Photo Friday: Playing at the Art Museum

Dec. 22, 2016, Columbus Museum of Art

NY Museums: Trains, Planes and More

Even after six years of living in New York, there were still many things that we never had a chance (or made the effort) to see. At least three of those were museums, and we visited them during our visit in September.

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

This aircraft carrier turned museum is on the Hudson River, just west of Times Square. I found the walk-through submarine particularly interesting, and Edith enjoyed the "Explorium" and its interactive displays -- particularly climbing into the helicopter. Plenty of planes on the deck to look at, too.

New York Transit Museum 

Located just a short walk from Paul's old office in Brooklyn, the museum is actually located underground in an old subway station. A short walk-through history ended in some rather extensive displays, including old turnstiles and probably dozens of former subway cars through the years. Buses weren't left out -- Edith could have spent all day in the driver's seat, pretending to steer.

Brooklyn Children's Museum

Edith had a blast (and I had a surprise, running into an old Bay Ridge friend there). I liked World Brooklyn the best, with toddler replicas of international stores throughout Brooklyn. We also spent quite a bit of time in the water, sand and gardening areas. It's basically a smaller COSI, but it was a pleasant excursion for a rainy day.

The Other Upper East Side Museums

Guggenheim Museum

Visitors to New York City who are museum-minded generally have two in mind: the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side.

In my mind, they certainly are the two most impressive of New York's many museums, but they're not always my favorites. Both are striking-- the buildings themselves and the collections inside -- but also unwieldy. Too big. I always feel like I'm missing something, and I probably am.

When I feel like getting a jolt of culture, I like the Guggenheim Museum. The primary space is round, and visitors view the main exhibit by walking around and around a giant ramp. A few other exhibits fill up the annexes, but everything is easily accessible. Best yet, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building is dramatic inside and out -- and just a few blocks from the Met if you just have to go there, too.

Paul and I visited the Guggenheim just a few weeks ago, and we decided to make a museum day of it. Instead of going to the Met, however, we went to the Whitney Museum of American Art for the Edward Hopper exhibit. I was excited to go since he's one of my favorite artists, although the setting isn't nearly as nice as the other museums. I find the building blah inside and out; it's easy to miss even if you're walking by.

Whitney Museum of American Art

The Hopper exhibit was crowded. Even still, we got through the bulk of the museum -- all that we wanted to see, in any case -- in about 90 minutes.

To me, the Met and the American Museum of Natural History are like nice, expensive meals -- something to be indulged in and savored, but only once in a while. Most of the time I just want something hearty and filling, but still of good quality. That's what the Guggenheim and Whitney are for me.

The World's First PB&J Art Exhibit

Anyone who has seen me eat lunch in approximately the last 20 years knows I like peanut butter. Love peanut butter, in fact. When I packed my lunch in school -- which was almost every day starting in junior high or so -- I can't remember ever having or wanting any other entree. And when I pack my lunch for work -- again, almost every day -- it's still what I crave.

Yes, it's cheap and I'm a cheapskate. But that's not why I eat it. I truly, genuinely love it. Sometimes I'll even eat it on the weekend, too.

So when I heard about an event being billed "the world's first pb&j art exhibit" there was absolutely no doubt that I was going to go.

The Nutropolitan Museum of Art was a three-day-only exhibit at Openhouse Gallery, the same location of the indoor pop-up "greenspace" Park Here earlier this year. It was really more of a big advertisement for the specialty restaurant Peanut Butter & Co., but I was fine with that -- especially since we got a coupon for a free jar of their gourmet peanut butter as we left the gallery.

The exhibit basically consisted of more than a dozen photos of nutty peanut butter creations. Here were some of my favorites:

The exhibit also included a space to "create your own pb&j art," but alas, it closed shortly after we arrived. I saw a boy with a slice of bread slathered in peanut butter and sprinkled with what looked to be M&Ms. I was jealous.

An Art Exhibit Minus the Art

When Paul and I went to the Guggenheim Museum last weekend, we went not to view art, but to be art.

The occasion? An installation (?) by Tino Sehgal.

The Guggenheim's rotunda was entirely cleared of all artwork, the walls completely white. We were the art. When I write it like that, the exhibit seems like a rip-off. Why spend time or money on a piece of art I can find in my mirror?

But it was more than that. The museum describes the exhibit like this:

"Relying exclusively on the human voice, bodily movement, and social interaction, Sehgal's works nevertheless fulfill all the parameters of a traditional artwork with the exception of inanimate materiality."

In fact, the so-called artwork "can be bought and sold, and by virtue of being repeatable, they can persist over time."

Here's out it worked. Near the start of the exhibit, a child (a more "permanent" part of the artwork) introduced herself to us and asked us what we thought progress meant. The conversation continued until a woman in her 20's or so took over for the girl. We got passed from person to person, the abstract conversation continuing through about five people and 10 minutes. Looking throughout the museum's space, it was difficult to determine who were the visitors and who were the people hired to keep the conversation -- and the pace -- moving.

It's difficult to explain-- this New Yorker brief explains it much better (and explains what you see toward the bottom left corner of the photo above).

I'm still not so sure that this is art so much as theater. But I will admit that the experience made me think more than any piece of canvas ever has.

The long line to the Guggenheim.

Jane Austen at the Morgan Library

Spending the weekend with "Emma." Reading "Mansfield Park" in bed.

"You could bring a person to bed, and that would be nicer in some respects, but not as fully satisfying," thLING_ERROR_1">e novelist Colm Toibin explained in "The Divine Jane: Reflections on Austen."

The video was part of a Jane Austen exhibit at the Morgan Library, which I finally visited on Friday night. Hearing Toibin on screen, I couldn't help but think I'd met my match. Is this a person who appreciates Jane Austen even more than I do? (In any case, he appreciates "Mansfield Park" much more. I could have understood if he would have said "Pride and Prejudice," but never "Mansfield Park"! Hehehe.)

The exhibit was small but fascinating. It included many of Austen's personal, handwritten letters (I believe the library has the largest collection of Austen letters anywhere), and several were "crossed letters," which I found extremely interesting. In order to save money on expensive paper and postage, she would continue her text perpendicularly over what she had already written.


Several old volumes of her books were on display as well, highlighting three of the primary illustrators of her novels. And I even learned a little bit: Marvel Comics released a "Pride and Prejudice" comic last year, which I now must find!

This is what I love about New York. I never would have planned a visit to a city around an exhibit like this, but here it is anyway, in my own backyard.

New York vs. Defiance Field Trips

Say what you want about raising kids in New York City, but students here sure get to go on some nice field trips.

The American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... world-famous institutions barely a bus ride away.

I, on the other hand got to go the zoo. A veterinarian's office. And in one memorable fourth-grade field trip, Defiance County's wastewater treatment plant.

Of course, it's easy to take New York's attractions for granted if you're a born-and-bred city-dweller. Paul has co-workers who seem to have avoided museums for years.

So maybe it's all for the best. Now I'm visiting the museums when I'm old enough to appreciate them. And besides, how many New Yorkers can join me in saying they visited a nuclear power plant in junior high?

Photos from the Guggenheim

Paul and I ostensibly visited the Guggenheim Museum earlier this month for an exhibit on Frank Lloyd Wright.

And sure, we inspected the models and the architect's drawings. But the visit turned more into an inspection of the museum's building with my camera. That's not as unrelated as it sounds, since Wright actually did design the Guggenheim.

The Guggenheim isn't my favorite New York City museum (that honor probably belongs to the American Museum of Natural History), but it is my favorite museum building. The simple design means it's easy to navigate and difficult to miss a display. The continuous spiral ramps and large rotunda make for some sweeping views-- albeit a queasy stomach if you look down from the top.

Yet Another Reason to Pay Us a Visit

See Paul in the upper right corner? At the American Museum of Natural History.

We haven't had overnight visitors since last June or July. Are Paul and I that forgettable? I hope not.

In any case, we need some visitors! And if the pleasure of our company just isn't enough, here's yet another reason: free admission to the American Museum of Natural History.

After the Met, it's probably the most famous museum in town. It's got a bit of everything: dinosaurs, gigantic taxidermy displays, exhibits on space and Earth (take a look at the photos from our first visit last year). Besides being featured in the Ben Stiller flick "Night at the Museum," it also played a part in one of my favorite Baby-Sitters Club books way back when.

To make a short story long, Paul gets in free to several museums in the city through his workplace's corporate sponsorships. Usually he can take a guest for free, which works out well for me.

That's why we used to go to the Guggenheim every couple of months, whenever the exhibits changed. But when we tried to visit a couple of weekends ago, we were told that the sponsorship had dissolved. Disappointed, we went to the Met instead (not such a bad replacement, I know).

So Paul got an updated list of museums where we could get in free, and lo and behold the American Museum of Natural History had been added to the list. Since tickets are normally $15 per person and I'm a cheapskate, this makes me very happy. Even better: He can bring 5 guests free, too.

We have an empty spare room in addition to a comfortable couch. Who's first?

Museum or Subway?

Now I can go to the Museum of Modern Art every morning on my way to work, kind of.

Nearly every single subway station in New York is plastered with ads for TV shows, new movies, whatever you can imagine. And most of them are defaced, and not nicely (Although often very cleverly. But that's another blog post, and I'll have to take photos first.).

Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to see the entire Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street station -- one of the biggest, if not *the* biggest, station in Brooklyn -- covered with photos of MoMA's permanent collection today. They'll be on display for the next six weeks.

The New York Times has a good article about it, with a couple of photos.

Without a doubt, the reproduction of the Jackson Pollock painting I noticed this morning has to be more enlightening than yet another poster for "He's Just Not That Into You."

Heat wave & more visitors

When I haven't been too busy to write this month, it was too hot. But mostly I've just been lazy.

For four straight days two weeks ago, the temperature hovered around 100. It made me very glad that Paul installed our air conditioner the weekend before, but very sad that we bought only one. It's in our bedroom for two reasons: (1) to give us a cool night's sleep and (2) to drown out the patrons of the bar downstairs who are sure to loiter on the sidewalk on warm nights.

Buying a second air conditioner wasn't really an option. It's not that an a/c is expensive-- it's not-- but we don't have a place to store it this winter. I'm not even sure where we're going to put the one we have. Of course, if Paul got rid of his homebrewing supplies, we would have room for three air conditioners. Somehow, I don't think he's going to go for that.

In any case, I miss my Ohio central air. And garage.

Mom and Dad luckily missed the heat wave when they visited Wednesday through Sunday. Dad, Paul and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday night, and the weather was perfect. We arrived after the sun had set, so we didn't get many good pictures. We walked a bit through Brooklyn Heights, taking a look at the promenade along the East River and peaking into the popular restaurants.

Mom and Dad visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island while Paul and I were at work Friday. I met them after work at Federal Hall, where George Washington took the oath of office. Early that evening I led Dad on a long walk to Bay Ridge's own promenade along the bay, and of course we stopped at Little Cupcake on the way back for treats later that night.

On Saturday we went to the Whitney Museum of American Art, followed by a quick jaunt through Central Park, followed by a downpour before we could make it to St. Patrick's Cathedral. We parked ourselves under construction scaffolding, walking a few blocks at a time during the lulls in rain until we made it to the church.

This weekend we have more visitors, although I'm not sure they're staying with us. Bill and Leslie are coming into town and we're all going to a Yankees-Reds baseball game Sunday, and I'm very excited. Bill and Leslie visited in February, and it was a great weekend. Add a Reds game, and how could it get much better?

A day at the museum(s)

One of the perks of Paul's job is that he gets free admission for himself and at least one guest to most of New York's major museums. With normal admission prices at $20 apiece for some museums, I was thrilled when we realized in March that we could go to all of them for nada.

So we spent a few Saturday afternoon hours at the Met about a month ago. A couple of weeks later, the Guggenheim. Yesterday, the Museum of Modern Art.

Surprisingly, the latter has been my favorite. And unlike the others, you can take photos in most areas.

Watch your step!

Paul, face to face with a face.

Recognize these?

Paul, pretending he's in an iPod commercial.

We actually had to wait in line to face the crazy mirrors.

We usually follow-up our afternoon at a museum with a walk, and Sunday was no exception. Central Park was crowded, but the sunshine put most everyone on their best behaviour.

Brooklyn Museum

It seems that a lot of the museums around here have free or discounted hours-- during the workday. Luckily, one exception is the Brooklyn Museum. It's free the first Saturday of every month from 5 to 11 p.m.

Paul and I went this past Saturday. It was like going to Gallery Hop in Columbus, except we only visited one (very large) gallery.

The Brooklyn Museum is famous for it's collection of Egyptian artifacts. That bores me, and I feel guilty about that since it really is a big display. However, I did learn about crocodile cemeteries, so at least I came away with something.

I preferred the paintings (only one or two that I recognized) and The Dinner Party. The museum had also recreated rooms from homes of different eras, and I found that very interesting.

We spent about about three hours there and didn't see the whole museum. I guess that gives us something to do next month!