To recap, sheddhead and I went to Chicago last Friday. While we were there, "birds" became a theme of the day. Let's start at the Daley Plaza (BTW, when you're in Chicago, you put a "the" in front of the place or the thing you're talking about, like this: "You jamokes gonna go to the Wal*Mart's ta pick up the fishin' bait or you want I should knock the tree a ya's upside the head?").
Back to birds, both real and imagined. In the Daley Plaza, where the working-class people gather for festivals, rallies, and protests, sits the Picasso. While not specifically identified as a bird, it always looked like a vulture to me. That is, until somebody told me the secret. Perhaps I'll show you sometime (hint: it's a woman).
Across the street from the Daley Plaza is another statue by Joan Miro called "The Sun, the Moon, and One Star". Which looks like a bird to me as well.
But I found lots more birds inside the Thompson Center.
Sheddhead needed to go to her credit union in the Thompson Center. While she was doing that, I wandered around a bit, and found the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery. Their newest exhibit is While All the Tribes of Birds Sang which is a great exhibit, and will still be on display during Yearly Kos!
As you can see, there are birds from real-life that are on display from the ISM's ornithology collection, along with over 30 prints from American naturalist John James Audubon.
Audubon's life work was to paint and catalog the birds of America with the intent of eventually publishing his work. At the age of 59, he had created an astounding 435 plates, and consequently printed his masterpiece, The Birds of America.
Beyond the taxidermy and Audubon displays, other artists were represented in the exhibit as well. And as much as the Audubon work was detailed and exacting, the other artists were just as much whimsical and dreamlike.
This is oil on canvas by Katherine Ace and it's called "Minstrel". Sheddhead shot this one.
It's really an interesting and imaginative exhibit. I really could have stayed in there longer. It got my creative juices flowing. And now having written two "Chicago Treasures" diaries in a row, I'm going to turn it back over to sheddhead and get back to my drawing board!
And if you're interested in owning your own Audubon, you can visit the Joel Oppenheimer Gallery at the base of the Wrigley Building.