What’s New

Horoscope for Wednesday, June 2, 2021Georgia Nicolson June 2, 2021 at 5:01 am


Moon Alert

There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Pisces.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Today you feel restless in a pleasant way, but you might not know why. However, one reason you might feel restless could be that a secret is revealed. Possibly, this secret is about you? Whatever the case, if secrets are revealed, be discreet. Respect the feelings of others even if you’ve got the goods. Be kind.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

You might meet a new and exciting friend. Or perhaps an old friend will pop back in your life and do something that surprises you. Whatever happens might even prompt you to rethink some goals. Actually, this is a good time to rethink goals or put a new spin on things.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Suddenly, you might briefly be thrust into the limelight, which means people will notice you, especially bosses, parents, VIPs and the police. Be aware of this in case you have to do some damage control. Meanwhile, you feel independent, even rebellious.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Travel plans will suddenly change. Ditto for college, university or technical school schedules. Someone might surprise you with their stance on a political, religious or racial issue. If this is the case, be careful about what you say. Take the time to process things carefully so that instead of a “knee-jerk reaction,” you thoughtfully respond.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

Something unexpected might take place that affects your assets that are shared with others. This includes shared property, something that is jointly held, debt, inheritances or insurance issues. Stay on top of things so that you know what’s happening.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Someone close to you might be the source of a surprise today. They might provide you with an opportunity for advancement or getting away from your routine. They might even introduce you to someone who is different or unusual.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Your work routine or something to do with your job will be interrupted today. You might also hear unexpected news that is health-related. Some of you might also have a surprise that is related to a pet? Today is full of small detours.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Social events and sports will be unpredictable today. For example, you might receive an unexpected invitation or social plans might be canceled. Likewise, parents should be aware that things are unpredictable with their kids, which could also include accidents. Therefore, be vigilant.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Something to do with your home routine will be the source of a surprise today. A small appliance might break down or a minor breakage could occur. Unexpected company might drop by. It could be anything. Possibly, a family member has surprising news.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Pay attention to everything you say and do because this is an accident-prone day for your sign. However, the good news is that you might have some clever, genius-like ideas because you can think outside of the box. Who knew? Travel and short trips will be uncertain.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Something to do with your assets, your wealth or your earnings is unreliable today. For example, you might find money; you might lose money. Keep your eyes open so that you can protect what you own from loss, theft or damage.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Today you have a strong desire for excitement, which is why you might do something to shake up the people around you. Alternatively, you might attract someone to you who tries to shake you up! You might also meet a new and exciting friend today. (Not a boring day.)

If Your Birthday Is Today

Actress Morena Baccarin (1979) shares your birthday. Your first impression is often one of being quiet and serious. Nevertheless, you are always charming and friendly. You are also observant, intuitive and caring. Your optimism and resourcefulness will promote your success. Now is the time to build something important for yourself by laying foundations that you can rely on down the road. Expect to see some tangible results very soon.

Read More

Horoscope for Wednesday, June 2, 2021Georgia Nicolson June 2, 2021 at 5:01 am Read More »

Cubs starting to flex their muscles with recent power surgeRussell Dorseyon June 2, 2021 at 4:08 am

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

The Cubs hit two more home runs in their 4-3 victory against the Padres on Tuesday and now have 14 homers in their last seven games.

When the Cubs’ offense began to take off in May, helping them to a 19-8 record in the month, the lineup started to do some things it hadn’t done before.

The contact approach that had eluded the Cubs for years started to trickle through the lineup, and their run production skyrocketed.

But their ability to score runs with the long ball never left. And as the temperature has started to heat up, the Cubs have started hitting the ball out of the ballpark, as they’ve always shown they can do.

After launching five home runs Monday, the Cubs got two more in their 4-3 victory Tuesday against the Padres. It was their eighth victory in their last nine games.

‘‘I think there’s a lot of ways to win baseball games,’’ manager David Ross said last month. ‘‘I think we have a lot of slug in our group. These guys do hit homers. They have hit a lot of homers in their careers. I think that will be something that is a staple of this team.’’

The Cubs needed some thump after starter Kyle Hendricks surrendered two homers — to former teammate Victor Caratini and Tommy Pham — in the fifth inning, allowing the Padres to take a 3-2 lead. Catcher Willson Contreras had the same idea.

Contreras helped his batterymate out in the bottom of the fifth by crushing a 445-foot, two-run blast to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead. It was the Cubs’ 14th homer in their last seven games.

‘‘It seems like they’ve commanded the strike zone,’’ Ross said afterward. ‘‘They know what it looks like and where they want their pitches, and now they’re able to turn it loose in their zone and be really aggressive.’’

The Cubs’ other homer came off the bat of third baseman Patrick Wisdom, who’s beginning to make a name for himself.

As the Cubs begin to get some of their injured players back during the next few weeks, several of their bench pieces will return to Triple-A Iowa. But Wisdom is playing as though he doesn’t want to return to Des Moines anytime soon.

Wisdom, 29, hasn’t been in Chicago for long, but he is making his presence felt in a Cubs lineup that has been looking for some additional run production while depleted.

Wisdom added to an impressive start to his Cubs career with another two hits, including a two-run homer against Padres starter Ryan Weathers in the second. He’s now slashing .474/.500/1.158 since being recalled May 25.

‘‘I think it’s just being comfortable in the box,’’ Wisdom said Monday. ‘‘Sticking to a routine, making sure I’m prepared for that pitcher for that day and not getting outside the moment. Staying within myself. I think that has been helping me stay locked in.’’

Not only did the homer enable Wisdom to tie his career high of four round-trippers in only seven games, but it was also his third in the last two days after his first career multihomer game in the Cubs’ victory Monday.

‘‘This guy has always had some power in his bat,” Ross said. “That’s a nice guy to have, especially with as many guys as we have going down and the at-bats he’s had, especially against tougher lefties.’’

The triumph assured the Cubs of another series victory. They have won eight of their last nine series and are 21-9 in their last 30 games.

They now are in position to go for the sweep Wednesday and head to the West Coast brimming with confidence.

‘‘We’re developing into a really good team,’’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. ‘‘That’s a good feeling.’’

Read More

Cubs starting to flex their muscles with recent power surgeRussell Dorseyon June 2, 2021 at 4:08 am Read More »

Obama surprises youth football team, chats with South Side business owners during visit to Jackson ParkKatie Anthonyon June 2, 2021 at 3:49 am

An Evening with CARE, Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the CARE Package
Former President Barack Obama surprised a youth football team in Jackson Park on Tuesday. | Theo Wargo/Getty Images for CARE file photo

The former president gathered in a huddle with a youth football team in the neighborhood where his future presidential center is set to break ground in the fall.

Former President Barack Obama surprised a youth football team in Jackson Park on Tuesday while visiting the neighborhood home to his future Obama Presidential Center.

Obama got together with the Chicago Southside Wolfpack for a guest pep talk and huddled with the team of fifth- to eighth-graders.

Groundbreaking for the presidential center in Jackson Park is set for early fall, the Sun-Times reported. The foundation estimated up to 5,000 construction jobs will be made during the project.

While visiting the city, the former president also stopped by South Shore Brew to chat with business owners about how the future center will benefit the community.

Read More

Obama surprises youth football team, chats with South Side business owners during visit to Jackson ParkKatie Anthonyon June 2, 2021 at 3:49 am Read More »

Biden suspends oil leases in Alaska’s Arctic refugeAssociated Presson June 1, 2021 at 10:58 pm

This undated aerial photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a herd of caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. The Biden administration is suspending oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it reviews the environmental impacts of drilling in the remote region.
This undated aerial photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a herd of caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. The Biden administration is suspending oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it reviews the environmental impacts of drilling in the remote region. | AP

The Interior Department order follows a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities imposed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a drilling program approved by the Trump administration and reviving a political fight over a remote region that is home to polar bears and other wildlife — and a rich reserve of oil.

The Interior Department order follows a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities imposed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office. Biden’s Jan. 20 executive order suggested a new environmental review was needed to address possible legal flaws in a drilling program approved by the Trump administration under a 2017 law enacted by Congress.

After conducting a required review, Interior said it “identified defects in the underlying record of decision supporting the leases, including the lack of analysis of a reasonable range of alternatives’’ required under the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law.

The remote, 19.6 million-acre refuge is home to polar bears, caribou, snowy owls and other wildlife, including migrating birds from six continents. Republicans and the oil industry have long been trying to open up the oil-rich refuge, which is considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in, for drilling. Democrats, environmental groups and some Alaska Native tribes have been trying to block it.

Former President Bill Clinton vetoed a GOP plan to allow drilling in the refuge in 1995, and the two parties have been fighting over the region ever since.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an Interior Department agency, held a lease sale for the refuge’s coastal plain on Jan. 6, two weeks before Biden took office. Eight days later the agency signed leases for nine tracts totaling nearly 685 square miles. However, the issuance of the leases was not announced publicly until Jan. 19, former President Donald Trump’s last full day in office.

Biden has opposed drilling in the region, and environmental groups have been pushing for permanent protections, which Biden called for during the presidential campaign.

The administration’s action to suspend the leases comes after officials disappointed environmental groups last week by defending a Trump administration decision to approve a major oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. Critics say the action flies in the face of Biden’s pledges to address climate change.

The Justice Department said in a court filing that opponents of the Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska were seeking to stop development by “cherry-picking” the records of federal agencies to claim environmental review law violations. The filing defends the reviews underpinning last fall’s decision approving project plans.

Kristen Miller, acting executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, hailed suspension of the Arctic leasing program, which she said was the result of a flawed legal process under Trump.

“Suspending these leases is a step in the right direction, and we commend the Biden administration for committing to a new program analysis that prioritizes sound science and adequate tribal consultation,’’ she said.

More action is needed, Miller said, calling for a permanent cancellation of the leases and repeal of the 2017 law mandating drilling in the refuge’s coastal plain.

The drilling mandate was included in a massive tax cut approved by congressional Republicans during Trump’s first year in office. Republicans said it could generate an estimated $1 billion over 10 years, a figure Democrats call preposterously overstated.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a longtime opponent of drilling in the refuge, accused the Trump administration of trying to “shortcut environmental laws.’’ The effort “fell apart when exposed to the facts that federal scientists say Arctic Refuge drilling cannot be done safely and oil companies don’t want to drill there,” Cantwell said.

“Now it is up to Congress to permanently protect this irreplaceable, million-year-old ecosystem and facilitate new economic opportunities based on preserving America’s pristine public lands for outdoor recreation,” she said.

Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Nation Steering Committee, said in a statement that tribal leaders are heartened by the Biden administration’s “commitment to protecting sacred lands and the Gwich’in way of life.”

She thanked Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland “for hearing our voices and standing up for our human rights and identity.’’

Read More

Biden suspends oil leases in Alaska’s Arctic refugeAssociated Presson June 1, 2021 at 10:58 pm Read More »

Man dies in Oak Forest fireSun-Times Wireon June 1, 2021 at 11:48 pm

A man died in a blaze June 1, 2021, in Oak Forest.
A man died in a blaze June 1, 2021, in Oak Forest. | Adobe Stock Photo

Authorities responded to the blaze about 5:15 a.m. in the 16700 block of Kara Court, Oak Forest fire officials said in a statement.

A 57-year-old man was killed in a house fire Monday in suburban Oak Forest.

Authorities responded to the blaze about 5:15 a.m. in the 16700 block of Kara Court, Oak Forest fire officials said in a statement.

Firefighters found Michael Houle in the house, but he succumbed to his injuries, officials and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy found he died of thermal and inhalation injuries from the fire, the medical examiner’s office said. His death was ruled an accident.

Another person suffered slight burns to their hands, officials said.

The American Red Cross was called to assist three people who were displaced in the fire, officials said.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Read More

Man dies in Oak Forest fireSun-Times Wireon June 1, 2021 at 11:48 pm Read More »

Chicago comedy calendar for Tuesday, June 1-Sunday, June 6, 2021on June 1, 2021 at 11:27 pm

Comedians Defying Gravity

Chicago comedy calendar for Tuesday, June 1-Sunday, June 6, 2021

Read More

Chicago comedy calendar for Tuesday, June 1-Sunday, June 6, 2021on June 1, 2021 at 11:27 pm Read More »

Firefighter killed colleague at California fire stationon June 1, 2021 at 10:46 pm

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — An off-duty Los Angeles County firefighter fatally shot a fellow firefighter and wounded another at their fire station Tuesday before barricading himself at his home nearby, where a fire erupted and he was later found dead, authorities said.

A 44-year-old fire specialist died and a 54-year-old firefighter was shot when the gunman opened fire shortly before 11 a.m. at Fire Station 81, which is about 45 miles north of Los Angeles, Fire Chief Daryl Osby told reporters. The wounded man is in critical but stable condition at a hospital.

Osby said the shooter barricaded himself at his house less than 10 miles away from the station in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County known for its rock formations and panoramic views. The home was set on fire, gutting it in about three hours, and he was later found dead.

The gunman appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, adding that no deputies fired.

Neighbors watched black smoke pouring from the burned house in the nearby community of Acton, a dry, hilly area with ranches with horses and other livestock.

Michael May, 70, lives down the road and said he was sitting in his living room when he heard the buzz of helicopters flying low.

“Around here, that usually means a fire,” he said.

He saw a swarm of police cars racing up the street, and deputies emerged wearing bulletproof vests.

May has been a resident of the community for 23 years but didn’t know who lived at the gutted home. He said many people in law enforcement live in the area, as well as some in the film industry.

“It’s a place people want to go for peace and quiet,” he said.

Brian Dalrymple, 79, lives across the street from May and said he thought the burned home had been sold recently.

He and his wife went outside to see the thick smoke, initially concerned the flames might spread to their home. Dalrymple said he never heard gunshots but saw deputies rushing up to the property, long guns in hand.

He said a friend called to tell them the news.

“We didn’t know what she was talking about,” Dalrymple said. “It’s usually pretty peaceful out here.”

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

Read More

Firefighter killed colleague at California fire stationon June 1, 2021 at 10:46 pm Read More »

‘Incredibly unfun’ pot industry in Illinois is missing out. Here’s how that could changeon June 1, 2021 at 10:07 pm

As the city hurtles toward a full reopening, drinks are now flowing freely at bars and restaurants as Chicagoans emerge from their couches and try to get back to normal.

Weed smokers, however, still have nowhere to legally get stoned in public, meaning pot use largely remains relegated to the shadows over a year after the drug was fully legalized statewide.

In other states, public consumption lounges and smoke-filled party buses are driving tourism by highlighting what recreational weed is supposed to be all about: Having a good time.

“People want to smoke marijuana in places that they couldn’t before because it was taboo and illegal,” said Andy Seeger, a cannabis consultant who previously worked as an industry analyst in Chicago. “Just like a bar, just like coffee, this a huge experiential thing.”

Andy Seeger
LinkedIn

But as it stands, Seeger said Illinois’ highly regulated pot market is “incredibly unfun,” likening the dispensary experience to “standing in line at the pharmacy” and criticizing existing pot firms for failing to create safe havens for getting high.

“They have no interest in helping the stoners or making this fun. They’re trying to commoditize it. They’re trying to make it [a consumer packaged good] and [that] looks very, very regulated. And the more regulated it is, the more their monopoly holds,” Seeger said, remarking on the handful of major cannabis firms that have an outsized stake in the industry.

And while some businesses want to offer an outlet for customers to indulge, they’re hamstrung by state and local rules.

The prospect of allowing on-site cannabis consumption at businesses prompted spirited debates among both state lawmakers and aldermen. In the end, the state law that legalized recreational weed let localities decide whether to allow dispensaries and tobacco shops to set up consumption spaces, offering an exemption to the stringent Smoke Free Illinois Act that banned indoor smoking at public places.

At least two such lounges have earned local approval downstate but neither has opened. And in Chicago, the City Council still hasn’t set local rules.

Legislation introduced earlier this year in Springfield could also pave the way for a robust cannabis tourism industry, but it’s languished in committees without getting a vote. The bill would allow municipalities or counties to dole out licenses for pop-up events, cannabis clubs and tours “that will allow for the sale and consumption of cannabis or cannabis-infused products.”

A waiting room at Dispensary 33 at 1152 W. Randolph St. could become a consumption lounge if the city gives owners permission to do so.
Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

Inside Dispensary 33 in the West Loop.
Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

Comedy clubs, weed tours and more in limbo

In the meantime, some plans hang in limbo.

Bryan Zises, co-owner of Dispensary 33, said he wants to work with a “social equity” partner to open a weed lounge at his new shop in the West Loop. Zises envisions using the store’s basement for a stony venue that could host comedy and musical acts, although he also has a large space on the ground floor with a long counter and tables that currently serves as a waiting room and could be repurposed.

“It’s available and it’s perfectly set up for all that,” Zises said. “I would love to be able to turn over the consumption lounge to a group that can elevate Chicago music and Chicago’s art scene in a way to bring fun back to cannabis.”

Dispensary 33, which Zises touted as the last independent weed store in the city, has long sought to bring cannabis and culture together. Most notably, Zises and his team have hosted a street festival outside Dispensary 33’s flagship location in Uptown to celebrate 4/20, marijuana’s high holiday.

Zises claimed aldermen “don’t even know how much money they’re leaving on the table” by failing to set local rules for on-site consumption. But after a meeting with Zises the following day, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said he’s now planning to draft an ordinance to do just that.

Burnett, whose ward includes the new Dispensary 33 location at 1152 W. Randolph St., said he intends to require all consumption lounges to have a “social equity” partner as a way to bolster minority involvement in the lily-white weed industry, adopting the same language the statewide legalization law uses for applicants getting a leg-up in the licensing process.

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) speaks with the media after a City Council meeting in September 2015.Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file

Zises isn’t the only dispensary owner thinking about turning a pot shop into a cultural hub.

Jonah Rapino, a spokesman for the Wheaton-based pot firm NuEra, said there have been active discussions about allowing pot use at the firm’s new stores in the West Loop and downstate Champaign and Pekin. But they’ve been stymied by concerns that the current law wouldn’t allow the firm to carry out its grand vision.

Rapino said the company would like to offer cannabis education opportunities, as well events with DJs and bands.

“We would want to be a destination,” said Rapino, who believes that opening up the floodgates for public pot use would be a boon for both the cannabis and tourism industries.

“Having Illinois be the number one social consumption state in the United States would be a huge move and a huge benefit,” he said. “I just think way more people would be here that usually would be going to, say, California, Colorado, Las Vegas and other places if there were lots more options for social consumption.”

For now, NuEra has teamed up with The Hideout, a beloved North Side music venue, where the company recently hosted a sidewalk market to celebrate 4/20.

“A wine tour without sipping wine’

The firm has also partnered with Chi High Tours, a company that launched in April and offers pot-centric tours centered on education and culture. The company currently offers a range of themed tours, including one that brings guests to a brewery and another that ends at a comedy show.

Chi High Tours offers pot-centric tours in Chicago focused on education and culture.
Provided photo/James Gordon

But due to the current restrictions, riders can’t get stoned during the tours — though they are offered CBD-infused edibles. In addition, they’re taken to The Herbal Care Center on the Near West Side to purchase weed and then coached on consuming it.

James Gordon, Chi High Tours’ executive director and founder, conceded that his tours currently lack “the party bus feeling,” though he hopes the law will change to allow for that. Gordon complained that the state is still taking a “hard line” approach to cannabis and isn’t looking to Colorado and California, where he claimed businesses offering public consumption are “everywhere and have an opportunity to grow.”

“At the end of the day, a wine tour without sipping wine just becomes only so much of an experience,” Gordon said, drawing a comparison to hammer home his point.

As Gordon tries to gain a foothold in Illinois’ cannabis world, he said he understands the struggles of the social equity applicants vying for long-delayed permits. Originally from Brooklyn, Gordon was sentenced to four years in a federal penitentiary in Florida after being convicted on a gun charge. While in prison, his dying father visited to express a last wish: “Please change.”

James Gordon

Gordon has since grown into a serial entrepreneur and he now hopes to expand his cannabis tour model into five other cities. Though he lives in Florida and didn’t apply for the new licenses here, Gordon said he wants to be an example for minority business owners hoping to crack into the weed industry.

“Please keep striving, keep pushing. Because greatness is around the corner.”

Read More

‘Incredibly unfun’ pot industry in Illinois is missing out. Here’s how that could changeon June 1, 2021 at 10:07 pm Read More »

Frida Kahlo retrospective a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’Kyle MacMillan – For the Sun-Timeson June 1, 2021 at 9:00 pm

“Thoughtful Frida”
“Thoughtful Frida,” circa 1950. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954), wearing a folk costume and flowers in her hair, leans her head on her hand while lying in a hammock. | Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

It will be the most substantial presentation of Kahlo’s works in Chicago since 1978, when a group was presented at MCA, and Cleve Carney officials say it might be another half-century or more before another such show comes again.

When word comes of a big art exhibition traveling to the Chicago area, most people probably expect it to be shown at one of the big, widely recognized institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago or Chicago Cultural Center.

But when a major Frida Kahlo exhibition opens June 5, it will go on view more than 25 miles west of Chicago’s downtown in a somewhat smaller, suburban venue — the College of DuPage’s recently renamed Cleve Carney Museum of Art in Glen Ellyn.

“An exhibition like this usually goes to Milan, Budapest, Moscow or the Art Institute,” said Diana Martinez, director of the McAninch Arts Center where the museum is located. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition opportunity that’s coming to Glen Ellyn. This so unusual.”

“Frida Kahlo: Timeless” will feature 26 of the superstar Mexican painter’s drawings and paintings — more than 10 percent of her entire output of only about 200 works. They are all on loan from the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City, which has the largest holding of her work in the world.

It will be the most substantial presentation of Kahlo’s works in Chicago since 1978, when a group was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Cleve Carney officials say it might be another half-century or more before another such show comes again.

“It’s really part of our mission to promote the work of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Mexico and the world, so we’re really excited to be part of international exhibitions,” Adriana Jaramillo, the Olmedo museum’s communications director, said from Mexico City.

Frida Kahlo, “The Bus,” 1929, oil on canvas, collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico.
© 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frida Kahlo, “The Bus,” 1929, oil on canvas, collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico.

Olmedo officials are especially pleased that the works are coming to the Chicago area, she said, because of its large population of Latin-American emigres and descendants, and that they can be seen while the Mexican museum remains closed because of COVID-19.

In 1962, Olmedo, a Mexican businesswoman and philanthropist, bought a hacienda in southern Mexico City and restored it. Three decades later, she converted the property into a museum to house her extensive art collection, which included pre-Columbian and Mexican folk art.

Shortly after Kahlo died in 1954, a collector of her work, who is depicted in a 1944 painting in the show, Eduardo Morillo Safa, also died. His widow offered his Kahlo holdings to Diego Rivera, another famed Mexican painter who was Kahlo’s husband.

Rivera didn’t have the necessary funds at the time, so he advised Olmedo, a friend and important collector of his work, to acquire the 25 works even though, according to Jaramillo, she didn’t like Kahlo. Olmedo purchased another Kahlo work later, and those are the 26 paintings and drawings coming to the Cleve Carney.

“Frida on White Bench,” photo by Nickolas Muray © Nickolas Muray Photo Archive
© Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
“Frida on White Bench,” photo by Nickolas Muray.

That the show will be seen at the College of DuPage and not in downtown Chicago is a product of hard work and some good luck. Alan Peterson of Glen Ellyn, a supporter of the college and the Cleve Carney Museum, suggested that instead of simply giving more money, he might be able to boost the space in another way.

It turns out Peterson, who died in 2020, was a longtime friend of Carlos Phillips Olmedo, the director of the Olmedo Museum and son of its founder. “In my head, I was like, ‘What?!’” Martinez said, when she learned of this connection.

Peterson set up a meeting for Cleve Carney officials, and they pitched the idea of doing the Kahlo show in Glen Ellyn. “The opportunity to have this was too great to pass up,” Martinez said, “and so significant for the entire state, really.”

But there was a considerable hurdle. For the show to come to the College of DuPage, the school had to make to make significant upgrades to the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, an art space that opened in 2014.

It was designed to house academic and small-scale shows, not international traveling exhibitions, so the college undertook a $2.8 million overhaul, adding 1,000 square feet of display space and significantly enhancing the facility’s lighting, security and climate controls.

The renovated space, renamed the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, was supposed to open in the summer of 2020 with the Kahlo show, but the onslaught of the coronavirus forced the exhibition and the debut to be postponed until now.

The exhibition of the paintings and drawings themselves will be accompanied by an array of supplementary presentations inside and outside the McAninch Arts Center, including an in-depth historical timeline, a garden created by the Ball Horticultural Co. with Kahlo’s favorite plants, and a display of more than 100 photographs from the artist’s life.

Because most of the contextual information is presented outside the museum itself, the paintings and drawings are presented largely on their own, so viewers can zero in on their emotional intensity and artistic detail.

“Having them in that space where they have room to breathe and be on their own allows that intensity to come through, and it has an impact that is really overwhelming,” said Cleve Carney curator Justin Witte.

Frida Kahlo, “Portrait of Alicia Galant,” 1927, oil on canvas. Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico.
© 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frida Kahlo, “Portrait of Alicia Galant,” 1927, oil on canvas. Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico.

Because Kahlo has become a feminist icon and popular sensation so widely known that she is often just referred to by her first name, museum officials are expecting more than 100,000 people to attend the summer show.

Part of her continuing appeal is that her art dealt with issues of personal and national identity that remain relevant for many people today. In addition, she used her painting to confront the lifelong pain she suffered following severe injuries from a bus accident when she was 18.

“She, through her work, spoke in a new language of personal expression,” Witte said. “People who are struggling with their own issues of health, people who are struggling with their own issues of identity still find a champion and a voice in Frida, which is why so many people continue to be attracted to her.”

Read More

Frida Kahlo retrospective a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’Kyle MacMillan – For the Sun-Timeson June 1, 2021 at 9:00 pm Read More »