we discovered an ice sculpture exhibition in downtown that we decided to check out. here are a few examples… “spirit horse”,

“einstein”,

and “the obamanable snowman”, which was sculpted by high school students.

today we saw an art installation at millenium park featuring Paintings Below Zero, by Gordon Halloran, a canadian artist. the installation is a 95×12 feet wall of coloured ice situated right in the middle of downtown chicago.

happy valentine’s day!

despite the cold and ice, we made our way to the renegade craft fair on the northside of chicago. it’s always fun browsing through these fairs because you never know what you might find. as expected there were many vendors selling jewelery, bags and paper goods. one booth specialized in recycling old hard cover books (for example a math text book, dr. seuss, nancy drew etc) and using the covers for “new” coiled notebooks. i picked up a couple buttons made of letterpressed cotton paper.

pretty shadows and fall colours on a stroll through hyde park.

i found this website which i absolutely LOVE and can’t stop browsing (during which i found these buttons made by a canadian crafter called buttonempire). the website is basically ebay for the crafty, a place to buy and sell anything and everything that is handmade. i would like one of everything please…www.etsy.com

i attended an art exhibition by my friends janet and gwenessa at the richmond art gallery. the exhibit will be showing from september 21 to november 4.

“Their work examines the play of light as it flows through windows and into living spaces, providing minimal information as to what may be outside the pane of glass.”

while joe was busy studying today, i went for a walk by the lake.

doesn’t that look strange? a very borg-like floaty thing (for all you fellow trekkies). i couldn’t stop staring at it…i was having fun playing with the optical illusion.

the art institute is featuring a special exhibit of jeff wall, a vancouver-based artist, who is especially known for his photography mounted in aluminum light boxes. it was really interesting to see his artwork in person. my favorites were After “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue and A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai)…the lightbox made me feel like i was looking outside. it was also fun trying to identify vancouver landmarks.

i went to paper source, my favorite paper store in chicago. i’m always like a little kid in a candy store. i couldn’t believe the wedding gown was made of paper! and then i found a piece of paper with a chocolate brocade print which was very inspiring.