Installation view, Glass Curtain Gallery – Columbia College Chicago, 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Jeremy Bolen, "Albedo," 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

A memorial to the 41 unclaimed bodies from among the 700+ residents who perished in the 1995 Chicago Heat Wave that also explores ways forward in our changing climate and lessons learned from the tragedy.

Jeremy Bolen, "Albedo," 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

The sculpture outlines 41 life-sized caskets, for the 41 unclaimed bodies.

Jeremy Bolen, “Albedo,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Many who died in the heat wave were isolated without air conditioning. Forty-one colorful doorbells throughout the work remind us that reaching out to others in a crisis can save lives.

Jeremy Bolen, “Albedo,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

The exterior is coated in light-reflecting roofing granules, an affordable way to cool buildings and reduce the urban heat island effect.

Jeremy Bolen, “Albedo,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Humidifiers reference a development by an Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist that adapts common humidifiers to absorb atmospheric carbon.

Jeremy Bolen, “Albedo,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Replicas of the humidifiers, made of CarbonCure Concrete, which permanently embeds captured carbon. Reminiscent of tombstones, they are both a memorial and hopeful gesture.

Jeremy Bolen, “Albedo,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

On the upper level are two lab boxes, each containing a brick of CarbonCure. They emphasize the experimental nature of some mitigation measures and that more work needs to be done.

Barbara Cooper, “Seep,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

With plastic embedded throughout the organic forms of “Seep,” the sculptures examine the ubiquity of plastic in Earth’s ecosystems, our life support systems, even our bodies.

Barbara Cooper, “Seep,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

The work asks: Can the earth, the atmosphere, and the many earthbound organisms 'digest' what humans generate from an increasingly toxic industrial complex?

Barbara Cooper, “Seep,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Digesting what humans generate …

Barbara Cooper, “Seep,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

Cooper made the forms by manipulating screening and found plastic water bottles, mirroring how plastics in daily life become implanted into the organic world.

Barbara Cooper, “Seep,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

The sculptures reference the body systems that absorb food, water, and air, all of which harbor microplastics.

Barbara Cooper, “Seep,” 2020. Photo: Katy Osborn

The work draws attention to Earth’s inability to process these and other human interventions – making the environment less resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Barbara Cooper,” Seep,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

There’s hope, though. A few short years after high concentrations of plastic microbeads were found in the Great Lakes, they were banned in the US. More is possible.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

A giant monarch butterfly chrysalis sheds light on dwindling monarch populations, partly due to climate change. Guests can help by planting milkweed – free for the taking on the shelf. Milkweed courtesy of the Field Museum Science Action Center.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Monarch wings painted on the outside make the chrysalis seem transparent, adding to the impression that a butterfly is about to emerge.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

A look inside reveals portraits of two men who worked tirelessly to protect monarch habitat in Michoacán, Mexico. The work pays homage to them.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

Monarch butterfly conservationist and activist Raul Romero, murdered in 2020.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Eileen Ryan

Monarch butterfly conservationist and activist Homero Gonzalez, murdered in 2020.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Streamers cascade from above the portraits.

Hector Duarte, “Requiem for Two Spirits, Defenders of the Migrant Butterflies,” 2020. Photo: Katy Osborn

The streamers and soaring spiral suggest the ascension of the men’s spirits and a portal to the next dimension.

Rosemary Holliday Hall, “River of Shadows” (left) and “Liquidation,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Part of a trio of works examining the central role water plays in climate change: its overabundance and scarcity, and impacts on habitat.

Rosemary Holliday Hall, Still from “River of Shadows,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

A video exploring the surface tension of water as a metaphor for reaching the moment of capacity, both atmospherically and economically.

Rosemary Holliday Hall, Still from “River of Shadows,” 2020. Photo: Jonathan Castillo

Aerial views of the Chicago region appear throughout the video, in varying degrees and here in the background, which localized the issue.

Click image for slideshow; navigate right to left.

The Exhibition

Visitor Comments

“Great, thought-provoking, sacred, inspiring exhibit”

Third Coast Disrupted premiered at the Glass Curtain Gallery - Columbia College Chicago, September 8, 2020, through February 19, 2021. The show took on new form – with new versions of some of the artworks – at the historic Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, in Riverwoods, Illinois, May 7 - August 22, 2021.

Third Coast Disrupted:

Artists + Scientists on Climate

An exhibition of commissioned artworks culminating a yearlong conversation between artists and scientists centered on climate change impacts and solutions in the Chicago region.

Through science-inspired sculpture, painting, collage, video, and installation, the artworks examine local impacts – happening here and now – ranging from extreme heat to flooding to habitat loss, and more. They also shine light on local solutions underway, like backyard habitat restoration and nature-based approaches to slowing stormwater. Some imagine future possibilities.

The works weave together a story – from the intensely personal to the observational, and from a cellular to grand scale – of what is happening and what is possible in our region.

Explore

Enjoy a virtual tour of the exhibition and peruse the exhibition catalog.

See Rosemary Holliday Hall's River of Shadows video and Meredith Leich's Deep Tunnel animated video from the show.

Meet the curatorial team, and the artists and scientists.