It’s outdoor art season in Chicagoland, finally, and two venues are bringing the bright, bold colors to our blooming prairie.
Architecture and design firm Perkins&Will, in partnership with Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, kicked off the annual international NeoCon trade show at the Merchandise Mart with a new Art on the Mart light display called Currents of Chicago, set to Chicago house music by Aniko “Niko the Great” Thomas, running through July 6.
Lisle’s Morton Arboretum has installed Vivid Creatures: Colorful Sculptures as Tall as Trees, featuring five new large-scale sculptures from Portland-based artists Heather BeGaetz and Fez BeGaetz across 1700 acres, running through spring 2027.
Art on the Mart is the world’s largest permanent digital art project, utilizing the 2.5-acre façade of the US’s largest privately held commercial building, a 25-story behemoth that offers 4.2 million square feet over two city blocks. The short, free display is viewable from the Jetty section of the Chicago Riverwalk on Wacker Drive between Wells and Franklin (where food and drink are available for purchase), Thursday through Sunday evenings through July 6.
Located on the Chicago River, the chill, hip vibe of Currents of Chicago embraces the city’s connection to natural arteries and robust design heritage as well as “the visible and invisible forces shaping the city, such as water and wind, data and infrastructure.”
From the river to Lake Michigan to diverse communities connected by an arterial transit system, this colorful Art on the Mart projection show celebrates the interconnected rhythms of modern life among nature, humans and technology. This display prominently features the Y symbol, also called the Municipal Device, which represents the Chicago River and its two branches.
A nod to the Windy City’s ongoing momentum, including the currents of water and wind, nature and design, are both literal and figurative.
Currents reveals the underlying threads of human need and imagination that drive process,” said Perkins&Will’s Yvette Fevurly. “Design is not decoration—it’s direction. It guides experience, reveals meaning and charts the way forward.”
Founded in 2018, Art on the Mart is a 30-year commitment to feature cutting-edge work by local, regional, national and international interdisciplinary artists without branding, sponsorship or other messaging. The rotating programming uses 34 state-of-the-art projectors totaling almost one million lumens.
In Lisle, 25 miles southwest of Chicago, the Morton Arboretum’s new sculpture installation Vivid Creatures has opened, encouraging city dwellers to get into the country to “touch trees” as well as to “touch grass.”
Heather BeGaetz and Fez BeGaetz are partners as artists and in life, and have exhibited internationally at other immersive art destinations, festivals, conferences and urban spaces. Their sculptures are made from recycled steel and fiber-reinforced sculptural cement over steel frameworks. Those shapes are then filled with aluminum foil covered with cement-based sculpting medium, painted with acrylic paints, and sealed. The pair owns these sculptures and will relocate them after their residency here.
Ranging from 8 to 23 feet tall, the quartet celebrates animals of the Illinois ecosystem, including a blue dasher dragonfly, brittle button snail, fox squirrel, sandhill crane and white-tailed deer. Signs in English and Spanish at each installation (along with scannable QR codes for more details) share each animal’s name and story:
- Nimbly the dragonfly: “As a nymph, I can’t even fly across the pond. Young wings feel so clumsy.”
- Spectra the snail: “Savor a spring rain, leaf litter and the sacredness of dirt.”
- Scamp the squirrel: “Whoops, I knew I was missing a few acorns. Oh well—they bring new growth for all.”
- Cadence the crane: “Look up! Hear our song as it echoes across this storied space.”
- Generosity the deer (who also sports smaller versions of the other creatures on and around the giant frame): “Finally spring is here. The forest and its creatures thrive together.”
The crane, dragonfly and deer are situated near each other and reachable via paved, ADA-accessible paths, as is the squirrel, which is located right inside the visitor center entrance for accessible selfies. The snail is high above Interstate 88, resulting in a scenic yet windswept installation. Check every portion of each animal for “Easter eggs” hidden throughout their painted surfaces, usually other creatures or mini tableaux.
“I’m fascinated by the way different creatures perceive color,” artist Heather BeGaetz said. “Changing the colors of these animals and bringing them into these wild palettes is possibly getting deeper into their stories. Who knows how they see the world? But we like to see them in their most vivid possible imaginative way.”
Scamp the squirrel was inspired after a site visit with the artists and their daughter. They photographed her playing with a ball near the rodent, which they later captured in that human-sized sculpture.
Dr. Preston Bautista, the Arboretum’s VP of Learning and Engagement, explained how new artists and installations are chosen, usually about every two years. “They must create works of art at a monumental scale, as you can see with ‘Vivid Creatures,’” he said. “They also need to fabricate artworks that can withstand extreme Chicago weather and human interactions. Most importantly, these artists’ works have to connect to the Arboretum and nature at large in order to get people outdoors.”
Those requirements can limit the potential pool, so the tree team uses social media and internet searches for artists, as well as looking at other gardens, galleries and museums. To support their “more than a walk in the woods” mission, the Arboretum’s scientific laboratory collects and studies trees, shrubs and other plants from around the world and displays them across naturally beautiful landscapes.
The Vivid Creatures exhibition also offers accompanying programming throughout the summer, such as:
- Vivid Creations Art Workshop, a hands-on artmaking activity, on Saturdays and Sundays through August 31 (free with general admission).
- Wonder Woods Mini Golf, a nine-hole, tree-themed course sharing science about tree rings, root systems and forest biodiversity (separate timed ticket purchase).
- Arbor Evenings, live music every Wednesday night through August 20 (tickets online).
- Children’s Garden 20th Anniversary programming like “Art in the Garden.”
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