Tag Archive
Post-Its and Puppets: Hyde Park Art Center’s “Notes to Nonself” exhibit culminates in a multimedia show
As denizens of the neighborhood nurse their thirsty vehicles at the BP station on East Hyde Park Boulevard, just east of the Metra tracks, they can already hear it. Perhaps they are distracted by the hiss of the frothing pump or are inside buying a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos; but if you pause... »
Domestic Disturbance: Grim themes pervade prints at the Smart Museum’s “The Darker Side of Light”
On one wall, a woman cradles her dead child in her arms. On another, bloody birds are tacked to a barn door. Turn around and you will find—if your eyes are sharp enough to see across the dimly lit gallery—soulless corpses hovering above a dark Parisian skyline, victims of a cholera epidemic. You’ve been... »
The Stages of Grief: Joan Didion’s somber “Year of Magical Thinking” plays at Court Theatre
“Can’t you just let things go?” the character Joan Didion exclaims in “The Year of Magical Thinking” at Court Theatre. Didion, played by Mary Beth Fisher, recalls the countless times her husband, John Gregory Dunne, said just that to her after a fight. “Can’t you just let things go? Do you always have to... »
Immersive Viewing: Michelle Menzies’s “Liquid and Mobile States” sucks you in
Sitting against the east and west walls of DOVA Temporary, the single-room exhibition space of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago, three video projectors send images onto three rectangular, acrylic sculptures arranged in zig-zag fashion through the center of the space. The show is titled “Liquid and Mobile States” and... »
The Big Easy
The Hyde Park restaurant formerly known as Orly’s opened its doors again a week ago, renamed the Big Easy. Despite a series of unsuccessful reinventions since its debut in 1981, owner David Shopiro feels confident that the Big Easy will be a crowd pleaser. He looks forward to Hyde Park residents gathering over Cajun/Creole... »
Selling Popcorn, Against the Odds: Gloria Henderson opens up shop in Hyde Park
As the Beltway Snipers terrorized the Washington, D.C. area, randomly targeting citizens in October 2002, Gloria Henderson insisted on taking the bus every morning to culinary school. Even as public officials warned against exposed travel in the early mornings and late at night, Henderson stood at an unsheltered bus stop, sneaking out of the... »
Sweets and Sensibility: A 52nd Street bakery brings a taste of the South to Hyde Park
The word “sensible” means both practical and perceptible by the senses. Sensibly Homemade, the new bakery on Blackstone and 52nd Street, fulfills these definitions to the fullest extent. Its owners’ devotion to culinary excellence and Southern tradition manages to envelope the senses in the delicious and the nostalgic. Perhaps the most extraordinary attempt to... »
When Opportunity Knocks: A vacant Hyde Park storefront hosts an art marketplace
Just a few months ago, the large, vacant 55th Street storefront that formerly housed MAC Property offices seemed to repel passersby. Shoulders would hunch, eyes would roll, and with a quickened pace, students and community members would move along without turning to look inside. But on November 27, everyone stopped and looked. Last Friday... »
