Epiphany Center for the Arts | Catacombs Gallery

201 S. Ashland Avenue, Chicago 60607

After spending hours at the world’s largest wastewater treatment plant in Stickney, Illinois interviewing personnel, attending seminars and reading deeply, Lindsay Olson learned the science behind what engineers do to treat human wastewater. Returning to the studio, she used an assortment of elegant fibers, embroidery and stitching techniques to create richly colored textiles that help explain how water can be endlessly recycled if we care for it properly. Wastewater treatment has been the most successful public health initiative in the history of human beings and Olson’s Manufactured River brings awareness to its importance to the future of clean water.

Located subgrade in the undercroft of the historic former Church of the Epiphany, the brick and timbered Catacombs Gallery alludes to spaces where wastewater flows and atmospherically lends as a backdrop for the exhibit. Experientially for visitors, the exhibit will additionally present a choreographed sound installation composed by music engineer and producer Jon Smith, recorded in part, on site at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant.

Olson extends her thanks project partner, Dick Lanyon, Retired Executive Director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and to Tony Glymph, Consultant - Wastewater Microbiologist, retired Chief Microbiologist MWRD, plus a special thanks to the many professionals at the MWRD of Greater Chicago who spent time teaching her about the wastewater treatment process. And to Columbia College Chicago faculty development grant to support this project.

For more information, go to: www.epiphanychi.com

Photo credit: Lindsay Olson