Latest news with #ChestertonArtCenter
Chicago Tribune
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Of Notoriety: Museum reenactors, Pullman lecture, nature exhibit free this weekend
Porter County Museum is hosting a free demonstration of historical trades interpreted by living-history reenactors from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, on the lawn at the southeast corner of the Porter County Courthouse Square in Valparaiso at Franklin Street and Indiana Avenue. The organizer of the demonstration is veteran living-history interpreter Ian Baker of Michigan City, who explains: 'Our reenactors come from all over the Midwest. They have spent years researching their historical professions and learning to replicate the skills and share them with the public. We expect to have numerous trades on display at the museum event, including blacksmithing, spinning yarn, and carpentry.' Visitors are encouraged to ask questions and interact with the interpreters. Museum Director Kevin Matthew Pazour said Baker and his associates have been a popular feature at the museum for years. Porter County Museum, located at 20 Indiana Ave. in downtown Valparaiso, is open six days a week, Tuesday-Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission. For more information, visit When Vin and Hazel Hannell built a home in the Dunes in 1930, they made the landscape and community central to their work and activism for decades. Best known locally for their pottery, the couple made and sold their line at Hannell Pottery beginning in 1944, using a signature local red clay and inspiration from local plants and landscapes. 'Right Here: Vin + Hazel Hannell and Their Continued Influence' is a new exhibit at Chesterton Art Center open now and continuing through Aug. 30, 2025. The show features more than 50 Hannell pieces as well as a shared spotlight on the works of 20 contemporary artists who are inspired by the same local landscape. The exhibit features a wide variety of media, including pottery and wood sculpture, watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings. Vin and Hazel gave back to the community by also teaching art classes, exhibiting local artists in their shop and organizing one of the first art shows in Chesterton for the 1952 Chesterton Centennial. The couple served on the committee for the first Chesterton Art Fair starting in 1959 and they are the founding members of the Association of Artisans and Craftsmen of Porter County, which is currently known as the Chesterton Art Center on 4th Street in downtown Chesterton. For more information and gallery hours, visit or call 219-926-4711. The Barker Mansion Estate in Michigan City and the Barker Family have a blended history of railroad titan George Pullman, a journey through time which will be explored this weekend with the latest History Hour presentation titled 'Pullman: The Man, the Company, and the Community.' At noon on Sunday, Aug. 10, at the Barker Mansion Museum at 632 Washington St. in Michigan City, this presentation promises to explore the complex and compelling story of Pullman, the industrialist who transformed American rail travel and labor relations. Born in 1831 in Brockton, New York, Pullman revolutionized long-distance rail travel through the Pullman Palace Car Company. His vision extended beyond engineering comfort when he created a model industrial town known as Pullman, Illinois, now part of Chicago, where his employees lived and worked. The story of Pullman is not just one of innovation, but also of labor, race and community. Often paired as contemporaries of their day, the Pullman and Barker families are a study in revealing the challenges of balancing idealism and industrial control. The Sunday talk will be presented by Doug Davidson, a recently retired railroad veteran with more than 50 years of industry experience. Davidson served as the Director of Arbitration for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen, the nation's oldest labor union, and chaired the National Railroad Adjustment Board. His distinguished career includes work as a locomotive engineer and as local chairman of BLE-T Division 96 in Chicago. Tickets for the lecture are $20 and can be purchased online at or by calling 219-873-1520. Adam D. Tucker brings his high-energy 'Vegas McGraw: Tim McGraw Tribute' to Theatre at the Center 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road in Munster. The 90-minute concert will feature more than 20 songs, from McGraw's biggest hits like 'I Like It! I Love It!' and 'Don't Take the Girl' to musical stage salutes to Sin City's brightest stars, including Elvis. Idolizing McGraw since he was a young man, Tucker says his uncanny vocal resemblance to the country icon, and following the advice of his friends, were the catalysts for him to pursue portraying the musical legend as a full-time career. Before the concert at 5:30 p.m. in the ballroom adjacent to the theatre, 10Forty Banquets and Catering will host a pre-show dinner featuring chicken and dumpling soup, barbeque chicken, macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, cornbread, and peach cobbler a la mode. Tickets are $40 for the concert and $30 additional to add the pre-show dinner. For more information, visit or call the box office at 219-836-3255.
Chicago Tribune
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Of Notoriety: LaPorte Little Theatre welcomes 100th year with ‘Music Man,' Three Dog Night at Hard Rock
A parade of 76 trombones will herald the start of the 100th anniversary season this weekend at LaPorte Little Theatre with a new production of 'The Music Man' opening Friday and playing weekends through March 9. A 200-seat stage space that opened in 1925, LaPorte Little Theatre is an all-volunteer arts organization. 'The Music Man,' Meredith Willson's six-time, Tony Award-winning musical comedy, has been entertaining audiences since 1957 and is a family-friendly story shared with new generations of all ages. It is being co-directed by Jim Snyder and Scott Lenig. Shows are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at the stage space at 218 A St. in downtown LaPorte. Tickets are $15 for students, $18 for seniors 55 and older, and $19 for adults by calling 219-362-5113 or Artistic expression Students of the March session of After School Sculpture will learn basic ceramic techniques from local ceramicist Allyce Ebert at Chesterton Art Center, 115th South 4th Street in Chesterton. In this fun and interactive class, students will use coil, pinch and slab methods to create and glaze whimsical animal head plant pots to take home as an artistic memory and memento. The four-class weekly session starts Monday, March 3, and continues through March 31 with no class March 24. The class meets from 4:30-6 p.m. and is intended for ages 8 to 12. Chesterton Art Center is a destination for art classes and exhibitions in Chicagoland showcasing artworks in a wide array of media, including painting, photography, sculpture, drawing, glass, wood, ceramics and more. Many pieces are available for purchase at a variety of price points. For information about other art classes and opportunities and membership options visit or call (219) 926-4711. Stage concert icons Legendary band Three Dog Night, now in its 6th decade, claims some of the most astonishing statistics in popular music. In the years 1969 through 1974, no other group achieved more top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets than Three Dog Night with hit songs like 'Joy to the World,' 'Mama Told Me' and 'An Old Fashioned Love Song.' With tickets starting at $45, Three Dog Night will play one concert at 7 p.m. March 7 on the Hard Rock Live stage. Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana is located at 5400 W. 29th Ave. with concert tickets sold at the box office or call 219-228-2383; Making a splash Credited as the 'Greatest Movie Musical of All Time,' the film favorite 'Singin' in the Rain' was faithfully and lovingly adapted for stage by Broadway legends Betty Comden and Adolph Green from their original award-winning screenplay. Each unforgettable scene, song and dance is included, including the show-stopping audience-drenched title number, for a new production opening this weekend at Memorial Opera House, 104 Indiana Ave. in downtown Valparaiso. The humor and tune-filled tale of the starlet, the leading man and a love affair set during the era of silent movies transitioning to 'talkies' is presented Friday through March 16 with performances 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets range from $27 to $60 and are available by calling the box office at 219-548-9137 or In the Mode The band Strangelove offers a concert tribute they describe as 'The Depeche Mode Experience.' Los Angeles-based Strangelove-The Depeche Mode Experience delivers a career-spanning, pitch-perfect 'best of' concert that transports the listener through time and touches on several key points in Depeche Mode's 40-plus-year career. Songs from throughout the Depeche tune timeline are lovingly recreated; from favorites on their debut Speak and Spell to the newest fare from the band's latest, 2017's 'Spirit.' The visual presentation includes stage set pieces and in-show costume changes that reflect different eras of Depeche Mode's story and includes a custom-produced multimedia projection of visuals to delight the concertgoer's senses and enhance the illusion. This unique concert event is in the spotlight for one 8 p.m. concert Friday at The Art Theater, 230 Main St. in Hobart. Tickets range from $28 to $40 by calling 219-942-1670 or visit www.
