‘It appeals to and activates all five of the senses’: Elmhurst art exhibit explores sustenance, relationship with land

A collection of works from different artists employs the five senses to convey human connection to — and destruction of — the environment.

Elmhurst Art Museum’s newest exhibit, “Sustenance and Land: Five Artists Consider Our Relationship with the Earth,” implores visitors to consider their own relationship to the earth beneath their feet. The exhibit opens Jan. 25 and runs through April 27.

“The first sort of inspiration for this exhibition was to do something that was in response to items in the museum's collection — black and white photographs by longtime photographers in Chicago, and it kind of grew from there,” Liz Chilsen, curator of the exhibition, said about its creation.

“The goal was to gather this group of artists who are creating work that addresses concerns about the climate and ecology from a variety of perspectives,” Chilsen said.

The six artists — Barbara Ciurej, Lindsay Lochman, Claire Pentecost, Tominko Jones, Lydia Cheshewalla and Chunbo Zhang — each have their own practices of addressing ecological issues and concerns through their artwork.

“Often the idea of climate change, especially looking at the wildfires in California — it’s just overwhelming to think ‘how can I make a difference?’ I think these artists are helping to understand, and are maybe providing some avenues for making a difference,” Chilsen said.

The progression of the collection intends to invoke consideration for where visitors stand physically on the Earth, and how they gain sustenance from the land.

“As you walk through the exhibition, the first gallery includes a reference to an apothecary shop,” Chilsen said. “It’s full of soil collected from all over the Midwest.”

The soil, a yearslong assemblage by featured artist Pentecost, is presented in an array of jars, each labeled with their date and location of collection.

Pentecost calls the piece “Our Bodies, Our Soils,” referencing a connection between the health of the soil with that of the body.

“It’s truly about the ground beneath your feet,” Chilsen said.

The proceeding gallery features the works of Lochman and Ciurej, collaborative photographers based out of Milwaukee and Chicago respectively, according to their website.

The duo’s collection of manufactured landscape photographs, aptly titled “Processed Views: Surveying the Industrial Landscape — reference the Western expansion of the United States at the turn of the 19th century.

“What Barb and Lindsay have done is taken these famous photographs and re-created them using junk food,” Chilsen said. “They’re kind of raising the question of ‘What have we done with this amazing paradise that was available to us, and what is the food that we grow on this land?’”

Among the featured photographs is “Baked Alaska,” an image paired alongside a “recipe” which conveys a message regarding climate change — instructing the viewer to “Preheat atmosphere with carbon dioxide emissions” and to “stir heat-trapping gasses into Arctic region.”

Chinese-born artist Zhang’s featured work compares differences between Chinese and American consumption. Zhang employs watercolors to portray a Chinese cultural flare on beloved American dishes, including Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

The last two galleries feature a collection of photographs by Jones and a video installation from Cheshewalla.

“Both of their practices are really rooted in place, and sort of take you back to the earth — but with a gesture of care and healing,” Chilsen said. “It’s about paying close attention to where you are, how you can sustain the earth and how the earth sustains you.”

Visitors can anticipate a “creative station” upon their exit of the exhibition, according to Chilsen, where they can contribute to a continuation of the art and share their insights.

“It’s a creative station where people will be able to share some thoughts, maybe write a new recipe for the future or just kind of share what they gained in the form of a poem or a drawing — anything that they’d like to leave as a gesture for other people to come and respond to,” Chilsen said.

The opening reception of the exhibition is from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24.

There will be opportunities for creative engagement throughout the spring, including an artist talk and exhibition walk through on Feb. 8, dance excerpts from national touring dance company The Seldoms on Feb. 13 and a soil workshop with ecologist Nance Klehm on Feb. 22.

“This is a very sensual exhibit, in that it appeals to and activates all five of the senses,” Chilsen said. “There’s a lot to explore.”