DownloadCurrent Appointment
2022 - School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Present Professor Emerita
2022 - School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1985 Full Professor, Sculpture Department + Affiliated in Architecture
Awards + Grants
Massey University International Fine Arts Residency Matairangi Mahi Toi, Wellington, NZ 2019
Chamberlain Award for Social Practice Headlands Center for the Arts, 2018
A Blade of Grass Foundation Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art, Fruit Futures Community Orchard, 2016
Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability, 2016
National Planning Excellence Award for Urban Design, American Planning Association, The 606, 2016
Burnham Award in Excellence, Metropolitan Planning Commission, The 606, 2015
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
Oronsko Contemporary Sculpture Center, Artist in Residence, Oronsko, Poland 2004.
Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum, Artist in Residence, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, 2002.
Kunstlerateliers Niederosterreich, International Residency, Krems, Austria, summer 2001.
Illinois Arts Council: Individual Artist Grant, 1985, 1987, 1999
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship Award, New York, 1991.
National Endowment for the Arts: Individual Artist Grant, 1986
Current Projects
| Emerging |
Walking the Ocean - with We Are Ocean.org, Santa Fe, NM and Pezene de Mines, France. |
| 2023- ongoing |
DeepTime Southwest - participatory research group exploring GA/MA/KA timeframes and cosmologies in Santa Fe regional context. In partnership with Sci/Art Santa Fe |
| 2022- ongoing |
Nopalogy- in collaboration with Instituto Tecnológico De Monterrey, México, New Mexico State University, Nopal Growers Association, Milpa Alta, CDMX. Research on Nopales culture and economies. |
| 2018 - ongoing |
Casa De Agua, - Santa Fe, Water conservation dwelling and xeric landscape, adaptive reuse of vernacular residence for climate change in collaboration with Jim Elniski + Mark Mortier |
| 2019 - ongong |
Pigmenti Loci / Huaota tae - collaboration with Dr. Nick Roskruge, Massey University + Drawing Ecologies, Aotearoa/NZ, plant pigment research from endemic plants. |
Public Projects
| 2014-2019 ongoing |
Fruit Futures Initiative Gary (FFIG) – Founder, The Gary Commons Community Land Trust |
| 2014 - 2019 |
Modest Modernism – An edible landscape dwelling laboratory in post-urb Gary, Indiana. Collaboration with Jim Elniski |
| 2012-2016 |
The 606 Chicago, IL Lead Artist on Design Team |
| 2011-12 |
The Lima Project: Urban Agriculture and Sustainable Development for the Historic District, LIMA Peru. |
| 2008-12 |
Embedded Artist Project City of Chicago, Depts of Innovation, Planning, Cultural Affairs & Environment.
|
| 2008-10 |
Waldkunst- Forest Art 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 |
| 2006 |
The Diaspora Garden: Concerning the Transatlantic Exchange of Plants and People, Drayton Hall National Historic Trust, Spoleto Festival USA, Estates Management Company (unbuilt commission) |
| 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 |
| 1996 |
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri. “Hortvs Obscurus(the dark garden)" |
Writing + Presentations
Whitehead, Frances; Aloi, Giovanni. Phytophiliac: Interview , Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, Issue #60 Earthly Surfacing, Spring 2023, p. 193-211.
Whitehead, Frances; Gonzalez Virgen, Miguel. Interview- Arts Initiative, School of Art, Architecture and Design, Instituto Tecnológico Y De Estudios Superiores De Monterrey, México, 2022.
Whitehead, Frances; Kagan, Sacha. Chicago’s Embedded Artist as Double Agent: Interview2nd Interlude Chapter: In Culture and Sustainable Development in the City: Urban Spaces of Possibilities, Dr. Sacha Kagan, Ed., Rutledge, 2022.
Whitehead, Frances; Twist, Ben. A Conversation with Frances Whitehead, Civic Practice Artist, Cultural Adaptations Conference, Creative Carbon Scotland, March 2021.
Whitehead, Frances; Krainak, Paul. Interview, Bad at Sports Blog Sub-rural #4: 9.18.2021
Whitehead, Frances. After Growth: A Symposium on Post Capitalist Imaginaries, Nottingham Contemporary, UK, Presentation and conversation with co-presenter Thandi Lowenson, March 2022.
Whitehead, Frances. Practices of Placemaking: affect, antagonism, attachment, Routledge Handbook of Placemaking Video discussion probing some of the dominant and tropes narratives of placemaking, With: Dr Cara Courage, Editor, Tom Borrup, Robert Bedoya, respondent, 2021.
Whitehead, Frances. Epistemic Disobedience: Embedded Artist: Epistemic Disobedience + Place, The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking, Dr. Cara Courage Ed, Chapter 22, pg 247-257, Rutledge, 2020.
Whitehead, Frances. Embedded Artist: Tactics for Praxis, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland, Symposium on Embedded Practices, ZhDK 2018, published 2019.
Whitehead, Frances. Bodø Biennial Art + Social Responsibility Symposium Keynote Address, What Do Artists Know? The Artist Urbanist, Bodø, Norway, 2018
Whitehead, Frances. Open Engagement, Queens Museum, Presentation on Fruit Futures Initiative Gary, 2018
Whitehead, Frances. Biocultura Arts Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, forum on art + science with Los Alamos Lab Biohacking , 2017.
Whitehead, Frances. Fruit Futures, Seed Broadcast agri-Cultural Journal, Cultivating diverse Varieties of Resilience, p. 28, Vol #9, 2017.
Whitehead, Frances. OPTing IN: The Civic Experiment – Keynote address, Art and Future: Energy, Climate, Cultures Symposium, Dunedin School of Art, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin New Zealand, Oct 2016, published in proceedings, Fall 2017.
Whitehead, Frances. The Civic Experiment: Tactics for Praxis, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, COST Action- Investigating Cultural Sustainability, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, 2015, reprinted Forty-Five Magazine, 2017.
Whitehead, Frances. Embedded Artist: Opting In, Embedded Artist: Double Agent, A Blade of Grass Foundation, Growing Dialogue 2016
Whitehead, Frances. Illinois Humanities Council, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Reviving A City: How Artists & Planners Are Working Together In Chester, Pa And Gary, IN, Stony Island Arts Bank, 2016
Whitehead, Frances. Dunedin City Council Staff, Dunedin, New Zealand, Embedded Artist: Creative Strategies for Cities, 2016
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
Print Editions + Graphic Works
2020 Free Museum of Dallas, Invisible Conversations, As We Were Saying James Baldwin in OCR-A The Price of a Ticket
2016 Printworks Gallery, Chicago, Exquisite Corpse
2014 LEF(t) Visual Project Page, published by Critical Practices, Inc.
2014 Make Art with Purpose, Diaspore: The Lima Project, Dallas, TX
2013 SPUD, Diaspora Papa Map, with Deirdre O’Mahoney for ExPO, Clare, Ireland
2003 Anchor Graphics, Chicago, Illinois – The Virus Project (20 lithographs)
1999 Big Cat Press, Chicago, Illinois, (folio of etchings)
1996 Herron School of Art/IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN, (lithograph /sculptural multiple with luna moths)
1993 Segura Publishing, Tempe, AZ, Deadly Nightshade series (suite of 5 lithographs with pressed flowers)
1990 Sette & Segura Publishing, Tempe, AZ, Topology series (suite of 9 lithographs and many monotypes)
Exhibitions
| 2022 | Design Museum Chicago, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, with Industry of the Ordinary |
| 2022 | EcoArtSpace, Site Works at the Poetry Yard, Santa Fe, NM, Patricia Watts, curator. |
| 2022 | MdW Art Fair, Ohklahomo Gallery, Mana Contemporary, Chicago |
| 2021 | University of Arizona Museum of Art, Picturing 2020, Tucson, AZ |
| 2019 | Hyde Park Art Center The Gary Projects, Chicago, IL. |
| 2016 | The Burren College of Art, Potato/Batata Exhibition/Performance, Ballyvaugh, Ireland and Gary, Indiana. |
| 2014 | Kochi Biennial The Knowledge Project, Kochi, India |
| 2013 | SPUD, Diaspora Papa Map, with Deirdre O’Mahoney for EXPO, Clare, Ireland |
| 2012 | Printworks Gallery, Face Forward, Chicago, IL. |
| 2012- 2009 | LACE (Re-) Cycles of Paradise, Los Angeles, CA, also shown at Science Museum of Morelos, Cuernavaca, MX, 2011; Spanish Cultural Center Spanish Embassy, Mexico City, MX, ( in conjunction with COP16, 2010, COP15 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen, DK, 2009 |
| 2012 | Frieze Art Fair, London, UK. With Grizedale Arts/Yangjiang Group, Colosseum of the Consumed, with Deirdre O’Mahony, |
| 2011 | Upsala University, Upsala Sweden, Challenging (Un)certainties, in conjunction with the Conference on Sustainability |
| 2011 | The Happiness Project, Pop-up site in Chicago Loop, curated by Tricia van Eck, Nov, 2011 |
| 2011 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Seeing is a Kind of Thinking |
| 2010 | The 5th International Forest Art Path Freedom and Wildness, Hessen Forst, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 2009 | Wesleyan University, Feet to the Fire- Art and Climate Change, Middletown, CT. |
| 2008 | Chicago Cultural Center, Here There Everywhere, Mapping and Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL |
| 2007-08 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Mapping the Self (commission) |
| 2007-08 | Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art AZ, Right to Print: Segura Publishing Company |
| 2005-08 | The Smart Museum of Art University of Chicago, Beyond Green: Art for Sustainable Culture-traveling to: |
| 2005 | I-Space, University of Illinois at Chicago Gallery, Urban, Rural, Wild, Chicago, Illinois |
| 2004 | Printworks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, solo exhibition |
| 2004 | Oronsko Contemporary Sculpture Center, Oronsko,Poland, River Pilicia |
| 2004 | Museum of Contemporary Art, The Center is Anywhere, Chicago, IL |
| 2003 | Santa Fe Art Institute, H20, Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| 2003 | Tweed Museum, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Contemporary Art and the Mathematical Instinct |
| 2003 | Exploratorium, San Francisco, Tele-sculpture 2003. |
| 2003 | College of the Atlantic, Watermarks, Mt. Desert Island, Maine. |
| 2002-04 | Independent Curators International, UnNaturally, Mary Kay Lombino, curator. Traveling to: Lowe Museum of Art, Miami, Florida, University of Southern California, Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles, Nevada Museum of Art, Los Vegas, Nevada |
| 2001 | Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Digital Prints- Print Biennial 2001. |
| 2000 | Northern Illinois University Gallery, Arguably Alive-The Virus Taxonomy, Chicago, Illinois, solo installation catalogue |
| 2000 | Wave Hill, Glyndor Gallery, Bronx, New York, Abundant Invention |
| 1999,1993, 1991 | Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, solo exhibitions |
| 1998 | Tough Gallery, antechamber, Chicago, Illinois, solo installation |
| 1998 | Moreau Center for the Arts, St. Mary’s College, South Bend Indiana The Nature of Landscape |
| 1996 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, Art in Chicago 1945-1995, catalogue |
| 1996 | Tough Gallery, Actea artemesia/ Artemesia absinthium, Chicago, Illinois, solo installation |
| 1996 | Northwestern University, Second Sight: Printmaking in Chicago 1935- 1995, Chicago, Illinois, |
| 1996 | National Gallery of American Art, Washington, D.C., History of The Monoprint -1880 to the present |
| 1996 | Laumeier Sculpture Park & Museum, Trope, St. Louis, Missouri, solo exhibition |
| 1996 | Herron School of Art, Trope,Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, IN, solo exhibition |
| 1996 | American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York. Invitational Painting and Sculpture. |
| 1994 | City of Baltimore Schoolhouse 33 Art Center, Baltimore MD, From the Garden |
| 1993 | The Drawing Center, New York, New York The Return of the Exquisite Corpse. |
| 1993 | Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Ohio About Nature |
| 1992, 1989 | DART Gallery, Chicago Illinois, solo exhibitions |
| 1991 | LedisFlam Gallery, New York, New York, solo exhibition |
| 1985 | Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, solo exhibition |
Citations
Loughran, Kevin. Parks for Profit: Selling Nature in the City, Columbia University Press, NY, 2022
Newhouse, Victoria. Parks of the 21st Century: Reinvented Landscapes, Reclaimed Territories, Rizzolli, NYC, 2022
Ingram, Mrill. Loving Orphaned Space: The Art and Science of Belonging to Earth, Temple University Press, 2022.
AIPH Green-City Guidelines case study of Environmental Sentinnel, The 606, 2020
Creative Carbon Scotland, Library Of Practice Case Study, Vol. 1, 2018
Fieldworks: Frances Whitehead Fruit Futures, RAVA Films, A Blade of Grass Foundation,
The MAP Radio Hour @ Creative Disturbance, Podcast with curator Janeil Englestad, MIT, Fall 2017
Sustainable Lens Radio, Otago Polytechnic University, Dunedin, New Zealand, Oct 2016
Duxbury, Nancy; Hosagrahar, Jyoti; Pascual, Jordi. Agenda 21 for Culture: Why must culture be at the heart of sustainable urban development? United Cities and Local Governments, Chapter 8 Resilience and Climate Change, page 25, fig. January, 2016.
Bjørnsten, Thomas; Stephensen, Jan L. Renegotiating Data Ecologies Through Trees, Soil, And Pigs’ Lungs, SPHERES: Journal for Digital Cultures, ISSN 2363-8621 #2 Ecologies of Change, 2015
Geoghegan, Bernard Dionysius. Ecologies Of Disclosure: On Aesthetic Compositions Of Technics And Life, SPHERES: Journal for Digital Cultures, ISSN 2363-8621 #2 Ecologies of Change, 2015
Courage, Cara. Arts and the Urban, What do (Social Practice) Artists Do?,May 18, 2015
Kimmelman, Michael. The Difference a Park Makes, New York Times, March 13, 2017, page C1
Abandoned Chicago Railway Reborn, New York Times, Aug 24, 2015 via Associated Press
Dixon, Deborah. Feminist Geopolitics: Material States, Chapter 6: Touch, Routledge, 2016
Moser, Whet. How to Design a Park in the 21st Century (and Beyond), Chicago Magazine, June 5, 2015
Kamin, Blair. Chicago’s New 606 Trail,a boon for open space, Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2015
Thompson, Jonathan. Chicago’s new high line is ‘more than an elevated park, The Guardian, April 25, 2015.
Dixon, Deborah. Space, Place and the Humanities, Geohumanities Journal, AAG, Vol1 Issue 1, 2015
Sisson, Patrick. Elevated 606 Park Will Transform Chicago, Dwell Magazine, Sept 18, 2014
Fisk, Susan. Soil Microbes and Plants Work Together, Soil Horizons, Sept 9, 2014,
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
Schmidt-Wulffen, Stephan. Exodus: Aesthetic Practice beyond the Art Institution, p.3-4, Van der Ber, Karen, and Pasero, Ursula, Ed. Art Production Beyond the Art Market, Sternberg Press, 2013.
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
Ise, Claudine. ART:21 Blog Frances Whitehead, Embedded Artist, feature on recent public works,
Discovery Channel - Plant Green, “The World’s Greenest Homes Series”, The Greenhouse Chicago, 2008.
Reed,Mimi. New York Times, An Art project Tinted Green, feature article on The Greenhouse Chicago Project, 3.13.08
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
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).