Last week I had an opportunity to attend SOFA in Chicago.   No, I didn’t lounge around in a furniture store.  SOFA is a massive and annual art happening in Chicago. New York and Sante Fe also have SOFA events.

The Chicago event occurs at Navy Pier the first weekend in November.

It’s a three-day event featuring Sculptural Objects and Functional Art (hence the name SOFA).  This year’s show highlighted 70 art galleries and dealers from 11 countries presenting works by more than 350 artists.

If I had known how big and interesting it was going to be, I would have gone earlier in the day.  Probably wasn’t very smart to go mid afternoon after a rather substantial lunch and boot shopping at Bloomingdales, but the art on exhibit and for sale energized me pretty quickly.

It was  amazing stuff and I even recognized some names like Dale Chihuly.  If you live in Grand Rapids and don’t know that name, you have been out to lunch.  The exhibit at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculptural Park has been a “go to” event this summer.

I liked the pieces shown in Grand Rapids better than the one at SOFA although these had a magical quality.

I always wonder how artists can dream up and create what they do.  Fascinating to me.  I also enjoy going with my husband and seeing which pieces we both like.  Interestingly, this year we both loved the same glass artist and could visualize one of her pieces in our home.

I love people watching. Folks who go to Art Events tend to dress  creatively and I like that.    What follows are a smattering of photos in attempt to capture the experience. This next one is a sculpture, not a real person.  I had to get really close to figure it out.