Dazzling in vivid color and intricate detail, a 100-foot-long tapestry depicting a narrative of lush, magical paradise drew a crowd of onlookers at this year’s Northwestern Night at the Art Institute of Chicago on Thursday.
Among the onlookers was second-year Kellogg master’s student Alejandra Castañeda, who said she visited the museum specifically to see the tapestry: “Paradise Lost” by London-based artist Raqib Shaw.
NU community members gathered in downtown Chicago for the University’s annual Night at the Art Institute, organized by the Student Organizations & Activities Passport Program. They enjoyed free admission to the institute from 5 to 8 p.m. with their Wildcards, along with free CTA tickets into the city.
Castañeda, who came to the event with a friend, said she was looking forward to an evening that would break up her usual routine. She saw that “Paradise Lost” had come to the institute on CBS Chicago, so she and her friend were keen to see it in person.
“You can feel a lot of the emotions, and you can see the different textures and colors coming from a super obscure perspective into a more positive, optimistic one,” Castañeda said.
NU community members could also take advantage of three free guided tours led by staff members at the institute. The tours focused on various topics, including highlighting Hispanic artists, art and outer space and human anatomy in art.
First-year Black studies Ph.D. student Marissa Joseph said she was looking forward to the chance to explore the museum based on her interests. She said she was especially excited for the tour of the museum’s Hispanic art, organized in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, because much of her research focuses on Latin America.
“The tour was great because we got to see an array of pieces,” Joseph said. “My favorite was the Diego Rivera piece because I have seen many of his murals and learned about him in several of my classes, but seeing his work in person was really cool.”
Joseph came to the Art Institute with a large group of her friends from NU. After learning about the event, she said she decided to reach out to many of the people she had met earlier in the year.
Joseph described the event as a great opportunity to bring together the community she has been building since coming to NU.
“We don’t often get a ton of opportunities to go into Chicago, but it’s important to be intentional in exploring the community we are in, and this was a really easy and fun way to do that,” Joseph said.
For Weinberg juniors Amalyn Castro and Belen Bautista, community also played a significant role in their decision to visit the institute Thursday.
Castro and Bautista chose to participate in the event primarily to spend time with each other.
“We haven’t seen each other much lately, so we try to do these little events together, and we saw this one was free, so we were like, ‘Let’s do it,’” Castro said.
Both juniors said they couldn’t remember the last time they had been to the museum, so they were especially interested in looking at the history and written explanations behind the art.
Castro and Bautista also said Shaw’s “Paradise Lost” was a highlight of the night for them, and both enjoyed the large scale of the painting as well as its colors and detail.
“I definitely would recommend students come in the future,” Castro said. “It’s a free event, and you get to come here and look at the art with the community,” Castro said.
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