Sleuthblog

Fine Arts Building

Tonight Jim and I were able to attend an event with musician Neko Case for her memoir, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You. Neko is one of our favorite musicians. I saw her perform starting in the late 90s, memorably outside of Schuba’s where I first heard her cover of Neil Young’s “Dreamin’ Man.” Jim and I saw her together at the Chicago Theater (where we also saw Neil Young, actually.) Two other Chicago musicians I love, Kelly Hogan and Nora O’Connor, have performed backup for her many times.

Neko Case concert poster by Justin Hampton featuring the lyrics of “Deep Red Bells,” hanging in our stairwell, with my reflection

The event is in the Studebaker Theater of the beautiful, more-than-125-year-old Fine Arts Building in Chicago, which has an amazing history as home to arts and social organizations. A fellow alumna of IMSA, Tiffany Gholar, has an art studio there that I visited for an open house. In 2015 I attended a camera RAW class at Adobe Days there and spent some time photographing the interior of the building.

Scenes from the Fine Arts Building, 2015: The Venetian Court on the 4th floor, with a sculpture garden and light well that extends to the 10th floor; one of the Art Nouveau murals on the 10th floor, “Nymph with Angel and Bird” painted by Oliver Dennett Grover in 1898; and detail from the Studebaker Theater

It was great to attend an event there tonight, and looking up these old photos makes me eager to get back into photography and experimenting with RAW format. But that will have to wait while I read this new memoir.

Jim and I in the Studebaker Theater
1 thought on “Fine Arts Building”
  1. Pam Russell says:

    Wow! What a treat. I have never visited this amazing building, and I do not know of Neko Case so this is all new to me and I love knowing you and Jim enjoy this world within the same Chicago I know, or use to know. I clicked on the link to Neko Case’s memoir and am intrigued by the cover. And love the photographs you’ve chosen to illustrate this blog post. Chicago calls to me at times, reminds me of all she has done to shape and mold me before I ran away to Colorado.

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