Pull Up A Seat – On Maxwell Street

Today, I invite you to Pull up a Seat on Maxwell Street. And, as my daughter pointed out, it rhymes too.  We were there a few weeks ago for the puppet show at Maxwell Street Market in Chicago, but this part of Maxwell Street is geared more towards sit-down meals at various restaurants, with a little bit of artwork thrown in for good measure.

 

Pull Up A Seat – In St. Charles

We found several places to Pull up a Seat while walking around St. Charles the other day and so, apparently, did some other characters.  The first shot was taken outside Hotel Baker, the next two along the Fox River and the last at the Flea Market at Kane County Fair Grounds.

Pull Up A Seat – For Art’s Sake!

In my experience, most statues of people seem to portray them in a standing position, as if showing a person worthy of a statue in a sitting posture would be to give the impression that they were somehow guilty of slacking. However, in my travels I have come across one or two inanimate posteriors that have been allowed to sink to a supporting chair or plinth. The first three images are of an art installation call ‘Borders’ in Grant Park in downtown Chicago back in 2013.

It would seem that Abraham Lincoln wasn’t above sitting down occasionally for a quiet think or to read a good book, as seen here in Chicago’s Grant Park, Freeport in Illinois and Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Children can sometimes be seen sitting down but mostly only in statues.  In real life you’re lucky if you can get them to keep still for more than two minutes!  These shots were taken at the Green Bay Botanical Garden, Wisconsin and Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg, Illinois.

While some artist’s models are lucky enough to score a comfortable chair whilst sitting for a sculptor, others find themselves perched on a cold, hard slab or a nubby rock as shown here at the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Garden in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And the more classical element only rate a less-than-comfy tree stump to prop up their rear ends, as these pictures, taken at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, show.

If anyone asks me to sit for a statue, I’ll be sure to specify that I want, at the very least, to be parked on a bench, seat or preferably a well-cushioned armchair.  Images captured in Elk Grove, Illinois, Sioux Falls in South Dakota and Green Bay Botanic Garden, Wisconsin.

For more on the Pull Up A Seat Photo Challenge go to Photo Challenge of places we sit…or might sit…or art about sitting.

Pull Up A Seat – At Cantigny Park

Arriving a little late to the party, I’m finally pulling up a seat at a relatively new photo challenge over at XingfuMama.  It’s always nice to find a seat in a picturesque spot and, going through the photo files, I see that I have not only sat on some of these seats but also taken pictures of them.  So for my first submission here are a few shots from my most recent visit to Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois earlier this year.

Cantigny Park is undergoing extensive renovations which are likely to continue through next year but there is still a lot to see. It’s hard to imagine how you could possibly improve on a place as lovely as Cantigny, especially the gardens, but they are certainly giving it a try. I miss some of the old features and it will take some time for the new plantings to get established but I think eventually the place will come together and continue to be one of the brightest jewels in the Chicago suburbs.