Susann Craig’s collection at her Chicago loft designed by Jeanne Gang
ART
Hindman Presents The Susann Craig Collection
Hindman will present art from the estate of outsider art collector Susann Craig in a single-owner auction on March 9. “A champion of boundless creativity and a founder of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago, Craig’s legacy cannot be understated,” Hindman relays. “Roadside Attractions: The Susann Craig Collection” will showcase her personal collection of more than 300 paintings, mobiles, and statues that fill her Logan Square loft designed by Jeanne Gang. A portion of the proceeds of the auction will benefit Intuit. “Susann was a beloved force in the Chicago art world. Not only did she have a foundational role at Intuit, but she also cultivated incredible friendships and brought her creative spirit to all aspects of her life,“ says Zack Wirsum, Hindman director and senior specialist of post-war and contemporary art. “It is Hindman’s great pleasure to bring Susann’s passionately curated collection to market, and to share with the world her visionary life’s work.” More here.
Comfort Station Announces 2023 Artists
Logan Square’s Comfort Station has announced its 2023 exhibition program, a monthly series that showcases Chicago-based artists, selected through an annual open call for exhibition proposals. The artists include Armando Román; Janhavi Khemka; Levi Yutuc; Lydia Cheshewalla and Jessica Price; Kayla Anderson and Dao Nguyen; Isaac Couch; Jess Bass and Gabriel Chalfin-Piney; Akira, Keshia Talking Waters De Freece and Bee Rodriguez; Leticia Pardo and Casey Carsel. More here.
Valparaiso Museum’s First Director Wants To Remove His Name From Building Over Sale Of Pieces, Including Georgia O’Keeffe’s
Former museum director Dick Brauer is threatening to remove his name from the Valparaiso University museum “after finding out that the university’s board of directors voted first in October and then again at a meeting last month to sell Georgia O’Keeffe’s ‘Rust Red Hills’ along with two other pieces of art, collectively worth millions of dollars, to fund improvements at dorms for first-year students,” reports the Trib. It was the second painting Brauer recommended the university purchase for its budding art collection, in 1962.
DESIGN
City Launches Safety App That Can Track While You’re On A Walk
The Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications has launched a multipurpose app, reports NBC 5. The most notable feature of the app “is the ‘CHI Safe Walk’ feature, allowing app users the option to share their live location with a trusted contact when traveling alone in Chicago. With the feature, the user can allow a trusted contact to virtually walk with them to their destination. If an emergency occurs, the user can click a panic button that would advise the trusted contact of the user’s location, with the user also being prompted to dial 911.”
Landmarks Illinois Announces Funding To Preservation Projects
Landmarks Illinois has awarded $25,500 in grant funding to preservation projects in Chicago, Effingham, El Paso, Gibson City, Macomb and Middletown. The matching grants were awarded through Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund and Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois grant programs. In Chicago, the First Baptist Congregational Church will receive $5,000 to make roof repairs on the West Loop church constructed in 1869-1871.
The 2023 Exhibit Columbus Design Presentations will be held in Columbus, Indiana, all day at The Commons on Saturday, February 25, and feature thirteen presentations of design concepts that will become installations in a free, public exhibition, Public by Design. Program here. Reservations here.
Office Comeback Steady But Slow
“Office staffs in Chicago and other major cities are returning to their physical job sites, even if the trend is so sporadic that it frustrates building managers and businesses eager for more downtown action,” reports the Sun-Times. “Mondays and Fridays are regarded by everyone from C-suite leaders to Uber drivers as the slowest days. ‘I don’t believe people are coming to work on Fridays at all anymore,’ said Robert Nevera, general manager of Petterino’s restaurant.”
DINING & DRINKING
Robert Et Fils Closes
“Robert Et Fils, an intimate pandemic-born French restaurant and first solo endeavor from chef Rob Shaner, is permanently closed after two-and-a-half years,” reports Eater Chicago “The restaurant closure is about two things,” Shaner wrote in an email. “One is that it’s becoming exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to run a restaurant like mine. That was the main factor. That’s what led to the closure; the math didn’t work no matter how I adjusted it… For me personally, though, I now recognize that I need to be outside of the kitchen fighting ‘the good fight.’ I’m not sure what that will look like now, but I’m getting some ideas together.” (Newcity’s March 2022 profile on Robert et Fils and “What It’s Like to Open, and Thrive, During a Pandemic” is here.)
Every Day Is Chicago Pizza Day
Block Club tallies Chicago’s ten oldest pizza places. And historian Tim Samuelson says the first deep-dish pizza definitively was served in 1943 by an artist-turned-pizza connoisseur who took over an Ohio Street bar that’s now Pizzeria Uno.
Windy City Smokeout Returns In July
The Windy City Smokeout Country Music and BBQ Festival will return for a tenth season July 13-16. Music headliners include Zach Bryan, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan and Zac Brown Band. More here. Tickets here.
People Magazine Notes Wiener’s Circle’s Work With Asylum Seekers
Additional Chicago food concerns have joined the Tuesday night meals provided to asylum seekers by Wiener’s Circle, writes People. “The third week, two avid barbequers and their families made meals. Most recently the women of career-development group The Latinista were serving job advice along with the Central and South American dishes they cooked.”
FILM & TELEVISION
True/False Sets Lineup
One of the world’s leading showcases of nonfiction filmmaking, the True/False Film Fest in Columbia, Missouri, has announced the line-up for its twentieth edition, March 2-5. Included: thirty-three new feature films and twenty-five new short films.
LIT
Joseph Epstein: “Last Living Soda Jerk On The Planet”?
“I substituted for a classmate for a month or so one summer as a busboy at Pekin House, the most popular of the Chinese restaurants on Devon. We washed down the tables with undrunk tea turned tepid. At the end of our four-hour shift, we could eat all the Chinese food we wanted, except for shrimp dishes. Soda jerk, caddy, bagger, busboy: As you can see, I was building up an impressive résumé,” writes eighty-six-year-old Joseph Epstein at Commentary in a 3,700-word swatch of memoir, “West Rogers Park.” “I have neglected to mention the small movie theater on Devon called the Ciné, neglected perhaps because the movie theater my friends and I most frequented was the Nortown, a grandiose auditorium on Western with light bulbs flickering in its ceiling to suggest stars. As a boy, my friends and I went to the Nortown every Saturday afternoon without inquiring what was playing. A Saturday session at the Nortown, with two full feature films, a cartoon, a newsreel, and coming attractions, lasted roughly four hours. In the winter months, one went into the theater in the bright sunlight of 1pm and emerged in the dark of 5pm. Many of the movies had World War II settings, many were musicals or romantic comedies ending with a lengthy kiss. I don’t remember ever leaving the Nortown feeling disappointed.”
MEDIA
High Times Could End Up In Hands Of Chicago Lawyer
The nearly fifty-year-old Bible of weed can’t pay its way: “If High Times can’t pull together the money it owes lenders” after a $28 million default, “the whole company could end up in the hands of one man—Stephen Kunkle, a partner at VentureSpring LLC in Chicago,” writes Green Market Report. Kunkle is expected to be appointed as receiver for at least twenty-five High Times properties.
STAGE
Rivendell Names New Ensemble Members
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble welcomes new ensemble members Glenn Dale-Obrero, Rashada Dawan, Andi Muriel, Sarah Slight, Evan Sposato, Meg Thalken, Georgette Verdin and Tanya Ward. More on Rivendell here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Postal Carriers “Traumatized” By Armed Robberies
“Mail carriers in the Chicago area are traumatized, fearing for their lives, following a string of armed robberies and thefts targeting postal workers in recent months,” the head of the Chicago branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers tells the Tribune. The U. S. Postal Inspection Service is offering rewards of up to $50,000 for tips toward arrests and convictions.
Preliminary Approval For Gambling At Medinah Temple
Illinois regulators have given initial approvals needed for a temporary casino to open in Medinah Temple, reports the Trib.
Iowa May Loosen Child Labor Restrictions
“A new bill introduced in the Iowa Legislature would rewrite Iowa’s child labor law to allow teens to work in previously prohibited jobs so long as they are part of an approved training program,” reports the Des Moines Register. The bill “makes a few modifications, such as removing a prohibition against fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds working in freezers and meat coolers… The bill exempts businesses from civil liability if a student is sickened, injured or killed due to the company’s negligence. A business also would be free of civil liability if a student is hurt because of the teen’s negligence on the job—or is injured traveling to or from work.”
Rockford Speedway Closing, Searching For New Use
“The Rockford Speedway, which has entertained auto racing enthusiasts for decades, will embark on its seventy-sixth and final season in 2023,” reports the Rockford Register Star. “The nearly fifty-acre site… has been transferred to HJS Development for future commercial uses.” Says Tom Deery, one of eight of Jody and Hugh Deery’s children, “It’s really not about the business of racing. It really has to do with what has happened around us. The economic aspect of having this piece of land here in a commercial zone. Its sustainability was becoming more and more challenging.”
