Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Hotel Fabric Art, and a Testimonial for Phone Cameras

In Chicago, we usually stay at one of the Club Quarters hotels. For some reason this chain features fabric art in their lobby. There used to be a silk wall quilt above the desk whose blocks made a subtle CQ logo. It was truly subtle; I saw it several times in Chicago and a similar one in New York before I realized it wasn't just an abstract pieced design.

This new piece, meant to suggest the ripples of the Chicago River, hangs in the remodeled lobby of the CQ on Wacker Driver, also known as the River Hotel.

It's silk, made by something like the faux chenille technique that was fashionable a few years ago. I've admired it several times, and two weeks ago remembered that I could take a decent picture with my new phone.

And also with my phone, I took this stunning photo, looking east down the river from the Wells Street Bridge. The moon was posing for me, I think.


3 comments:

Gari in AL said...

I love to see fiber art being used as art. Thanks for sharing. And, haven't phone cameras come a long way?

jenclair said...

The silk does give such lovely ripply effects. Thanks for showing the photo along with the piece.

Debra Dixon said...

Back in the 90s when I lived in Chicago there was a male artist who did a bunch of chenille art and artwear. I want to say Tim Hardy was his name--wonder if this is one of his pieces. He was quite well-known and was always at the very tony design show out on Navy Pier.
I took a chenille class a few years ago and it's a fun technique (and a seriously great way to get rid of crappy prints) but to do it real justice, you kind of need to get involved with it. And, seriously, who needs another technique to get all involved with? I bet the silk was very pretty--be cool to try with neckties.