ArtsAndAbout.com

There’s a new museum in town. Yet I’m not sure how many Chicagoans know the good news. The DePaul Art Museum opened last September in a new, three-story structure adjoining the Fullerton CTA stop.

The museum is only new in… Read more

It has been 10 years since The New Art Examiner published its final issue. The monthly magazine, which called itself “Chicago’s Independent Voice of the Visual Arts,” enjoyed a rough but highly-respected run from 1973 to 2002. It was born… Read more

Savvy theatergoers know Next Theatre in Evanston offers provocative and artistically adventurous work without fail. Next, which celebrated its 30^th anniversary last season, is a company that, along with Steppenwolf, Wisdom Bridge and a host of small, storefront troupes,… Read more

The Chicago Jazz Ensemble has had only 3 music directors in its 47-year history.  Bill Russo, an esteemed jazz composer/arranger, who played in Stan Kenton’s orchestra in the 1950s, was the first director.

Russo founded the CJE in 1965 which,… Read more

Editor’s Note: The blogs posted this month feature lesser-known personal discoveries that can provide enjoyable holiday outings.

One evening in late October, I entered Studio 207 in the Fine Arts Building and discovered a whole new world. For several long… Read more

Editor’s Note: The blogs posted this month will feature lesser-known personal discoveries that can provide enjoyable holiday outings.

If you passed the imposing three-story brownstone at 40 East Erie in recent years, you would have found the building dark and… Read more

While riding the Brown line last month, I had a most delightful surprise. “Delightful surprise” are two words that are rarely associated with the CTA. As the train left Chicago Avenue heading south, my eyes caught a giant image of… Read more

With the 47^th edition of the Chicago Film Festival just ended, a new biography of legendary film critic, Pauline Kael, now in stores and the wave of holiday blockbusters about to break, it’s a good moment to write about movies.… Read more

The years from 1984-1990 were especially fertile for big cultural ideas in Chicago. I can’t pinpoint what was in the air at the time. But it gave rise to three festivals that have gone on to become vital, civic-boosting traditions.… Read more

The period following the Second World War was the heyday for a group of artists known as Abstract Expressionists.  They were a group of artists, different in style and personality, who came together in New York’s Greenwich… Read more