Category: Illinois

Not Taking Art For Granted

©2021 Snapping the Globe, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Exploration of Chicago’s Grant Park is something that every tourist in Chicago undertakes at some point during their visit.

Me included!

Filled with important sculptural works and wide-open spaces, it is where Chicagoans head to enjoy the great outdoors.

My first full day in the Windy City was a beautiful one! The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it was definitely not windy! My husband and I decided to head to Grant Park to see the many landmarks that dot the landscape and evoke fervor from its visitors.

Knowing there were many things to see and so many access points to the park, we decided to simply work our way from north to south. Entering from Maggie Daley Park, we walked through the Cancer Survivor’s Garden, with its open metal pavilion flanked by two forty-foot-tall granite columns, set up to greet visitors and invite them to stroll through its beautifully landscaped paths. This garden has spectacular views of Lake Michigan and was designed to be a celebration of life and hope for the survivors and those afflicted with cancer. It is a popular location for weddings and other special events and attracts those interested in ice skating during the winter, to its rink, and children seeking out a place to let off steam, year round, in its well-equipped playground.

To the west, we spied one of the city’s most iconic landmarks…the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park. A piece of fascinating sculpture, affectionately known as “The Bean”, it allows views of the city from its many mirrored sides. The stainless steel piece of artwork was designed by British artist Sir Anish Kapoor and installed in 2004. It is one of the most famous symbols of the city and definitely one of the most photographed.

The Cloud Gate

Not far away, we spied the Crown Fountain through the tree line. Another of the city’s interesting sculptural pieces, it was designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa and consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at the end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images of Chicago citizens with water flowing through an outlet in the proximity of their mouths. It is a great place for cooling off in the hottest months of the year!

The Crown Fountain

Continuing our walk south, we encountered the Clarence F. Buckingham Fountain, one of the park’s art pieces that I was most excited to see. One of the world’s largest fountains, dedicated in 1927, it was inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, which I had seen on one of my visits to France. Sadly, it was not operating. Not sure if it was the time of the year or if it was shut off due to Covid, it was a huge disappointment. We were, however, able to see some of the smaller fountains that surround the Buckingham Fountain…Fisher Boy, Crane Girl, Turtle Boy and Dove Girl…one pair north and one pair south. These fountains were designed by Leonard Crunelle and were originally part of an exhibit at Humboldt Park. In 1964, they were installed in their current location.

Buckingham Fountain
Clockwise from top left, Fisher Boy, Crane Girl, Turtle Boy, Dove Girl

Heading west to Congress Plaza, we encountered the Equestrian Indians, two bronze equestrian sculptures which act as gatekeepers to the park. Known as The Bowman and The Spearman, they were created in Zagreb by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and installed in 1928.

The Bowman and The Spearman

Walking through the Formal Gardens to the southernmost end of the park, we finally ended up at the sculptural group that I most wanted to see, The Agora. Consisting of 106 headless figures, these bronze, steel and iron effigies, designed by Magdalena Abakanowicz, was installed in 2006. The figures are posed as if walking in multiple directions or standing still and seemingly invite visitors to pose with them (which I did, of course). In ancient Greece, the Agora was the central meeting place in its villages and cities…this final piece is the perfect addition to Grant Park. As the ancient Agora attracted people to meet, visit and learn, so does this newest addition to the park.

The Agora
The Agora

Grabbing rental bikes for our exit, we finally had the opportunity to experience the wind in our hair! As we rode past these amazing works of art again, seeing them in a much different light, we realized that although there are so many things to see in Chicago, these ones that people walk past every day, are not ones to be taken for granted!

Other Chicago locations: Navy Pier
Other art and architecture in Chicago

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Maggie Daley Park

The Cloud Gate

  • Address: 201 E. Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602
  • Hours: daily, 0600-2300
  • Admission: free

Crown Fountain

  • Address: 201 E. Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601
  • Hours: daily, 0600-2300
  • Admission: free

Clarence F. Buckingham Fountain

The Bowman and The Spearman

  • Address: S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605
  • Hours: 24 hours, daily
  • Admission: free

The Agora

The Amazing Water Tower

©2021 Snapping the Globe, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

One of my favorite television programs is The Amazing Race.

Obviously!

Anyone who knows me knows that my passion is seeing and photographing the world and this show epitomizes travel and highlights some of the most iconic landmarks in the world. Some of my best travel ideas have come from watching the show and of course, I would love to one day compete!

On seasons 6 (2004) and 29 (2107), the Chicago Water Tower was featured in the finales of the Amazing Race. It seemed quite familiar to me as I walked by its location in Jane M. Byrne Plaza (named after the former Chicago mayor), on the way to my hotel, but it took a little research to realize why it had sparked my curiosity.

The Chicago Water Tower, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1869 by architect William W. Boyington. It doesn’t appear to be the usual type of tower seen in most cities; designed to blend in with the nearby architecture and enclose the tall machinery of a powerful water pump which was intended to draw water from Lake Michigan.

When much of the city burned during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the water tower miraculously survived along with a few other structures in the area. In the years since the fire, the tower has become a symbol of old Chicago and the city’s recovery.

The second oldest water tower in the United States now operates as a Chicago Office of Tourism and as a small art gallery known as the City Gallery in the Historic Water Tower. While not acting as the finish line for television races or the inspiration for fast food restaurants (think White Castle), the gallery features the work of local photographers, artists and filmmakers and draws tourists to the Windy City for a look at a piece of the city’s historical architecture.

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The Chicago Water Tower

Chi-Town Chinatown

©2021 Snapping the Globe, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

My first visit to a Chinatown was in San Francisco as a new flight attendant. Although I had never been to China, in my mind this was pretty close to what I expected it to look like. Hours of my layovers were spent wandering the streets and shops, hoping one day to see the real thing when I would be senior enough to hold those trips.

Over the years, I have traveled the world and there have been multiple visits to Chinatowns throughout…New York, Washington, D.C., Milan, London, Havana, Manchester, Amsterdam…each unique in their own right, but all brimming with restaurants offering mouthwatering delicacies, shops selling everything from antiquities to dime-store trinkets and streets filled with Chinese architecture, signs and lanterns. I still love spending time in these neighborhoods and continue to seek them out whenever possible.

A friend’s retirement party brought me to Chicago one weekend this past spring. Though I had been through O’Hare airport many years ago, I had never been to the downtown area. Eager to see its highlights, I set out early. I had discovered that Chicago had a unique Chinatown and I headed in that direction with a stop at the Shedd Aquarium along the way. It was a cold and drizzly day and I huddled against the brisk wind blowing in from the lake, making my way through Grant Park, only to find an extensive line at the aquarium and a sign stating that reservations were required and no longer available.

John G. Shedd Aquarium
John G. Shedd Aquarium

Despite this disappointment, I pushed on and continued my walk along the harbor, passing Soldier Field and inspecting the bronze statues of Hall of Famers Walter Payton and team founder/former coach George Halas at the south entrance. It would have been interesting to take a tour of the Chicago Bears’ home field or take in a game, if it had been football season, but I really wanted to experience Chi-Town’s Chinatown.

Soldier Field
Statues of Chicago Bear’s Hall of Famers Walter Payton and George Halas

First encountering the crimson-hued entrance to Ping Tom Memorial Park with its beautiful Chinese-style pavilion, I then spied the Chinatown gateway at the intersection of S. Wentworth Avenue and Cermak Road. The colorful gate, a prominent display at most Chinatowns entrances, was constructed in 1975 and meant to act as a symbol of unity for the Chinese. As I walked beneath this massive structure, designed by Peter Fung, I was struck by the simplicity of its design and rich-toned hues that reflected its origins.

Ping Tom Memorial
Chinese-Style Pavilion in Ping Tom Park
Chicago’s Chinatown

Chicago’s Chinatown was first established in 1869 when immigrants began to arrive from San Francisco with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. With no work to be found after the railroad’s opportunities were exhausted, the Chinese fled to other areas within the United States which were more accessible than the discriminative west coast. By the late 1800s, a large portion of the city’s Chinese residents had settled in the area which is now Chinatown and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, more arrived in droves.

Butcher shops, restaurants, gambling houses, Christian mission houses, Chinese laundries and grocery stores were prevalent in the area and Chicagoans, welcomed the new arrivals and patronized their businesses. In fact, frequenting the chop suey restaurants became extremely popular and more restaurants continued to open.

As expected, I found Wentworth Avenue to be replete with authentic Chinese restaurants, shops, buildings topped with pagodas, lion statues, mosaics and intriguing architecture. Although it is one of Chicago’s smallest neighborhoods, it was filled with huge sights and sounds!

Because I was obligated to meet my party for a meal later, taking the opportunity to enjoy a fare of dim-sum or noodles wasn’t in the cards for me, however, I stopped in to The Seven Treasures Cantonese Restaurant for a fresh coconut drink. Even though it was cold out, it was refreshing and reminded me of the drinks I once purchased from street vendors in Cambodia!

Before heading back to the metro, I wanted to see two of Chicago’s Chinatown’s important works of art. In Chinatown Square, I examined the two-story shopping center decorated with twelve sculptures of the Chinese zodiac and the mural “Chinese in America” which describes the history of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. and the Chinese cultural beliefs. 100,000 individually cut pieces of hand-painted glass from China were used to create this spectacular mural. Across the road and on my way to the metro station, I encountered the prominent Nine Dragon Wall. Modeled after the wall in Beihai Park in Beijing, it is made up of glazed tile from China and replicates the large dragons and over 500 smaller dragons painted in red, gold and blue signifying the Chinese focus on good fortune. It is only one of three such replicas outside of China.

Chinatown Square
Nine Dragon Wall

Finally, time to head back to my hotel, I reluctantly boarded the train at the Cermak-Chinatown metro station. My time in Chi-Town’s Chinatown, was brief, yet an enlightening and entertaining experience. Much like my experiences in San Francisco many times over the years, I reveled in the art, architecture and cuisine. But as much as I enjoyed Chi-Town’s Chinatown and many others, I still found myself wishing that it could have been the real thing.

One day.

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Chinatown

Chinatown Square

Nine Dragon Wall

  • Address: 158 W. Cermak Road, Chicago, Illinois 60616
  • Hours: 24 hours, daily
  • Admission: free