HotelChatter

An all-star lineup of judges included artist Demarcus Purham, who created the "brick wall" featured in the hotel's ballroom, as well as Art Slant Chicago editor Abraham Ritchie and Whitney Tassie, director of the Monique Meloche Gallery.

Apparently, the artist who made the biggest impression on them was Kristina Estell, from Duluth, MN, who chose as her medium some shrubs she found growing outside the hotel, sealing each leaf with water-based tape, and enclosing the whole thing between two panes of glass.

"Archived Overgrowth," (above) as the piece is entitled, is now on view as part of the hotel's permanent collection. "The idea was to bring something of the outside environment into the James," Estell explained. "This is the first project I've done with this specific material. Once they're sealed under this tape—it's a water-based tape—it actually preserves them pretty well."

Watch videos of the entire process here.

[Photo: Huffington Post]