My favorite feature of the large cities of the world are the museums and public art. Chicago is no exception. We visited the following three museums on our trip.
Art Institute of Chicago
I always go to the Art Institute when I’m in town, but Steve and Emily hadn’t ever been there, so we had to remedy that! The Impressionist collection is world-renown and very impressive. It’s always fun to visit these friends.
I was enthralled with the hall of Hindu and Islamic Art.
I wanted to see the new Modern Art wing and its beautiful view. Unfortunately, it was a sunny day and the sunscreens were down, obscuring the view a bit. It was still a bright lovely setting.
Museum of Science and Industry
Our Science Girl couldn’t wait to check this one out. And Steve and I also like a dose of science, though I found I much preferred the “science” to the “industry”.
The beautiful building is one of the few that survives from the 1893 Columbian Exhibition (World's Fair).
My favorite exhibit was the Storm Science hall where fantastic interactive displays illustrate the forces behind lightning, tornadoes, and avalanches.
The “Inventing the Future” exhibit had several examples of ingenious inventions such as wearable computer clothing that track your vital signs and technologies that interact with you and respond to your movements (by a Fellow of UT-Austin!).
In the Medical hall, Emily was excited to see the display about the HER2 gene connected with aggressive breast cancer…exactly what she is helping to research in the lab!
I was very impressed with the fun and interactive ways science principles are demonstrated and taught here.
Museum of Contemporary Art
I came to this museum while Emily and Steve went to the zoo. It was a good trade-off for us all. The Calder exhibit was displayed gorgeously, but photos weren’t allowed. Here is a sanctioned photo from
artknowledgenews.com taken before all of the 60 works were installed:
His mobiles and small sculptures were great fun, and the bio on him indicates he thought people took art too seriously so his mission was to show what fun it could be. I didn’t realize that he was one of the first artists to do “reclaimed” art – using junk and second-hand items for his work. Born of necessity during WWII, it became a habit the rest of his life.
The exhibit across the hallway of artists who were influenced by Calder was second-rate. I guess there was only one Alexander!
And what contemporary art museum would be complete without weirdness? Yes, those are Christmas ornaments in the foreground and popcorn in the rear.
The Calder exhibit travels next to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas from Dec. 11 to March 6, 2011.
Reading selection: CMA mini-website about Alexander Calder: www.mcachicago.org/calder/#/artist
Art Institute of Chicago: www.artic.edu/aic
Museum of Science and Industry: www.msichicago.org
Museum of Contemporary Art: mcachicago.org
Still want to see:
The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design: www.chi-athenaeum.org/main/about.html
Loyola University Museum of Art: www.luc.edu/luma/
and many more…
