Lisa E Freedman, My Journal Through Life, is the Home Base & Blog for LF Media Ink, a Boutique PR/Marketing Company specialized in the Arts, Entertainment & Travel Industries. Enjoy!
Lisa E Freedman, My Journal Through Life, is the Home Base & Blog for LF Media Ink, a Boutique PR/Marketing Company specialized in the Arts, Entertainment & Travel Industries. Enjoy!
Where the Art Institute leaves off, and the genuinely new begins If the Art Institute is where we went to stand in front of paintings I'd already studied for years, the MCA was where we went to be surprised. Set on the Near North Side near Water Tower Place, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago picks up almost precisely where the Art Institute's historical collection ends, devoting itself entirely to art made since 1945. With a background...
Nearly 10,000 square feet of wizarding world magic, tucked into the Magnificent Mile And then there was the Harry Potter store. Not every stop on an Insider’s Guide has to be important. Some just have to be fun. After museums, galleries, architectural landmarks and more than a few serious meals, we found ourselves ducking into the Harry Potter Shop on Michigan Avenue. Neither of us needed another souvenir, and we certainly hadn’t traveled...
Where Chicago turned public space into an outdoor museum, featuring The Bean, Crown Fountain (also known as the spitting towers) and a 24.5 acre celebration of public art. The best public art doesn’t just give you something to look at. It gives a city somewhere to be. Following our visits to Macy's and The Chicago Cultural Center, we took a short walk to Millennium Park to experience a different kind of art site. The Park sits directly across...
A former public library, two monumental stained-glass domes, and the best free afternoon in the city Having just spent an afternoon admiring the Tiffany dome tucked above the cosmetics counters at Macy's on State Street, we were perfectly content believing we had already seen Chicago's greatest Tiffany masterpiece. We hadn't. The Chicago Cultural Center, a few blocks away on Michigan Avenue, proved us wonderfully wrong. It holds...
A Gilded Age masterpiece hiding in plain sight above the cosmetics counter, in a building that will always be Marshall Field's at heart Given my background cataloguing decorative arts for the auction world, I have a soft spot for masterworks hiding where shoppers least expect them. There may be no better example in the country than the Tiffany dome inside Macy's on State Street, Chicago — a building that, no matter what the signage says, will...
Where an Arts Aficionado could happily spend an entire morning or day and still not see everything they wanted to I have spent over forty years as a professional immersed in the art world, from international art auction houses to high-end art galleries and fine art publications. Old habits have stayed with me. In fact they have become an integral part of me and my writing. I still read provenance labels before I admire the painting, linger over...
Situated in the heart of Amsterdam’s Museum Quarter, the Van Gogh Museum stands as one of the world’s most beloved art institutions. Housing the largest collection of works by Vincent Van Gogh, this museum offers visitors an intimate and chronological journey through the troubled genius’s brief but extraordinarily productive artistic career. A Collection Like No OtherThe museum’s permanent collection is staggering in both scope and...
Situated in the heart of Amsterdam’s Museum Quarter, the Rijksmuseum stands as one of Europe’s most magnificent art institutions. This grand museum, with its distinctive Gothic-Renaissance architecture, houses an extraordinary collection that spans 800 years of Dutch art and history, making it an essential destination for anyone visiting the Netherlands. A Palace of Art and HistoryThe current Rijksmuseum building, designed by architect...
If it’s been a minute (or two) since I have posted it’s because I have been away on the most fabulous trip I have been on in years. A week in Amsterdam that couldn’t have been more perfect from the early stages of planning to the time we returned home. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. If you have never been to Amsterdam, or even if you have, brace yourself for the next few weeks (or months) of blog posts, where I share details,...
The Story Behind the Nickname If you’ve spent any time in Durham, North Carolina, you’ve encountered the bull. It’s on logos, murals, merchandise, and monuments throughout the city. The Durham Bulls baseball team plays at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Locals proudly call their home “Bull City.” But where does this distinctive nickname come from, and why has a farm animal become so central to a city’s identity? The answer lies in...
