RESOLUTION FOR BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 1, 2017
Title
RESOLUTION sponsored by the Board of Commissioners recognizing Brad Temkin and his work on THE STATE OF WATER
Body
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin is a Chicago-area artist who documents the human impact on the landscape through photography; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin was born in Chicago, Illinois, and currently resides in Skokie, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin studied photography at Ohio University in Athens, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and then at the University of Illinois at Chicago, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin currently serves on the faculty of Columbia College Chicago as an adjunct professor of photography; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s images have appeared in national and international publications including TIME Magazine, Aperture, and European Photography; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s work resides in the permanent collections of museums around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s first book, titled Private Places: Photographs of Chicago Gardens, was published by the Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago in 2005, and offered readers a remarkable glimpse of the intimate natural spaces created by Chicagoans in their homes and other dwellings; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s second book, titled Rooftop, was published by Radius Books in 2015, and presents aesthetically-compelling images of green roofs in cities around the world, documenting their paradoxical function as made-made natural spaces in the midst of sprawling urban life; and
WHEREAS, the images in Rooftop brought attention to both the existence and the ecological benefits of green roofs, and were recently the subject of a one-person exhibition at Roosevelt University’s Gage Gallery, titled Rooftop: Second Nature; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s latest project, called The State of Water, aims to share the visual and ecological beauty of the processes by which humans recycle water, removing impurities and transforming water from an impure state to a pure one; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s project on The State of Water will involve photographing water management infrastructure in Chicago and other cities across the country, including infrastructure built and operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s project on The State of Water will draw attention to the vital work performed by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and other water agencies, and to the importance of fresh water as our most valuable natural resource; and
WHEREAS, Brad Temkin’s project on the The State of Water recently received special recognition and support from the Guggenheim Foundation, when Mr. Temkin was named as a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, on behalf of ourselves and staff, do hereby congratulate Brad Temkin on being named as a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow for his project on The State of Water; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution be spread upon the permanent Record of Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and that a copy of same, suitably embossed, be presented to Brad Temkin.
Dated: June 1, 2017
Approved: MARIYANA T. SPYROPOULOS, President; BARBARA J. MCGOWAN, Vice President; FRANK AVILA, Chairman, Committee on Finance; TIMOTHY BRADFORD; MARTIN J DURKAN; JOSINA MORITA; DEBRA SHORE; KARI K. STEELE; DAVID J. WALSH; Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Approved as to Form and Legality: Susan Morakalis, Acting General Counsel