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The best advice I have ever received was from a man named Dr. Angus Lockyer. During my first time studying abroad in London, Angus was my London Social History professor. He is English, witty and wise beyond his years. As our professor, he would lead us on long tours through the streets of London, and even though I have roots in England and have spent a lot of time in London, he opened my eyes to things I never noticed before.
One day I told him that I preferred to leave very early in the morning to get to class downtown so I could walk through the streets for two hours and take everything in on foot. He just smiled and said, “That’s the way to do it. Walk everywhere. Question everything. And never forget to keep looking up.”
That advice stuck. If you take the L or bus everywhere in Chicago, you are either moving too fast to see everything this wonderful city has to offer, or you are underground and seeing…tunnel walls. If you choose to walk you will start discovering new things. If you look up, instead of just straight in front of you, you will notice all of the gorgeous, historical architecture that is just waiting to tell you its story. Yes, in Chicago the walls do talk, they are just waiting for you to listen.
"Pssst, I have a secret!" - The Monadnock
On Tuesday I joined a tour led by Chicago Architecture Foundation docent Barry Sears on the rise of the skyscraper downtown. Armed with my camera, mobile phone (I Twitpic’d a few photos while on the tour Tuesday), pen and paper, I bring to you know a recap of the tour with some of the most interesting information.
The very idea of the Victorian photocollage goes against much of what we are taught to expect from this straight-laced, prim and proper era. We think corsets and strict posing, not sharp wit and fun-loving sensibilities. And why shouldn’t we? The Art Institute’s new exhibit, Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage, shows us why we’re so mistaken.
Upon first glimpse of these bizarre collages, you cannot help but feel that you are now part of some private joke over a century in the making. Family photos are trimmed, save the heads, and placed in drawn bottles, pasted on the bodies of animals, decorating drawn frames and playing cards. The magnitude of the collection suggests this was a popular art form. The pleasant shock at which I, along with other viewers, displayed while absentmindedly strolling through the gallery still has me shaking my head in disbelief. We were all a bit betrayed by history.
To understand this new world of surreal-structure and depth-defying imagery, I had to put myself in the shoes of artist Marie-Blanche-Hennelle Fournier, featured in the collection. Little is known about the eccentric Madame B, but, it is widely speculated that she employed her craft to garner favor with social groups. More Bewitching artist than social Butterfly, Madame B was arguably an innovator and felt quite smug with her new documented truths. And what greater form of rebellion from her life as a diplomat’s wife, than to be a quirky artist. Standing there in gallery, we all understood that.
The joke was that Madame B and others saw the rest of the world for what it was, and told everyone to stop taking themselves so seriously. A young boy riding a heron, or a joker scattering family portraits in a meadow subverted expectations and gave way to the absurd. It is a message that had many viewers smiling and nodding either for the sheer hilarity of the work, or for the continued relevance of one looking to upset the bourgeois standard.
For the Art Institute, where permanent exhibits range somewhere from Napoleonic furnishings to Egyptian pottery, this was a welcome, albeit sarcastic, change. Madame B’s album will be on permanent display, whereas the rest of the exhibit will enjoy a shorter viewing through 2010.
As one of the first looks into a new kind of artistic inspiration, the Victorian photocollage remains an unexpectedly fascinating testament to historical documentation. Look for it on your way to Renaissance jewelry.
-Ileana
The Ryan Education Center's opening for students and teachers was Monday. 600 Chicago Public School students from 20 schools were taken on a docent-led tour of the galleries.
via Medill Reports.
The Art Institute’s new Ryan Education Center, just a few steps inside the Modern Wing’s first-floor entrance, will be an educational headquarters for students, teachers and parents.
“We ask, philosophically, ‘What did the artist need to know in order to achieve a work of art?’” Robert Eskridge, executive director of museum education, said of the Center’s education creed.
A garden designed by Renzo Piano will be created in the Ryan Education Center courtyard in fall. This will create a connection between Millennium Park and the garden.
“Field trip offerings are designed to emphasize how the collection can support reading, social studies, world studies and a history curriculum,” he said.
The Center emphasizes how art can be effective in teaching across a school’s curriculum. An instructional asset is Renzo Piano’s airy, streamlined design, created so that in every living room and classroom in the Center visitors feel as if they are inside a work of art.
“Studios have glass walls that look out onto the spectacular Chicago skyline, revealing and justifying having an architecture and design curatorial department,” Eskridge said. “A rare department to have in art museums.”
The institution goes beyond exposing students to the “one time” field trip to the museum, said Grace Murray, coordinator of teacher programs. It connects what is learned at the museum, and provides teachers with follow-up materials to employ in the classroom throughout the year. However this instruction is not only for art teachers, but teachers of every academic subject.
A “serious institution to run,” the Center requires community support. A combination of corporate, foundation, and private funding has helped support and endow the Ryan Education spaces—initiated through donations from its namesakes, Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan, according to Eskridge.
The Kraft Education Center, located in the main building, will continue to be used as a family center but the Institute’s academic emphasis will be based in the Ryan Education Center.
The Ryan Center will be open the same hours as the entire museum, to better accommodate visiting teachers and their schedules. The Center space is free, located outside the barriers for admission, and is open to all.
The now one million square-feet Institute will officially open its Modern Wing to the public on Saturday.
