Art in Chicago: Part 1 (lots of photos!)

Friday 5/20-Saturday 5/21: Snow, Fashion, Family

Mr. E and I had a weekend trip to Chicago to attend the ArtEdge Gala honoring Nick Cave and his retrospective Forothermore exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Mr. E's mom has taught with Nick at the School of the Art Institute for 20+ years, so we've had the opportunity to see several of Nick's shows, including one in Sydney during our most recent visit. For this celebration, we opted for the high-level fundraising gala so that we could treat his mom to the experience, and we were joined at the event by Mr. E's sister and brother-in-law.

Before we got to enjoy the gala on Saturday evening, however, we had quite an adventure with our travel to ORD... Both of us had gotten notifications from United about winter weather in Denver for our outbound flight. Mr. E was concerned about the possibility of our connection being cancelled and our being stuck in Denver, so we decided to switch to an earlier flight to allow for more options and delays. Although there was some mixed snow and rain at DEN, everything was still fine with our arrival and departure. I got a fun shot of the wintry mix from the outdoor patio at the end of the terminal.

We had gotten upgraded to First Class for the flight from DEN to ORD, which was quite nice especially once we ended up taking an unexpected trip to Indianapolis!!! Due to thunderstorms, ORD was completely shut down for a bit, so our plane was diverted and we sat on the tarmac in Indy for about two hours. Once we were finally able to take off again, we arrived at ORD nearly three hours later (and an hour after the time our original flight was able to land!). We skipped the long taxi line, with an estimated wait time of 45+ minutes, and summoned a Lyft instead, which cost nearly double the usual amount for a trip to downtown. Not surprising, since it was 2:30am by then! Mr. E had called our hotel, Residence Inn River North, while we were waiting in Indianapolis, so they knew we'd be VERY late checking in. I think I made it to bed by 3:30am. *Yawn*

Later on Saturday morning, I did my usual Zumba and yoga workout combo in the living area part of our hotel room, and then we ventured out for "breakfast" (past noon!) and coffee at the next door Noah's and two-blocks-away Starbucks. Due to the rain, we took a Lyft over to Mr. E's parents' condo to workout at the health club and pool and spend a little time with his mom and dad. Later in the afternoon, the rain had stopped so we walked back to our hotel to get ready for the gala. Then a limo pick-up at the hotel followed by a return to his parents' to get his mom. A bit of a delay because the caregiver hadn't arrived for the evening to stay with his dad, but Mr. E was able to get in touch with his cousins to come over as well. They just happened to be visiting this same weekend from various spots around the country, which was quite lucky!

Despite the delays, we arrived at the Du Sable Museum of African American History just after the 6pm start of the cocktail hour [and a half]. Big tents were set up outside the Roundhouse to host the cocktail mingling prior to the dinner, fashion show, and concert featuring [Patti] LaBelle, all of which were hosted in the Roundhouse itself. Mr. E's sister and brother-in-law had arrived just before us, so we had plenty of time to visit and chat with them before the main event.

The fashion show featured a combination of pieces from both Nick and his brother, Jack, who is also an artist and designer. Our table was right near the entryway, so we got some great views of Jack and Nick watching the show (first and last photos below, Jack on the left, Nick on the right) as well as the models entering and exiting.

We had arranged for the limo to pick us up at 10pm since Mr. E's mom needed to be home by 11pm to relieve the caregiver, so we didn't stay for the concert part of the evening. Such an amazing event, and I'm so glad we could share it with Mr. E's mom and family!