58,000 visitors to Paintings Below Zero

Caitlin--I saw the Painting Below Zero installation yesterday -- IT IS INCREDIBLE !!!!!!!!!!!! I stood there for a while, even though it was totally freezing outside. I LOVED IT! I'm definitely going back again and again during this month. It was inspiring and made me feel relaxed--it's GREAT! I'm so glad I met you guys--I'm a fan! ~Margaret

The weather is fantastic again, have I stopped noticing the details? Now that I’m a ‘local’? Tonight is a lunar eclipse.


Everytime someone else takes a photograph of the exhibit, I appreciate the diversity we share; how we learn from one another, build our intelligence and knowledge on each other's experience. The above two are Julia Chester photos. See what I mean? I never saw what she saw, until she snapped the photo. Then, it becomes something I recognize. Her artwork resonates with my experience.


And the paintings change, just like the weather.



We had rain on Sunday. Here’s Gord in the truck, sorting through paintings he’s made, selecting new ones to install on the wall.



Monday, Aldo Castillo hosted lunch, where we discussed art, theatre, possibilities. Lorna Marsh, an artist from Capetown, South Africa shared her confidence as an artist who has torn it up and put it back on canvas all her life.


Kevin Richards, President of the Chamber of Commerce in Streeterville, and his intern, Selina, represented the marketing aspect, the context of presenting art, and theatre. Pat Turnbull, President of Kayhan International had a seasoned comment or two. Aldo brought us all together. I was there, taking the photographs.



Then, randomly, we met a woman and her daughter who had come to Chicago, expressly to see Paintings Below Zero at Millennium Park -- from Boulder Colorado. Here they are: Asia Sageman and Bert Steinmetz.


The crew worked all day, replacing ice shards,


so now you can see the morphed ice alongside the pristine pieces.


Then, Monday night we supped at Kerri’s. A warm, homey evening with kids underfoot, a basement ‘pub’ with bartender,









and dinnertime conversation about the meaning of art and politics in our lives. Gord sat next to Nora, who teaches Buddhism in Art at the Art Institute, of course the word 'ephemeral' came up a few times; Kerri talked politics (Obama/Hilary, race, sex),


Mike, an architect, wanted to believe that there is a standard to art which sets it apart; Dan, a mathemetician: about learning how math relates to our lives; Peggy and Olivier more or less observed all with a smile, while the kids tromped through from time to time. I was there too, taking the photographs.



We decided that I would read for our friends in Chicago, and we're going to: at Aldo's Gallery on Tuesday.