The Art of the Elevator

One of the carvings in an elevator in the Palmolive Building (formerly known as the Playboy Building) 

Inspired by Champagne

The design of the Carbide and Carbon Building on a Spring-like Winter Day was allegedly inspired by a Champagne bottle.  The green terra cotta tower representing the bottle with a gold leaf top representing the shiny foil cover on the cork.

On the Avenue

Some Spring temperatures and sunshine has the birds getting active and chirpy. While walking down Michigan Avenue, I heard a House Sparrow singing quite loudly. Looking up, I found him sitting in his A-line home. You can see him a little better in the second photo.

All Heart

(Click to enlarge the photo)

Another really fun and informational public art display appeared on Michigan Avenue recently. Last Summer it was old refrigerators with energy saving messages. Now it is Hearts with heart healthy tips that decorate both sides of Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River to Chicago Avenue.

Officially titled Hearts-A-Bluhm, the hearts, sponsored by various civic and corporate groups,were created by Columbia College students and staff. Northwestern Hospital's Bluhm Cardiovascular Center came up with the idea to promote public awareness of heart issues.

The one little problem is that most of the heart healthy tips are on the base of the statues and currently covered with snow leftover from the Blizzard of 2011. That problem should be resolved by the end of this week, when temperatures are forecast to hit 50 degrees. Then the Blizzard of 2011 will melt into the Flood of 2011. (Forget the shovel, where is my rowboat?)

Done for the Day

The shovelers probably just decided to call it a day and get somewhere warm. Since the sidewalk was cleared, I'd say it was a well-earned rest.

Flattened

Be careful out there. These poor guys got flattened while they were trying to warn others about the falling ice and snow.

Sports

You can't avoid sports in Chicago now either. The Bears are going up against their long-time rivals The Green Bay Packers this Sunday at home (don't worry, the weather forecast says it will warm up to 19 degrees by then).

How do you show support for your home team? You light up your building in the team colors! Which is so much more pleasant to look at than the whole face painting thing ;)

Blue Light Road

Pioneer Court on Michigan Avenue's blue sidewalk lights

Bridge Wreath

The bell isn't part of the wreath on the DuSable Bridge (which is the recently renamed Michigan Avenue Bridge) but it seems to fit together well.

Quiet Space

I like the little nature spots that are scattered throughout the city. This is the little park next to the Art Institute.

Lego Avenue

You just never know what you are going to find on Michigan Avenue.

Over the summer, it was refrigerators (here and there and over here and over there). Now, it is Lego statues. I think there are six or seven sprinkled along Michigan Avenue between Grand Avenue and Chicago Avenue. These are to promote a Lego Show/Kid's Fest that will be at McCormick Place.

I like the little diver that is "stuck" behind the shark's goggles - it's shown in the lower right photo in the collage.

One More Refrigerator

This 1970s Kenmore Refrigerator, also part of the Fine Art Fridge series on Michigan Avenue, has been artsy-ed up by Chicago artist Kathryn Trumbull Fimreite. This one is called Green Lifestyles. In keeping with the name, it is covered with little pictures of "green" things people can do -- like the ones shown in the collage: riding public transportation, eating local, and using re-usable grocery bags.

Cold Feet

Is it a planter?

No.

Is Nature just taking over a lost item?

No.

It's another Fine Art Fridge on Michigan Avenue. This one is called "Running Down, Out to Pasture" by Mike Helbing. Before it was art, it was a 1952-ish General Electric Refrigerator.

Voodoo Retro Rod

I almost missed this Fine Art Fridge. This one is called Recycled Voodoo Retro Road by VooDoo Larry Grobe, a custom hotrod car designer and detailer.

It used to be a refrigerator (specifically a 1953 Philco Advanced Design) but now it is a work of art. And, according to the sign, whoever used to have it is presumably saving about $150 a year (the estimated cost of running an inefficient old back-up refrigerator) and got $25 rebate from ComEd's appliance recycling program.

Refrigerator Madness

Another make-art-out-of-some-odd-object display has taken over Michigan Avenue.

The new one is interesting, although it may not generate the tourist interest like the cows or the globes or even the furniture. (Yes, we Chicagoans like to put old stuff out in the street in the summer, as well as in the winter).

It's refrigerators. Specifically, old and inefficient ones. Commonwealth Edison is sponsoring the Fine Art Fridges display to draw attention to how much excess energy old refrigerators use. These old refrigerators are usually found in basements and garages - having been replaced by newer models in the homes. But, since the old ones still work, people tend to keep them around for use as a freezer or to keep water and soda cold. According to the accompanying sign, using that back-up old refrigerator can cost a typical household up to an additional $150 a year. ComEd, however, will take your old refrigerator away, recycle it (another reason why people hesitate to discard the old refrigerator: How do you deal with safely getting rid of that coolant stuff), and give you $25.

Or, you could decorate it and haul it down to Michigan Avenue. If you do it now, no one may notice. (I'm kidding!)

This one is called ColdSpot: A Gulf Story.

It is by artist Nicole Beck.

She created a oceanside scene on a 1956 ColdSpot Super-Mart Refrigerator

A scene on one side of the FineArt Fridge

A message on the other side of the FineArt Fridge

The front of the ColdSpot Fine Art Fridge

Historical Entrances

This is the entrance to the London Guarantee Building which is now called the Crain Communications Building. Since it was built on part of the site of Fort Dearborn (about 64 years afterwards), its entranceway has a bronze relief of the fort.

Rocky River Road

They've created a little Chicago River through one of the sidewalk gardens on Michigan Avenue. Along the rocky blue river are planters that look like Chicago skyscrapers.

The Smurfit-Stone Building Planter

The John Hancock Building Planter

Bridgehouse View

Cool view out of one of the round windows in the Southwest Tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge (where the Bridgehouse Museum is located).

Looking Good for 90!

The Michigan Avenue Bridge is 90 years old today. Of course there was a celebration: cake and free admission to the Bridgehouse Museum (that I didn't know was there despite passing it many times).

These are the four bridge towers of the "old girl".

Clockwise from top left

Defense, Pioneers, Regeneration, Discoverers.

Still Too Much Blue

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. This year, as in years before, the Fourth Presbyterian Church has tied blue ribbons on the trees by their North Michigan Avenue location to bring this issue to everyone's attention. In 2009, there were 29,688 confirmed cases of child abuse in Illinois.

As I wrote last year, that's way too many blue ribbons.