Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All » Art

The Coyote Returns to the Flat Iron Building

Ms. SP — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:32:05 +0000

The Coyote art show is coming back home this weekend. No, it’s not the original Around the Coyote. Those folks moved the art festival and found that they couldn’t sustain the thing without the built-in support of the artists in the Flat Iron Building.

So the artists themselves have worked to return the tradition back to the neighborhood.

There will be 150 artists in the blazing hot maze of the Flat Iron, plenty of musical performances, and cheese and wine galore. I’m looking forward to it. There just isn’t another cultural event like this.

$10 suggested donation for all three days.
1579 N Milwaukee Ave
September 10 to September 12

More Thunder the Dog in Art

Ms. SP — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:13:13 +0000

Look what my awesome Chicago artist boyfriend gave me for Valentine’s Day!

Here’s a photo of Thunder dog. You can see in the painting just how much more gray he has around the muzzle now. The poor guy is getting really curmudgeony for all his cuteness. He’s grumbling more and finds puppies annoying. I’m sure he’d tell the punks to get off his lawn if he knew the cliche.

Thunder has an arch-enemy in our building. The boyfriend did a holiday art commission of that dog and commented how much they are really built alike. We people have always known that, but somehow the two dogs believe they are worlds apart.

Alice Brozofsky’s New Chalk Pastels

Ms. SP — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:44:37 +0000

Alice Brozofsky is the February guest artist at Gallery 203. I’ve showcased her work before (Family Portrait and Exhile), but I these chalk pastels are something new entirely.

The above is called Barnyard and the one below is Untitled. They’re pretty great and were a very pleasant shock when I walked into the show.

Now You See It, Now You Don’t Art Show at the Flat Iron

Ms. SP — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:01:50 +0000

For this First Friday art show, the Flat Iron artists have done something really interesting. The Now You See It, Now You Don’t theme refers to the temporary murals that are all over the maze-like hallways of the building.

To see them, you get one chance and one chance only. From the time the doors open until 10:00 tonight, you can wander around and play Name That Artist. At around 10:00, all these art works are going to be painted right over.

Crazy isn’t it?

I took these pictures on the special Thursday preview night, and I have to say that these murals change the building a lot. I’ve been to shows at the Flat Iron Building for years, and today was the first time in a long time that I became disoriented and turned around in those hallways.

Follow this link to see some of the work in progress.

Stephenie Meyer is No Joss Whedon

Ms. SP — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:15:37 +0000

I was in Borders over the holiday shopping season. On their wall, they had a screen playing video clips of author soundbites.

Stephenie Meyer shows up to say how surprised she was at Twilight being picked up and getting published. Ok, so far so good, right? I’m still browsing and not looking at the screen.

She says that every author has to blurb their book in their pitches… okay…

And she said that she challenges anyone to write an eleven-word description of Twilight and not make it sound like a bad episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Schreeech! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute!

I snapped my head up just in time to see the camera pan out and reveal a gaggle of tweens sitting at Stephenie’s feet twttering away in agreement.

I started Twilight who knows how long ago and am now stuck on page 229 because the writing is god-awful. I could live with the characters. I can live with the plot. But the writing. The actual words on the actual pages. They just hurt me.

At least I’m now stuck on page 229. I was stuck after paragraph one for several months before that.

Now let’s count things off.

The worst episode of Buffy is still better than this stuff.
To imagine that she is even close to Joss Whedon is amazing to me.
Just how much does she owe to Buffy?
Couldn’t she pick Dark Shadows or something more meriting of her comparison?
If any of those girls started watching Buffy, they’ll see how much better it is. The series holds up, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, it does.
Yes, I know I’m overreacting.
I’m not really overreacting by that much.
I repeat my incredulity that the Harry Potter generation is embracing Twilight.
I optimistically got New Moon at the same time as Twilight. Seriously, does it start getting better soon? Perhaps at page 230?
Grr…Arg!

Art on Track: (Car 8) NFA Space

Ms. SP — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:54:16 +0000

Here it is. Post 8 is the last post in the Art on Track 2009 series.

NFA Space put together an installation that could be looked upon with either hope or dread. Quirky and fanciful life jackets sat at the ready in every seat and hung above the doors. The creators said that it was like a lifeline. Everyone has had such a bad time lately that the life jackets are a sign that there is life and survival in the future.

I, however, couldn’t help but feel panic that (oh, no) we’re going to need life jackets on the CTA too. There are dangers out there where you may not have previously considered there to be.

Other cars:

Art on Track: (Car 7) Colibri Studio & Gallery

Ms. SP — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:46:29 +0000

Post 7 of Art on Track 2009.

The Colibri Studio organized this train car to showcase their artists and to promote the 18th Street PIlsen Open Studios event. If you’re reading this, the tour has unfortunately already passed you by.

Other cars:

Art on Track: (Car 6) Hyde Park Art Center

Ms. SP — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:42:46 +0000

Post 6 of Art on Track 2009.

The Hyde Park Art Center had an interesting approach decking out their car. Visitors could take as many of these money bags as they wanted and explore the contents later. Inside, there were items ranging from messages and drawings to interesting fabric scraps. My guess is that they went for a Money Train/Great Train Robbery tie-in.

Other cars:

Art on Track: (Car 5) Aldo Castillo Fine Art Gallery

Ms. SP — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:21:01 +0000

Post 5 of Art on Track 2009.

I call the second car from the Aldo Castillo Fine Art Gallery the Segregation Train. A red netting separated the compartment into halves. One side said Us. The other side said Them. Simple yet effective.

Other cars:

Art on Track: (Car 4) School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Ms. SP — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:18:09 +0000

Post 4 of Art on Track 2009:

The theme from the students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago was Meet on the Meat Train.

The were fabric representations of various cuts of meat and meat products along with excerpts of posts from the Craigslist Missed Connections section.

Other cars: