Around Town

 

Now that Super Bowl 51 is history, and yes, it made history, and Spring Training doesn’t start for a couple of weeks, it’s time to think about what to do away from the flat screen.

Fortunately Chicago has plenty of attractions to lure folks out of the house. Three ideas are offered here because they are either starting this weekend or will be free or discounted.

 

Chicago Botanic Garden 2017 Orchid Show opens this weekend. Photo by Maria Rebelo
Chicago Botanic Garden 2017 Orchid Show opens this weekend. Photo by Maria Rebelo

Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show

You can beat the crowd by going to the Members’ Preview Feb. 10, 5-7:30 p.m.  for cocktails and music  ($30). Or go Feb. 11 or 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when  orchids will be sold in the Orchid Marketplace and experts will be around to answer your orchid questions. The show starts this weekend but is extended to March 26, 2017 so there is time to return with more friends and orchid growing questions.

Cost: Adults: members/nonmembers: $10/$12, seniors 62+  $8/$10, children age 3–12: 8/$10. Nonmember parking is extra but can be bought in advance for easier garden entry and there is a Two Pack deal for parking and two tickets.  The Chicago Botanic Garden is at 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022. Call  (847) 835-5440.

 

Museum of Science and Industry Black Creativity Program

It’s always interesting to see what’s going on at the museum and to check out two special programs there during Black History Month. But if you are an Illinois resident you can do so free of charges this week, Feb. 7-9, and next week, Feb. 14-16.

The Juried Art Exhibition, an annual show since 1970, features professional and aspiring black artists from across the country, now through Feb. 19, 2017.

The other program is the Innovation Studio where visitors learn about African American contributions to the sciences and can add their own ideas and solutions. It is there now through March 4, 2017. The Museum of Science and Industry is at 5700 S. Lake shore Drive, Chicago.

 

Bigfin Reef Squid are now swimming at the Shedd Aquarium. Photo compliments of Shedd Aquarium.
Bigfin Reef Squid are now swimming at the Shedd Aquarium. Photo compliments of Shedd Aquarium.

Weird squid at Shedd Aquarium

What has eight arms, two long tentacles, looks right at you and isn’t venomous?

It’s a Bigfin Reef Squid. It’s fun to watch them glide on the mezzanine level of the Abbott Oceanarium. Having just been raised by the Shedd, they are new to the tank where visitor can see them.

Illinois residents have free entry Feb. 10-14, so this week –weekend is a good time to go. A free general admission day is also a discount day which means the Oceanarium charge is less.

The Shedd Aquarium is at 1200 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. For other information visit Shedd and call (312) 939-2438.

 

Chicago arts venues celebrate Chinese New Year

UPCOMING

Arts venues from the Art Institute and Auditorium Theatre to the Chicago Cultural Center and Navy Pier are celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year from mid January to Mid February, 2017.

Griffin Court in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Jodie Jacobs
Griffin Court in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Jodie Jacobs

Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute has a full Chinese menu of activities the last Saturday of January. If you at the Art Institute of Chicago Jan. 28, follow the exotic sounds you hear.

They will pull you into Gallery 101 at 10:30 a.m. and noon for Chinese Guzheng performances and to the Griffin Court in the Modern Wing at 11:30 a.m. for a Lion Dance. Then, it’s back to Griffin Court at 1 and 2 p.m. for the China National Peking Opera.

In addition to the performances there is a Mandarin tour of the museum’s Asian collection at noon and calligraphy demonstrations in the Ryan Learning Center (near the Modern Wing entrance) from 1:30 through 4 p.m.

But even before Jan. 28, the Art Institute is celebrating with drop-in Chinese New Year fun for kids in the Ryan Center, Jan. 17 through Feb. 11.

Best entrance to use for the celebration and Ryan Center is the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing at 159 E. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60603.  General admission fee and free to children age 13 and younger and free to Chicago teens 14-17. Visit AIC.

Chicago Cultural Center

If all you have is the lunch hour to celebrate, go over to the Chicago Cultural Center Jan. 30 for Chinese dances, martial arts and music in the very impressive Preston Bradley Hall. Jackie Chan’s Long Yun Fung Fu Troupe will be performing from noon to 1 p.m (free).

For more information visit DCAS  The Chicago Cultural Center is across from Millennium Park at 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602.

Celebrate Chinese culture at Navy Pier. Photo complements of Chinese Fine Arts Society
Celebrate Chinese culture at Navy Pier. Photo complements of Chinese Fine Arts Society

Auditorium Theatre

To see the full Long Yun Kung Fu Troupe’s program get tickets to show at the Auditorium Theatre Feb. 4. Tickets start at $33. Show time is 7:30 p.m. The discount code is CFAS. The program blends dance and martial arts. The Auditorium Theatre is  at 50 E Congress Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60605. Visit Auditorium  and call (312) 341-2300.

Navy Pier

The following week, Navy Pier’s ‘Neighborhoods of the World’ series spotlights the Chinese culture on Feb 12, from noon to 4 p.m. Go up to the Crystal Gardens for arts performances and a Chinese marketplace. Navy Pier is at 600 E Grand Ave Chicago, IL 60611. Visit CFA 

 

Five art venues worth braving Chicago temps

UPCOMING

Installation view, decor for 'Views on Stage, 2004 in "Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012, Photo by Gene Pittman
Installation view, decor for ‘Views on Stage, 2004 in “Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham  – Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo by Gene Pittman

It’s a given that Chicago winters are defined by how much snow has to be shoveled and how many layers are needed to protect against the cold. But, hey, Chicagoans know the city doesn’t shut down. So, Instead of hibernating the question is – what’s happening in and around the city to see and do early in 2017?

First was a look at some theater offerings premiering in Chicago. Now, let’s take a look at what is happening on the art scene.

Two of the exhibit sites, Intuit and Chicago Artists Coalition, may introduce you to art spaces you didn’t know or hadn’t visited.

The next two exhibits are in well-visited art museums but are quite unusual. The last venue hosts art exhibits throughout the year but the place is often under the radar.

 

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Four art shows to see over the winter holidays

Sometimes it takes a holiday week or weekend to fit in some of the places we’ve been meaning to go and the shows we want to see. Here are some suggestions to move from sometime to the do now list for the coming holidays.

Moholy-Nagy Constructs. Photo by Jodie Jacobs
Moholy-Nagy Constructs. Photo by Jodie Jacobs

Moholy-Nagy: Future Present, an exceptional retrospective of one on the 20th century’s most influential artists and designers, is at the Art Institute of Chicago, but only through Jan. 3, 2017. Moholy, as the artist is popularly known, founded the New Bauhaus school in Chicago that became the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design. Containing more than 300 works, the exhibit features several photomontages, sculptures, constructs, works in Plexiglas, color slides and abstract paintings. Organized by AIC, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the exhibit next moves to LACMA mid February, 2017. The Art Institute of Chicago is at 111 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60603. For other information call (312)  443-3600 and visit AIC Moholy

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High end art fills Festival Hall at Navy Pier

Art aficionados, collectors and anyone who has been to the annual SOFA art show know about the high quality works on display.

Collectors admire glass art pieces at Melbourne's Kirra Galleries Photo by Jodie Jacobs
Collectors admire glass art pieces at Melbourne’s Kirra Galleries Photo by Jodie Jacobs

Perhaps for everyone else the title, an acronym for Sculpture, Objects and functional Art and Design is misleading.

SOFA isn’t a crafts fair. Nearly 70 galleries, some as far as Melbourne, Australia, Kyoto, Japan and London, England, have brought their showpieces to Chicago’s Navy Pier for the event.

When asked during opening night why come so far, Melbourne’s Kirra Galleries Manager Suzanne Brett, said, “We come because this is the biggest collector’s fair in the year.”  Her gallery specializes in exquisite glass objects.

A couple of rows over are the gorgeous ceramics of the Sokyo Gallery from Kyoto. “This is the only one we do in the United States. It’s a good show for us,” said Yoshika Yajima.

At the Thursday night preview reception, the crowd appeared to be collectors and buyers who talked about how pieces would fit with what they had.

Gladwell & Patterson brought exceptional pieces from London Photo by Jodie Jacobs
Gladwell & Patterson brought exceptional pieces from London Photo b Jodie Jacobs

At London’s Gladwell & Patterson Gallery, Ella C. Elphick was adjusting a stunning mobile. “A lot of our customers are in Chicago,” she said explaining this was the gallery’s second year at the show.

Interested in buying or not, SOFA is a good show to see what is trending and what might be fun to have. Begun Nov. 3, the show continues  through Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016.

SOFA is at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL. For tickets and other information visit SOFA and Navy Pier.

Three things to blot out 2016 election static Nov. 3-6

Instead of subjecting oneself to all the election noise on TV and social media, try to feel good about the world, at least for a little while, by going to a fun event. An old fashioned musical opens this week.  See what creative folks are doing with functional art. Visit an outdoor destination that has an unusual indoor exhibit this weekend.

Danny Gardner as Don Lockwood in 'Singing in the Rain' at Marriott Theatre. Justin Barbin photo
Danny Gardner as Don Lockwood in ‘Singing in the Rain’ at Marriott Theatre. Justin Barbin photo

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Stunning videos pull viewers into animal and plant life

Be immersed in color, movement and animal life with “The Sympathetic Imagination,” a short retrospective of the work of video/film artist Diana Thater. Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Thater’s installations take up the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s fourth floor exhibition area now through Jan 8, 2017.

Diana Thater, Oo Fifi, Five Days in Claude Monet's Garden, at 1301PE,Los Angeles, 2012 (c) Diana Thater. Photo (c) Fredrik Nilsen
Diana Thater, “Oo Fifi, Five Days in Claude Monet’s Garden,” at 1301PE, Los Angeles, 2012 (c) Diana Thater. Photo (c) Fredrik Nilsen

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The tattoo phenomenon and a tattoo shop come to The Field

It doesn’t matter if you look at the people on the street, on a bus, in stores or on TV, you are likely to see someone with a tattoo, today.

Tattooed torso on silicon mold by Leo Zulueta of the Spiral Tattoo Studio, Ann Arbor MI. for the Field exhibit. The Field has 15 silicon tattooed body parts in the exhibit. Photo by Jodie Jacobs
Tattooed torso on silicon mold by Leo Zulueta of the Spiral Tattoo Studio, Ann Arbor MI. for the Field exhibit. The Field has 15 silicon tattooed body parts in the exhibit. Photo by Jodie Jacobs

But if you want to know more about tattoos, see some rather spectacular ones and even get a tattoo or watch someone getting one, go over to The Field on Chicago’s Museum Campus.

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