Curatorial Conversation with Jeff Stevenson and Mary Miss

Free and open to the public.
6 – 7:30 pm wine receptionwith remarks at 6:30 pm.
21c Museum Hotel Chicago and theNate are excited to collaborate to present the next Curatorial Conversation. Director and Curator of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park (theNate) and the Visual Arts Gallery at Governors State University, Jeff Stevenson will be in conversation with artist Mary Miss to discuss her artwork and career.

Mary Miss has redefined public art since the 1970s, making environmental and social sustainability tangible, often through collaborative projects. Her site-specific work spans landscape architecture, urban design, and graphic communication, emphasizing history, ecology, and overlooked environmental aspects.

Her work Field Rotation draws from diverse art historical references while remaining wholly original. It features a central mound with a sunken gravel garden, tiered platforms, and moats that temporarily fill with rainwater. Steel ladders provide access, and two steel towers contrast with the wooden structure. Outside, 125 wooden poles radiate in pinwheel fashion, their uniform elevation emphasizing the Midwestern landscape’s gentle slope.

In 2024, theNate proudly completed the extensive conservation and restoration of Field Rotation, ensuring it is presented as the artist originally intended. That same year, the announced destruction of Miss’ Greenwood Pond Double Site marked the unfortunate loss of a significant land artwork by a pioneering woman artist.Other notable projects include a Ground Zero memorial, flood markers in Boulder, and revealing Union Square’s subway history. In 2009, she founded City as Living Laboratory to engage the public in sustainability. A Guggenheim Fellow and Rome Prize recipient, Miss has received numerous honors, including the 2023 Arts and Letters Award and grants from NEA and NSF.
Pro tip: arrive at 5 pm for a tour of the current exhibition at 21c with Museum Manager Jennifer Murray.

Host or Publisher 21c Chicago