Category: Art Museum

Tucson Museum of Art

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Museum

We spent an afternoon at the small but interesting TMA. The museum is heavily focused on western art and southwestern art as might be expected of a small regional museum. The collections are also very inclusive of Native American art forms as well as Mexican and South American folk art. An interesting point that comes through at this museum is the differentiation that does not but should exist in defining all Native American art as a single entity. In fact there are significant artistic differences between the multitude of tribes and Native Americans prefer to be identified as a member of their particular tribe or nation.

TMA also participates with the Kasser Mochary Art Foundation to bring notable works to the museum as ‘loaned” pieces. The last painting pictured below is one of the current loaned pieces. A beautiful Manet.

Definitely worth a visit when you are in Tucson.

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Arizona Landscape, c. 1949 Norma Basset Hall
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Eucalyptus Tree, 1965 Clark Hulings
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Mudhead Katsina Motif, 1910 Dine’ (Navajo)
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Untitled, Henry Belink
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White Clothes, 1980 Denham Clements
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Bloc de Rochers, Belle-Ile, Monet

 

The Brinton Museum

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Museum, Scenic Drive

The Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming is located on the Quarter Circle A Ranch. Bradford Brinton purchased the ranch in 1923. He came from a prosperous family, graduated from Yale and was general manager of the family business, Peru Plow and Wheel Co. Brinton renovated and expanded the ranch house, which became the museum in 1960 upon his sister Helen’s death. He and Helen agreed that the ranch property would be open to the public upon the death of the last surviving sibling.

The newer museum building, pictured below, built in 2013 with money donated by Forrest Mars, Jr. (think Mars Candy Bars) is beautifully embedded into the ranch landscape, providing spectacular views of the Big Horn Mountains.

The museum collection is dedicated completely to Western and American Indian art and is quite impressive. There is an entire gallery filled with Plains Nations clothing, some of which dates back to the 1850s. 0050

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Remington Pembina Half-Breeds with Red River Carts ca 1901
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Brinton Museum (museum photo)
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Remington Trappers Going to the Pierre’s Fight ca 1904

Rapid City, South Dakota

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Cities, Coffee, Dining, Museum, Scenic Drive, Shopping

Dahl Art Center

Dahl Art Center is a small art museum located in downtown Rapid Center. We were fortunate that one of the current exhibits at the center is the photography of Chuck Kimmerle. This exhibit consists entirely of black and white photographs which are all depictions of the prairies and and grasslands of the west. His work creates stark images of landscapes which lack notable features. The second exhibit was a water color exhibit featuring notable regional artists.

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South Dakota Air & Space Museum

Yes one of us is an airplane geek! Nice collection of Air Force aircraft predominately consisting of bombers. The museum is adjacent to Ellsworth AFB which is the home of the B1 Lancer long range bomber.

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B1 B Lancer
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Boeing B52
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Boeing B29

Fika & Wine

Rapid City played well with three local roasters producing quality beans delivered well in their own cafe, I highly reecommend you visit The Essence of Coffee,  Harriet & Oaks and Pure Bean on your next trip to Rapid City. In the event you wil not be in the vicinity any time soon you can order their beans online.

We also had a fun time at the Firehouse Winery. There reserve cabernet is made using 100% Napa cab sav grapes and proved to be worthy of the purchase of several bottles to support the next segment of our journey as we prepare to push west into Wyoming cowboy country.

Plains Art Museum

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Museum

We spent a couple of hours at the above captioned art museum. The museum is small but has an interesting collection. Maria and I particularly enjoyed the current exhibition on the emergence of the Lakota Nation. The Lakota are now more commonly known as Sioux. The irony here is devasting. All of the works in this exhibition are painted by members of the Sioux tribe and very beautiful. The Lakota have been one of the most victimized indian nations in America’s history. The land agreements made with the federal government were violated multiple times with the government confiscating additional large tracts of their land.

Below is a sample of some of the works we viewed. Many of the works depict specific moments in the history of the Lakota. 0024

Funky, Friendly Fargo

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Cities, Coffee, Museum, Shopping, Yoga

We enjoyed a relaxing stay in Fargo after leaving the deep forests of central Minnesota. An old fashioned downtown with plenty of vitality especially on “Broadway” the main street through downtown. Plenty of excellent coffee and tea to keep us fueled while poking around the shops and museums.  We were also able to align our stay with several classes at Downtown Yoga and get in some much needed studio practice.

P.S. While very tempting we successfully resisted the the urge to have our picture taken beside the infamous “woodchipper” used in the movie “Fargo”.

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Young Blood Coffee Roasters

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“HoDo”

Detroit: Museums + Coffee Part 2 + Baseball

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Baseball, Coffee, Museum

We enjoyed our stay in Detroit. There is a lot to do and see in the Motor City. The local government and corporations are clearly working hard to revive the city but without a doubt the big “D” remains a gritty place with a long way to go.

Final day in Detroit; more museums + coffee; Maria and I spent the morning at the former Ford plant known as the Piquette Avenue Plant. This location was the very first plant Henry Ford operated as Ford. His previous two attempts to manufacture automobiles failed in quick succession.

Great Lake Coffee Roasting was our final coffee stop.

We are spending several days in Detroit before traveling north to the U.P. On Monday night we watched the home town Tigers make a nice comeback to defeat the White Sox 9-5. On Tuesday we ventured back into Midtown Detroit to spend the afternoon at the Detroit Institute of Art after sampling some very good coffees at New Order Coffee Roasters. The DIA has six Van Goghs of which five are currently on display as you can see below. Van Gogh produced 900 paintings so we have apx. 680 paintings remaining yet to be seen in person. The featured photo above is from a massive set of murals painted by Diego Rivera focusing on the massive industrialization manifested by the auto industry. The murals were produced after Rivera made hundreds of sketches inside one of Ford’s largest manufacturing plants.  They are considered both highly accurate in regard to the assembly line, yet they also symbolize the impact industry has on humanity and our environment.

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The Diggers by Vincent Van Gogh

Toledo Ohio: Museums + Coffee

by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Coffee, Museum

Started the day with a coffee with Maddie & Bella Coffee Roasters followed by a visit to the National Museum of the Great Lakes and a tour of the Great Lakes freighter Col. James Schoonmaker.  This freighter was commissioned in 1911 and was the largest Great Lakes freighter at that time. The freighter worked the Great Lakes until 1980 carrying grain, coal and ore. 0006

Museums and Coffee today in Toledo. Maria and I spent a relaxing afternoon at the renowned Toledo Museum of Art. Several excellents exhibits and two paintings on display by my favorite – Vincent Van Gogh. We finished the afternoon at Black Kite Coffee & Pies. Black Kite serves the excellent roasts of local roaster Flying Rhino. 0005