Courtesy Crystal Tursich and Patrick W./Staff
Over President’s Day weekend, I joined 40 of my fellow art students on a trip to visit Chicago’s plentiful art exhibitions. It was an extremely fun time, and I saw a lot of famous art and architecture pieces.
We departed for Chicago on Friday, February 14. It was a six-hour bus ride which got us there around 9 p.m. The festivities began early the next morning when we headed to the Robie House, a famous structure designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1909. The house has an emphasis on nature, with lots of windows and horizontal lines with cantilevered roofs. It was a great way to kick off the trip. Once the tour had concluded we walked to the Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture where we viewed artifacts dating all the way back to Mesopotamia. We then quickly stopped by an art gallery at the nearby University of Chicago before eating at the university’s dining hall.
From there we drove to the Driehaus Museum, which houses various art exhibits in the restored Nickerson mansion. It was fascinating to see this mansion preserved in time. The final museum of the day was the Museum of Contemporary Art. We saw of out of the box pieces such as MacBook games, a paintball setup and a video dedicated to Paul McCarthy’s best works. We ate at the renowned Gino’s East pizzeria before heading to a play to wrap up the night.
The next day began by going to see famous art installations like The Bean at Millennium Park. We had a quick turnaround to walk to the docks for a boat tour of the city’s architectural history before our three hour visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, which features famous pieces from all around the world such as works from Monet, Picasso, and Van Gogh. Afterwards, we went to Petterino’s for a pasta dinner.
The final activity of the trip was an art workshop at Marwen Studio, an art academy for kids from all backgrounds. There, we split into groups with one group drawing portraits of each other and one group doing shrinky dinks and weaving. I was in the drawing group, and drew some glorious pieces of my friends on the trip.
We departed for home early the next morning. I had a great time and wish it could be an every year occurrence.
