Art Right Outside Your Door

My office and my Safeway grocery store are about the same distance from my home, and I think I spend as much time walking Safeway's aisles as I do typing at my desk. But I had to think twice the other day as to which place I was when I stumbled upon this beautiful work of art.

OK, ok, I know, it's not exactly Schoonover, but if you've just grumbled in the produce section about $6 strawberries, wouldn't this brighten up your day?

Have a nice weekend!

Could Free Admission Beat Your January Blues?

It sure could for me! I don't know if it was the torrential downpour of rain last night or the bare-shelved Gap store at the Christiana Mall on Sunday, but the week after New Year's always feels like a Debbie Downer to me. Other than a boost in the form of no work on MLK day, it's a long stretch to spring. However, the Brandywine Museums and Gardens have something fantastic to offer you this Saturday, January 10th, and it won't cost you a penny. Literally.

All 8 of the Brandywine museums are offering free admission this Saturday for all ages. Between Longwood Gardens, Delaware Art Museum, Winterthur and more where is one even to start? As a veteran ultimate Disney-World park hopper (I've done all 4 in one day), I'm here to offer you an itinerary for your free museum day. I'll even tell you how much you'll save the entire day.

9:30 a.m.: Rise and Shine! Start in the southern Wilmington area along Rt 141 with some DuPont lovin' at either Hagley Museum($11) or the Nemours Mansion ($12). Depending on the weather you may or may not want to take in all of their outdoor property, which gives an excuse to host a Spring Open House (take notes Brandywine Museums!)

12:00 p.m.: Hungry for lunch? Not just yet, grab a granola bar and a coffee at a Wawa and get on 95, depending on your art tastes, stop at DCCA (free normally) or Delaware Art Museum ($12). They're both so fantastic I really couldn't reccommend one over the either.

2:00 p.m. Ok now you can have lunch. The possibilities are endless, head into Little Italy, or keep heading down Rt. 52 to Buckley's Tavern. Just don't fill up on too much of their crab dip or a food coma might prevent you from getting to your final stop.

3:00 p.m. Last but not least, go right to Winterthur ($22) or left to Longwood ($16). It is the last weekend you can see the Christmas decor at Longwood so if you aren't too sick of the holidays, this is the spot for you. The current exhibition at Winterthur, Feeding Desires, has gotten rave reviews so if spoons and knives are your thing, make that right to Winterthur.

Good luck, and if you can't make the trip from Dover to Wilmington, just come to the Biggs..... we're always free. :)

UPDATE (1/9/08): Trish from comments made me aware of two museums out of the ten Brandwine Treasure are not offering free admission on Saturday. Both Longwood and Nemours are not offering free admission. I did overlook Rockwood Museum, Brandywine River Museum, and the Delaware Museum of Natural History as options. These are three great museums to visit as well!

My MOMA moment.

Having lived in Manhattan for a short period of time, and visited a plethora, the shiny'ness of the great big city has become a little tarnished. However, my first visit to MOMA on a chilly Saturday afternoon this past weekend left me with that little girl in the big city feeling, or more like "Toto, I don't think we're at the Biggs Museum anymore."

From a visitor standpoint, all you might think of is "swarms", of people that is. The second to last day of the Van Gogh: Colors of the Night exhibition combined with the tail end of many holiday vacation weeks filled the MOMA with packs of people of all types. Tourists, internationals, families, couples, hipsters couldn't get in the revolving doors fast enough, whether it was anticipation for the art or just to get out of the frigid temperatures. Granted, I could have done without the pushing, getting my feet run over by several strollers and the few hipsters who were stealing my caption reading view, as an art museum employee I reveled in the crowds. Of all the things to do in Manhattan, there are this many people here, in this museum, enjoying and experiencing this art. They want to see it, get it, feel it, make an idea of their own and they want to be a part of it (hence the bare shelves that normally hold prints in the MOMA store).

So what was the highlight of my MOMA trip? Have you ever heard of brides buying the first dress they tried on? Well, my MOMA moment was the very first thing I saw after handing over my admission ticket. It was Swiss artist's Pipilotti Rist's installation, Pour Your Body Out. MOMA clearly had some space to fill in their atrium, at the size of 7354 Cubic Meters. As I walked up the stairs to the second floor, my vision was smashed with massive projections of pink tulips on all walls and I look towards the ground to see a crowd of people surrounding a circular cushion with white carpets. In a moment of modern art pessimism (shame on me), I thought to myself, "now what in the world is this?"

But the writing on the wall from Ms. Rist invited me to kick back, stretch out, meet people, and sing or even dance. Although visitors are experiencing video, Rist mentions that Pour Your Body Out is quite different from watching YouTube saying, " “The visitors bring their bodies to the museum. That’s different from the mass media coming to your living room.” The sixteen minute video encompasses all there is in nature, sort of like speeding through a day of programs on the Discovery Channel. I must be honest, I didn't kick my shoes off and parade around, as I had four floors of galleries to get through, but I did take it all in. Ms. Rist clearly has created a convening space for the public in MOMA, what you do in it is up to you. So, my final review of MOMA? I'll admit I'm an amateur for modern art, just dying to "get it," but everything I saw was well worth working for.

Go before they're gone! Treehouses

I FINALLY saw the treehouses! I'm sure you can sense my excitement over them. On display since early March at Longwood Gardens, with fantastic reviews, I've been meaning to get myself up to Kennett Square to see them. On my way home from Baltimore early Saturday morning I couldn't not take advantage of the beautiful fall day and made an impromptu phone call to my Grandparents asking them to join me. Two hours later, scarf and map in tow, I was on my way around the small lake and approaching the first of three treehouses, the Canopy Cathedral. And let me tell you, it was an impressive set of digs.

The Canopy Cathedral (along with the Birdhouse) was designed and constructed by Seattle-based TreeHouse Workshop. Now of course, in-line with Pierce DuPont's mission to preserve the green life on Longwood Gardens, the tree houses were built as to never harm the trees, but to be harmonic with them. Called a Pin Foundation, the treehouse is anchored to a series of long pipes driven into the ground, leaving the trees limbs and roots unscathed. The other two tree houses, the Lookout Loft and the Bird House are just as impressive (a million dollar price tag and four months to construct would further explain), but I won't spoil the surprise with too many photos! I took my time to awe, as did the many other families, adult and children of all types did that afternoon. Whether tree houses are an adventure, a dream of your own or simply nostalgic, they are a must see, and you're lucky if you haven't because they'll be on display until November 23rd.

Normally I visit Longwood come Christmas time as do many, but there is much so see during Autumn. The children's garden recently reopened with a spanking new look and a water theme. And to my pleasant surprise the Lilypads were still out, possibly due to an Indian Summer?

Hungry? You can't go wrong in the Longwood neighborhood. If you're going back to Wilmington, Pizza By Elizabeth's is the way to go, or Buckley's Tavern. However, I was in route through Kennett Square and Hockessin, and had a late lunch at the The Back Burner. And I've got 2 words for your Pumpkin Bisque.

When Museums Visit Museums

This past week-end I had the pleasure of attending a wedding all the while enjoying the Florida sunshine in good ole' Jacksonville. As a museum staff member, I've become a magnet to the tourist attraction brochure racks in hotels. I consider them a candy store for marketing material development. My first search is zooming in on any art museums in the area, and then of course visiting them. An early flight Friday morning from Philadelphia provided plenty of time int he afternoon to visit MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville. I was thrilled to visit a museum filled with contemporary art, seeing as the Biggs collection is mostly historical (no offense to Sewell C. of course!)

In addition to the permanent collection, MOCA was hosting two exhibitions, one that had opened to the public that day. Lucky me! Making Marks was quite similar to the Biggs' own annual Award Winners show, a invitational viewing of 33 locals artists' works. I admired their reasoning on the importance of displaying local artist's work as a way to trace the evolution of art in the local scene. Our local artist groups today are so similar to the artist colonies years ago, therefore it's important to continue to acknowledge the history made in this art. Anyhow, the art was awesome, featuring landscapes, installation, sculpture and more.

Though the best was definitely saved for last. In addition to Making Marks, MOCA had just opened Ultra-Realistic Sculpture, a collection of Marc Sijan's, a Milwaukee-based artist, super realistic sculptures. Lifelike didn't even begin to fully describe Sijan's sculptures. Working from live models, Sijan produces plaster molds in plaster, sculpts with tools casts in polyester resin, and uses oil paint for final touches. His figures are all on the verge of movement, which is his way of exploring the human figure on an emotional level. My first thought at the site of these was, "This is Madame Tussauds on a whole different level. From The Maid to the Dancer, the detailing was impeccable down to the veins on the forearms and the scratches on the finger nails and bruises on the shoulders.

Hence to say my visit to MOCA made my trip to Jacksonville enlightening, relaxing and enjoyable. However, a few slices of vanilla wedding cake doesn't hurt either.