Good morning!  I hope you had a pleasant weekend, even if the "spring" weather isn't too spring-y yet!  I managed to strike just the right balance over the weekend--some housework, some laundry, some grocery shopping, but still plenty of time for cross-stitching, knitting and painting.  Shh...I can't clue you in yet on all I'm working on, but with birthdays, babies and weddings approaching I'll have a lot to share with you down the road!

I promised you a peek at the two special exhibitions I was lucky enough to see last weekend at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  The first exhibition was Flow: The 2014 NCECA Ceramic Arts Invitational, with stunning ceramic artwork displayed in the beautiful Baumgartner Galleria.  I was so disappointed to discover I had left my memory card out of my camera, so I'm having to pull pictures off line rather than show you my absolute favorites, but here are some of the wonderful works we viewed:

Tangled Up in You, Beth Cavener Stitcher

Stoneware, Ink, Paint, Rope (2014)

Hanging from the center of the gallery hall, this sculpture of a rabbit who is about to be bitten was extraordinary.  The rabbit is being held by a snake, and the snake's skin is filled with images of birds, fish, flowers, roosters, tigers and even a praying mantis.  While I had sympathy for the rabbit I found the piece strangely captivating.

Jeanne Quinn
True and Reasoned and Impure and Inexplicable
Porcelain, Steel, Wire, Vinyl, Paint
2014

 "True and Reasoned and Impure and Inexplicable" is made up of layers of individual images that together, create a three dimensional black and white drawing on the wall. An initial layer of the piece is made up of white, rectangular forms painted on the wall. Layered on top of and around some of the rectangles are white, geometric structures protruding off of the wall. Small, black objects which are reminiscent of growing cells, calligraphy, and the baroque decorative arts, are attached to parts of these structures as well as the wall itself. Though they hang from their supporting brackets, these organic object seem to be climbing and growing off of their supporting frames.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of this piece, but I absolutely loved the blue color against the white wall.  This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Formed of fragile white porcelain, American Tourister Still Life by Elenor Wilson displays how luggage becomes furniture to a traveler. Speaking to the fleeting nature of style, the feet of the “furniture” and the lady’s high-heeled shoes, discarded nearby, underscore the transient nature of fashion. Trends flow through time and reappear, re-imagined.  The feet of the furniture belong to the Victorian era, the heels and Coke bottle connect to mid-century and the luggage to the 1970′s in this object created in 2009. We form materials, but the materials we surround ourselves with have the ability to form us.

This poem, by Peter Elliott (1970) amusing captures some of the art museum visitors I saw trying to puzzle out some of the pieces we viewed.  Art can be challenging and confusing, and I'll be the first to admit I don't always "get it" but I do know I always come away with a new appreciation for the world, as seen through other's eyes.

Art Gallery Poem II

Take a picture, 

Hanging to a wall

In a restful symmetric frame.

Place carefully, 

So as not to over-balance

Very gently

One, Or two, Human Beings, 

It is their first time at this exhibition

They gape

Like butterfilies leaving their cocoon

Like playing first time a CD tune

With eyes focused

On the painting they stand, 

Gazing rigidly, intently.

Or staring faraway through infinity.

They are trying to understand the painting.

Trying to clarify and classify

A foreign experience

Into their store

Of known experience.

Like a zen novice in the hands of a zen master

Doubts arising in a pastor

They will never understand

Paintings.

Have a wonderful Monday!