Museumpalooza

Who else could use a burst of color on this dreary ?

“I have painted what each flower is to me and I have painted it big enough so that others would see what I see.” - Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Red Cannas” (1927) at Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Oh deer! 2019 got kinda crazy, and and I went on a bit of an unexpected break.

But the good news is that it’s 2020, and we’re back to populate your feed with awesome art - like this giant fiberglass deer by Tony Tasset at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art!

“Deer” (2015) is 12 feet tall, and references kitschy lawn ornaments like plastic flamingos or holiday reindeer - obviously fake animals that humans add to their front lawns, which are themselves perfectly-manicured / domesticated bits of the natural world.

Celebrating with this insightful post from the archives.

Remember: Be aware. Stay vigilant. Guard anything at knee-height. (If you’re looking it in the eye, it’s a Utahraptor or Deinonychus.)

Clever Girl – The Jurassic Park Velociraptor Debate There was one aspect of Jurassic Park  that my 8-year old self refused to accept. A serious injustice had been committed. "Those dinosaurs weren't velociraptors !"

Fun Fact: During the 1960’s and 1970’s, there were approximately 3,200 buttons and switches on any given space shuttle’s flight deck.

If those buttons and switches were changed to touch screen (like today’s cell phones), only approximately 280 buttons would be required.

Happy 125th birthday to our “hometown museum” and the oldest art museum in the state of Texas, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth! The Modern’s current building, designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect Tadao Ando, is also celebrating its 15th anniversary.

Museumpalooza: edition! Andy Warhol’s “Diamond Dust Shoes” (1981) at New Orleans Museum of Art is coated in dust from actual ground-up diamonds, giving the dark shadows in the work a glittery sheen in keeping with Warhol’s fascination with the opulence, glitz and glamour of American consumer culture.

: “La Somme d’Une Fleur” (1956) by Chilean surrealist / abstract expressionist painter Matta was one of my favorite works at New Orleans Museum of Art.

Matta was a close friend of Rene Magritte, and would go on to become very influential on abstract expressionists like Jackson Po***ck, Lee Krasner and Sam Francis after moving to the US in 1938.

Tonic wines sprung up during the 19th century as doctors began infusing medicinal herbs in wine (since wine-based medicines tasted better than those made using hard alcohol as bases.)

But the science behind some of these tonic “cures” was dubious at best, and often they only masked the symptoms of the afflicted. For example, “Vin Mariani” (or Mariani Wine) was said to treat influenza, nervousness, insomnia, impotence, melancholy, and assorted body ailments, and it’s no wonder people felt better after drinking it - it’s primary ingredient was Erythroxylon cocoa, the botanical source of co***ne.

In 1816, Louisiana became the first state in the US to require licensing for medical practitioners including pharmacists, physicians, dentists and midwives.

However, the city of New Orleans had already been requiring medical licenses as early as the late 18th century, due to the area’s constant epidemic diseases that required treatment by skilled doctors.

Cemeteries in are built in the French tradition - above ground - to maximize the use of space and ensure the dearly departed don’t float away in the area’s floods. What’s not well known is that each of these monuments usually holds only a few bodies at a time - often, the most recent people who have died in a particular family.

When more room is needed for someone else, the remains of current residents of the tomb are moved into bags (which is easy enough, as it gets to be 300+ degrees in the tombs during the summer) and placed in the “caveau”, a small communal burial area beneath the original tomb, where their remains can lie with the rest of their family members while new bodies are rotated in.

to Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, where we saw John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s 1954 classic, “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

J.R.R. Tolkien was a brilliant man and master of languages, having learned Danish, Dutch, French, German, Gothic, Greek, Italian, Latin, Lombardic, Middle and Old English, Old Norse, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Welsh and Medieval Welsh. He also constructed the grammar and vocabulary of at least 15 languages during his lifetime, including a variety of Elvish languages for “The Lord of the Rings”.