The Omni Chicago Hotel lies north of the Chicago River, right on Michigan Avenue, the bustling street also known as the Magnificent Mile. The thoroughfare features more than 50 hotels and three malls. The area surrounding the Omni Chicago also includes a host of upscale eateries, many of which offer romantic settings. ) is located just a half-block from the Omni Chicago Hotel and the famed Tiffany & Company jeweler on Michigan. Housed within a two-story brownstone building, the restaurant offers outdoor patio dining and an interior decorated with white table cloths and mirrors. The menu includes such items as linguine with clams and cheese ravioli. Rosebud also features a children's menu. ) offers patio dining with wrought iron furnishings. Situated within a Victorian brownstone, the interior includes red drapes, hardwood floors, oversized couches and a fireplace. The dinner menu features pizzas and grilled meats. Additional Italian offerings include wines, homemade Limoncello drinks and espresso.

) sits two blocks south of the Omni. Located within a former 1890s mansion and one-time opera house, the elegant setting includes chandeliers, leather chairs, a spiral staircase and brass lion statues. Diners choose from six cuts of prime rib, as well as such side dishes as creamed corn and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. The lunch-time sandwich bar provides quick service. ), a Brazilian steakhouse, is located a half mile from the hotel. The decor includes hardwood floors, white tablecloths and earth tone walls and drapes. Servers dressed as gauchos provide tableside samplings of barbecued meat on skewers. The salad bar comes equipped with hot side dishes as well. The bar offers more than 150 wines, including selections from Spain, California and France. ) sits just five minutes from the Omni Chicago Hotel and less than 500 feet from the banks of the Chicago River. The multi-layered restaurant features dining areas tucked away on balconies, behind beaded curtains and in sunken living room-like settings.

The eclectic menu merges Japanese cuisine with Latin fare, such as miso soup and baked Peruvian scallops. The restaurant also features a happy hour and kid's menu. ) is just five minutes from both the Omni and famed House of Blues venue. torn curtains runescapeThe interior design includes hardwood floors, exposed brick walls and oversized framed mirrors adorning the walls. double curtain rod brackets menardsThe Asian fusion menu highlights such dishes as pot stickers and various sushi rolls. the curtain lady and son lowestoftThe weekend brunch menu also features dim sum samplings. carnivale blackout curtains

) is housed within a brightly colored building. While the sidewalk patio offers umbrella-covered tables and fresh flowers, the restaurant's lower level area features live cabaret performances most evenings. luxury thermal supersoft blackout curtains pinkFrench desserts include a collection of sorbets and truffles, while the entree menu highlights crispy veal and escargots. curtains 195cm drop) sits just two blocks from the Omni. curtains 195cm dropThe upscale setting includes floor-to-ceiling windows dressed in white gauzy curtains, track lighting and works of art lining the wall, including a piece by Andy Warhol. The restaurant offers more than 1,800 wine selections and a resident sommelier. Order a sampling of gourmet French fare via the restaurant's three-course prix fixe menu or six to nine-course testing menu.

/Getty Images Suggest an Article CorrectionRED TREES, started in the year 2000, and is in progress. A long-term project of 5 phases that memorializes our forests. This artwork conveys a sense of loss, the dynamic relationship between humans and the natural world, and the hope born of persistence. Red fabric covered over 300 cut trees for one year and were bleached by the sun with impressions of the last breath of the tree. The "shrouds" have traveled from western to eastern locations in the US and have undergone years of transformation by interacting with life's essential elements; earth, sun, air, water and ether. A patch of land in the northwestern United States was sold for its logging rights. In August 2000, phase I of Red Trees covered hundreds of stumps in the clear-cut with red fabric, revealing what is less disquieting when concealed. The bright red fabric elicits the memory of the forest's lost grandeur by positioning each tree in the imagination. It also acts as a shroud for the deceased or a protective cloth for a wound.

The tree stumps remained shrouded for one year. During that time, the fabric changed through exposure to the elements. In August 2001, over 300 'shrouds', returned to Chicago, each bearing the unique impression of an individual tree. The nail pierced, torn, and sun-bleached fabric spoke of the vulnerability and value of all life, including human life. >In phase II of Red Trees, October 1st, 2001, the shrouds completely drape a great hall that accommodates many of them. Each shroud, fastened at the top, is blown by air currents that create a moving room. My studio full of shrouds and a slight current of air contain records of death, yet breathes with life. Destruction and loss are poignantly transformed into beauty. In October 2002, phase III of Red Trees, was erected as a public memorial to the forest for ten days. The shrouds were again exposed to the elements, interacting with the wind while hanging several stories high on the stand of a fully functional water tower, itself an icon, as most others in Chicago have been dismantled.

At night, the Red Trees structure was lit from within. As a public installation, Red Trees becomes a beacon that reveals what often eludes us: the awareness of loss, yet the beauty and determination that can originate from confronting and acknowledging that which is lost. In phase IV of Red Trees, fall of 2003, the shrouds that have been exposed to three natural elements; earth, sun, and wind are now exposed to water. The shrouds were taken to the east coast to be cleansed in water from a pristine lake in Maine, thus linking the coasts via Chicago The shrouds are washed at the water's edge in Penobscot territory. The shrouds rest on the rocks to be dried by the sun. 100 Shrouds are selected and placed in a custom gold lined box. Learn more about My Crates, an installation project in progress. In phase V, numerous "shroud" remnants are offered to the element of ether; described as air, or time, or what fills the space between us along Chicago's lakefront from spring 2005 thru early winter of 2006.

Around a mounded garden, enclosed by the triangle of three city streets and surrounded by the traffic, shroud pieces hang from 100 bamboo poles where they remain into the winter. The remnants of fabric again travel through the seasons as the fabric softens, loosens, and dissipates the fibers slowly into the ether. The different environments, (hidden wounded land, public place and serene setting) illustrate a progression and reveal the emotional trajectory of empathy, acknowledgment, and hope. The Red Trees experience influences a larger project, My Gamma Waves, a layered story that connects my art and creates new meaning, answering the question of why certain things are made. First, I made a very large quilt. The remaining fabric remnants are used to make books and artifacts for the installation, such as a scroll. A page from The Story of Red Trees, a picture book filled with fabric collages. Learn more about my handmade books. This satchel is made with Red Trees fabric and cloth that I dipped in the Onon river in Mongolia as part of the World Rivers Project.