The View From Museum Hill

 

I've posted many times about the beauty and art to be found in Santa Fe New Mexico.  If want to see more of those posts, just click the "New Mexico" label at the bottom of this post.  For today I thought I'd concentrate just on what can be seen at Museum Hill without even entering one of the many museums located here.  

The architecture of the buildings on the hill is breathtaking in itself but, the place is full of sculptures in every direction.

This one is by Allan Houser and is called 'He Will Be Home Soon'.  

As you wander between the buildings, you can admire wonderful works of art virtually everywhere you walk.  

This sculpture to the right is by Phillip Mangas Haozous called 'Mothering II'.

Above is one of Melanie Yazzie's whimsical painted steel sculptures.

Here is an abstract sculpture by Tony Lee called 'Element'.  

Looking down at the entrance road, I see another huge sculpture that greets both pedestrians and drivers as they make their way through this labyrinth.

The natural surroundings also provides its own beauty to admire.  The views from up on Museum Hill are fantastic.  And, when nature provides a sky full of puffy clouds, it makes it even better.

Museum Hill is a little way out of the center of Santa Fe.  This link will provide helpful hints for getting there.  It is well worth the effort.

The British Museum & Sutton Hoo

 

Two weeks ago, I watched a movie on Netflix called "The Dig" staring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. It was a fascinating story about a woman who hired a self-taught archeologist, Basil Brown to excavate burial mounds on her estate in Sutton Hoo in Suffolk England.  When Brown finds evidence of a very important burial site, several accredited archeologists try to push Brown aside to claim the dig.  The woman who owned the property rebuffed them and allowed Brown to continue his work.  The discoveries were magnificent and through a gift to the museum, they now reside in the British Museum.

I highly recommend the movie.  You can read a synopsis of it here.  Or, you can read the book of the same name written by John Preston.  

Seeing that movie inspired me to take a look at my photos taken at the British Museum which is always one of the first places I visit on any trip to London.

Wandering through the British Museum never gets old.  The sheer magnitude of amazing artifacts and historical treasures is staggering.  I always leave the museum with a sense that I've touched a bit of history.  

As I looked at my photos, I was thrilled to find a photo of one of the most significant discoveries at the dig at Sutton Hoo.  The helmet dates to the year 625 and is believed to have belonged to King Raedwald of East Anglia.  

The movie gave me context for the importance of this and the other artifacts found at this site.  Now I want to go back to the British Museum to see them again and take a closer look at all the other pieces in this collection.  

The Enduring Beauty of Venice

 

There is a show on Netflix that I watch over and over again.  It's called "Somebody Feed Phil" and the best way to describe it is to say it's like a culinary trip around the world.  It stars Phil Rosenthal who is best known as the creator of the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond".  I never watched the show but I know that many people loved it.

Each episode of "Somebody Feed Phil" features a different city while Phil tours the area and tries all the local cuisine.  A few nights ago I watched the episode (again) that was filmed in Venice.  That is what inspired me to look through my photos of Venice and post a few more.  

I have quite a collection of photos from this beautiful place.  I spent two days here taking in as much as I could.  I'm sorry to say that I didn't visit any of the restaurants that Phil features but I did find places with very good food.

In Venice, no matter where you look you can find beauty.

Even laundry day looks charming in this city.

Venice is one of those places that is overrun with tourists.  It's a place that literally everyone wants to experience and who can blame them?

But even in tourist season you still find quiet corners to get away from the crowds.  

Venice is one of those places where there is beauty in every direction you look.  

Taking a Closer Look

 

For today's post, I'm taking a closer look at some of the art works that were part of an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA for short.  This particular exhibit contained works that were part of the museum's collection and were all gifted to the museum.  

First up is "Flying Mercury", a bronze that dates from around 1580.  

This gorgeous sculpture was given to the museum by Lynda and Stewart Resnick in 2015 as a gift to the museum on its 50th birthday.  

Isn't that a magnificent sculpture?  

Next up is this incredibly beautiful piece called the "Onians Cabinet".  Its origin goes back to Naples Italy around 1600.  It is made from exotic woods with ebony, ivory and steel.  

The details on this piece are beautiful.  It came to the museum from the Estate of Ernest Onians who passed away in 1995.  I was curious about who Onians was so I did a search that led me down a rabbit hole of fascinating information.  He was an art collector from Suffolk in England who was not your usual art connoisseur.  If you are interested, check out this story written by Onians' great niece.  It's a fascinating account of an unusual collector and what happens to his collection after he was gone.  The short account tells a tale of how even expert art appraisers from Sotheby's can miss a a very valuable work of art.

The next piece I examined more closely was this lovely cabinet called the Pietre Dure Cabinet.  Apparently "Pietre Dure" means hard rocks and represents a type of art popular with the Medici family of Florence. Pietre Dure art creates pictures formed from semiprecious stones fitted together so tightly the seams are barely visible to the eye.  This piece contains 19 pictorial panels depicting birds and flowers.

I'm not sure why I didn't take a close up photo of one of those gorgeous panels.  Instead I was attracted to the gold statues at the top of the cabinet.  

These last two pieces in the exhibit appealed to me because of the exquisite beauty of the fabrics and the details of the embroidery work.  These are also the only pieces that my research could find no record of.  I believe they are chasubles but I can't be certain.

I let my camera take a closer look at the impeccable weaving of one of the garments.  You can even see the faces of what look like angels.  

So that concludes my 'closer look' at some great works of art.  I enjoy researching these items as much as I enjoy seeing them in person.  I'm glad I took the photos to remind me to do the research. 

Chicago Landmark

 I'm jumping from the Singing Tower featured last Sunday to the Chicago Water Tower today.

The Chicago Water Tower is a well known landmark in the city.  It was built in 1869 and it along with the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station across the street served to bring water in from Lake Michigan.

The tower became a famous landmark after it and the pumping station survived the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.  It was the only public building in the burned zone to survive.  

Today the water tower holds the Chicago Office of Tourism and a gallery that contains historic photos along with works from local artists.  It is still possible to tour the pumping station and view those huge pipes that served the city so well over 100 years ago.

I always enjoy seeing that historic tower surrounded by all those modern high-rise buildings.  It's a nice juxtaposition of old versus new.   

Singing Tower

 

These photos today are from the big stash of slides I found last summer and scanned.  This place is called Bok Tower Gardens located north of Lake Wales in Florida.  I visited there on the same trip that took me to Epcot many years ago.

In the center of the garden is a tall tower containing carillon bells that play soothing music while you stroll the garden.

The garden was lush with tropical plants including many magnolia trees that were in full bloom.  I have one distinct memory from visiting this place.  I was seated on a bench listening to the music when a small ground squirrel tried to climb up my bare leg.  Needless to say, I screeched from the pain caused by his sharp little claws and off he went.  

The photo to the right was from one of the slides that faded a bit but you can see the tower clearer. For the photo at the top I was using a special soft focus filter.  The colors are better but you can't see the top of the tower.

EPCOT!

 

Many years ago I had the privilege of being among the first tourists to visit EPCOT, the theme park adjacent to Walt Disney World in Florida.  It was October of 1982 and it was an amazing experience.  There were many ceremonies and a lots of fireworks.  Space Ship Earth (above) dominates the entrance to the park.  There was a ride inside that round globe that takes riders on a time machine trip around our globe.

The Imagination Pavilion had films and slide shows.  I recall a presentation about the history of photography but after a little research, I discovered that the shows at this pavilion are always evolving with the latest technology.  

My favorite area of EPCOT was where the 'country' pavilions were located.  I loved visiting all 10 that were there at the time.  (There are now 11 pavilions.  One for Norway opened 4 years later.)

Above is a quiet corner in the Morocco Pavilion and to the left is the China Pavilion.  

To the right is a scene from the Japan pavilion.  

I located these photos recently but, it seems like there must be more somewhere because I recall taking photos at every single pavilion.  I have Morocco, China and Japan represented here but I'm missing the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Italy and the U.S. Maybe there is some irony in those missing photos.  I've been able to visit everyone of those missing countries since this time but I've never been to the three represented here.

I'll never forget being there for the grand opening with all the ceremonies opening the different pavilions and a wonderful welcoming speech from Walt Disney himself.  

On the Coast of Maine

 

Many years ago, I took a short road trip along the coast of Maine.  I followed the southern coast and roamed around in the Kennebunk region.  I remember passing through several towns and many of them had lighthouses to admire.  I felt like I was stopping every few minutes to take in another view.

Harbors full of boats of all shapes and sizes were especially appealing.

Living most of my life in the western half of the United States, getting a chance to see The Atlantic Ocean was a special treat.  The fact that there were so many harbors and lighthouses was just a bonus.  

One of my goals on that trip was to watch a sunrise over The Atlantic.  I had seen so many sunsets over the Pacific Ocean, I was craving what I thought of as the opposite view.  It wasn't the most spectacular sunrise but, it was well worth getting up early and walking the beach trail in the dark to see it.

These photos have all been scanned from prints.