Results tagged “galleries”

Back in 1989 urban planners proposed a plan to develop the South Loop into an arts community that would provide fixed affordable housing for artists alongside studios, galleries, and performance spaces. At the time, a decline in manufacturing and warehousing business in the area north and west of the Chicago River had opened up an abundance of cheap loft space that seemed suited for working artists and galleries.

The tiny gallery on the second floor of the Threadless shop in Lakeview usually hosts artwork of the graphic design sort, not really a surprise due to the nature of the company. In the same vein, the new show opening at Threadless gallery this evening is a celebration of printmakers and print collectives based in Chicago. All artists featured at the show have had their work printed by Threadless PRINTS.*

This Friday marks the closing date of artist Barbara Koenen's Muse: a 125 square-foot installation examining the relationship between hand grenades and pomegranates. Koenen's piece, nested on the fifth floor of the Fine Arts Building, wryly and elegantly hypothesizes a connection between the War on Terror and what she perceived as a "sudden and simultaneous popularity of pomegranates in the U.S." Grenade-shaped water balloons, real-life grenades tucked away in crocheted sacks, and placards of POM Juice advertisements are just some of the items juxtaposed together.

While the Field’s Fans are too busy protesting poor customer service at Macy’s as they long for the days of Marshall Field’s, customer satisfaction for shopping scabs has increased. An annual University of Michigan Study ranking shopper satisfaction among discount and department stores and supermarkets reported Macy’s saw a 5.6% increase in customer satisfaction, ending with a score of 75 out of 100 points. Nordstrom tops the list with a score of 80, only five points between the two. The Sun-Times reported:

This was a good year to be a large cultural institution. If cuts in state arts funding and unstable financial markets made a dent in Chicago’s largest museums, they sure weren’t letting on. The Art Institute remained one of the city’s prime attractions, attracting hordes of frugal visitors on free Thursday nights to piece together Richard Misrach’s disorienting beach photography and William Pope.L’s naïvely charming travelogue, or to enjoy Jeff Wall’s mind-bending photography — his mid-career retrospective was the year’s most breathtaking exhibit.

Here at the Chicagoist offices, several reality shows are popular among the staff, but our devotion for the majority of programs pales in comparison to our love for the crème de la crème, Project Runway. Bravo's hit show returned last night for its fourth season of designing, measuring, catwalking strutting and drama, with two Chicagoans vying for the chance to take it home at New York City Fashion Week. The first episode was the usual...

Now in its fifth year, Columbia College’s Manifest Urban Arts Festival has grown larger than most of us could ever have imagined. Then again, it's run by arts students. Their imaginations are larger than most. We’re sure someone’s done a study to prove it. Manifest is an arts festival good enough to rival any summer street fair and a graduation party large enough to make students from more conventional schools jealous. We’ve already told you...

Millennium Park fans have a new reason to cheer and, um, take pictures this morning: The Tribune is reporting a $5 million gift to the park from Boeing, which will be used to fund construction of the aptly named "Boeing Galleries." Construction has actually already begun on the project, essentially a duo of 80-foot-wide granite-paved promenades that will be used to exhibit public art in the vein of last year's popular Boeing-sponsored "Family Album" exhibit....

Can’t decide whether the chicken or the burger is your afternoon delight? Why not screw the moral quandary and check out the FREE LunchBreak programs at the Chicago Cultural Center instead. This ongoing weekday series offers something for every wandering soul whose noontime errands are already run: Classical Mondays bring classical and opera performances; Jazz Café Tuesdays are for jazz, blues, and cabaret; the Dame Myra Hess concert series on Wednesdays puts the spotlight...