Sculpture Archives : TRAVEL/FOOD

Even though St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, there’s no reason not to celebrate the Irish culture in Chicago

Head to Beverly, a historic Irish neighborhood with a higher concentration of Irish bars here than anywhere else in the city as well as the multi-disciplinary Beverly Arts Center.

Head to the city’s Northwest side, where the Irish American Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization that offers year-round cultural programming incorporating music and theater, literature, and language. (You may recognize it as the place which taught Conan O’Brien Irish step-dancing back in 2012.)

Keep an eye out for the grand opening of Guinness’s second U.S. taproom and brewery, which is slated to open later this year in the West Loop neighborhood.

April: EXPO Chicago Opens at Navy Pier

EXPO Chicago, the Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art, celebrates its10th anniversary edition by opening this year at Navy Pier, from April 13-16. This year the fair features more than 170 international exhibitors from 36 countries and 90 cities, fostering an environment for creative discovery paired with a week of citywide collaborations with museums, galleries, and the City of Chicago.

Prominent Chicago galleries exhibiting include Corbett vs. Dempsey, Stephen Daiter Gallery, McCormick Gallery and more, as well as galleries from major domestic cities (such as New York, Los Angeles and Houston) and international cities (such as London, Madrid and Cape Town). The full list can be accessed here.

In the lead up to the centerpiece fair, the city will also host an EXPO ART WEEK (from April 10-16), offering a series of aligned programming including museum exhibitions and gallery openings for locals and visitors alike.

Those in town for the art fair shouldn’t miss the opportunity to stop by the Art Institute of Chicago to check out the Salvador Dalí exhibition (the first devoted to the Spanish Surrealist at the museum) and Fresh Up, an exhibit on the intersection on Blackness and womanhood from multidisciplinary artist Gio Swaby.

Also, check out programming at local hotels. For example, The Peninsula Chicago will be presenting Neo Chicago, featuring highlights from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. The installation debuts on April 14 and will be displayed throughout the hotel’s public space through May 2023, as a part of the latest iteration of Art in Resonance, The Peninsula Hotels’ global contemporary art program dedicated to being an originator of culture through its engagement with artists who push the boundaries of their mediums, in works that engage the senses.

May: Celebrate Chicago’s Newest National Park with Railroad Days at Pullman

In December 2022, President Biden signed a designation declaring Chicago’s Pullman District (which was first designated a National Monument under President Obama in 2015) now a National Historic Park!

The Pullman Company played a transformative role in American train travel as well as a pivotal role in the U.S. labor movement due to the Pullman Strike of 1894.

From May 20-21, the district is celebrating the second annual Pullman Railroad Days where, in partnership with Metra, and the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, visitors will be able to explore historic Pullman rail cars from different eras at the 111th Street/Pullman Metra Electric station.

Included are the 1923 New York Central 3, the 1950 Royal Street Observation car, and the 1950 Blue Ridge Club.

The weekend-long event is a mix of free events and single-ticket entry access to some sites.

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the most important Spanish and universal artists of all time, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, a genius born in Malaga in 1881. To commemorate his life and work, an extensive programme of exhibitions, initiatives and events has been planned around the world, especially in the host countries, Spain and France. In Spain, the focus will be on the Spanish cities with the strongest ties to Picasso and which were a source of inspiration, leaving a mark on his personality and art.

He created his first works in the Fine Arts schools of A Coruña, Barcelona and Madrid and on his initial trips to Paris. In 1907 he painted “Les demoiselles d’Avignon”, the starting point of cubism, a revolutionary artistic movement that he devised together with Georges Braque, a Parisian painter. Cubists wanted to move beyond showing what things looked like and instead wanted to show the whole structure of objects in their paintings without using techniques such as perspective or graded shading to make them look realistic. Instead they wanted to show things as they really are. Cubism so impacted the art world that it made Picasso one of the most influential artists of all time.

Pablo Picasso at work at the Madoura pottery. Vallauris 23.3.1953.

Probably Picasso’s most famous work, Guernica is certainly his most powerful political statement, painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi’s devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Upon its completion in 1937, it was shown around the world–a stark message on the horrors of Nazism and the destruction the wreaked during the war. It also would be, a harbinger of what was to come during World War II.

Picasso not only painted, he also explored genres such as stage design, sculpture, ceramics and engraving. He died in 1973 at Mougins, a hilltop village in the Alpes-Maritimes département in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in Southeastern France. But despite his death, Picasso’s legacy is more alive than ever. Experience the year of Picasso first hand, and learn about his legacy through exhibitions and events in Spain by visiting one or more of the many exhibits and events throughout Spain.