Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

Charlie and I have been to Boone, NC several times for doctors' appointments over the past six weeks, and I finally got to visit the Turchin Arts Center at Appalachian State University on our last trip.

The space is very lovely, right on King Street, very spacious.  The exhibit that I wanted to see was by Diane Kempler, who combines porcelain with seed pods and forms exotic shapes that mimic nature.

The tall spires were very striking, and these gourd-looking objects made an interesting display.

The next ones represent "Floating Microbes."

The next one is "Microbial Garden."

Several other artists had exhibits included in an upstairs gallery.  I liked this large piece by Bob Ray, which looks like an old quilt to me.  It is made of PVC, paint, tape, and collage.  It is named "A Room in Charleston."

Here is a detail of some of the crosses.

Bob Ray also created "Night Fence" from paint, wood, tape, and charcoal.

I liked this display by Barbara Hardy, which also reminded me of quilts in a way.

This one is named "The Other Color."  It is oil on wood.

After the art museum, Charlie and I met two of my brothers and my sister-in-law Debbie at Proper in Boone for a nice outdoor lunch.  

My brother Chris, myself, and my brother John

It is starting to look a lot like fall up here.  There's nothing like a blue October Carolina sky against fall color, like these towering goldenrods.

I like seeing the local businesses decorating with fall and harvest themes.  Welch's Produce is one of our favorite stops between Jefferson and our town of Laurel Springs.

And here is a family of wild turkeys, ignoring the "No Trespassing" sign to go for a stroll on a nearby farm.

Chicago, Part II

Here is the continuation of my blog about our Chicago trip.  We stayed in a hotel on Michigan Avenue and were able to walk everywhere we went.  I very much admired the garden plantings on both sides of the street.  Most were either raised on concrete platforms, or had low wrought iron fences surrounding them to deter doggies.

After I returned from the boat tour of the river and lake, I walked down to Millennium Park and the Chicago Institute of Art.  It was really getting hot by then.

You can see the back of the Cloud Arch, better known as The Bean, from the street, so I clambered up to it.

It has mirrored surfaces, which many people used to photograph themselves.  Me, too!

Inside of the arch, there are lovely swirly distortions of light.

Then I went looking for the Crown Fountains by Jaime Plensa of Spain.  At first glance, these two rectangular brick structures did not look too impressive.  But the sides that face each other each have projections of faces of Chicago citizens.  The water cascades over the top and on different sides of the structures, sometimes coming out of a fountain where the projected mouth is located.

On that very hot afternoon, the fountains served as a type of public pool.  Very popular!

Then it was on to the Institute of Art.

Unlike the North Carolina and Saint Louis art museums, this one had an admission fee of $18.00.  However, their funds are well-spent on acquisitions, because I was blown away by the number of Picassos, Monets, Renoirs, Cezannes, and Matisses in the collections.  Having seen the Monet in Normandy exhibit, I was surprised to see this painting which is not of sunny France, but cold snowy Norway.  (Sorry that my small camera does not illuminate the paintings sufficiently...you can look them up to see better quality pictures.

Claude Monet, Sandvika, Norway, 1895.

One of the most famous paintings here is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.  I know you've seen this one.  It shows up frequently as a Jeopardy question, and is probably included as one of the wallpapers provided on your iPhone.   I had no idea it was so huge! It measures approximately 6 ft 10 in x 10 ft 1 in.

It has a wall all to itself.  You can see a person reaching up to photograph it.

I always kind of thought that the people in this scene looked kind of like cardboard cutouts that could be moved around.  It is always good to see paintings in person and see the details.  The most amazing thing is that this enormous scene is composed of dots of paint in the Pointillist style.

Looks like my old dog Maggy was there!

I thought this was one of the most interesting paintings that I saw in the museum.

Francis Picabia, Tetes-paysage, 1928.

It appears that a lovely landscape was painted, and then the faces superimposed on top.  The lines of mountains and clouds moving across the faces are lovely.

Okay, enough culture.

On the way back to the hotel, I was captivated by this storefront with the intriguing name Arts and Artisans.  How colorful and inviting!

I enjoyed browsing, but most things like this silk jacket were out of my price range.  It is a great spot to browse!

Charlie and I also visited Chiaroscuro on the second floor in the Water Tower Building.  I had been there once before and loved it.  We found some funny gifts for Dave's birthday.  I did not take photos there, but they have a website.

It was a wonderful trip and I was sad to leave Chicago behind.

Exploring St. Louis on my Own

The night of our arrival in St. Louis, everyone from my husband's Raleigh offices were treated to pretty good seats at Busch Stadium for the Cardinals-Astros game.  We sat along the third base line just to the left of home plate.  The stadium has a gorgeous view of the Gateway Arch . 

 I thought maybe the arch would be lit at night, but apparently not.

One of the guys who had been to St. Louis before said that the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales and stage coach ran around the stadium before the game, but they did not put in an appearance for us.

The next morning, I was the only one who did not have to attend financial seminars, so I took off on my own for some exploration.  Our hotel was only eight blocks from the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch, so I walked down there first.   It had rained overnight but I only experienced a  few drops of rain. The sky was rather threatening, though!

I decided to do the touristy thing and ride to the top of the arch in a tram.  To do this, you have to go below ground, walk through a metal door that is only four feet tall by about two feet wide, and ride in a tram car that must have been built for Hobbits.  It has a curved ceiling that you cannot stand in, and five little seats around the edge.

Once you are at the top, you have to lean on your belly to see out the windows which face outward.  Since you can see the arch from the stadium, it made sense to view the stadium from the arch.

And of course, there were good views of the Big Muddy, the mighty Mississippi.

Right next to the arch is a riverboat.  Charlie said that last time he was in St. Louis, the company treated them to dinner and a play on the river boat.

At the base of the arch there are some nice attractions, such as the Museum of Westward Expansion.  There are many western artifacts, excerpts from Lewis and Clark's journal, gorgeous photographic wall murals of the rivers and landscapes of their journey to the Pacific.  I was pleased that I did not have to drive my family to town in a rustic cart like this old relic.

After I walked through the museum I got brave enough to take the Metro light rail to visit Forest Park.  After riding the subway, you have to get out and wait for a city bus to take you to the zoo and art museum area of the park, which is actually larger than New York's Central Park.  I made it there with no problem.  The weather became sunny and nice.

This zoo has lots of natural habitats for the animals, beautiful landscaping, and areas to view the animals up close.  My favorite of all was the Mama and Baby Orangutan. 

 Mama was kind of sluggish and reminded me of Jabba the Hut from Star Wars, but the little girl was having a ball, swinging on her vine and aggravating her mother.

There were lots of birds to see, including a lake area, cypress swamp, and this enclosed area with a gorgeous roof support.

This flock of flamingos enjoyed their own little island area.

The most interesting bird was the Hornbill.  He looks like he is wearing a banana on the top of his head.  He also was very active, bouncing all around the branches and making loud squawks.

I thought these two "addux" looked like the Push-Me-Pull-You from Dr. Doolittle.

By the time I walked around the whole zoo, I was getting pretty tired, but the St. Louis Art Museum was a short walk up a big grassy hill.

I quickly found what I was looking for...one room contained a large Monet mural of water lilies

and keeping it company were my favorite piece of the museum, this Van Gogh painting

and a Renoir portrait

not to mention a Cezanne, Degas, and Gauguin.  Great stuff!

When I found my way back to the motel, Charlie left a message that I should take a cab and meet him at a restaurant where the company took them to dinner.  So, in one day, I managed to ride subway, city bus, and cab by myself and not get lost.  This is really good for me, who does not possess a sense of direction.  The rain finally came down hard while we were at the restaurant.  In my next post I will show my wanderings around downtown St. Louis and the great public parks and sculpture gardens there.