Field trip to Texas

This past week we went to Texas to visit Allen's family. I snuck in some side trips while we were there.  I'll skip the family stuff and just give the fun artsy/touristy highlights.

We went to the Dallas arboretum and they were having their spring flower event. They had tulips everywhere. I don't think I've ever seen so many tulips in one place.

 

I thought this plant was very interesting and took a bazillion photos of it back lit. I thought it was decorative purple cabbage, but looking at these photos, it doesn't look very cabbage-like. (My mom takes photos as a hobby and mainly does flowers, so maybe she will let us know what it is).

We also went to the Kimball art museum in Ft. Worth. The special exhibit was Bernini statues, and Allen and I had gone to Italy last year and still have our fill of Italian sculpture. We did look at the regular exhibits, and while they do have one nice piece from a lot of different famous artists, none of them really blew my socks off (although the Van Gogh was lovely).  We also went to the Modern Art Museum which  was across the street, which was a bit more thought provoking. I chose the Kimball over the Dallas Art Museum, and with the special exhibit, I probably should have gone to the Dallas Art Museum since their special exhibit was Chagall.

The following day we went to the Dallas Aquarium, which was very nice. It has a walkway that you follow through the space and goes through different ecosystems. It feels very intimate. 

Yes, I did get this close to the jaguar, there is only a layer of glass between him and me.

We drove through Waco on our way to Houston. We pulled over on the side of the road so I could take photos of the blue bonnets, which is the state flower.

In Houston, we went to see the Menil Collection, as well as the gallery of Cy Twombly art and the chapel with paintings by Rothko that were nearby.  They did not allow photography which was a total bummer as I found the African art at the Menil very inspiring.  In college I had to do an art piece inspired by the African exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art (I went to college in Richmond). I will try to find a picture of my sculpture, but it will require me to look in the 1990 archives to see if I took a picture of it (like I have them organized, ha!).  I still really like the piece, but am not sure if it is in my parent's attic or just gone after so many years. I used nails in it and I still love to use nails in my work. I plan to go to the Denver Art Museum and check out their African collection, hopefully Sunday, and also visit their Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit.

On the way back to Dallas, we went to the 1st Monday flea market in Canton. I was hoping to find some good cheap junk for mixed media assemblage, but left fairly disappointed. There was not enough rusty junk, and what they did have was way overpriced. A lot of the booths were antiques, or upcycled junk that was already transformed into something nicer, or just plain new stuff. I did find some cowboy gift wrap paper for a cowboy piece of art I am working on.We did not have a lot of time there, so I do feel like maybe I could have found something special, but would not go out of my way to go back. The corn dog and funnel cake were delicious though!

On the plus side, I was driving through Loveland this morning and decided to check out a thrift store I passed on the main drag. In the back they had a separate building that had second hand hardware type stuff.  I needed some chain for my cowboy project (at least 6' lengths, preferably all different) and I hit the mother load. I also found a big bag of square nails, which I love the look of. And I got a rockin' deal.  So maybe that makes up for the tough luck in Canton.