Portland, Maine: vintage love times 3

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Patty

Out on the islands that poke their rocky shores about the waters of Penobscot Bay, you can watch the time of the world go by, from minute to minute, hour to hour, from day to day, season to season.
– Robert McCloskey, American writer and illustrator of children’s books, from Time of Wonder

Encore’s storefront, appropriately located in a former jewelry store.

I couldn’t leave Portland without exerting a herculean effort to visit the three vintage shops that I’ve had the pleasure of perusing in past summer trips. My efforts – in the form of frenzied cab rides from South Portland to downtown Portland and back to my work summit during my lunch break in record time – was totally worth it. (That was an appropriate mouthful!) I recommend not shooting through in the less than the two hours’ time that I did because you really need to leisurely look and enjoy. This is the requirement and beauty of all things vintage.

Vintage hats galore.

A mod 1960s skirt – yeah, baby, as Austin Powers would say.

Proprietor Rita Prout-Farley opened Encore (521 Congress Street, Portland, 207.775.4275) in 1991 in Brunswick, Maine, but later moved to its current location, appropriately in a historic building built in 1856. Encore focuses on designer and select resale clothing, jewelry, and accessories from 1800 to the 1970s. A collector most of her life, Rita turned her love of fashion and collecting into her business. An apology to the wonderful sales woman who answered all of my questions – in my glee of being amidst vintage clothes and accessories, I forgot to ask for her name. Mille scuse! She graciously and patiently pulled out beautiful outfits for me to photograph. Encore is like a museum that you walk through in awe. Indeed, many outfits were used in films from yesteryear. Complete with tall wooden cabinets that house the antique and vintage jewelry, hats, purses, and shoes, Encore has been cited by Travel and Leisure Magazine as a one of its recommended vintage destinations in the country.

Glass cases dripping with vintage jewels.

Encore boasts aisles of amazing vintage clothes.

Material Objects (500 Congress Street, Portland, 207.774.1241) is just across the street from Encore and worth checking out the vintage dresses, especially from the 1960s era. This vintage and consignment shop also offers new goods such as jewelry.

Material Objects’ storefront.

A mix of vintage and new jewelry.

A flower power dress that looks circa 1960s at Material Objects.

: The charming Pinecone+Chickadee storefront.

My last stop was a street over and a few blocks down. Noah DeFilippis and Amy Teh silkscreen their original designs on t-shirts made from organic material, recycled paper greeting cards and journals, and other accessories. Two years ago this charming storefront opened up and Pinecone+Chickadee (6 Free Street, Portland, 207.772.9280) was born. Musician Noah and graphic designer and illustrator Amy, who are also married, have expanded their offerings with their own line of jewelry. They also have a great collection of vintage wares. Last summer I came across a green-plaid, plastic-covered cardboard carry-on in an oval shape with a strap. I had the same carry-on – though I called it my suitcase back then – when I was a girl. Thanks for the memories!

Vintage goods that we couldn’t live without back in the day.

Part of an impressive collection of vintage cameras.

Pinecone+Chickadee’s line of jewelry.

Lauren Ari: Art as affirmation of the artist’s existence, Part II

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Patty

Everything you can imagine is real.
– Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer

Dictionary Project: “Tickle.”

The Power of mixed media
Lauren Ari’s use of mixed media, as opposed to any one medium, allows her to express what she is trying to say. While the Richmond-based artist likes working with different materials, her foundation is drawing. Working in mixed media, therefore, enables her drawings to be three-dimensional. Throughout her prolific career, Lauren, 46, has produced some amazing projects, as well as collaborative and interactive pieces of art.

Two years ago, she collaborated with an artist to build an eight-foot-tall structure made of clay that resembled an old-fashioned opera shell, which housed a singer and a butoh dancer –performing a postwar Japanese dance that rejected Eastern and Western dance in order to search for a new identity that would establish meaning for a defeated society. Lauren and her co-collaborator invited the community to make parts that would be attached to the structure. “I’m really interested in the interaction,” she said. She likes people to interpret her work by themselves and to bring their past to the experience, rather than being told what the piece means. This is exactly how she wants people to view her Dictionary Project and Bedscapes.

Lauren's Dictionary painting called Mother.

Dictionary Project: “Mother.”

Dictionary Project
Begun in 1999, Lauren’s Dictionary Project was informed by the fact that she wasn’t stimulated in school. Looking back on her education, she jokingly wondered if she could have learned everything from an encyclopedia. Playing with that idea she envisioned getting a dictionary and painting and learning from it. “It just went into motion and moved forward,” she recalled. When she went to the El Cerrito Recycling Center’s free book exchange shelf, she found a “big, beautiful, old dictionary” on the ground. “I’m a really good ‘manifester’ of stuff,” she said, of her serendipitous experience at the recycling center.

Dictionary Project: "Dreaming" - Annie from Annie's Annuals and her seedlings and flowers.

Dictionary Project: “Dreaming” – inspired by Annie from Annie’s Annuals and her seedlings and flowers. Lauren’s murals grace the walls of the well-known nursery in Richmond, CA.

Since the beginning of the project, she has “fallen in love” with the dictionary – its words, the images on the pages, the edges of the fine paper. “I like the contrast between the delicate, old papers and printing, and my intuitive, quick, impulsive, first thought, best thought, down on the paper, don’t edit – boom,” she explained, punctuating each word. “The complement works really well.” The Dictionary Project – numbering some 200 paintings, which are in her own gallery, galleries in San Francisco, and in private collections – is an ongoing project for Lauren, who said, “I can’t get away from it. I just love it.” This project speaks to how prolific she is.

Bedscape: “Sleeping with Death.”

Bedscapes
In 1997, Lauren was moved by a “brilliant” art show in London that dealt with the topic of sleeping. A quote from Cervantes’ Don Quijote de La Mancha, which was printed in the pamphlet, inspired her, as did the notion of sleep as death: “All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories – and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level. There’s only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse.”

Lauren’s Bedscape “quilt.”

Lauren was flooded with a lot of images, but she didn’t translate them, along with the quote, until circa 2004 when she began her Bedscapes Project. She embraced the concept of everything being at the same level when one is asleep as well as the ambiguity between sleep and death. The bedscapes run the gamut of emotions – some are tongue-in-cheek, of which bright colors are used to depict humor. But as viewers look more closely, they see that the message is not “funny.” “I think of them as Venus flytraps,” Lauren said. Some are humorous, some dark – with Lauren’s penchant to mix them up. She views them together on the wall as a quilt, involving sewing, quilting, and piecing together. While mostly made out of clay, the bedscapes may move to a different media, according to Lauren. She is still working on them – so far, she has created approximately 30 – for a show planned in May 2014 at the FM Gallery (483 25th Street, Oakland, CA 94612, 510.601.5053).

Bedscape: “War Babies.”

The subjects or the different “stories” for the Bedscapes Project find her – including her experiences and things that concern her. “War Babies” was made at the start of the Iraqi War. Early on, she would conceive an idea and create a bedscape. Nowadays, with less time and energy, she will ruminate on ideas, although the bedscapes are still intuitive and spontaneous. “I like for them not to feel labored and to just come together,” she explained. “I like it to be somewhat rough or imperfect – with a feeling of freshness.”

Although her art is not labored, it has a certain freedom that’s difficult to get to. She created two bedscapes that deal with the Chevron refinery in Richmond, called “Rooster’s Wake-up Call”: A giant bird is looming over a man in one bed, while two people covered in a black oil slick lie in another bed. A pile of people on a bed is a visual representation of the history one brings when sleeping with another person. For a bedscape addressing global warming, her tongue-in-cheek “solution” was to give trays of ice to a polar bear in a bed. Another bedscape entitled “Sleeping with Death” depicts a woman sleeping with a skeleton. “These are visual poems for me,” she said. “These are things I feel that I can’t figure out, that I feel are too big a subject matter for me to take on.”

Bedscape: “Rooster’s Wake-up Call.”

Bedscape: “Who Are You Sleeping With?”

Finding your own way through art
Lauren has spent most of her life volunteering and teaching. Her high school encouraged students to volunteer. “It always sat well with me that you give back,” she said. Lauren is a painting instructor at NIAD (National Institute of Art & Disabilities) Art Center (531-551 23rd Street, Richmond, CA 94804, 510.620.0290), a contemporary studio art program and gallery serving adults with developmental and other physical disabilities. She also teaches at the Richmond Art Center (2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804, 510.620.6772), a nonprofit arts education and cultural institution, and Great Clay Adventure, which brings clay instruction to schools.

Bedscape: “The Kiss.”

As was the case with the girl at Children’s Hospital (see Part I), she has experienced illuminating moments as an instructor. Lauren was teaching art to a kindergarten class when the teacher approached one girl, who had smashed her clay, and asked her where her penguin was. Lauren intervened and helped the girl verbalize her thought process. When the girl responded that the penguin was under a rock, Lauren celebrated her out-of-the-box thinking. “That is just as valid; I don’t have to see a million penguins for you to be right,” she said of her initial reaction. “That’s how I’ve modeled my life.”

Indeed, Lauren entreats all artists to not listen to anybody but themselves. “Be okay with making lots of what I call ‘ugly’ art. It doesn’t have to be perfect; you just have to be in there doing it,” she said. She tells students in her children’s classes that being an artist is akin to being an investigator, with artists using their eyes. “There’s no wrong way,” she insists of the creative process. “You just need to find your own way. As long as you’re not hurting anybody and you’re finding joy, just go for it – this is your one life. Enjoy it and see what’s out there.”

Lauren with Bella, the family dog.

Editor’s note: Lauren teaches art classes at her home studio on Thursdays, 7pm to 9pm, called Art Camp for Adults. Each session comprises four classes. Lauren suggests ideas and the group decides on the direction. The next session begins in September 2013. Lauren is also open to teaching art classes one on one with artists who are experiencing creative blocks or those who want some coaching and need assistance in putting their portfolio together in order to apply to art high school or college. She also hosts art events out of her home twice a year. To see more of Lauren’s work and to contact her, go to her website www.laurenari.com.

Lauren Ari: Art as affirmation of the artist’s existence, Part I

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Patty

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.
– Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer

Lauren at the entrance of her backyard garden.

I met mixed-media artist Lauren Ari, 46, at the Stockton Avenue Art Stroll in El Cerrito this past May. She was selling her framed paintings at the invitation of Jen Komaromi of Jenny K, who is a friend of hers and a fellow former preschool parent. Lauren and I hit it off, and although we had just met, a passerby in the store thought we had known each other for years. The relaxed conversation and easy laughter was largely attributable to Lauren’s honesty and energy. “I’m really honest – perhaps too honest – because my work is that way,” she told me in June, when I visited her at her home in Richmond, a welcoming place that is both an informal museum and sunny garden celebrating her colorful work.

When you look closely at Lauren’s paintings and sculptures, you feel as if you’ve gone – with her permission – into the recesses of her imaginative mind, where both light and dark co-exist. You also feel the frenetic energy that created it and the energy emanating, pulsing from her, which is infectious. “There’s something that’s faster than me, personally; I think I’m behind this energy that is moving me,” she said. “I trust something bigger than myself.” Indeed, Lauren added, “A lot of what I do is very intuitive; I don’t set out necessarily to do X, Y, and Z. Circumstances happen and I follow them.”

The sculpture “All Is Love” in her studio.

Following the winding path
Creativity was encouraged and ran in the family – her aunt was in ceramics and her uncle is a basket weaver. Her mother was also a creative type and reserved an area of Lauren’s bedroom for making art. She fondly remembers her grandmother’s coffee table books and paintings on the walls of her home, and as a child, Lauren pored over her grandmother’s books on Picasso, who inspired her. “”He spoke to me,” she recalled. By age 15, she was doing performance art with Racheal Rosenthal, called “Doing by Doing,” at the Women’s Building in downtown Los Angeles, where she grew up. She transferred out of public high school to attend a local art school. Although she labeled herself a “square peg,” in this creative environment in which all her teachers were artists she began to identify herself as an artist. “They exposed you to so much,” she said. “I really felt like I was learning for the first time.”

Lauren’s flower pots in her garden.

At the age of 17, Lauren attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The first year at RISD provides the foundation for all students, and although at the time she admitted that she was not ready to listen and just wanted to be left alone to create her art, Lauren said that she learned “most everything.” While she was at RISD, her parents divorced, which led her deeper into her art. “I was in my own space; art was healing for me,” she recalled. Adding to her burden was the familial pressure of how she would be able to make a living from her art, despite her family’s encouragement to pursue her passion. “I didn’t have enough strength in myself to have faith in what I was doing,” she said.

Tile painting in the garden.

She dropped out of college after two years and returned home, enrolling in the local community college and then taking on a variety of odd jobs. Feeling the need to finish school, she moved to the Bay Area upon the advice of a good friend and got her BFA with High Distinction from the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC) (5212 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94618, 510.594.3600) and later attended the University of California at Davis, where she earned her MFA.

“Art was my voice and a way for me to ground myself into existence,” she said, reflecting on that difficult time in her life. Many years later, when she was teaching art to critically ill children at Oakland’s Children’s Hospital, one of her students, a young girl, did not want to leave her class to undergo a procedure. She kept putting her hand down on the paper, leaving imprints which reminded Lauren of prehistoric cave paintings. “It was like she was saying, ‘I’m here,'” she said. For years, much of Lauren’s work represented proof that she existed. The act of creating was her way of saying to the world: “I’m here.” Art was her vehicle for staying present. “It was a big moment for me to really see myself,” she said.

At home with her daughter Mirabai.

The Impact of motherhood on the artist
Lauren experienced another revelation when she gave birth to her daughter, Mirabai, in 2006. Until she became a mother, Lauren didn’t realize how consumed she was with making art. “I didn’t question it [my art] as much. It was who I was, what I did, and I just gave myself over to that,” she said. “It gave me my purpose; it gave me a place to be and to ground.” Whatever energy she had she shifted to raising her daughter. “Having a child later in life was a very humbling experience for me,” she said. During that time, she realized – in a “shockingly painful” way – how imbued she was in her desire to be constantly creating.

“I have a lot more spaciousness now,” she said. Instead of excusing herself to work in her studio, she allows herself the luxury of having long conversations with people. She engages in activities that she has never done before, and she and her poet husband, Daniel Ari, and daughter do a lot of dance and movement together as a family. Lauren has since slowed down with her work. “I’ve just become a lot more relaxed,” she said. Before her daughter’s birth, she had already accomplished many of the things she felt she needed to do as an artist, including having several of her pieces included in the Achenbach Collection of the De Young Museum (50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415.750.3600) and a two-person show at the Klaudia Marr Gallery, a well-known gallery in Santa Fe. “I succeeded in the outside world and those were all great things, but now I’m trying to figure out how to get back to my practice,” she said. “I’m trying to figure out what’s next.”

Lauren’s sculptures in her studio.

Editor’s note: Lauren teaches art classes at her home studio on Thursdays, 7pm to 9pm, called Art Camp for Adults. Each session comprises four classes. Lauren suggests ideas and the group decides on the direction. The next session begins in September 2013. Lauren is also open to teach art classes one on one with artists who are experiencing creative blocks or those who want some coaching and need assistance in putting their portfolio together in order to apply to art high school or college. She also hosts art events out of her home twice a year. To see more of Lauren’s work and to contact her, go to her website www.laurenari.com.

One of the many murals in Lauren's backyard. You might recognize her murals at Annie's Annuals in Richmond, CA.

One of the many murals in Lauren’s backyard. Her murals grace the walls of Annie’s Annuals Nursery in Richmond, CA.

Plant a tree, have a child, write a book

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Patty

(Every man should) plant a tree, have a child, and write a book. These all live on after us, insuring a measure of immortality.
– attributed to the Talmud and Jose Martí, Cuban revolutionary and poet

Vintage Underground’s owner Carlos showing off his creations.

On my last day of vacation in Chicago a few weeks ago, while on my vintage hunt, I met Carlos, the owner of Vintage Underground (1507 N Milwaukee Avenue, 773.384.7880), a shop that carries clothing, accessories, and jewelry dating from the mid-century. He was receptive to me taking pictures of his store for my blog, and when I finished making my way around the huge basement-level shop, he asked me what my blog was about. I told him it was my way of celebrating entering my 50s by living creatively, fully, and meaningfully. When I mentioned having finished my first novel back in 2006, only to be crushed by receiving 60 rejections from literary agents, Carlos scoffed.

Our ginkgo tree, which we planted in our backyard after we got married nearly 15 years ago.

Our ginkgo tree, one of my favorite kind of trees, which we planted in our backyard after David and I got married nearly 15 years ago.

“Sixty?” he repeated. “That’s nothing!” He proceeded to tell me that he would have stopped at 100, if that. “‘Plant a tree, write a book,'” he said. “Ever hear of that?” When I shook my head, he advised me to look up the Buddhist saying on the Internet. [When I came home, I indeed looked it up and found that there is disagreement about its provenance, but most references seem to give the nod to either the Talmud or Cuban revolutionary and poet Jose Martí. The order of the commandments is also varied. Carlos, as you can see, left out the part about having a child and the reason for doing these things.] For Carlos, the purpose of planting a tree and writing a book was not just about immortality but also expressing yourself, taking delight in these activities, and simply being.

Me and my kids, my heart and soul, downtown, along the Chicago River.

My kids – my heart and soul – and me downtown, along the Chicago River.

He showed me a turn-of-the-century handbag that sported two compartments. He had attached watch parts and gears to one side of the handbag. On the inside, he had inserted various things – a lipstick case and a toy gun – in the elastic straps. He also showed me a necklace and cuff he had made especially for a party he was attending. The watch hanging from a thick chain sprouted wings, while watch parts embellished the wide polished sterling silver cuff. All three pieces evoke a Steampunk aesthetic.

When Carlos told me making jewelry was his form of therapy, I laughed. But he was serious. Why pay someone money to listen to you talk about what’s troubling you and then you leave and that’s that? Here in his shop, he can create something beautiful and feel good about it. The act of creation is joyful, soulful, and meaningful. Other people also appreciate and purchase his creations, and he takes pride knowing they are wearing what he has designed. What he creates lives on. Carlos was on to something. And I fully agree with his philosophy on creation.

Enjoy life! With cut-out leather and lace for summer (handbag from The Fickle Bag, Berkeley, CA).

Dress comfortably in the summertime, and dress with confidence.

Dress comfortably in the summertime, but more importantly, dress with confidence.

When I came home and found the full reference to the quote, at various times during that day and following days I pondered how it applied to me. Taken literally, I have done all three – we have planted fruitless cherry, ginkgo, and peach trees in our backyard and twin Aristocrat pear trees in our front yard; I have two children; and I’ve written my first novel, though it still needs one more round before I am ready to say that it’s done. But I realize having done all three is not the end of the journey. Our deciduous trees need their leaves to be raked and composted every fall. Their branches need to be pruned. They need watering. Our children, especially as they head into adolescence, will need just as much guidance, albeit with an invisible hand and eye, as when they were toddlers. And writing a book is a life-long process – one in which you get better as you get older and draw from your life experiences and wisdom. And then the next book is an extension, a growth of the first one, a growth of you. I am a better writer with each piece I write, whether fiction or nonfiction; I am a better writer than certainly seven years ago and even two years ago.

Reliving the nostalgic 70s with bell-bottom lace pants and floppy hat.

Be creative in all you do: Reviving the nostalgic 70s with bell-bottom lace pants and floppy hat.

For me, the original saying could not have come at a better time, when I’m going to be spending the next month and a half doing one last revision on my first novel and then figuring out how to set it free out in the world. There can be variations on the theme – plant vegetables or flowers, help birth babies or baby animals, adopt or mentor a child, write and record a song or design a building or paint a painting or choreograph a dance. Plant a tree, have a baby, write a book – such poetic, yet fierce words. Find your variation on a theme. Rejoice in the act. Become “immortal.” Simply be. Fully alive.

Novel almost done!

Chicago: Vintage love in Wicker Park

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Patty

Hipsters: A subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park, and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, respectively.
– The Urban Dictionary

The Vintage Underground beckons patrons to “Come down…it’s fun!”

Our vacation to Chicago would not have been complete, in my estimation, without the thrill of a vintage hunt. I didn’t have time before our trip to conduct research, so I did a quick Internet search of antique and vintage shops while in town, trying to narrow it down to walkable places within the Loop. If I had my way, I would have set aside an entire day, ideally two days, to hop from one vintage shop to another. As is, I only had a precious three hours on our last day in Chicago. My strategy: Curate and find two shops near one another that had stellar reviews. Given my time constraint, I figured I would spend quality time in a couple of places.

Not knowing which neighborhood was my destination, I struck out for W. North Avenue. It took some effort to find the Blue line train, but once I did, I was on my way to the thrill of the hunt. It turns out I was in Wicker Park, a neighborhood described as hipster not only by the Urban Dictionary but by Forbes and Nextdoor.com, which ranked Wicker Park fourth in its Top 10 “Hippest Hipster Neighborhood” in the U.S. And it turns out, as a hipster place, Wicker Park was at the epicenter of vintage shops.

Strands of pearls at Vintage Underground.

My first stop was Vintage Underground (1834 W. North Avenue, 773.252.4559), an unassuming basement establishment. When I reached the last step, I was greeted by a friendly young sales assistant who, upon letting her know of my vintage love and blog, happily let me take pictures of the 3,500-foot shop, which housed a dizzying number of mirrored display cases dripping with vintage costume jewelry, ranging from mid-century on up. This was not a vintage basement, it was vintage heaven, like Twentieth Century in Boston.

: Brimming with mid to late 20th century costume jewelry, display cases are organized by color or type of jewelry.

But Vintage Underground had jewelry whose price tags range from very affordable to I’ll just admire longingly from afar. The shop has more than just jewelry. It carries purses, shoes, clothes, and other accessories, but I don’t look at clothes when I’m in a time crunch or when there is so much inventory that I am overwhelmed, as was my case today. I can quickly scan display cases and see what catches my eye. Despite the amount of jewelry on display, they are grouped by type of jewelry – rhinestone, pearls, colored rhinestones, and so on – which enables efficient scanning. I completed my once-over and then honed in for the kill.

Unusual vintage purses are also on display.

I wish I had asked the sales assistant for her name, so I could do a shout out on her behalf by name. She was incredibly helpful and cheerful. I had spied a tall display case with unusual jewelry. It belonged to the owner, Carlos, who fuses steampunk-style parts such as watch gears to vintage or antique jewelry and accessories to create original pieces. The sales assistant showed me gleaming wide silver cuffs with watch parts and a necklace with a silver bullet. Carlos appeared, and I had a great conversation with him – so great that it will be a blog topic on Wednesday! One of the things I love to do in vintage shops is get a feel for the shop and a sense of the owner and/or the people who work there.

Icy rhinestones, anyone?

Carlos and the sales assistant recommended that I check out their sister store, Vintage Underground Boutique (1507 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 773.384.7880), a curated vintage shop styled as a boutique just a few blocks away. The sales assistant was kind enough to escort me there. I loved the boutique concept and enjoyed looking at their jewelry, though I didn’t have time to check out the great selection of dresses. It was back to the Underground, where I settled on two unsigned pieces – an etched sterling silver tiny purse on a long sterling silver chain and an ornate chocker locket. I’m told that both are Victorian, but I’d love verification. I have not been able to find similar pieces online, so if anyone can shed light on these pieces, I’d appreciate help learning more about them. My neighbor, an eBay veteran, thought the chocker was a mourning locket. Regardless of their age, among the many wonderful pieces at Vintage Underground, those two were the ones I kept coming back to, which meant they were coming home with me.

Victorian chocker with locket.

Sterling silver miniature etched purse on a long sterling silver chain.

While walking back to the Blue Line train station, I retraced my steps to N. Milwaukee Avenue and found Store B Vintage (1472 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 773.772.4296) and Eskell (1509 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 773.486.0830), which were on my original list. I didn’t find anything at Store B Vintage. Eskell was also on my list. This boutique carries contemporary brands and its own line, which is vintage inspired. Happily, I managed to find a couple of pieces of jewelry here by local jewelry designer Laura Lombardi, who was profiled by Refinery29 back in April.

It was time to head back, though I am sure there are probably other vintage or unique shops on this busy street that I didn’t see. As I waited on the platform for my train back, I saw a street faire going on below. Oh to have one more day in Chicago! Under three hours – including subway and walking time – is not adequate time to explore vintage shops in any city – let alone Chicago – but I think I made a pretty good go of it.

Laura Lombardi’s necklaces are made from reclaimed vintage brass findings. The necklace on the right is a vintage locket hung on a six-inch single strand and then attached to the loop that goes around the neck. Both necklaces from Eskell.

The Purple Pig
We finally made it to the Purple Pig, which is downtown, on the Magnificent Mile (500 N. Michigan Avenue, 312.464.1744). Our strategy was to get there right at five, when dinner is served, and we had no problem getting seated at a communal table this time around. The Purple Pig – whose tag line is “cheese, swine & wine” – was voted one of the 10 best new restaurants in America by Bon Appétit Magazine in 2010. We know why! The kids told us they weren’t hungry at all when we were seated, but once we looked at the menu and our waiter answered our questions, suddenly the kids were hungry – and they had no trouble eating.

The Purple Pig is starting to fill up and the servers are whizzing by.

The Purple Pig is starting to fill up with customers and the servers are whizzing by.

We started off with antipasti – Broccoli with Roasted Garlic & Anchovy Vinaigrette and Shaved Brussels Sprouts, Pecorino Noce & Parmigiano Reggiano. Then on to the a la Plancha: Isabella downed her Razor Clams with Oregano, Lemon & Olive Oil, Jacob and I ordered Scallop Spiedini with Chickpea Aioli, and David had the Prosciutto Crusted Cobia with Manila Clams & Sea Beans. David and I shared a bottle of Pasion De Bobal 2010, a Spanish varietal of the Valencia grape. We had to order a plate of cheeses, since it was one of their specialties, and while we were stuffed, we couldn’t pass up the dolci – Grandma D’s Chocolate Cake with Almond & Orange Marmellata and Bread Pudding with Marsala & Citrus. We were very content when we waddled out and we were happy we made it to the Purple Pig. We didn’t have another opportunity to try Fontina Grill, so we’ll have to try the next time we’re in Chicago. It was a great trip, but I have to add – which has become my mantra – I wish I had another day or two.

The Purple Pig is tucked away from N. Michigan Avenue.

The Purple Pig is tucked away off N. Michigan Avenue.

Chicago: The Art Institute and Willis Tower

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Patty

Technique does not constitute art. Nor is it a vague, fuzzy romantic quality known as ‘beauty,’ remote from the realities of everyday life. It is the depth and intensity of an artist’s experience that are the first importance in art.
– Grant Wood, American painter, Midwestern Regionalism

The iconic lion appropriately sporting a Seahawks helmet.

The iconic lion appropriately sporting a Blackhawks helmet.

Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Avenue, 312.443.3600) was established in 1879, although the museum moved to its current location after the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition closed. The massive Beaux-Arts style building is one million square feet, making it the second largest art museum in the country next to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once again, here is a museum that you can spend an entire day and not see it all. The two bronze lion statues flanking the museum were sporting Chicago Blackhawks helmets, as the Stanley Cup Finals were being held while we were there the week of June 17th [they won after we left].

Renoir’s Two Sisters, 1881.

The museum has impressive Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections. It was thrilling to walk into one of the rooms and see paintings I’ve seen in art books and studied in art history class. Such was the case with Mary Cassatt’s The Child’s Bath (1893), Toulouse-Lautrec’s At the Moulin Rouge (1892), Renoir’s By the Water (1880) and Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881), van Gogh’s Self-portrait (1887) and Bedroom in Arles (1888), and Monet’s series of wheat stacks (1890s). Unfortunately, we saw Grant Wood’s American Gothic (1930) from the entryway, as paintings were being installed and therefore the room was roped off.

Grant Wood’s American Gothic, 1930.

We didn’t see Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks (1942), and Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886) and Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy Day were temporarily removed for the Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity exhibit (June 26 through September 22), which we were six days off from the opening. Of course, this means putting the museum back on the list of places to see on a return trip to Chicago.

Daumier’s Print Collector, 1857-1863.

Mancini’s Resting, 1887.

Amid all of the rock stars, the two paintings that stood out for me were The Print Collector (1857-1863), an oil on cradled panel piece by Frenchman Honoré-Victorin Daumier, for its haunting quality and use of light and dark, and Antonio Mancini’s Resting (circa 1887), an oil on canvas painting whose thick brushstrokes evoked glass, fabric, and skin. Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones’ Shoe Shop was memorable for me for her rendering of fabric, especially the white blouses of the women. Finally, I love how John Singer Sargent drapes the fabric of the curtains and his models’ clothes with his fine brushstrokes and intense colors, such as the brilliant whites and sparkling sapphires.

Sparhawk-Jones’ Shoe Shop, circa 1911.

John Singer Sargen's The Fountain Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy, 1920.

John Singer Sargent’s The Fountain Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy, 1920.

A Thorne miniature room.

The Thorne Miniature Rooms delighted me because I have loved dollhouses and miniature furniture since I was a child. Mrs. James Ward Thorne – nee Narcissa Hoffman Niblack, who wed her childhood sweetheart, the son of the co-founder of Montgomery Ward & Co. in 1901 – came up with the idea of creating miniature rooms, with a scale of 1 inch to 1 foot, from Europe’s late 13th century to the 1930s and America’s late 17th century to the 1930s. The 68 rooms have been on permanent exhibit since 1954. The Indiana native, who lived in Lake Forest, IL, but had an apartment and studio in Chicago, sought master craftsmen to build the rooms in her studio from 1932 to 1940, which included textile masterpieces such as the room-size rugs, wallpaper, and paintings. One of the rooms is an impressive miniature of the inside of a European cathedral. They are mesmerizing to look at. I wish I had more time to inspect the craftsmanship, the painstaking details. How fun it must have been to watch them take shape and for the artisans to be asked to bring their craft to this project.

A closer look at one of the rooms. Note the details everywhere!

Looking down on skyscrapers from the Skydeck.

Willis Tower
No visit to Chicago, especially for kids, is complete without going to the top of Willis Tower (233 S Wacker Drive, 312.875.0066), formerly the Sears Tower, which is what native Chicagoans still call this architectural giant. In 2009, the Willis Group, which has offices in the building, got the rights to rename the tower. At 110 stories, 443 meters, or 1,450 feet, Willis Tower used to be the tallest building in the world. Dispute over counting antennae (Willis Tower stands at 1,730 if you include its antennae) and spires as part of the height aside, that honor belongs to Burj Khalifa at 2,722 feet tall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which was built in 2010. Willis Tower used to be the tallest building in the U.S., but that honor now belongs to the newest World Trade Tower that was recently completed, according to our architectural tour guide on our river boat excursion.

If you go down the south fork of the Chicago River you would hit the Gulf of Mexico in one week.

Willis Tower currently holds the distinction of being the eighth tallest freestanding structure in the world. It cost Sears, Roebuck & Co., then the largest retailer in the world with 350,000 employees, $150 million to build a structure that would enable it to consolidate its thousands of workers in the Chicago area. Work began in 1970 with 2,000 workers on site and opened in 1973. Skidmore, Owens and Merrill’s Bruce Graham led the architecture team, with Fazlur Khan as the structural engineer, which, of course, was of interest to David.

Stepping back for a more expansive view below.

Supposedly you can see four states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin – from the Skydeck on the 103rd floor, some 40 to 50 miles out, but unless you know what you’re looking at, you just appreciate that impressive fact. We went to the top when dusk was settling over the city, and met a bustling crowd. The elevators operate at 1,600 feet per minute! It figures that people would want to see the skyscrapers at night with their winking lights, and not surprising, given that 1.3 visitors come to the Skydeck every year.

We stood in line for one of the four glass balconies, called the “Ledge,” which extends out 4.3 feet from the skyscraper’s Skydeck, 1,353 feet in the air. Built to hold 10,000 pounds and withstand four tons of pressure, the Ledge nonetheless swayed, according to David. A confessed acrophobic, I was actually too busy trying to get our family in a pose and have the group behind us take a good picture. Thank goodness for my preoccupation! While not one to do these kinds of tourist activities, I admit that it was thrilling to have such an expansive view, which literally took my breath away.

On the “Ledge,” with downtown Chicago below us.

The Dress at 50

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