The Art Marketer

08/07/2026

Some exhibits you visit out of curiosity. This one I visited out of memory. I have a distinct recollection of standing in front of Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle on a family trip to Chicago in 1965, and the image of it never fully left me in the sixty years since. Returning to it as an adult was its own small act of time travel — and, to my genuine surprise, it moved me almost exactly the way it did as a child.

Some exhibits you visit out of curiosity. This one I visited out of memory. I have a distinct recollection of standing in front of Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle on a family trip to Chicago in 1965, and the image of it never fully left me in the sixty years since. Returning to it as an adult was its o...

08/06/2026

Most museums ask you to imagine the past. This one puts you inside it. The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, set in Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side, occupies the last remaining building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition — and that alone makes it worth the trip out from downtown, before a single exhibit is even in view.

Most museums ask you to imagine the past. This one puts you inside it. The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, set in Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side, occupies the last remaining building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition — and that alone makes it worth the trip out from downtown...

08/03/2026

After spending several hours wandering through the galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago, we were ready for something entirely different. Rather than another contemporary restaurant or chef-driven menu, we walked a few blocks to The Berghoff, where more than a century of Chicago history awaited us. It turned out to be the perfect transition from an afternoon of art to a leisurely lunch steeped in tradition.

After spending several hours wandering through the galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago, we were ready for something entirely different. Rather than another contemporary restaurant or chef-driven menu, we walked a few blocks to The Berghoff, where more than a century of Chicago history awaited....

08/01/2026

Good Morning August 🌞

07/29/2026

The Art Institute of Chicago was founded in the late nineteenth century as both a museum and an art school, and that dual identity still shapes the place today. With more than 300,000 works spread across the original Beaux-Arts building and the light-filled Modern Wing added in 2009, it's the second-largest art museum in the United States — and it holds the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings outside of Europe. For anyone with even a passing interest in that period, that alone is reason enough to clear a morning or an afternoon.

The Art Institute of Chicago was founded in the late nineteenth century as both a museum and an art school, and that dual identity still shapes the place today. With more than 300,000 works spread across the original Beaux-Arts building and the light-filled Modern Wing added in 2009, it's the second...

07/18/2026

A generous gift certificate from my partner's grown children brought us to dine at Ever, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago owned by Chef Curtis Duffy (renowned for several other MIchelin-starred restaurants before this one). and offering up quite the Michelin-star restaurant experience.

A generous gift certificate from my partner's grown children brought us to dine at Ever, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago owned by Chef Curtis Duffy (renowned for several other MIchelin-starred restaurants before this one). and offering up quite the Michelin-star restaurant experience.

07/15/2026

leisurely stroll along the Chicago Riverwalk, we weren't looking for just any lunch- we wanted somewhere that would encourage us to slow down and savor the afternoon. Monteverde proved to be exactly that place.

After a morning aboard the First Lady Architecture Cruise and a leisurely stroll along the Chicago Riverwalk, we weren't looking for just any lunch- we wanted somewhere that would encourage us to slow down and savor the afternoon. Monteverde proved to be exactly that place.