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pegkerrI had taken the week after work, but as always, I don't realistically have the money to get out of town for my vacation. Despite the issue with my foot, I wasn't willing to spend the week parked on my couch and so I decided I was going to get out of the house every day. Explore the city. See things I've not had a chance to see before.
I'd had such fun visiting the Minneapolis Art Institute a few weeks ago that I hit upon the idea of checking out museums every day (there are a lot of them in the Twin Cities), particularly ones I hadn't seen before. I was particularly interested in looking into ones that would teach me about other cultures. My foot is getting better, and I figured I would be probably up for exploring museum galleries at a slow walk, and I would be able to sit down on a bench if I got tired.
This turned out to be a great idea. I've had a wonderful week.
I went to:
The Weisman Art Museum, where I was delighted to discover the glass fish statue that was one of the inspirations for my (unfinished) ice palace book ("The museum presents and interprets works of art, offering exhibitions that place art within relevant cultural, social and historical contexts.")
The Pavek Museum ("The mission of the Pavek Museum is to share how pioneers in electronic communications created enormous impacts on the evolution of society, to inspire in people a passion to make contributions to our quality of life through science and the communication arts, and to preserve the rich mosaic of the development of electronic communications through a historically significant, permanent, and living repository.")
The American Swedish Institute (free on Thursday afternoons) ("The American Swedish Institute is a gathering place for all people to explore diverse experiences of migration, identity, belonging and the environment through arts and culture, informed by enduring links to Sweden.")
The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery ("The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG) preserves, documents and highlights the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans in Minnesota. ")
The Hmong Cultural Center ("HCC's Mission is to promote the personal development of children, youth, and adults through education while providing resources that enhance cross-cultural awareness between Hmong and non-Hmong.")
I have further plans to visit other places before I start work again on Monday.
I fit in a few other fun things, stopping at the Humane Society to hang out with some cats (I'm dreadfully allergic, but oh how I would love to have one), the Alliance Française to pick up information about their French conversation groups, which I may check out soon, and a few ethnic restaurants I've never tried before.
Here are some of the things I saw this week:
Image description: semi-transparent background: a Hmong story quilt. Lower right: a sculpture of a curve-necked bird made out of gourds. Lower center: black feet made from molds. Lower left: an abstract sculpture of angular wire shapes. Just above that: a wooden sculpture of three Swedish women gathered at a table for gossip and tea. Upper left: a wooden fork and spoon decorated with carved wooden flowers. To the right: a sculpture of a fish fashioned from plates of clear glass over a wooden skeleton. Overlaid over the fish sculpture is a qeeg, a traditional Hmong wooden musical instrument. Upper right: a carved wooden Swedish butter mold.
Edited to add: Discovered something in a book I'm reading about racial reconciliation about the statue of the bird I included in the card: Sankofa, from the Akan language of Ghana, translates in English as "to reach back and get it." The symbol of a bird with its head turned backward taking an egg off its back is often used to illustrate this concept. The word is also associated with an African proverb: "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."
Exploration
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
I'd had such fun visiting the Minneapolis Art Institute a few weeks ago that I hit upon the idea of checking out museums every day (there are a lot of them in the Twin Cities), particularly ones I hadn't seen before. I was particularly interested in looking into ones that would teach me about other cultures. My foot is getting better, and I figured I would be probably up for exploring museum galleries at a slow walk, and I would be able to sit down on a bench if I got tired.
This turned out to be a great idea. I've had a wonderful week.
I went to:
The Weisman Art Museum, where I was delighted to discover the glass fish statue that was one of the inspirations for my (unfinished) ice palace book ("The museum presents and interprets works of art, offering exhibitions that place art within relevant cultural, social and historical contexts.")
The Pavek Museum ("The mission of the Pavek Museum is to share how pioneers in electronic communications created enormous impacts on the evolution of society, to inspire in people a passion to make contributions to our quality of life through science and the communication arts, and to preserve the rich mosaic of the development of electronic communications through a historically significant, permanent, and living repository.")
The American Swedish Institute (free on Thursday afternoons) ("The American Swedish Institute is a gathering place for all people to explore diverse experiences of migration, identity, belonging and the environment through arts and culture, informed by enduring links to Sweden.")
The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery ("The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG) preserves, documents and highlights the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans in Minnesota. ")
The Hmong Cultural Center ("HCC's Mission is to promote the personal development of children, youth, and adults through education while providing resources that enhance cross-cultural awareness between Hmong and non-Hmong.")
I have further plans to visit other places before I start work again on Monday.
I fit in a few other fun things, stopping at the Humane Society to hang out with some cats (I'm dreadfully allergic, but oh how I would love to have one), the Alliance Française to pick up information about their French conversation groups, which I may check out soon, and a few ethnic restaurants I've never tried before.
Here are some of the things I saw this week:
Image description: semi-transparent background: a Hmong story quilt. Lower right: a sculpture of a curve-necked bird made out of gourds. Lower center: black feet made from molds. Lower left: an abstract sculpture of angular wire shapes. Just above that: a wooden sculpture of three Swedish women gathered at a table for gossip and tea. Upper left: a wooden fork and spoon decorated with carved wooden flowers. To the right: a sculpture of a fish fashioned from plates of clear glass over a wooden skeleton. Overlaid over the fish sculpture is a qeeg, a traditional Hmong wooden musical instrument. Upper right: a carved wooden Swedish butter mold.
Edited to add: Discovered something in a book I'm reading about racial reconciliation about the statue of the bird I included in the card: Sankofa, from the Akan language of Ghana, translates in English as "to reach back and get it." The symbol of a bird with its head turned backward taking an egg off its back is often used to illustrate this concept. The word is also associated with an African proverb: "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-27 08:44 pm (UTC)I would ordinarily recommend the Museum of Russian Art, which is not far from you and is the only major institution in North America dedicated to Russian art, but at the moment it leaves maybe a bit of a sour taste, at the least. Though some of the art is certainly subversive enough. We went long ago to see an exhibit of landscape paintings from the early 20th century, and the resemblance of the central Russian landscape to the American Midwest was stunning.
I wish you could have a cat. I know several people who successfully did and are still doing the allergy-shot solution, but that is kind of a lot.
P.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-27 09:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 12:43 am (UTC)At the time they had a fantastic display of political cartoons from Ukraine, many of them featuring Putin and the Russian army in highly unflattering terms. I don't know if that display is still there, but it was astonishing. Apparently political cartoons in that part of the world are taken a lot more seriously as works of art than they are here. The cartoons were mostly ink-drawn like an ordinary newspaper cartoon, but many were partially finished off with water color washes or other coloring techniques and then framed. Many were quite beautiful as well as pointed.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 09:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 06:08 pm (UTC)K.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 11:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-29 08:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-30 03:05 am (UTC)Your museum week sounds like a lot of fun. You're right that we often forget all the things we can do if we live near it all the time.