Art & Chicago (intersection of tags)

Turning the “Remember me” checkbox from websites into 2-inch magnets and placing them around Chicago.

The night I met Joseph Jachna, and the photo I didn't understand until this week.

I thought someone had covered a beach rock with mosaic tiles just because. Then I learned the history behind this famous shark rock.

I was searching my photos for: Mark Rothko. I was hoping to find that I photographed some close-up shots of his paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago. But instead, Google Photos served me up a 2011 photo from my…

I started repairing hail damage and accidentally created a large-scale exterior art installation.

Giving an urban icon a second life, then watching that life quietly fade. One of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire, the Chicago Water Tower still stands on Michigan Avenue. It’s part of the identity of Chicago.…

I made this wire figure and put him on a swing in Chicago’s Winnemac Park. This is an art series called “Get into the swing of”. The series is meant to encourage people to enjoy the area where they view…

You can build this in your backyard! 104 landscape stakes + string = your own Sol LeWitt croquet course. Takes conceptual art from museum walls to playable outdoor experience. Instructions included

This might be the world's smallest King Kong, but he still managed to make his mark on Chicago's skyline.

Decoding a bird motif on an Arts and Crafts cabinet in the Art Institute of Chicago

NASCAR is teaming up with the Art Institute of Chicago to create a Georgia O’Keeffe-wrapped pace car at the 2024 Chicago Auto Show.

Did you know that each U.S. State has its own Poet Laureate?

Thinking about what artwork I can leave on this rock

Let's get into the math of buying regular tickets at the ticket window versus getting an annual membership.

Does the Art Institute of Chicago have any cool baseball hats?

Which of these collages by Tony Fitzpatrick do you like best? One of these collages will become a mural in my town, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Glen Ellyn resident, Diana Martinez, posted on Facebook: On behalf of the DuPage Public Art…

Looking for a completely different way to make a drawing? How about making your drawing directly on public art? (video) Let’s start with one of the most famous public artworks in Chicago. The Picasso. This hefty icon stands 50-feet tall,…

It is my greatest desire that some video game midi music play in the background while this is displayed. Are there other examples of 16th century Switzerland textiles with bitmap art? I’m googling: Switzerland 16th century textile Google is not…

Need a moment to quiet your busy life and meditate on your mortality? Meditate on some skulls. Do you love skulls? Then you’ll love the El Greco exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Do you find skulls creepy? You’ll…

Is this trash or transformation? This discarded packaging took on the form of a bird mid-flight. An unintentional sculpture, crafted by the city itself. Discover the story behind this urban origami.

Here are 28 of my favorite artworks displayed in February 2020 from the Art Tab Chrome extension. Every time you open a new browser tab, you get a different work of art from the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection. Tribune…

Possibly our last accumulating snow of the season, Chicago was freshly covered in a light blanket of snow. Wonderful white canvases became available once again across the city. This morning I made sure to walk above ground to enjoy the…

A couple weeks ago I started a project where on my lunch break, I go the Art Institute of Chicago, stand in front of an artwork, and sketch it. I set out with this project to help improve my drawing…

Another Guardian Lion‽ A pair of famous lions guard the entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago. Inside the museum resides another guardian lion. This unknown distant cousin comes from Cambodia. It currently sits guard at the entrance to one…

Empty lots are fascinating. The natural growth that naturally occurs in the desolate, unattended land. Plants sprouting up, giving life. The fence sign declares no trespassing. Don’t even think about stepping foot onto this land. However, someone ignored this warning,…

While walking to the train in the light snow/rain, an empty lot with lots of rocks and plants always grabs my attention. This lot reminds me of the empty lot next to my apartment of 13 years. I have the…

Sketching artwork in person at a museum is more of an experience than I imagined it to be. The enhanced observation, the nervousness. What to sketch? The decision on what to draw. With 5,267 items on display, what would be…

Last year I was able to walk on the base of the Picasso sculpture in the snow. Only at the end did I slip a little. (Blog post, video) This morning a fresh blanket of snow covered Chicago, including the…

Ever come across a fun or interesting security guard at an art museum? Here’s my encounter with a security guard at the Art Institute of Chicago sharing her love of tiny details of paintings, encouraging visitors to get closer to…

If you had to pick a pair of shoes that personifies you, what shoes would they be? Artist Vicky Tesmer created a series of fine watercolors depicting a variety of Chicagoans wearing their shoes. This exhibit, “Portrait of Chicago” is…

Most times your five-year-old iPhone works just fine as a camera. Today, I stepped off my train, and I looked up, the sunset nearly knocked me over. Whoa! So intense! I grabbed my iPhone from my pocket and snapped a…