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Totally Thrifty Thursdays...and Fridays
Monday Jun 12, 2006.
By Erin Brereton
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 To comfort me, my former co-worker said, "Well, just think, we can go to free days at all the museums now!" A-ha! I thought. Every good Chicagoan knows about the museum deal days—weekdays during which you're allowed to wander the museum campus and partake in mammals, Monet and much more for free. We never did go to a free day. It's hard to focus on art when you're spending you're begging for work and panicking. We did get jobs, eventually, which leaves me, once again, workin' late and leading a generally culture-free existence. Which is why I was especially excited to hear that this summer, Ford Free Tuesday at the Art Institute of Chicago magically became Ford Free Thursday and Friday evenings. From 5 to 9 p.m., people can wander in and out of the Art Institute, ooing and aahing at the Picassos and wondering what the hell half the things in the medieval knight display were used for. (Weapons? Headgear?) I rounded up two friends and headed to the first freebie Thursday on June 8. My friend Matt is "all about the photos," so started with the downstairs photo exhibit, "The Concerned Photographer." Images of the Depression and World War II concentration camps shot by socially-conscious photographers were stunning but really, really sad. And since we'd blown past Blues Fest on the way to the museum, we were already dangerously close to being depressed. (If I'd been wearing a mood ring, it would've gone black by the time I hit the third mounted photo.) So we retreated upstairs to the Contemporary section and saw some of the museum's most famous works. I pointed out the painting-underneath-the-painting in Picasso's "Old Guitarist" (no, thank you, art hallway high school friends with the box purses) and we debated about which Monet we liked best. We listened to 30 seconds of a pretentious tour guide's spiel as she passed us. And then...by some miracle, we stumbled upon a painting by my favorite artist, Gertrude Abercrombie (and mind you, I've been looking for that painting, which I had been told was not on display, since back when I used to spend my days in the art hallway). I couldn't believe it. But I knew it when I walked in—the muted, grayish color palette, the small room setting. I was floored. And, judging by the look I got from a nearby guard, a potential threat, so I backed away. We set off in search of "American Gothic" only to find out it was on loan; we stopped by Matt's favorite sculpture and I tried to understand the thought behind O'Keeffe's "Black Cross" (is that supposed to represent a lady's bidness, too?). Tired from our museum walk, we retreated to the outdoor patio, Garden Restaurant for a drink. It's a lovely courtyard in the middle of the museum, and we contemplated splitting a bottle of wine (about $35), but the appetizer list on the menu just wasn't appealing to any of us, so went off in search of salsa and chips. Later that weekend, I showed Matt and Emily the painting I had tried to do back in high school in Gertrude Abercrombie's style. It is titled "Nightmare in B Minor: A tribute to Abercrombie's mastery of the self-portrait" and features me, at 16, dressed in a nightgown, sitting in a swing that is tied to a large tree. We all died laughing. But you know, at one point, art was a regular part of my life. And as I've gotten older, more materialistic and generally more commercial, it's fallen by the wayside. But now that it's free to view two nights a week—two of my favorite nights a week—I just may become a regular. You'll know where to find me: Camped out in front of the Abercrombie, staring. Want to check out Ford Free Thursday and Friday evenings? Stop by the Art Institute from 5 to 9 p.m. on those nights from now until Labor Day. You'll find more information here.
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