Three outdoor family activities for Memorial Day Weekend

 

Chicago skyline. (J Jacobs photo)
Old photo of Chicago skyline. (J Jacobs photo))

Chicago’s warm (finally) weather this Memorial Day weekend is perfect for a day laughing at monkeyshines at two zoos or a pirate-ship sail along the city’s shoreline. (Zoo note: both zoos require masks at their indoor animal houses).

 

Sorgum and baby calf at Brookfield Zoo. ( Photo courtesy of Chicago Zoological Society)
Sorghum and baby calf at Brookfield Zoo. ( Photo courtesy of Chicago Zoological Society)

Brookfield Zoo

Visiting the 235 acre Brookfield Zoo can be an all-day family event.

Starting May 26, visitors can see the cute tapir calf just born to his mom, Sorghum. He has been staying indoors at the Pachyderm House but mom and baby might wander to their outdoor space on the north side of the building because the weather will be warm. Now is a good time to see the calf with his white stripes. The marking fade by age six months. The South American tapir is related to the horse and rhinoceros.

Beginning May 28, the Butterflies area, closed the past two years, has reopened and includes moths. Located near the North Gate, entry is $4 adults, $3.50 seniors 65 and older and $3 children. Visitors will be able to see the transformation to butterflies in an off-exhibit space.

Monarch butterfly at Brookfield Zoo. (Photo courtesy of Jim Schulz and CZS)
Monarch butterfly at Brookfield Zoo. (Photo courtesy of Jim Schulz and CZS)

While wandering the zoo, be on the lookout for such ice-age creatures as a 15 ft tall wooly mammoth and the 18 ft long mastodon. They are among Dino Dan’s 30  life-sized animatonic animals staying at the zoo April 1 through Oct. 30, 2022.

Brookfield Zoo entrances are at North Parking Lot 8400 31st St, and South Parking Lot 3300 Golf Road, Brookfield, IL between the Stevenson (I-55) and Eisenhower (I-290) expressways. Current hours: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

There are admission and parking costs. Tickets can be purchased ahead on line and are good for the entire day of entry. Adults $24.95, Seniors 65 and older $19.95, Children age 3-11 $17.95, age 2 and younger free. Parking is $15 and can be paid upon arrival.

*Visitors who have a general admission pass with a barcode, a member guest pass, a Chicago Public Library Museum Pass or a Museum Adventure Pass, can bring that to the zoo for entry, no reservation required.

For tickets and more information visit Chicago Zoological Society and CZS-Brookfield Zoo.

 

The Patio at Cafe Brauer may be a well-kept secret of where to lunch along a quiet Lincoln Park Zoo path and entrance. ( J Jacobs photo)ell
The Patio at Cafe Brauer may be a well-kept secret of where to lunch along a quiet Lincoln Park Zoo path and entrance. ( J Jacobs photo)ell

Lincoln Park Zoo

At 49 acres, Lincoln Park Zoo is doable in half a day. Get a zoo map at the Visitor Center near the main entrance at 2400 N. Cannon Dr.

Time the visit to watch Seal Training at 11:30 a.m. or 2 p.m. near the main entrance . Then, be sure to visit the Pepper Family Wildlife Center.to see Pilipili, a recently born, African lion cub. His name means “pepper” in Swahili.

Lion cub at Lincoln Park Zoo (photo courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo)
Lion cub at Lincoln Park Zoo
(photo courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo)

Lincoln Park Zoo is north of Chicago’s Magnificent (shopping) Mile.There are are several entrances with East gate near the paid parking lot being the main one. View the free parking map for all entrances. Current hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. The zoo is free and opened every day. For more information visit Lincoln Park Zoo.

 

On a Tall Ship sail from Navy Pier. ( J Jacobs photo)
On a Tall Ship sail from Navy Pier. ( J Jacobs photo)

Sail on  Tall Ship Windy

For a different sailing experience, take a 75 minute trip along Chicago’s shoreline on Windy, a Tall Ship docked at Navy Pier. Listen to pirate and maritime stories.

Cost is Adults (age 13 and older) $39, children age 3 to 12 $17. For more information visit Chicago Skyline Sail/Tall Ship Windy Chicago.

Jodie Jacobs

 

 

Long Grove Chocolate Fest is back

 

Chocolate charcuterie lesson at Long Grove Chocolate Fest
Chocolate charcuterie lesson at Long Grove Chocolate Fest

Chocolate Fest, a popular festival held by the historic town of Long Grove, IL, is back.

Visitors walk along cobblestone paths, snap photos of the town’s famous  covered bridge, and meander among historic structures and a watermill while noshing on chocolate everything from donuts, cupcakes and dipped fruit to cake pops and chocolate popcorn.

They can get tickets to a chocolate-wine pairing or find out how a charcuterie, now among the latest gourmet trends, can be done with chocolates.

Tickets for the fest are $5 through Ticketweb.com. Tickets for the chocolate  charcuterie are $30 and the same for the wine pairing.

The chocolate charcuteries is at Long Grove Confectionery Co: 114 Old McHenry Road, Long Grove May 20-21 from 3 to 3:45 p.m.

Wine and chocolate pairing is Saturday from 1:30 to 2 p.m. and Sunday from1 to 1:30 p.m. at Corked, 132 Old McHenry Rd., Long Grove.

There is also has a kids’ zone, live music and a carnival.

Details: Chocolate Fest is May 20, 21, 22, 2022 in dwntown Long Grove, 308 Old McHenry Rd. Hours are  Fri, noon– 11 p.m., Sat, 10 a.m.– 11 p.m. and Sun, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

The fest is very popular and there is a limited amount of complimentary parking in the public lots, downtown Long Grove so ride sharing is recommended.

A shuttle service will run from the Buffalo Grove Park District parking lot at 530 Bernard Dr. to Archer Road between Robert Parker Coffin and Old McHenry Rd. next to entrance to the Carnival Parking Lot, Sat. from 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 p.m. and Sunday from 10:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.

For more music and other information or tickets visit Long Grove Chocolatefest.

Jodie Jacobs

The Cezanne you may not know

 

Paul Cezanne.
Paul Cezanne. The sea at L’Estaque behinf trees 1q78-79, Musee National Picasso-Pariss

Walking through Cezanne, an extensive exhibit now at the Art Institute of Chicago and co-curated with the Tate Modern in London, is like pulling back a curtain to really see and understand the French artist’s various approaches to portraitures, landscapes and figures.

Influenced by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) was also admired by Pissarro, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Indeed, “The Sea at L’Estaque Behind Trees” done by Cezanne, 1978-79 was owned by Picasso, and is in the Musee National Picasso-Paris collection on loan for this exhibit.

Works are on loan from several museums and private collections. Visitors should expect to spend close to two hours. The exhibit features 80 oil paintings, 40 watercolors and drawings and two sketchbooks. Some will look familiar. Others will be less known and seldom viewed.

Still Life with Apples; Paul Cézanne (French, 1839 - 1906); 1893–1894; Oil on canvas; 65.4 × 81.6 cm (25 3/4 × 32 1/8 in.)
Still Life with Apples; Paul Cézanne (French, 1839 – 1906); 1893–1894; Oil on canvas; 65.4 × 81.6 cm (25 3/4 × 32 1/8 in.)

Beautifully curated, the exhibit places watercolors of the same or similar subjects close enough to compare. As with many artists, Cezanne’s works reflect different stages of life. Boards near each phase talk about those periods.

Called by some artists and art historians as the “Father of Post Impressionism,” Cezanne’s paintings are a bridge from Impressionism to Post Impressionism.

His early and middle years paintings also became his own bridge. Visitors who think they can identify a work as by Cezanne may be surprised .  His “Still Life with Apples,” 1893-94 oil painting, is quite different from “Still Life with Knife and Watermelon” a watercolor done later, about 1900.

Cezanne’s still life paintings of apples and fruit could easily fill an exhibit on their own. But you will see a still life series of another subject, skulls. They were done in his later years.

Paul Cezanne. The Three Skulls, 1902–6. The Art Institute of Chicago, Olivia Shaler Swan Memorial Collection.
Paul Cezanne. The Three Skulls, 1902–6. The Art Institute of Chicago, Olivia Shaler Swan Memorial Collection.

Part of his appeal to other artists was how his feelings about a subject were expressed by his brush strokes.

“Cezanne pursued an art distinct from his Impressionist colleagues,” explained Gloria Groom, Chair and David and Mary Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe.

“Whether looking at the countryside around Paris or at a still life arrangement indoors, his was a laborious process and state of mind that involved finding the exact brushstroke to evoke his feelings, his sensations. The exhibition aims to deepen our understanding of this deliberate, singular process,” said Groom.

By the time a visitor exits the exhibit there should be a feeling that some  paintings seen in art galleries and art shows in the current century are not that different in technique from how Cezanne painted.

Paul Cezanne. Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), about 1894–1905. The National Gallery, London (Photo courtesy Art Institute of Chicago)
Paul Cezanne. Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), about 1894–1905. The National Gallery, London (Photo courtesy Art Institute of Chicago)

“While Cezanne himself was as interested in long traditions of painting as much as its modernist future, it’s simply not possible to envision twentieth-century avant-garde art without Cezanne’s influence,” said Caitlin Haskell, Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

“Cezanne approached painting as a technically rigorous yet deeply personal search for truth in art making. And in the process he upended the conventions of artifice in European painting, laying bare the components of color and brushwork used to compose images, and establishing the fundamentals of what would become Cubism, Fauvism, and non-objective art,” said Haskell.

(Note: If you go, get the Art Institute app (know your Apple store password) and go to the number accompanying some of the paintings to hear about Cezanne’s technique and aims. The museum hasn’t been using individual recorded devices since COVID began.)

The exhibition is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and Tate Modern, London. It is curated by Gloria Groom, Chair and David and Mary Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe and Caitlin Haskell, Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago and Natalia Sidlina, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern.

“Cezanne” is at the Art Institute of Chicago May 15 through Sept. 5, 2022. The museum has two entrances: 111 S Michigan Ave and 159 E. Monroe St. For more information including tickets and hours visit AIC.

Jodie Jacobs

 

Around Town: Three very different art exhibits to see now

 

What is Contemporary Art? How about Modern? How do you value a work of art?

Two Chicago museums are opening retrospective exhibits of famous artists this weekend that will run through the summer of 2022. A suburban gallery specializing in contemporary American artists just opened an exhibit featuring two local artists.  All three exhibitions are worth perusing even though their styles are vastly different. All three feature artists who understand and treasure individual perspective.

 

Nick Cave. Speak Louder

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is celebrating renowned Chicago multi-media  artist Nick Cave in “Forothermore” from May 14 through Oct. 2, 2022.

What to expect: nature and fantasy-based installations sculptures, crafted and textural fashion, videos, performances and kinetic spinners hanging in the atrium and fourth-floor lobby..

The MCA is at 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL · (312) 280-2660. Visit MCA Chicago for hours, tickets and more information.

 

Paul Cezanne. Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), about 1894–1905. The National Gallery, London (Photo courtesy Art Institute of Chicago)
Paul Cezanne. Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), about 1894–1905. The National Gallery, London (Photo courtesy Art Institute of Chicago)

“Cezanne” opens at the Art Institute of Chicago May 15 and continues through Sept. 5, 2022.

The first Cezanne exhibition organized by the museum in more than 70 years and the first large retrospective of the artist in the United States in more than 25 years, the exhibit  features 90 oil paintings, 40 watercolors and drawings and two sketchbooks and ranges from very well-known to rarer, seldom seen works.

Done in coordination with London’s Tate Modern, “Cezanne” includes,  impressionist landscapes, portraits, allegorical paintings, bathing scenes and paintings of Montagne Sainte Victoire.

The exhibition is curated by the Art Institute of Chicago’s Gloria Groom, Chair and David and Mary Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, and Caitlin Haskell, Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Tate Modern’s Natalia Sidlina, Curator, International Art.

The Art Institute of Chicago has two entrances: 111 S Michigan Ave and 159 E. Monroe St. For more information including tickets and hours visit AIC.

Mary Jo O’Gara. Gray Roofed Barn Green Hills. (Photo courtesy of the artist and Anne Loucks Gallery)
Mary Jo O’Gara. Gray Roofed Barn Green Hills. (Photo courtesy of the artist and Anne Loucks Gallery)

“Painted Short Stories” features works by award winning artists Rodgers Bechtold and Mary Jo O’Gara at the Anne Loucks Gallery in Glencoe. The exhibit opened April 29 and continues through June 20, 2022.

Rodgers Bechtold, Summer into Fall (Fall Begins) . Photo courtesy of the artist and Anne Loucks Gallery).

For more information visit Anne Loucks Gallery, 309 Park Ave., Glencoe, IL.

Ravinia Festival tickets and update

The Pavilion stage at Ravinia Festival. (Photo courtesy of Ravinia Festival)
The Pavilion stage at Ravinia Festival. (Photo courtesy of Ravinia Festival)

Don’t let April and early May’s bad weather stop you from thinking about enjoying music at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, IL this summer.

Ravinia concert tickets went on sale to the public online May 4 at 8 a.m. at Ravinia .org   The site has the summer schedule May 20 through Sept. 18, 2022 and ticket info. (Donors already had early access to concert tickets.)

To learn what ticket buyers need to know go to Are you prepared? It includes getting a Ravinia account (needed for tickets), a warning against secondary sellers and suggestions about where to sit. Seating on the lawn directly behind the Pavilion now has reserved spaces.

Along with the Pavilion and indoor theaters, Ravinia will hold a series on the Carousel stage that was new last year on the North Lawn. Seating there is general admission and casual.

The Ravinia Carousel concert series includes many local artists including: Ravinia Festival’s Reach Teach Play Jazz Mentors & Scholars, June 19, Chicago band Summer Drive, June 23, Son Little, June 25, Chicago band Rookie, July 8, Chicago-based Licensed to Sail DJs present Club MTV, August 26, Chicago-based band Tobacco City, September 2, Chicago singer KAINA, September 11 and Flor de Toloache, September 18.

In addition, some opening acts for the Pavilion headliners will appear on the Carousel stage. They include: Southern Avenue opening for Sheryl Crow with special guest Keb’ Mo’, July 7, Mac Saturn opening for The Black Crowes, July 12, Lindsey Ellopening for Little Big Town, July 20, SiriusXM Globalization DJs opening for Pitbull with special guest Iggy Azalea, August 25, Naturally 7opening for Diana Ross, September 4 and Ravyn Lenae opening for Erykah Badu, September 11.

Also, look and listen for performances at the Kohl Kaplan Fountain including a jazz quartet June 2 and 7, a jazz combo June 8, Nanny Nikki June 18, the saxophone quartet Nois Aug. 21 and the Mariachi son de Fuego Sept. 18.

In addition, the Chicago-based Adrian Dunn Singersspiritual and gospel choir joins the concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Marcus Roberts Trio on July 16, and Chicago-based vocalistsDevin DeSantis, Susan Moniz, and Bethany Thomas join Brian Stokes Mitchell, Heather Headley, and Alexandra Billings for Yours, Stephen Sondheim: His Letters, Mentorship, and Music with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on August 7.

Canceled:  June 25 performance by Why Don’t We with special guests The Aces and JVKE.

While in the park, visit the Ravinia Music Box. Free to park guests, it has a 65-seat, wraparound holographic theater and a museum gallery space. Figure half an hour if viewing before a concert.

For information about getting to Ravinia, dining there and more about the park and its venues visit Ravinia Festival/About the 2022 Season.

Enjoy Ravinia Festival

Jodie Jacobs