Bio
Tempestt Hazel is a curator, writer, artist advocate, and director of Sixty Inches From Center, a Chicago-based online arts publication and archiving initiative. She is also the Arts Program Officer for the Field Foundation of Illinois.
In her curatorial practice she uses archives and collections as a starting point to draw connections between a variety of histories and the work of contemporary artists. With Sixty Inches From Center, she advocates for artist legacy-building through arts journalism, storytelling, and ephemera cataloging while working to increase awareness, content, and accessibility to the Chicago Artist Files of over 10,000 artists, housed at the Harold Washington Library.
Over the years she has worked in arts administration, curating, and multidisciplinary programming at Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago Park District, and Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago. Her exhibitions and research have been produced with the University of North Texas, South Side Community Art Center, Terrain Exhibitions, Contemporary Arts Council, Black Metropolis Research Consortium, University of Chicago and the Smart Museum of Art. Hazel’s writing has been published in the books Support Networks: Chicago Social Practice History Series (UChicago Press), Institutions and Imaginaries: Chicago Social Practice History Series (UChicago Press), Contact Sheet: Light Work Annual, Unfurling: Explorations In Art, Activism and Archiving, The Shape of Spilled Milk (Candor Arts), In the Company of Black (Candor Arts), and for Artslant, Prospect 4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, Hyde Park Art Center, the Broad Museum (Lansing), the Tremaine Foundation's Exhibitions on the Cusp, and Duke University.
She is also the 2019 recipient of the J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award from the Society of American Archivists.
Tempestt was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois then spent several years drifting through the San Francisco Bay area before moving to Chicago.
CV
Curatorial Projects.
2020 TBD, Plomo Gallery, Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
2018 Black Archives Revisited (Revisited/Reflected Series): The Catalyst’s Black FolkUs and the International Black Writers Conference (After Alice Browning), (part of The Time Is Now!: Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side, 1960-1980), The Smart Museum, Chicago, IL
2018 Holdings: On The Art and Influence of Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, [Ongoing Independent Project], Chicago, IL
2016 Shared Language: A Community Classroom, Arts Incubator at University of Chicago
2015 Lost In Trans, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
2013 Recess, South Side Community Art Center, Chicago, IL
2013 Tropisms (Diana Gabriel), The Salon Series Projects at FLATS Studios, Chicago, IL
2013 Serenade, Terrain Exhibitions, Oak Park, IL
2012 Locality, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
2012 The Tipping Point of Me and We, Contemporary Arts Council Exhibition, Little Black Pearl, Chicago, IL
2011 The Future’s Past, Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship, Blanc Gallery, Chicago, IL
Collaborative Curatorial Projects.
2018 Artists + Archives: Pilots with Ivan LOZANO, Aay Preston-Myint, + H. Melt, with Kate Hadley Toftness at Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago, IL
2018 The Time is Now!: Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side, 1960-1980, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL
2015 Forms of Imagination with Paola Aguirre for Chicago Architecture Biennial, Arts Incubator at University of Chicago
2015 Three the Hard Way with Hamza Walker and Camille Morgan, Logan Gallery at University of Chicago
2015 exceptional/respectable with James T. Green, Arts Incubator at University of Chicago
2015 Windy City Breakdown with Ayana Contreras, Arts Incubator at University of Chicago
2015 Sugar Foot Rain Dance with David Leggett, Arts Incubator at University of Chicago
Select Writings.
2019 Artists Gotta Eat and Other Things We Forget To Remember, Common Field, 2019 Field Perspectives
2018 The Thrival Geographies of Shani Crowe, Andres L. Hernandez, and Amanda Williams, Sixty Inches From Center
2018 Who Are Your Teachers?: After Richard Hunt at the Koehnline Museum of Art, Sixty Inches From Center/Art Design Chicago
2018 Not So Tight: Adjusting the Seams of Art and Fashion, Exhibitions on the Cusp (Tremaine Foundation)
2018 Justice on View: Struggle, Liberation, and Protest Within the Exhibition Space, Exhibitions on the Cusp (Tremaine Foundation)
2018 Let This Be A Lesson, or Caring for Historical Records, Art AIDS America (Chicago catalog)
2017 Coup de Main + Measurements in the Work of Minerva Cuevas, Prospect New Orleans
2017 Adorning the Lost & Found, Foreword for In the Company of Black by Cecil McDonald, Jr.
2017 It Bears Repeating, Jan Tichy's Beyond Streaming Exhibition Essay, Broad Museum
2017 Footnotes for Fragments, Ground Floor Exhibition Essay, Hyde Park Art Center
2016 Meditations on the Poetics of Revolution: A Letter to Kerry James Marshall, Artslant
2015 Augmenting Our Cultural Garden: Interview with Faheem Majeed, Support Networks: Chicago Social Practice History Series, Edited by Abigail Satinsky, University of Chicago Press
2014 To Chicago, With Love, GOOD Magazine, The GOOD Cities Project
2014 Preserving and Activating Local Art Histories, Unfurling: Explorations In Art, Activism and Archiving
2014 For (The things to/we come) To, Dedications for The Shape of Spilled Milk by Matt Austin
2014 On Cecil McDonald, Jr's Domestic Observations and Occurrences, Contact Sheet: Light Work Annual
2013 Beautiful Tension: A Conversation with Natalie Krick, The Coat Check, Exhibition Catalog
2013 A Necessary Shift, The City Gallery, Helen Maurene Cooper Exhibition Essay
2013 Lifework/I’m Not Asking You, I’m Telling You, A writing on E.J. Hill
2010 - 2018 100+ Articles on Sixty Inches From Center
2010 - 2011 20+ Articles on College Arts Association Blog
Residencies, Awards, and Invitations.
2019 J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award, Society of American Archivists
2016 Visiting Critic, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2016 Curating for Communities of Color Symposium, SLIPPAGE: Performance, Culture, Technology, Duke University
2016 Banff International Curatorial Institute Critical Art Writing Ensemble, Banff Centre
2016 Ragdale Foundation Residency, Susan Tillett Fellowship
2013 Southside Arts and Humanities Network Board Leadership Program
2012 Contemporary Arts Council Curatorial Award
2011 Chicago Artists Coalition HATCH Residency Curator
2011 University of Chicago's Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship
Talks and Lectures.
2019 The Public Library: New Curatorial Perspectives, at The Association of Art Museum Curators Conference, New York Historical Society, Panelist
2019 Women in the Alcoves: On Alice Browning, Dr. Margaret Burroughs, and the Women of The Catalyst, for Where the Future Came From at Glass Curtain Gallery, Lecture
2019 Discussion w/ Faheem Majeed, Julie Rodriguez Widholm and Greg Foster Rice, Art Design Chicago Partner Breakfast, Chicago History Museum, Moderator
2018 Tremaine Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Curatorial Symposium, New Museum, Speaker
2018 Speech & Museums, Museum of Contemporary Art, Panel
2017 Intersectional Identities and Political Practices, DePaul Art Museum, Panel
2017 Legacies at Art, Publics, Politics: Legacies of the Wall of Respect, Northwestern University, Panel Chair
2017 Fresh Walls: New Space for Artists To Occupy, Sixty Inches From Center for Lake FX CreativeCon, Chair
2017 Waves, Web & Page: Dialogue + Cultural Coverage across Platforms, Sixty Inches From Center for Lake FX CreativeCon, Chair
2017 The Party Politic: Building Movements Through Movement, Sixty Inches From Center for Lake FX CreativeCon, Chair
2017 Publishing for Activism with OOMK, Gray Center for Art and Inquiry, University of Chicago, chair
2016 The Social Practice That Is Race w/ Anthony Romero + Dan S. Wang, Hyde Park Art Center, Discussion Moderator
2014 The Pulse of Africa: Celebrating 25 Years of the African Arts Festival, Logan Center at University of Chicago, Panel Moderator
2014 Archiving & Amplifying Chicago's Experimental Creativity, Intuit, Panel moderated by Marc Fischer
2014 Preserving and Activating Local Art Histories, Chicago Cultural Center, Panel
2013 Progressive Conversations, University of Chicago, Chicago Art Department, Conversation
2013 Recess: Artist Talk, South Side Community Art Center, Discussion
2013 Gallery Encounters: Diasporal Rhythms, Logan Center For The Arts, Panel
2013 Beyond the Gallery, Filter Photo Festival, Panel Moderator
2013 Gallery Encounters: AfriCOBRA, Logan Center For The Arts, Guest Lecture
2013 Never The Same at the Chicago Artists' Archive, Harold Washington Library, Class Lecture
2013 What is Afro-Surreal?, Marvelous Freedom/Vigilance of Desire, Revisited, Panel Moderator
2012 The Art of Crossing the Street, South Side Community Art Center, Panel
2012 Artist talk with Sam Kirk, Elephant Room Gallery, Inc., Artist Talk
2012 Community Engagement, Revival Bronzeville, Discussion Moderator
2012 Conversation with Photographer Mike Schreiber, Silver Room, Public Interview
2012 Chicago Is Having A Moment, Sullivan Galleries, Panel moderated by Hamza Walker
Affiliations and Committees.
2019 Chicago Artists Coalition, Maker Grant Juror
2019 Ohio Arts Council, Grants Review Panelist
2019 Loghaven Residency, Knoxville, Tennessee, Nomination Panel
2018 MacColl Johnson Fellowships for Writers, Providence, Rhode Island, Jury
2017 Juror, 50 x 50 Invitational: The Subject Is Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center
2016 Archive Partner, Chicago Artists' Archive at Harold Washington Library, since 2010
2016 Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Artist-in-Residence Jury
2014 Artist and Curatorial Residency Review Committee, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
2014 Juror/Curator, Process Exhibition at Water Street Studios
2014 Chicago Home Theater Festival Curatorial Committee
2014 Juror/Curator, 54th Annual Voertman Student Art Exhibition at University of North Texas
2013 Juror, Arts Council of Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts
2013 Mount Curatorial Residency Review Committee, Design Cloud
2013 Individual Artists Grants Review Committee, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
2013 Application Review Committee, Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions (ACRE)
2013 SUB-MISSION Curatorial Committee, The Mission Projects
2011 - 2012 Host Committee, Leadership Advisory Committee at the Art Institute of Chicago
Resume
Education.
Columbia College Chicago, Bachelors of Art in Art History and Visual Arts Management, 2010
Employment.
2017 - Present
The Field Foundation of Illinois, Chicago, IL
Arts Program Officer
2014 - 2016
Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Arts Program Manager, Curator
2012 - 2014
Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
Professional Development Manager
2010 - Present
Sixty Inches From Center, Chicago, IL
Executive Director, Founder
2010 - 2012
Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Chicago, IL
Chicago Artists Resource Outreach Coordinator
Freelance.
2012 – 2013
WBEZ, Chicago Public Media, Chicago, IL
Program Manager of Get Archived! Event Series
2011 – 2012
Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Chicago, IL
Event Coordinator for Creative Chicago Expo
2011
WBEZ, Chicago Public Media, Chicago, IL
Co-Artistic Director of “What’s Your Art?” Celebrating the Art Centers of Chicago
2010 – 2011
College Arts Association, Chicago, IL & New York, NY
Writer for the College Arts Association Conference Blog
2010
Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Chicago, IL
Blog Manager for Studio Chicago