“Once Upon a Springtime,” Macy’s Annual Flower Show on State Street
1 HEY! PLAY! Games in Modern Culture (Chicago Design Museum) Last chance to play: Bring out the gamer in you and visit the interactive exhibition that provides an insight into the $100 billion gaming industry—its past, present and future. (Through March 10)
2 Handmade Market Chicago (Empty Bottle) With the motto “sustainable crafterness,” this monthly event brings together some of the funkiest designers, artists and makers, in one of the funkiest places in town—a shopping experience for those who appreciate the unique and the handmade. (March 10, 12-4pm)
3 Chicago Tattoo Arts Convention (Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont) The ninth annual convention by Philadelphia-based Villain Arts presents three days of extravagant live shows by circus sideshow and burlesque performers, and tattoo contests by celebrity tattoo artists straight from reality competition series, Ink Master. (March 23-25, 8pm)
4 Macy’s Flower Show (Macy’s State Street) What better way to pretend spring has sprung than by immersing yourself in Macy’s annual floral wonderland? Featuring theme gardens, special events and family activities, “Once Upon a Springtime,” promises a fairytale fortnight starting with the unveiling of Macy’s famed floral windows at the State Street flagship location. (March 25-April 8)
5 BYOB Paint Your Pet (SIT Social: A Dog Lounge) Explore new and unexpected ways to recharge: Spend an afternoon at pet-care space by day, pet-friendly event space by night (think dog birthday parties), Sit Social: A Dog Lounge, sipping your drink of choice while painting your pet from a photo. (March 16, 7pm, $65)
Greek-born Vasia Rigou is a Chicago-based art critic and pop culture journalist, largely on the subjects of contemporary art, design, and fashion. She moved to Chicago in 2013 to study Arts Journalism at the School of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC,) where she was awarded the New Artist Society Merit Scholarship. She grew up to appreciate art after years of carefully planned, culture-filled travel itineraries and museum-hopping around Europe with her family. During this time, she received a bachelor’s in English Literature, in her native Athens; a master’s in Media, in Nottingham, UK; and studied foreign languages—English, German, and Spanish at the University of Salamanca, Spain. Her writing—reviewing museum exhibitions, gallery shows, art fairs, fashion shows, and music festivals among others—has been published nationally and internationally both in print and online. In 2017, she founded and now serves as editor-in-chief of Rainbowed.—an independently published website focused on the visual and performing arts, digital media, and popular culture. When she’s not writing about art or looking at art—wine in hand, she keeps up with Chicago’s creative entrepreneurial and startup community, makes lists for pretty much everything, drinks immense amounts of coffee and takes cross-country road trips every chance she gets.
