Chicago Art Scene

So setting out at the beginning of the week, I was tasked to find 15 different piece of public art all following specific guidelines. Any guesses as to how many I got? You will just have to read to figure that out.

Our first stop on our trip around the art scene of Chicago takes us inside the Chicago Cultural Center to the 4th floor to visit Keith Haring’s Chicago mural to fulfill the “a colorful mural” requirement. This building is open 7 days a week to anyone who would like to walk in, open most days from 10 am to 7 pm. While our art scene scavenger hunt will take us on several more stops through the cultural center, Keith Haring’s mural is a wonderful spot to stop and take a moment to see. While this exhibit only contains one-fourth of the entire mural, it is an important part of Chicago history.

The next stop on our tour takes us somewhere near the Chicago Board of Trade building for the requirement of “a not-so-colorful mural”. Though I can’t be entirely certain where this specific mural is located, considering I was on a boat when I spotted it, this mural is representative of the many public murals that can be viewed throughout the city.

This familiar site from Millenium Park fulfills our “digital outdoor sculpture” requirement. Though it can be difficult to see from this picture, the Crown Fountain actually plays a video that displays different faces on both of two walls of glass with water coming out of some faces mouths!

Our next requirement of “interactive public art” takes us back to the Chicago Cultural Center, this time on the 1st floor. This phone is actually inside of a wooden phone booth and if you climbed into it and rang a number on the wall, the box would play you big band music in surround sound. This art piece was a part of a exhibit about Chicago music.

On the second floor of the Chicago Cultural Center, we get to see some mind numbing art that fulfills the “abstract public art” requirement. Don’t look at it too long because these paintings might actually give you a headache. This is just one of the exhibit of abstract paintings by Scott Stack that are currently within the center, though if you are planning on seeing these beauties remember to bring some advil!

Our next requirement “inside art that can be seen from outside” takes us to the store fronts of Michigan Ave’s Arts and Artisans! There are several locations of this store all over chicago, including one inside Ogilvie train station. Even if you don’t plan on buying something, there are hours worth of interesting art pieces big and small to look at!

Our next stop on our art scene tour takes us back a few blog posts to the Islamic Art in the Art Institute. This small little elephant is begging to be scene by far more guests than it it currently getting. Though the Art Institute can be expensive to visit, at certain times of the year there are free days for Illinois residents. So Illinoisans take advantage of your chance to see this cute little guy.

If you were looking for a view that would take your breath away in chicago, then stop looking and get to the third floor of the Chicago cultural center. This magnificent ballroom is entirely covered in glass and mosaic so it wonderfully fulfils our challenge of “public art made of glass or mosaic”. According to the near by wall text, the dome contains over 2,848 pieces of glass jewels that were designed by the infamous Tiffany glass company!

Fulfilling the “art that demonstrated the principle of emphasis” requirement, this photograph found in the Museum of Contemporary Photography is apart of a larger body of work by Lucas Folglia observing humans interaction with nature. This is definitely an exhibit worth seeing!

Finally for “art that’s emotional” we see a tapestry within the textile exhibit at the Art Institute. Sonata by Leonardo Nierman depicts the emotional content of the song being played by the violin within the picture.

And finally our honorable mention

Last tuesday, I was a free classical concert at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium park. However I didn’t know until after that the pavilion was designed by none other than Frank Gehry! Missed opportunity, but still a wonderful show and I highly recommend any of the free concerts that take place at Pritzker Pavillion.

So 10 (and a half) out of 15! Not bad at all. Overall, this scavenger hunt has took us on a trek through the city to many amazing stops. I hope you check out any one of them that you haven’t seen before.