Clik here to view.
Chicagoisms: More Than “Over By Dere” And “Da Bearz”
The Windy City lays claim to many firsts. Deep dish pizza. The electric dishwasher. The zipper. Architecturally speaking, the list is even longer. A clever take on the architectural thought leadership...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cattails And Cobras Battle For Supremacy In Logan Square
Cattails And Cobras Battle For Supremacy In Logan Square First off, I’m not referring to a Logan Square community theater remake of “West Side Story.” It’s about streetlights. The Cattail Streetlight...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Frank Gehry to Design Chicago Symphony Orchestra Stage
World-renowned architect Frank Gehry will create the stage design for two Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts focusing on the life and music of Pierre Boulez. The performances, titled “Boulez at 90:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lost Pieces of Merchandise Mart Found in a Suburban Garden
A couple of times a month we get e-mails here from people who have found something related to Chicago or architecture or Chicago architecture and they want to know if it’s worth saving, restoring, or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inside The Creative Process: How The 2014 Ragdale Ring Winners Came Up With...
Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres with their wattles Creative people are wired up differently than ordinary folks. And that’s a good thing. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to look out at the Chicago...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CTA Trains Inspire New TRANSIT Art Exhibit
Artist Nick Fury and Vertical Gallery Owner Patrick Hull Most of us view CTA trains as merely a means of transportation. But then, most of us aren’t artists. Nick Fury sees artistic possibilities in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Graffiti Artist Xenz Visualizes A Dark Turn Of The Century Chicago Loop
Patrick Hull and Xenz A fountain gently burbled as I walked into the pocket park at West Monroe and South Wells in the Loop this afternoon. Worker bees ate Jersey Mike’s subs and fiddled with their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Balthazar Korab Architecture Photography Now on Display in Chicago
Harry Weese, Northside Middle School (Columbus, IN, 1961), 1961Of this image, Korab said: “This building, with its arched windows and brick details, reminded me of a school that I attended as a kid . ....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Time Lapse: Drawing Chicago
Blame the economy. Or nostalgia. Or the fact that every single thing is just absolutely terrible these days and there’s no hope for the future. But people are returning to the old ways of doing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Drawn To Chicago by Kevin Frank
“And the Embers Never Fade” by Kevin Frank Last week we mentioned how a lot of people seem to be drawn to drawing Chicago, rather than photographing, it these days. Several months ago, Kevin Frank sent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Slice of Life: Filling the Hole in Your Art
Remember how over the summer, potholes got so bad in Chicago that one man actually started filling them himself because the city wasn’t getting the job done? Another Chicagoan is pitching in to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inside the Strokirk House: A Misian-Inspired Masterpiece with Art to Match
Some years back I had an awkward conversation with an art curator. “If I had your job, I’d probably fill the walls with M.C. Escher prints and Mardi Gras posters,” I said. After an awkward pause, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
EXPO Chicago: The Art World On Display In All Its Gory Glory
Indifference Curve Creativity takes many forms, as I learned strolling through the Exhibit Hall of Navy Pier recently, viewing the goods on display at EXPO Chicago. Blah Blah Blah One piece I thought...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Transit Artist Nick Fury Goes High Above Ashland And Lake For His Latest Venue
The folks at the office supply store where Nick Fury shops must figure he uses a typewriter, and that he doesn’t do it very well. Fury goes through a lot of typewriter correcting tape. Nick Fury It’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Boat
Over the last decade, we’ve seen a number of Chicago festivals, parades and traditions become downsized, consolidated, or simply go extinct. So it’s nice when something new, and potentially annual,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Artists Propose Totally Tubular Light Show For Belly of the Wabash L
Image courtesy of The Wabash Lights A group of Chicago artists want to take the “seamy” out of the underbelly of the L in The Loop. The Wabash Lights is an art project that envisions hundreds of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ultimate Chicago Souvenir: The Head of Montgomery Ward
Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers The allegorical figure who, quite literally, stood head and shoulders above the rest of Chicago for 20 years is going on the auction block. Image courtesy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Totally Tubular! Chicago Art Aficionados Go Gaga For Wabash Lights
Image courtesy of The Wabash Lights It smells of diesel. Weird stuff drips down from it. The noise is unnerving every few minutes. I’m referring, of course, to the CTA elevated train tracks in the...
View ArticleSlice of Life: Snow Graffiti
In these days when the temperature refuses to rise to a decent reading, and no amount of Swiss Miss and Lavazza can keep your extremities warm, it’s important to note that not everyone hates winter in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Frozen Chicago From Above
Thanks to Spy Tim for dropping a link in our Tip Line to this video by Soaring Badger Productions taken by one of those toy quadcopters. It’s a tour of the downtown Chicago shoreline on a frosty...
View Article
