Reflections on the House of Blues

The field trip to the House of Blues was interesting. Unlike the Art Institute of Chicago, the House of Blues is a two-story music hall with unique Indian style design, and a large collection of folk art.  On Wednesday, our trip to the House of Blues was all about folk art.  What is folk art?  As the guide, Anna, explained: “folk art is mostly created by self-taught artists who don’t have much money but would like to create beautiful and interesting things.”  The folk art in the House of Blues is very informative, and I liked most of the art there.

I especially like the ones made of mud.

 

I also like the ones made of recycled items.

   

Chicago Architectural Boat Tour

Wednesday's architectural boat tour was really fun. 
Although this was my third time on the boat tour, I still enjoyed every minute.

I really like Chicago's architecture.  Some of it is interesting and remarkable.  I like the classical designs such as the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, 35 E. Wacker Dr. and the Chicago Lyric Opera House.



















I also like the relatively modern architecture like the former "Sears," now "Willis" Tower, Trump Tower, 333 Wacker Dr., and a lot of other office and residential buildings. 
It was a great trip! 

Maya Lin photo stories

The Three Pagodas

I went to this landmark called “Three Pagodas” on my trip to Dali, in China’s Yunnan Province, five years ago.  The Three Pagodas was one of my favorite sites from that trip.  I was impressed by the pagodas’ unique look although they were designed and built a thousand years ago, back in the Song dynasty.  The main pagoda has 16 stories and the smaller pagodas on the sides each have 10 stories.  If you look at them closely, you can see that the smaller pagodas do not stand completely straight.  They’ve both become a little slanted after so many years of harsh weather and natural disasters.  However, experts have confirmed that they are still very strong and stable.

Chicago Cultural Center

I really enjoyed the time in the Cultural Center on Wednesday.  Although I’ve been there several times, every time has been a great experience.  I like the design of the ceiling in the Cultural Center, and I remember I always enjoyed walking around there.  Wednesday’s Howard Finster's exhibit was fun.  I liked observing his artwork without thinking too much about the religious background.  It was a great art appreciation trip!   

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat

This painting is called Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, a French post-impressionist painter.  I really liked this painting the first time I saw it in the Art Institute of Chicago last year.   It was also the first time that I learned this painting style, known as “pointillism,” was invented by Georges Seurat.  All the figures and landscape in his painting were made using little dots of color, small enough for the eye to blend with surrounding dots.  It looks fantastic.  What I really like is that in the painting, all the colors are so bright and soft.  It also makes me think that our lives are made up of little dots of color - each piece represents different things and finally they all come together.  As I remember, the original size of this painting hanging in the Art Institute is about 2 meters long and 3 meters in width.  Above is a copy of the painting, I hope you like it.