Today, after reading about a new exhibit of small ceramic buildings at the Nelson/Atkins museum in Kansas City, Chris and I headed over. To see what it was all about. We started our visit with the works of the Staffordshire potteries. They were designed sit on mantles and hold small charcoal or wooden discs that were dipped in essential oils that could be burned and improve the odors of the homes. Without all the modern amenities they tended to be pretty smelly places I guess. Plus, look how pretty they are.
Modeled after castles, cottages, and places where ghoulish crimes had occurred, they were charming. I had never before heard of them. I do love European ceramic pottery.
Next we headed for a glimpse of Claude Monet's water lilies - this is a lovely exhibit with the light changing over the course of a 10 minute time frame in which you can sit, watch, and listen to the recorded sounds from his garden. I had no idea that he created 250 (or so) paintings of water lilies, or that some were so large (this one is about 6 1/2 feet by almost 14 feet).
Last stop was a rural, folk, and self-taught art exhibit. I had expected to see images like the one above by Calvin Balis. What really was interesting to me though were the "works" of Jesse Howard from Fulton, MO. A self taught artist and ardent defender of the First Amendment.
A perfect combination of work to make me love ART in all it's forms, and appreciate the ability to go see it at such a lovely place.
We ended our visit with a trip to the sculpture garden, where we sat on a bench and split a roast beef sandwich, a bag of Cheetos, an apple, and a cold bottle of iced tea. All while we gazed at Henry Moore's bronze Upright Motive no. 9. Our bench was sturdy, the shade was bliss, and the ants stayed away.
The joy of simple things.
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