Chicago – enclos*ure

April trees

April 12, 2017April 12, 2017 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

A repeat post from April 2013. . .

Our two days in Chicago were windy (of course) and occasionally damp, and very few trees had even begun to leaf out.

But I was taken by this arboreal display of blue outside the Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue.

The ribbons were tied in the trees and along the fence in memory of the 28,828 children of Illinois who were abused last year.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month in the U.S. You can get more information here.

ADDENDUM: The blue ribbons are in the trees outside the church this year (2017) as well.

this is the garden: colours come and go,
frail azures fluttering from night’s outer wing. . .

— e.e. cummings, “This is the Garden“

Life in gardens: wildflowers

August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

Children costumed as flowers or insects for an event of the Wild Flower Preservation Society, Illinois Chapter, probably in a Chicago park, ca. 1920, hand-colored glass lantern slides by an unknown photographer, via The Field Museum Library Commons on flickr (all images here).

The Wild Flower Preservation Society of America was founded in 1902 with money given to the New York Botanical Garden by Olivia E. and Caroline Phelps Stokes. The funds were to be used for the protection of native plants.

The Society dissolved in 1933, but much of its work was taken up by the Garden Club of America and by another Wild Flower Preservation Society, founded in 1925 in Washington, D.C. (which seems no longer to exist).

Above and below: Mayapples.

Above: a bee.

Click here to see several more of the slides.

Life in gardens: animal court

November 18, 2014November 18, 2014 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

“Sculpture and children in fountains – Jane Addams Houses,” between 1938 and 1940, Chicago, Illinois, by Peter Sekaer for the U.S. Housing Authority, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Jane Addams Homes public housing project was built in 1938 under the New Deal Public Works Administration Act. The “Animal Court” figures were carved from limestone by Edgar Miller.

The sculptures still exist, although the buildings around them were razed in the early 2000s. As of September 2013, they were in storage awaiting restoration and a new home. They may eventually return to a place near their old location, as part of a National Public Housing Museum.

There are more photos here, at the blog Playscapes.

The Sunday porch: Chicago

June 1, 2014April 11, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

“Housing and back porches in the inner city of uptown Chicago, Illinois, a neighborhood of poor white southerners. The inner city today is an absolute contradiction [from] the main stream America of gas stations, expressways, shopping centers and tract homes. It is populated by Blacks, Latins and the white poor. Some of the best American architecture survives in her “worst” neighborhoods.”

This photo* was taken by Danny Lyon in August 1974 for DOCUMERICA, a 1970’s photography program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It’s shown here with the original caption, presumably written by the photographer.

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

*Via the U.S. National Archives Commons on flickr.

Life in gardens: Chicago

May 29, 2014April 11, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

“Black youngsters performing on an empty lot at 5440 South Princeton Avenue on Chicago’s South Side at a small community program called “an Open Air Fashion and Talent Show” presented by “the New Between The Tracks Council.” It is one of many block clubs and community groups organized to help youngsters “do their thing” during special weekend programs in empty lots in the black communities.”

These photos* were taken August 1973 by John H. White for DOCUMERICA, a 1970s photography project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They are shown here with their original caption.