Wilde ...as in Oscar! Chicago Streetscape

Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood ... on the North Side

My former stomping ground.

Wilde's

as in Oscar Wilde ... Irish Bar and Restaurant

Plantings - Anne Roberts Gardens

Streetscape ... 3130 N. Broadway

Late-September 2009

A belated postscript, mentioned in the comments here.

Visit VP's 18 Oct post on Veg Plotting: 

Out on the Streets

for street scenes from Liverpool to Brittany to downtown Toronto!

Millennium Park's Exuberant Spirit

Chicago - September, 2009 - Michigan Avenue

Frank Gehry’s exuberant architecture seems to have taken the world by storm. I'll vouch for the architect's design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. 

The building proved to have superb acoustics when I heard a string quartet play there. Before attending the concert, I'd been won over by Gehry's exuberant style,

 impressed by the Concert Hall's open-air gardens, which are also open to the public.

On my must-see list of Gehry buildings? The acclaimed Guggenheim Bilbao Museum

turned Bilbao, a Spanish port city, into a must-see destination. 

In the meantime, I visit Chicago in September during the World Music Festival,

where venues for free performances include the 

Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion. 
Millennium Park Peristyle Monument (replica)

The music from the Pavilion carries clear as a bell over an extensive area, encompassing the parkland and the Lurie Garden.

The view on the right shows the garden,  photographed through the glass wall of the sculpture terrace atop the new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano.

(Next feature will focus on the Lurie Garden, with plantings by Piet Oudolf.)

In the distance, across Monroe Street, the newly opened,  Renzo Piano-designed wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. The straightforward, strongly rectilinear lines of the building aim to complement the

 angular modernity of the Millennium Park landscape and minimalist Lurie Garden. Fantastic views unfold from the raised walkway  connecting the Lurie Garden to the Art Institute!

Beckoning from on high, the ramp invites you to enter either ....the museum,

 or Terzo Piano, an elegant new restaurant.

A Sculptural Dialogue - Millennium Park, Chicago

Cloud Gate 

....a sculpture by Anish Kapoor,

quickly achieved the status of icon for Chicago's Millennium Park.

Summer 2009

The Park's Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture 

from China, includes:

Jia Shan Shi No. 46 by Zhan Wang

With a degree from Bejing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, the artist is known worldwide for his stainless steel 'scholars' rocks.'

A sheet of steel, hammered over the original rock, alters the form to "reflect ...the cultural transformation of changing times.

The artwork symbolizing the adaptation of Chinese cultural tradition to..." modern life.

Ancient Lake Tai rocks originate in an area near Suzhou, the Garden City of China. Elemental components in the design of Chinese Scholars' gardens, their resonant profiles emerge throughout the entrancing landscape of 

Portland Classical Chinese garden.

Representing 'yang,' the uniquely convoluted limestone rocks are a treasure;

 their solitary forms looked upon as artistic focal points.

 En masse they rise up in watery grottoes, to rim lake beds, 

or create the appearance of a mountainous terrain.

In dramatic contrast, 

Millennium Park's Contemporary Chinese Sculpture exhibition featured 

Windy City Dinosaur by Sui Jiaguo, 

a professor in the Department of Sculpture at China's Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Considered an experimental artist, his work "references...cheap, mass-produced goods" that China exports, as it questions "the source of China's economic prowess..."

Click on link below to read more about Millennium Park 

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/10/summers-end-millennium-park-chicago.html

Summer's End .. Millennium Park, Chicago

Millennium Park burst on the scene in 2004, albeit, a few years past the planned opening 

at the turn of the century. 

Still, it's the place to be on a summer day in Chicago. I'm proud of my home town,

a greener, more vibrant and energetic urban setting than ever.

The Crown Fountain's upright 50-foot towers deliver a welcoming splash and flow;

the multi-media water feature designed by Jaume Plensa, a Barcelona artist.

A shallow pool spans the space between the glass-block towers,

their colorful video projections featuring a panoply of faces.

1,000 Chicagoans... their changing expressions creating a riveting display.

These giant faces are full of surprises....

Blink.... smile... ... spout!

Cavort, if you like,

or take up residence on a bench while you wait for friends to arrive.

More... Chicago, in the days ahead:

The Lurie Garden with Piet Oudolf plantings

Frank Gehry designed Pritzker Pavilion

Installation of Sculptures by Chinese Artists

& new Renzo Piano designed wing of The Art Institute of Chicago

Gardens of Giverny .... I've a Story to Tell

Monet's Purple Poppies - Photo courtesy, Ginas Pics'

Monet's garden at Giverny

Shortly after moving to California, I had an opportunity to travel to France, where I toured Impressionist painter, Claude Monet's home and garden.

I've a short story to share, so do follow along: At 15, I met the father of my brother's future wife.

Charming and rather elderly at the time (or so it seemed to me), my brother's future father-in-law, 

Mr. Monet was the grand-nephew (or great-grand nephew?) 

of the artist, Claude Monet.

C'est tout!