North Shore at the Art Institute

A few North Shore artists braved the cold, packed into the car and headed to the Art Institute of Chicago. Dan entertained us with a hand puppet sketch while stuck in morning traffic. Our group was fortunate to be gifted tickets to visit the Art Institute and to the Andy Warhol exhibit. 

We spent time wandering through and rediscovering the European and Impressionist art at Dan’s request.  Omar stood in front of Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 by Gustave Caillebotte, for some time. Then saying, “It’s too big, it won’t fit in the drawers!” Noting the picture would be too large to fit into his artist flat file in the studio. Dave spent some time analyzing the idea of Woman in front of a still life by Cézanne painted by Paul Gauguin: a painting of a woman in front of another well-known painting. Jess gazed at each ballerina by Degas. Ted felt right at home in contemporary art, stopping to look at Starry Night and the Astronauts by Alma Thomas. 

We ended the day at the very crowded Andy Warhol exhibit with soup cans and Brillo pad boxes: something for everyone. They had movies, Elvis prints and bright red crosses for Dan. Ted liked the bright colors in the Marilyn Monroe pop art. Dave wandered through his sketches and simpler pieces. Omar found the green self-portraits charming. Jess liked the repetitive soup can prints.

We packed into the small car, spent the ride home talking about our favorite pieces and experiences from the day. The artist’s highlight was getting lost in an elevator maze on the way out. Jessica laughing about “getting stuck in the elevator.” Enjoying the conversation, Daniel Frownfelter said, “I am thankful we got to go see art. I love it!” We enjoyed walking through and finding art we liked, disliked and pieces that reminded us of our peers at Arts of Life.

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