A visit to Chicago rarely disappoints, with so much going on year-round.
Cleome – Millennium Park Pritzker Pavilion
While the neighborhoods teem with great restaurant choices and cultural activities, the downtown area is an open-air museum, landscaped to look stunning at any time. I find it especially enticing Spring through Fall, when the gardens are incredibly lush.
I’ve featured the city’s green highlights, art and landscape architecture here.
BP Bridge Gehry Design © Alice Joyce
I haven’t previously featured Millennium Park’s BP Bridge. Designed along with the park’s Pritzker Pavilion by architect Frank Gehry, the bridge represents a fabulous feat of engineering in a lyrically engaging form. I expect the bridge will leave its contemporary mark on Chicago, standing up handsomely over time.
The Modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago encompasses a small-space gem in the Prtizker Garden. The design’s refined simplicity is refreshing.
AIC Pritzker Garden E. Kelly’s White Curve © Alice Joyce
Artist Ellsworth Kelly’s site-specific art work: White Curve
AIC Pritzker Garden ‘White Curve’ © Alice Joyce
Chicago AIC Pritzker Garden © Alice Joyce
The artist Pae White created a colorful, temporary installation: Restless Rainbow … It was being taken down the day I visited. I had planned to walk along the Nichols Bridgeway from the Lurie Garden to the upper terrace of the AIC’s Modern Wing designed by Renzo Piano. Although the terrace was closed off, I had still had a great view of the artwork from the bridgeway expanse.
Barcelona artist, Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain has ever-changing displays that captivate and delight.
Chicago Crown Fountain – Jaume Plensa
The Lurie Garden plantings created by Piet Oudolf complement Kathryn Gustafson’s cool and orderly landscape design. A happy habitat for wildlife, the garden continues to matures as it increases in beauty.
Solidago ‘Fireworks’ © Alice Joyce
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