Chicago
November 2017- Decorations Magnificent Mile
SKYLINE OF CHICAGO CLOUDY DAY
Living Life and Loving It
by shelley
by shelley
I headed to Chicago to spend Halloween with Collins, attend the 2016 SOFA show on Navy Pier and attend Winnetka’s Antiques + Modernism Show…
The trip to Chicago was perfectly timed with the World Series Win of the Chicago Cubs! It was fun to see the city celebrate the win!!! It had been 108 years since the last win and the city knew how to celebrate!!
The City turned blue and red…
Thanks to our artist friend Elis Gudmann from tenContemporary Gallery Ellen and I again received VIP tickets to the preview party.
The Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design (SOFA) Fair in Chicago is the premier gallery-presented art fair dedicated to three-dimensional art and design.
Critically acclaimed and continuously running since 1994, what distinguishes SOFA from other top art events is its focus on three-dimensional artworks that cross the boundaries of fine art, decorative art and design. SOFA is noted for its exceptional presentation, with an elite selection of international dealers presenting for sale one-of-a-kind masterworks in handsome, custom-designed gallery exhibits.
SOFA is held annually in the fall at Chicago’s major destination, Navy Pier, with an average of 80 dealers and 35,000 people attending. Sales at the fair are estimated at 15-20 million dollars per show.
The Antiques + Modernism Winnetka Show (A+M Show) is the ultimate destination for interior designers, shoppers, and collectors alike. Ranging in styles from classic to modern, the Show is renowned for exquisite home furnishings and accessories, artwork, clothing, and jewelry, exclusively available for purchase from dealers who are nationally recognized specialists. The Show’s 60-year history and prevailing reputation speak to the caliber of this spectacular style and design event.
Exhibitor Julie Harris of Kansas City, Missouri had these antique bathing suits…we loved these!
I also enjoyed seeing actual artwork of outsider artist Lee Godie…a Chicago original!
In her day-to-day life, Lee Godie was a homeless woman who made a living selling paintings on chilly Chicago streets. She kept her belongings in various lockers throughout the city, showered in hotel bathrooms, and slept outside on benches despite freezing weather.
However, in her self-portraits, taken in a photo booth at the Chicago Greyhound bus station, Godie transforms into a 1920s-era “It Girl,” dramatically dressed in furs, broaches and floppy hats, posed lackadaisically like the most glamorous of movie stars. With each individual ensemble and pose, a new, glitzy character is born.
It’s the palpable tension between the two lives of Godie — the struggling drifter and the sought after art star — that makes her images enchanting. She adorned the small black-and-white prints with various embellishments, sometimes pen or paint, other times eyeliner and lipstick smudged in the appropriate spots. On occasion, Godie rubbed instant tea on her face as a pseudo self-tanner.
According to popular legend, Godie’s tenure as an artist in began 1968, when, at around 60 years old, she was rocked to the core by an Impressionism exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Shortly after the show, all shaken and sweaty, Godie stood on the steps and publicly declared herself a French Impressionist, one “much better than Cezanne,” at that.
From then on, she painted. A lot. Godie’s paintings are flattened portraits of high society ladies, wide-eyed beauties with wide-brimmed hats, smokey makeup and cherry red lips. From her self-proclaimed inauguration into the art world in 1968 until 1990, when she was 82 years old, Godie peddled her work every day on the Chicago streets, carrying her portfolio around in a big black case.
Her paintings sold for around $20 or $30 — if she liked you, that is. “She would have her canvases half uncurled,” gallery-owner Carl Hammer explained to The Telegraph. “If she was interested in selling to you, she would let [the canvas] open up so you could see more. If she didn’t like you, she would curl it up the other way.”
During the course of her career Godie became an iconic figure in the Chicago art scene, known for galavanting about in a toga one day, a fur coat the next. She’d sing and dance when interacting with her fans, adding a performative element to her tireless art making.
by shelley
Bob’s meeting this year was in Chicago. Chicago is a fun, unique city with a great history. One thing I had never done was the boat architectural river tour. The AANS actually had a great film on Chicago’s architecture. Definitely worth watching.
Pictures from our boat tour:
The Trump International Hotel and Tower, also known as Trump Tower Chicago and Trump Tower, is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The building, named after real estate developer Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease built the 98-story structure, which reaches a height of 1,389 feet (423 m) including its spire, its roof topping out at 1,170 feet (360 m). It is next to the main branch of the Chicago River, with a view of the entry to Lake Michiganbeyond a series of bridges over the river.
When ground was broken for the Wrigley Building in 1920, there were no major office buildings north of the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which spans the river just south of the building, was still under construction. The land was selected by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. for the headquarters of his company. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White using the shape of the Giralda tower of Seville’s Cathedral combined with French Renaissance details. The 425-foot (130 m) south tower was completed in April 1921 and the north tower in May 1924. Walkways between the towers were added at the ground level and the third floor. In 1931, another walkway was added at the fourteenth floor to connect to offices of a bank in accordance with a Chicago statute concerning bank branch offices. The two towers, not including the levels below Michigan Avenue, have a combined area of 453,433 square feet (42,125.3 m2).
The two towers are of differing heights, with the south tower rising to 30 stories and the north tower to 21 stories. On the south tower is a clock with faces pointing in all directions. Each face is 19 feet 7 inches (5.97 m) in diameter. The building is clad in glazed terra-cotta, which provides its gleaming white façade. On occasion, the entire building is hand washed to preserve the terra cotta. At night, the building is brightly lit with floodlights.
Marina City is a mixed-use residential/commercial building complex that occupies an entire city block on State Street in Chicago, Illinois. It sits on the north bank of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, directly across from the Loop district. The complex consists of two corncob-shaped, 587-foot (179 m), 65-story towers, which include five-story elevators and physical plant penthouses.
The Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic structure located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the home of the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Media, and tronc, Inc., formerly known as Tribune Publishing. WGN Radio (720 kHz) broadcasts from the building, while the ground level houses the large restaurant Howells & Hood (named for the building’s architects), whose patio overlooks nearby Pioneer Court and Michigan Avenue. CNN‘s Chicago bureau is located in the building. It is listed as a Chicago Landmark and is a contributing property to the Michigan–Wacker Historic District.
The Willis Tower, built and still commonly referred to as Sears Tower, is a 108-story, 1,451-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. At completion in 1973, it surpassed the World Trade Center towers in New York to become the tallest building in the world, a title it held for nearly 25 years. The Willis Tower is the second-tallest building in the United States and the 14th-tallest in the world.
Built in 1930 and first designated a Chicago Landmark on May 4, 1977, the building was listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. It was added to the National Register of Historic Placeson June 16, 1978. The current structure is known for its art deco architecture, sculptures and large-scale stone carving, as well as large trading floors. An aluminum, three-story art deco statue of Ceres, goddess of agriculture (particularly grain), caps the building.
The 300 South Wacker building’s giant mural features a map of the Chicago River and surrounding streets.
The mural map, a vertical sliver more than 400 feet tall, portrays the bending river, the crisscrossing street grid and (naturally) 300 S. Wacker. It’s the star of the map, represented by bright red rectangle that looks like a flat-roofed version of a Monopoly hotel. At night, the rectangle is lit from within by LED lights.
Civic Opera Building. It’s sometimes referred to as “Insull’s Throne” … It has been rumored that Insull designed the building in the shape of a throne upon which his daughter could figuratively sit as star of the opera. Having been rejected by the New York Metropolitan Opera, she could sit with her back facing eastward toward New York City.
West Madison Street, Bridge Tender House
Chicago River’s bridge tender houses, the attention paid to these functional buildings are truly what sets Chicago apart and conveys the architectural fervor of which the city is so proud…no two are alike.
Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot-long (1,010 m) pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The Navy Pier currently encompasses more than fifty acres of parks, gardens, shops, restaurants, family attractions and exhibition facilities and is the top leisure destination in the Midwest, drawing nearly nine million visitors annually. It is one of the most visited attractions in the entire Midwestern United States and is Chicago’s number one tourist attraction.
by shelley
Ellen and I made our annual trip to Chicago to attend the VIP SOFA Show. Our VIP tickets come from artist (and good friend) Elis Gudmann from ten472 Gallery
I really like her latest works that combined charred wood with the etched metal…
Elis’ bio:
Elisabett Gudmann is a Northern California based artist focused on creating works infused with color, texture, and form. While most widely recognized for her metal wall pieces, she is also an accomplished sculptor and often creates 3-dimensional works with her partner, Kirk H. Slaughter.
METAL WALL PIECES:
The complex and physically demanding process involves laboriously etching the metal to create detailed surface textures and imagery in relief. Unique and intricate patina colors are achieved by working with a variety of caustic chemicals, layering colors and often employing a reductive technique. Mostly conceptual in nature, her imagery evolves through layered complexity and evokes references to natural and man-made environments. Influences of abstract expressionism infuse her work, striking a balance between the abstract and the recognizable.
SOFA had a lot of interesting art:
This was completely done in those tiny seed beads!
These were glass objects!
and some “live art”
I alway enjoy the city of Chicago also and the Magnificent Mile was decked out in glorious fall decor
I find the architect and skyline of Chicago very picturesque.
And my all time favorite photo I took of Chicago skyline was a few years ago on a day the clouds hung so low the tops of buildings were obscured:
by shelley
Ellen and I headed to Chicago to attend the preview night of the 2014 SOFA show. Our tickets were courtesy of Ten472 Contemporary Art.
Chicago scenes