Seeing as how I’m a good 50 percent Irish and St. Patty’s is mere days away, this week seemed like the perfect time to scout out the newly opened Cagney’s, an Irish-themed sports bar in west Lincoln Park. Unfortunately, my Irish half was not impressed—and neither was the other half. Launched by a trio of New Yorkers and a pair of Chicagoans in the old Jack Sullivan’s/Varsity Club/Barleycorn space, Cagney’s has something of an identity crisis going on…
Fashion Week involves much back and forth across the city, and when shows aren’t held at the Louvre or Tuileries (blessedly uncomplicated central locations), it means more planning. But sometimes the distant venues are so gorgeous you forget the extra time it took to get there…
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Interior designer Laura Soskin, whose home was featured in our magazine in Winter, 2006, loves a good vessel. She also loves collaborating with her many artist and designer pals. So she came up with a concept—an exhibit revolving around a huge 300-year-old Mediterranean olive storage-jar that for a long time stood in her dining room (see above). She asked 16 talented cohorts—her husband/artist Dave Soskin, sculptor Lucy Slivinski, lamp-maker extraordinaire Ted Harris, local shop owners Michael Del Piero of Good Design and Larry Vodak of Scout, to name a few—to create something, anything, inspired by this vessel. “The results are so diverse, it’s amazing,” says Soskin. The show, called “The Vessel Magnifique,” opens this Friday, March 13 (reception is 7-11 p.m.) and goes through April 12 at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville. Check out the cool promo video one of the participants, artist Chuck Meyers, created for the show here. Of course, the original muse—the vessel magnifique of which we speak—will be present, in addition to a couple others that Soskin has picked up.
—Gina Bazer
List Price: $999,000
The Property: An airy contemporary design by the architect James Nagle gives this 11-room Highland Park house a light and serene attitude. Daylight pours in from all the glass doors and windows, illuminating the open spaces and minimal detailing. From the glassy entryway that feels more like a brief passage between the front and back yards, to the oversized…
A double standard for the First Lady?
An Instant Classic
Sunda (110 W. Illinois St.; 312-644-0500) is exhausting. Where to look first? The gleaming bar, three deep with gorgeous people sipping stunning martinis like a wasabi H2O with a crushed wasabi pea rim? The long sushi bar under bamboo hangings meant to suggest floating fish? The eye candy packed at the communal table? No matter where you look, it’s good. This contemporary Asian place has been open about a minute and a half, and service is already…
No one can say for sure why murders and violent crimes are on the rise in Chicago. But some criminologists are questioning why the new police superintendent, Jody Weis, is moving away from proven community policing strategies.
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The Museum of Science and Industry tapped Sawbridge Studios to provide the bed and end table for the master bedroom in the Smart Home: Green + Wired ’09 exhibit, which opens March 19. Artists/designers Margaret Taylor and Simone Wilson of Chamblee, Georgia, created the bed and table, part of a line carried exclusively by Sawbridge in the Chicago area. Stay tuned for more on the Smart Home.
–JAN PARR
Sean Susanin is having a big sale this Saturday at his cavernous Clinton Street auction house, with close to 700 items on the block, including this asymmetric Harry Bertoia chaise manufactured by Knoll, estimated to sell for $1,000 to $1,500. The eclectic sale also includes a nice selection of rugs, paintings, jewelry, silver, rare books, sports memorabilia—everything but kitchen sinks, really (unless I missed that aisle). Since opening in 1994, Sean has been into making the auction process fun, comfortable, and a piece of cake, especially by developing sophisticated, searchable online viewing and bidding systems. Every Friday morning is Discovery Day, by the way, where potential sellers can bring in up to three items or photos for free appraisal, consignment, and maybe even an outright purchase.
Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe*
The first retrospective of the visionary’s work in decades, this exhibition reintroduces the man who invented the geodesic dome and coined the term “Spaceship Earth.” While calling…
