanup.html

Ise, Claudine. ART:21 Blog Frances Whitehead, Embedded Artist, feature on recent public works,

Discovery Channel - Plant Green, “The World’s Greenest Homes”, The Greenhouse Chicago, 2008.

Reed,Mimi. New York Times, An Art project Tinted Green, feature article on The Greenhouse Chicago Project, 3.13.08

Willis, Anne-Marie. “Interview”. Design Philosophy Politics, designphilosophypolitics.com

Jacob, Mary Jane. Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art., Univ. California Press, 2004, p.201-204.

Fry, Tony. “A Path to the Future”, Spaces Gallery World Artists Program, Cleveland, OH, 2007

Spoleto Festival USA, “Places with a Future”, Fesitval Catalogue 2004, p. 128 (image)

Smith, Stephanie, “Beyond Green” Independent Curators International, Exhibition Catalogue,2005.

Worlf-Krantz,Caire. “Idea Based Sculpture” feature, SCULPTURE magazine, March 2004, pp 52-57, fig

University of Colorado, Boulder, “What Follows” video series of arist interviews. Interview, 2000.

Jacob, Mary Jane. “Another Beauty:”, Laumeier Sculpture Park, catalogue essay, 2000, fig.

Snodgrass, Susan. Art in America, Chicago Report, April 1999, p.81-87, fig.

Palmer, Laurie. Exhibition review, Frieze, September 1998, p.90-91, fig.

Yood, James. "Frances Whitehead", ARTFORUM Magazine, (December 1989), p.146.

Bonesteel, Michael. "Medium Cool", Art in America, (December 1987), p. 139-147, (fig).

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