I sincerely feel like no trip to the Loop is complete unless you at least take a peek at the Donut Vault. The line to get a donut often times runs around the block, but if you hit there after the morning rush, you can usually snaggle a donut or two.

On Friday morning I took three of our Lillstreet Artists in Residence, courtesy of Bruce Robbins, to the Chicago SOFA exhibition. I have to say, I am finding myself more and more intrigued with the work from the Intuit side of the SOFA expo, there is something about the naivete of many of the artists that i find more endearing and sincere versus the more commercial SOFA-fare. Nevertheless, we saw some great stuff and afterwards headed to the Donut Vault for some $1 coffee and gingerbread donuts. Yum-ee! Here are some of my favorite shots of the trip!

Totally loving the styling on this Wendell Castle sculptureSuch a nice surface on this Sheila Hicks wall piece, "Convergience II"This Tramp Style Cabinet was amazing! C. 1900-1925, the pinchy surface of it has me spinning with ideas!Another "Outsider Artist", Joseph Yoakum, really peeked my interest with his abstracted landscapes. How he created surfaces and made the landscape do extraordinary things was just beautiful! Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of this artist, but I really enjoyed the almost grotesquely beautiful still lives that this glass artist composed, it was almost too much to look and the reflection of the light on the glass surface was almost blinding at some vantage points. Mark Pharis had this sweet set of vases at the Lacoste Gallery Booth ...you realize it is all of these Japanese animae dolls melted together and sliced into this sheet. wow.This piece from the Megumi Ogita Gallery was really great. At first glance it seems like some abstracted painting, then upon closer examination...One more Tramp Style Clock...man I love that surface!