Tanks and Teddy Bears: Ukrainian Children Paint the War

On the walls of a modern art museum in Ukrainian Village, a neighborhood and cultural enclave here, hangs a drawing of the fall of Mariupol, one of the bloodiest battles of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Against a bright orange sky, smoke drawn with a felt-tip pen billows from crumbling buildings as Russian planes fly overhead.

The artist? A 9-year-old boy named Roman.

Via NYT

Image: Children of War: Art for post-trauma recovery of children of Ukraine

This former Wicker Park orphanage turned art gallery is still waiting for its next iteration

About eight years after buying a historical Wicker Park building to make it their home, the owners, who did not complete the project, are cutting almost $1.8 million from their asking price.

McKenzie Maher and Michael Mertz bought the Wood Street building in 2014 when it had long housed live-work spaces for artists and a gallery. They put it on the market in June 2021 at $8.45 million, but later took it off the market. It's going back up for sale Jan. 5 at $6.7 million. That's a cut of $1.75 million, or 21%.

Via Crain's 

Chicago Architect Behind Riverwalk, CTA Stations and Eye-Catching McDonalds Designs Awarded Prestigious Medal

A groundbreaking Chicago architect has been awarded the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects, a prestigious honor previously given to luminaries like Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies Van Der Rohe.

Chicagoans not familiar with the name Carol Ross Barney almost certainly have experienced some of her work.

Barney says that work is guided by a utopian vision to use architecture to better people’s lives.

“Every space needs good design,” Barney said. “The amount of benefit to the quality of life that well-designed environments create is extraordinary.”

Via WTTW