Mini-Golf Courses Come To Elmhurst Art Museum

ELMHURST, IL — Kids might associate art museums with standing and looking quietly at paintings, with a guard chiding you if you get too close.

Not at the Elmhurst Art Museum.

On Tuesday, the museum opened “Par Excellence Redux: The Back 9,” its second exhibition of nine playable mini-golf courses designed by several local and national artists and architects. The exhibits feature everything from a giant wooden plank with wooden sticks getting in the way of the hole, to a semi-seesaw that moves when visitors stand on it. It is called “Level Playing Field.”

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The course is a tribute to the popular exhibition “Par Excellence” conceived by Chicago artist Mike O’Brien that ran in 1988 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which featured an 18-hole miniature golf course, and reportedly sold out about every day, with lines out the door. The exhibition then toured several different art museums around the Midwest.

The EAM is paying tribute to that juggernaut exhibition with two separate installations: “The Front 9”, which ran from July to September, and “The Back 9”, which runs from Oct. 13 until Jan. 2. Each exhibit runs nine different courses designed by nine different artists. It will also display newspaper clippings, photos, and materials from the original exhibition.

The Back 9 fall exhibition features art from Wesley Baker, KT Duffy, Eve Fineman, Annalee Koehn, Vincent Lotesto, Joshua Lowe, Jim Merz, Donna Piacenza, David Quednau, and Liam Wilson & Anna Gershoni.

The Front 9 featured work from Julie Cowan, Benjamin Good, Neil Good & John Serafin; Current Projects; Andrea Jablonski & Stolatis Fab LLC; Annalee Koehn; Latent Design; Jesse Meredith; Gautam Rao; Robin Schwartzman & Tom Loftus (aka A Couple of Putts); and Elmhurst Art Museum’s Teen Art Council.

After the Back 9 exhibit ends in January, the material will be repurposed into three Elmhurst community garden beds.

But before then, the museum is hosting plenty of ways for the public to fully engage with the exhibition that all include the word “tee.” On Oct. 23, the museum is hosting the “Par-Tee at the Museum” soiree that will feature cocktails, a multi-course dinner, entertainment, live and silent auctions, and of course, the opportunity to play golf.

On Oct. 31, celebrate Halloween with the Trick-or-Tee Halloween Celebration, a costume event with music, candy, golf, and a free raffle.

On Dec. 1, prepare to meet your maker: artists Wesley Baker, Eve Fineman, Vincent Lotesto, Donna Piacenza, and curator Christopher Jobson are playing the courses they built against anyone brave enough to challenge them.

To practice, book an assigned putting time here. Tickets are free for kids four and under, $5 for children 5-16, $10 for adults, and $8 for seniors.

The museum has taken a number of COVID-19 safety protocols, including reduced capacity assigned tee times, single-use pencil and scorecards, and cleaning clubs and balls after use.