Sitting Prickly In Chicago
CHICAGO, IL, September 2, 2005. For more than 160 years, "Urbs in Horto," Latin for "city in a garden," has been Chicago's official motto. From 552 parks with over 7,300 acres of parkland to two world-class conservatories, 50 natural areas and 16 historic lagoons, the city truly lives up to this motto.
This summer the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest and most stunning conservatories in the U.S., will host Reciprocally Prickly, a unique exhibition of sculptures. Chicago artist Chris Garofalo explores the hybrid of plants and animals through different colours and shapes. Garfield Park Conservatory is often referred to as landscape art under glass and occupies 4.5 acres on Chicago's West Side. The exhibition runs until November 6, 2005 www.garfieldconservatory.org
Chicagos newest lakefront addition is Millennium Park, a magnificent 24.5-acre haven, located at the northwest corner of Grant Park. Millennium Park contains an outdoor performing arts pavilion, an indoor year-round theatre, a restaurant, an ice skating rink, a contemporary garden, public art, fountains, landscaped walkways and green spaces. Internationally renowned British artist, Anish Kapoor, is responsible for creating Cloud Gate, a towering stainless steel sculpture.
90 miles from Chicago, in Rockford is the Anderson Japanese Gardens, ranked the top Japanese garden in North America. Set in 12 acres, the pond-strolling garden features pools, streams, lanterns, pagodas, waterfalls, sculptures and sukiya-style buildings. www.andresongardens.org
Chicago boasts a number of beautiful botanical gardens, including the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois, the Osaka Garden in Chicago's south side and the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.
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