Puppet Masters
Redmoon Theatre is known for wildly inventive productions staged all over the city, from the Jackson Park Lagoon to the façade of the MCA. The shows always have great trompe l’oeil sets and props, and now you can bring home some fakin’ (as well as other donated artwork, vacation packages, etc.) courtesy of an online auction. View the lots and bid online from now until March 11. The live event will be held at Spectacle Lunatique, their annual fundraiser, March 13 at Redmoon Central, 1463 W. Hubbard St., but absentee bids are welcome. This three-foot puppet, used in Cyrano, reminds me of something from designer Julia Edelman’s house that we profiled recently. Other auction co-stars include a Tony Fitzpatrick painting, colorful Mardi Gras headpieces, props from Moby Dick and The Golden Truffle, and outsider art.
Some Wares Under the Rainbow
Northbrook’s Rainbow Lighting is having a huge three-day sale March 6-8, offering 60 to 80 percent discounts on most merchandise in their 4,000-square-foot showroom. Rainbow normally deals exclusively to the building trade, except three times a year when they let it shine for the public at these popular weekend events. VP Steven Kallish tells me that the 20-year-old company deals with more than 200 different manufacturers, such as Minka, Kichler, Quoizel, and Hinkley. “Ninety percent of what we have on display is in stock and can be taken home or shipped within 24 hours,” he boasts. “That’s what makes us different from other lighting suppliers, who take orders and deliver in four to six weeks. We have a 40,000-square-foot warehouse attached to the showroom, and another 60,000-square-foot space near Midway airport.” Wow—that’s a lotta lamps. Rainbow is also one of the biggest buyers of closeout lighting fixtures in the U.S., and has recently started selling online.
Flower Power
There’s so much going on at the Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier this year (March 7-15) that I can’t begin to tell you about all the activities, from nonstop seminars, a marketplace with 100+ vendors, cooking demos by chef-lebrities like Hearty Boys, Tru’s Gale Gand, and Mercat’s Michael Fiorello, fantasy tablescapes, and pot parties (container gardening classes, silly, and no, they don’t take place at 4:20). I’m curious to check out the sprawling “Hope for the Healing Planet” garden Mariani Landscape designed and installed with the Chicago Botanic Garden, as I’ve been interested in Mariani’s work since we showcased a winter garden they did. It features environmental practices that gardeners can use at home, including green roofs, permeable paving, and rain water collection in a Japanese setting.
Home Specs
The March/April Chicago Home + Garden drops this week, and this issue is really packed with good stuff—I’m proud to have served as editor de la copy. These are a few of my favorite things: the beautiful Linda Oyama Bryan photos that accompany a piece on ancient Chinese scholars’ stones and how people incorporate them in gardens; actress Alex Meneses’s classic/quirky Gold Coast apartment designed by Alessandra Branca (the golden-yellow-and-black Basquiat painting hanging over black-and-white striped wallpaper, next to a Martha Stewart–ish beribboned bulletin board in the same palette is nothing if not inspired); and quickie tips from insiders on how to change out a room when the design honeymoon’s over. Pick up a copy, or better yet, get a subscription right now and you’ll be flipping through issues before they hit newsstands.
Spicy P.O.S.H. Sale
The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon, and you’ll run away with the bargains at P.O.S.H.’s annual sale, March 6-15, at the charming Tree Studios emporium. P.O.S.H. trades in vintage hotel silver, china, glassware, and tableware from bygone bistros and cruise lines, as well as reproduction pieces. There was a real Franco feel when I stopped by recently, with Parisian maps, signage, and café au lait cups, so expect a lot of French dressings.
Tool Time
Custom furniture and cabinetmaker Neal Sher has been teaching woodworking at his Roscoe Village shop Woodsmyth’s for ten years, and this spring’s sessions are starting up in April. The ten-week, three-hour evening and weekend courses are limited to six students per, cost $390 (all materials included), and when the sawdust settles you’ll walk away with three finished pieces—a freestanding bookshelf, a large, handled toolbox, and a Pottery Barn–worthy end table—as well as some mad skills. Chicago native Sher studied his craft at the University of California, and developed this college-level structured course to emphasize safety and mastery of hand and power tools. You might not become the next Lee Weitzman right off the bat, but you should be able to cross some of those home fix-it chores off the list without losing a finger.
Big News From Winnetka
The Winnetka Antiques Show turns 40 this year, and to celebrate, the fair ladies have invited more than 50 U.S. and European dealers to exhibit at the Winnetka Community House March 6-8. Chicago-area antiquarians include Melissa Edelman, Federalist Antiques, and Rita Bucheit—her neoclassical table is shown here. Admission is $15, or shell out $135 for the preview party on Thursday night, which includes admission to the Chris Jussel (original host of Antiques Roadshow) lecture on Saturday morning.