“We also wanted this center to be a celebration of the extraordinary public servants, many of whom are here today that made this journey possible. Some of you helped get me elected, some of you I had to talk into joining my administration, some of you were seasoned veterans who helped show a rookie president the ropes. But a lot of you were younger than I was when I first drove into this city…”
(From President Barack Obama’s address at the Obama Presidential Center’s opening, June 18, 2026)
The recently opened Obama Presidential Center is magnificent. Located in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park, the center is designed as an entire campus for visitors to gather, learn, read, listen, play basketball, engage in conversations, relax, and more. The Obama Presidential Center’s guests are energized and learn that people have the power to make remarkable changes in our democracy. The space informs, and visiting encourages us to participate in civic engagement. The center’s tower houses the admission-based museum, and on the eighth (top) floor there is the free Sky Room, presenting stunning views of Chicago, where visitors can reflect and be inspired by the surrounding site-specific works of art.
Attached to the Sky Room is the Vista that includes two works. One work is a photographic installation by American artist Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953,) entitled “The Cool Blue Wind.” The collage of 29 photographs is displayed on a wall, and the images are printed on gold and silver metallic rag paper, overlayed with blue tones. Each print is framed in custom maple wood, painted white gold. The images include African American Civil War soldiers, marchers, preachers, protests, famous jazz musicians performing and playing instruments. In addition, Weems composed a 40-minute piece with musicians Craig Harris and Vijay Iyer, that accompanies the collage. The music, entitled “The Obama Suite,” is in several movements, that include mesmerizing bass, amazing meditations, and incredible improvisations that intensify the images on the wall. Weem’s work expresses freedom and democratic elements in Blues and Jazz, and through music and art her message remains.
Blues and Jazz are the sounds of the African American experience. Jazz emerged from Blues and both genres gave rise to rock and modern music. Jazz and Blues began in the Southern U.S.A., at the end of the 19th century. Blues was first and originated in African American culture, specifically in rural communities that found release in singing about field work, sorrows, and distress. The “Father of the Blues” was considered to be W.C. Handy, and the “Mother of the Blues,” was thought to be Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. At the same time, and in the same African American groups that created Blues, Jazz was happening as a combination of African and European music. Jazz musicians employed blue notes from Blues, and added improvisation, syncopation, and notes of swing.
Jazz music became the sound of the Roaring Twenties, and during the 1930s, Big Bands played the Swing. African American musicians played for African American audiences in family gatherings, and in church. When white audiences wished to see live performances by African American musicians, racial conflicts arose. According to the Smithsonian Institution, The Cotton Club in New York City allowed only white patrons. In 1939, famous Classical singer Marian Anderson was invited by Howard University to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The venue was owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR,) who refused to allow Anderson to perform due to her skin color. Eleanor Roosevelt, then First Lady, resigned from the DAR, and Anderson performed next to the Lincoln Memorial.
The second work at the Sky Room Vista is a memorable piece by American artist Jenny Holzer (b. 1950). Entitled “Freedom Riders,” viewers see the large, text-based painting, drawn from an FBI file on civil rights activists who helped African Americans travel through the country, and promoted the process of nonviolent direct action. Holzer turns the document from a surveillance piece into a beautiful painting that expresses the Freedom Riders’ achievements and audacity. The painting is hand-leafed with thin sheets of palladium that provide a brilliant, tarnish-resistant finish, and an exquisite silvery look. Viewers are attracted to the beauty and walk close to the painting to read its text.
As President Obama noted: “The arts have always been central to the American experience. They provoke thought, challenge our assumptions, and shape how we define our narrative as a country.”
