Corning Museum of Glass

The only indoor part of our fall foliage trip was in the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. We timed it perfectly - for the few hours of rain during our 3 day trek. The museum allows photography so I enjoyed trying to capture images without too much glare. My favorite item this time was the broken pitcher with the green markings in the upper left of the montage above. Just think what it would have been like originally - glowing white with the bright green markings!

The vase with red carnations and a bird….the stained glass…the cut glass. Glass is certainly a versatile and appealing medium. I also enjoyed seeing another Karen LaMonte glass dress similar to the one I saw in the Tennessee last summer.

The museum also had several Chihuly pieces similar to ones I saw last summer in Dallas. There were also very different pieces - large chunks of colored glass, ribbed bowls, a giant peony of frosted glass. Enjoy the slide show below.

‘Stuff’ with New Purpose

I’m in the mode of getting rid of ‘stuff’ - all those things I’ve accumulated that I don’t use currently and can’t imagine using in the future. Of course - there are sets of ‘stuff’ that I use partially and that presents a dilemma. One such example is my collection of Blue Tulip Depression Glass. I use most of the pieces frequently - but not the cups. I like larger mugs for my hot tea or chocolate - not smallish tea cups. I certainly don’t want to get rid of the cups….so my idea was to find some other use for them. Here’s what I did.

I arranged the cups in a drawer and then put necklaces, pins, buckles, and other small objects into them. It is better for the necklaces to not be hanging and this keeps them gently cradled and organized. Another plus - the drawer looks quite lovely.

So - I’m celebrating the beauty and new purpose of the tea cups today!

Photography experiments

Today’s blog posting shares some results from some recent photography experiments.

The first one is quite simple - some hydrangea leaves photographed on a white kitchen counter top with shadows from natural light from the window on the left. The way the shadows accentuate the shapes of the leaves and the intersection of the shadows of the middle and right leaf intrigue me the most about the image.

The next photograph is of a hydrangea flower - taken with natural light using an old television stand for the black background. It turned out that it provided a very flat black even if it did make for a rather awkward position to be photographing (i.e. essentially lying on the floor). 

I did an earlier post on Blue Tulip Depression Glass. This is a photograph of a salad plate from the set photographed on a drying rack covered in deep red tissue with a small halogen light source shining from below.  

The image to the right is a gladiola photographed lying on a black deskpad using light from a halogen lamp. The flower looked pinker with natural light but I liked the color shift caused by the difference in light.

This is probably my favorite picture of the group. The swirls and puckers are gladiola petals with a background of black felt taken with natural light. To me, it is easy to imagine that they are swirls of fabric - around dancers just off the frame.

Dallas Arboretum Chihuly - June 2012 - Part II

Continuing the post from yesterday….some other pictures are in today’s post. The blue font below indicates the pieces that are in today’s post.

The Dale Chihuly glass was placed in interesting settings within the gardens. The Blue Icicles (they look like blue yucca or aloes to me) were the first pieces we saw before we even bought our tickets. There was a tower of yellow icicles. The Blue Polyvitro Crystals were installed in a rocky creek - like chunks of blue ice. The Red and Blue Reeds stood in water or at its edges. Some were installed where mist would rise around them or in front of falling water. The Blue Marlins were in the area of rising mists. They somehow reminded me more of great blue herons than marlins. The Dallas Star was in an allee of crepe myrtle. There was glass on boats with balls of glass floating around on the water. Some clear and white glass forms were in a pool mimicking the lotus leaves growing there. There was a fanciful piece with green mirrored glass called Mirrored Hornets. There were towers of reed pieces. Ones I liked the best were the Scarlet and Yellow Asymmetrical Towers.

Enjoy the second group of pictures below. 

Lotus

Lotus

Dragonfly

Mirrored Hornets

Mirrored Hornets

Pretty pinks and greens

Scarlet and Yellow Asymmetrical Towers

Round and pink

Carnival Boat

Spider Lily

Marlins in Front of Falling Water

Yellow Hibiscus

Dallas Star (also like an allium)

Double Azalea

Succulent

Blue Marlins (herons?)

Trumpet Vine

Red Reeds

Garden Glass

Dallas Arboretum Chihuly - June 2012 - Part I

The Dallas Arboretum is hosting an exhibit of Dale Chihuly glass through November 5th. I was there earlier this month and thoroughly enjoyed both the arboretum and the glass.

The Dallas Arboretum opened in 1984 and is on the bank of White Rock Lake. We were there when it opened at 9 AM - trying to ‘beat the heat’ of the day. We walked around and saw almost everything by about noon (even making a short tour of the DeGolyer Mansion that is included in the Arboretum).

The Dale Chihuly glass was placed in interesting settings within the gardens. The Blue Icicles (they look like blue yucca or aloes to me) were the first pieces we saw before we even bought our tickets. There was a tower of yellow icicles. The Blue Polyvitro Crystals were installed in a rocky creek - like chunks of blue ice. The Red and Blue Reeds stood in water or at its edges. Some were installed where mist would rise around them or in front of falling water. The Blue Marlins were in the area of rising mists. They somehow reminded me more of herons than marlins. The Dallas Star was in an allee of crepe myrtle. There was glass on boats with balls of glass floating around on the water. Some clear and white glass forms were in a pool mimicking the lotus leaves growing there. There was a fanciful piece with green mirrored glass called Mirrored Hornets. There were towers of reed pieces. Ones I liked the best were the Scarlet and Yellow Asymmetrical Towers.

Enjoy the first batch of pictures below….there will be more tomorrow. The blue font above indicates the pieces that are in today’s post.

Museum Strategies

I’ve been visiting a lot of museums recently and discovered that I very quickly settle on my strategies for a particular venue based on my experiences with other museums of the same type. I’ve listed the ones I’m most conscious of below.

Slow and read everything or fast for ambience. If the topic of the display is something I am really interested, I read everything - pull out drawers for extra information, push a button to watch a short video or hear a noise; in other words - I do everything the curators offered. This tends to happen in historical or science related displays. An example of this strategy, was in the Frank H. McClung Museum on the campus of The University of Tennessee in Knoxville; they have a detailed exhibit on the Native Americans in that part of Tennessee and a very well done video about Cherokee perspective. In art museums I tend to move through looking at pieces rather than reading the plaques - unless it is a piece I really like; it’s not necessarily ‘fast’ but it is not following every lead the curators have provided. I applied this strategy in the Cheekwood Art Museum in Nashville; the piece I walked up and read everything about was the Alexander Calder ‘Snake’ made of hemp rope (since I had never seen a Calder work in fiber….the metal mobiles are his best known work).

Pick favorite pieces. In art museums, picking a favorite piece (or 2 or 3) makes the museum more memorable. The Calder piece was my favorite at the Cheekwood Art Museum and Reclining Dress (pictures below) was my favorite from the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga. A Caddo Indian pot was my pick from the display at the DeGray Lake office of the Corps of Engineers in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Pictures. When museums allow pictures - they are a great way to capture the essence of the museum. The Hunter Museum allows pictures in same galleries and I captured the reclining dress along with the information about it with my camera.

Buy the museum book. If the museum does not allow pictures - consider buying the museum book. I checked the Cheekwood Art Museum book for the Calder piece; it wasn’t included….so I didn’t buy the book.

Check out the museum web page. Many museums have wonderful web pages. The Hunter Museum of American Art has particularly good ones. My favorite painting was a picture of the moon through trees titled Landscape with Moon by Ralph Albert Blakelock and sure enough - they had a page about it on their site. There was also one for the Reclining Dress by Karen Lamonte.

What are your strategies for enjoying museum visits?

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 19, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Scientists 'Read' Ash from the Icelandic Volcano Two Years After Its Eruption - A description of how data was collected immediately following the event and how it is now being used to improve model for predicting dispersion of particles - particularly from volcanic eruptions

Sulfur Finding May Hold Key to Gaia Theory of Earth as Living Organism - looking at the Earth as a giant living organism…sulfur in the ocean, atmosphere, and land

Study in Rats Shows High-Fructose Diet Sabotages Learning, Memory - what you eat has an impact…this study says reduce high-fructose and make sure you have enough omega-3 fatty acids

Statistical Analysis Projects Future Temperatures in North America - map that shows the temperature change expected by 2070 for the US.

First Gene Therapy Successful Against Aging-Associated Decline: Mouse Lifespan Extended Up to 24% With a Single Treatment - Research from Spain. Treatment has been found safe and effective in mice. The effectiveness was shown in ‘health span’ not just life extension.

List Of "Most Endangered Rivers" Flows Through National Parks - the Potomac is #1 on this list…that’s pretty close to home for me

Yosemite Nature Notes: Water - 6.5 minute video - waterfalls, churning water, gently flowing water, rainbows in the mist…and then it’s trek all the way to the coast of California; narrated by park rangers

Evolution Of A Glasshouse: From Colonial Glassmaking To Decorative Arts - Jamestown Colonial National Historical Park includes a glassworks!

Prosthetic Retina Offers Simple Solution for Restoring Sight - just one of the promising technologies to address the problem of age related macular degeneration; I hope one of them is practical and effective by the time I need it

Backyard Color of the Week: Yellow - last week it was blue….this week is yellow

Blue Tulip Glassware

I’ve had my Blue Tulip Glassware for a little over a month now. It appealed to me when I first saw it back in December and my appreciation of it continues to grow because its appeal has so many perspectives.

It is beautiful. The blue color of the glass depends on the lighting - all the way from turquoise to a pale Copenhagen blue. The smooth parts are tulip shaped but the nobs often give the impression of sunflowers; at first I thought the pattern was ‘sunflower’ and, based on some questions I noticed on some web sites, others may have made the same mistake. I started a project to photograph the sugar (a cup with two handles) 100 times; 10 of the best images are below.

It has history. Blue Tulip is Depression Glass. It was manufactured by the Dell Glass Company in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of the pieces that I have now were a wedding present given to an Oklahoma couple in the 30s. The set was purchased from the widow many years later by a couple that has known me all my life as they added to their collection of Depression Glass. They added some pieces they found at other places as well. When I visited them last December they commented that they were thinking about selling some of their collection and I offered to buy all the Blue Tulip. They gave me an excellent price for the antiques and it arrived in a big professionally packed glassware box in early March. Sometimes I think the glass is infused with all the happiness around it for the past 70+ years and somehow it rejected any unhappiness; it always seems to speak of home and long term relationships (both general and specific).

It encourages smaller portion sizes. The sherbet cups are a good size for ice cream or custard….any dessert served in a bowl. My husband and I have started using them frequently. The small plates are smaller too; a single muffin fits better than two. The dinner plates are the normal size but I find that the pattern encourages me to put less on the plate - so I can still see the pattern.

It fits the spring and summer season. I love the coolness of the blue color in spring and am anticipating I will like it even more during the summer.

Art in the Tucson Airport

Airports are usually hectic, stressful places. There is a lot of 'hurry up and wait' going on prior to finally getting on a plane. Our mental checklists for boarding pass, drivers license, easy off/on shoes, to check or not check luggage, food, etc. often consume our attention.  

There comes a point that the checklists are satisfied as well as they can be; rather than diving immediately into escapist reading - take a deep relaxing breath and a look around. I'm highlighting what I saw in the Tucson airport recently in the pictures below...but just about every airport has art. Does it ameliorate the stress and chaos of the airport? Maybe not completely but is certainly is a step in the right direction and I appreciate the airport authorities that have made it available.

 

The picture above is the front and back of a shirt in a zippered suitcase sculpture -  tucked under an escalator near the baggage claim area. I almost walked past it because the lighting is so subtle and its shape fit into the slope of the escalator. After a few steps past, it registered that it was something a bit different and I went back to look at both sides of it.

The group of pictures below shows glass, stone, and wood grain close ups.The top two are simply panels on walls. They are practical art. I've always liked looking at wood grain because of the suggestions the grain makes for other images. Iridescent glass tiles appeal to me too. Their color changes with different lighting. Photographing them from different angles provided some artsy moments for me! The pictures at the bottom were from a mual made of polish shells, stones and glass. The overall mural depicted elements of Arizona (birds, fossils, cactus, etc.); I enjoyed the whole but chose my favorite parts to photograph.