The HOPE Benefit

The HOPE Benefit, May 12, 2016

This year, I will participate in one of my favorite fund raisers, the HOPE Benefit. This special event will be held on Thursday, May 12, 2016, at the Floating World Gallery in Chicago beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The focus for HOPE continues to be the Women’s HIV Program at the Infectious Disease Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and is one of the leading treatment centers for HIV-positive women in the nation. The remarkable success of this program has infused a sense of optimism and life into all who fight HIV and AIDS.

Chicago Theater Etchings

Celebrate Chicago and enjoy some etchings of some landmark theaters:


The Waterworks

The Waterworks on Michigan Avenue and the Water Tower were built in 1869. Both survived the Great Chicago Fire (1871) and are on the National Registry of Historic Places. Looking's Theater began operations in Chicago in 1988 and moved to the Waterworks facility in June 2003. It was awarded the 2011 Tony Award for Regional Theater.

The Chicago Waterworks and Lookingglass Theater

Aquatint etching with hand-coloring

Frames to 9x12

Renaissance at the Green Mill

The Green Mill Jazz Lounge has been in Uptown since the early 1900s. Gangsters were frequent patrons in the 1920s. The Green Mill was purchased and rehabilitated in 1986 by current owner Dave Jemilo. Currently the best jazz musicians and, recently, Slam Poetry events are performed regularly at the Green Mill Jazz Lounge.

Uptown Chicago: The Green Mill Jazz Club
"A History Lesson at Lawrence and Broadway"
Aquatint etching
Frames to 11x14

Music and Dance at Millennium Park

Irving Harris was a Chicago businessman and philanthropist. He was co-founder of the Toni Home Permanent Company.

Joan and Irving Harris Theater for Music and Dance in
Millennium Park
Aquatint etching with hand-coloring
Frames to 9x12

The Chicago Theater

The Chicago Theater was built in 1921 by the Balban & Katz Entertainment Company and was the first of many such theaters in Chicago and around the country. The theaters featured entertainment on stage and screen and continues as a major force today in the Theater District of Chicago.

The Chicago Theater on State Street
Aquatint etching with hand-coloring
Frames to 9x12

Pitchers and Catchers Report

The 2016 Cactus League has begun with the notorious phrase known to baseball fans:

......"pitchers and catchers report."

The turnstiles at US Cellular Field and Wrigley Field have not begun to spin in Chicago but they are turning in Arizona and Spring training is the ritual known to baseball fans of all ages.....it begins with a call to action for pitchers and catchers.

2016 holds great hopes for Chicago baseball fans and my images depict a view of Cub's Park from the Addison "L" platform and White Sox stadium from the Parking Lot E and A.

Addison and Sheffield from the "L"  Wrigley Field Chicago
Hand colored etching that frames to 11" x 14"

Addison and Sheffield from the "L"  Wrigley Field Chicago
Hand colored etching that frames to 12" x12"

1060 West Addison from the "L"

Chicago

with Pat Pieper game day announcement

Hand colored etching that frames to 11" x 14"

US Cellular Field

Home of the Chicago White Sox

Hand colored etching that frames to 10" x 16" 

US Cellular Field

Home of the Chicago White Sox

Parking Lot E

Hand colored etching that frames to 12" x 12" 

A Chicago Series of six etchings called "The City from Within"

The City from Within are etchings created from up-close, detailed images of Chicago locations. (photographs by Steve Serio)

Intersecting Tracks at Lake Street and Wells
Plate 075
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 20" x 16"

Urban Steeple Assumption Catholic Church 
Plate 076
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 20" x 16"

A City Water Tank an Endangered Species
Plate 079
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 20" x 16" or 18" x 14"

Evening on Lake Street 
Plate 080
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 20" x 16" or 18" x 14"

Urban Silhouette
Plate 099
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 18" x 14"
Black or Sepia ink

The L Turning at Lake Street and Wells
Plate 101
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 18" x 14" or 20" x 16"
Black or Sepia ink with chine colle

Windows at Michigan Avenue
Plate 130
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 16" x 16"
with chine colle

The Red Chair at 5 O'clock
Plate 131
Aquatint Etching with hand coloring
Frame 18" x 14"

Popular Chicago

Popular Chicago sites are wonderful places to begin a tour of this city ...our Sierras on the lake.

Cloud Gate in Millennium Park (2004) by the British artist Anish Kapoor is a special part of Chicago public art. The 110 ton elliptical sculpture is a series of highly polished stainless steel plates that reflect the Chicago Skyline and Clouds above the 12-foot high "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture.  Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.

Plate 143

Aquatint Etching with

hand coloring

Frames to 14" x 11"

The corner of Oak Street and Michigan Avenue is the start of the Magnificent Mile.  Heading south on Michigan Avenue, one is amazed at the skyscrapers filled with apartments and condominiums as well as year round shopping sites.
 
The Drake Hotel and Palmolive Building Towers, formerly the Playboy Towers, and the John Hancock Building establish the feeling of these "Sierras on the lake".

Plate 140

Aquatint Etching

a la poupee

Frames to 14" x 11"

Newest Additions and Familiar Places

Two of Chicago's well known meeting places on Michigan Avenue are Millennium Park and the Art Institute of Chicago. My recent etchings depict a winter view of Millennium Park and East Randolph Street from the Art Institute.

Etching size is 6" x 7"

A second etching depicts the Lion on the south steps entrance to the museum. This lion is the 1906-7 work of Edward Kemeys and is titled "stands in an attitude of defiance".

Etching size is 4.5" x 4"

Chicago's Newberry Library and Deloitte Chicago

New Images

Aquatint Etching of Chicago's Newberry Library

hand colored

7" x 6"

Aquatint Etching of Chicago's

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

hand colored

7" x 9"