Asian Comics at the Bowers

By | |
Comments Off on Asian Comics at the Bowers

Bowers Museum
Santa Ana
August 31, 2024

at the main entrance

While at Comic-Con earlier this year, Meredith stopped by the booth staffed by the Bowers Museum and found out the museum has been featuring an exhibition on Asian comics, Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form. The exhibition closes soon (on September 8) so we made sure to drive up to Orange County while we could still see it.

The Bowers features art and artifacts from many cultures and puts together interesting special exhibitions. We went there once before in 2017 and saw fascinating exhibitions about Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition and the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi. There are nice courtyards both at the main entrance and the side entrance facing the parking lot. The museum is well staffed with helpful docents, and docent led tours are available although we did not join any.

in the sculpture garden


We arrived in the morning, not long after the museum opened, and found ample parking in the main lot. The staff at the entrance alerted us that two galleries (Pacific Islands and China) would be closing early, so we made those our first stop. Meredith wore her “Museum Nerd” T-shirt and received many admiring comments about it.

heading into the Pacific Islands area

The Pacific Islands gallery, entitled Spirits and Headhunters, has extensive displays of artifacts, organized into the three main cultural areas, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. There is a large map near the entrance showing all the islands and areas featured in the gallery. It was interesting to see how the available materials are reflected in the artifacts on display. For instance, where metal was unavailable, weapons were made from wood and shark teeth, and armor was made from woven plant fibers. We appreciated seeing the boat models and types of currency. Along with the artifacts were extensive explanations of social institutions, religious practices, celebrations, diet, warfare, and navigation.

The main event!

The Asian comics exhibition covered approximately 20 countries over a timespan from the 19th century to the present. Both original art and published reproductions were included. Near the entrance we saw Japanese woodblock prints from 19th century. Japanese art, especially manga, was well represented in the exhibition, in part because of its wide influence but also because it was often reprinted in books, which have survived. In comparison, comic art created in Korea and the Philippines was typically published only in magazines and so less often preserved. This phenomenon was not limited to Asia; in the US also, early comics were published in newspapers and magazines (comic books) intended to be read and then discarded.

A wide range of topics were represented in the graphic novels, comic strips, and other art on display, including (among other things) religion, supernatural bestiaries, heroes, Indian epics, and China’s four great classical novels. The novel Journey to the West, published in the 16th century, inspired the well-known manga Dragon Ball.

We also saw a wide-ranging display of comics with historical themes. Many periods and countries were represented such as: the partition of India and Pakistan; colonization of several countries both by Western powers and by Japan; and World War II. Examples of comics commissioned by communist governments for propaganda purposes were displayed, as were comics covering current social issues like gender equality and housing.

There was a section screened off for adults only in which explicit art was on display.

In the final part of the comics exhibition, we saw information about the modern manga industry, contemporary artists and trends, the history of censorship in several countries, the role of women artists and their struggle for equality, and media adaptations of comic art. There was a table where patrons could follow a “drawing tutorial” and draw their own manga.

Unfortunately the Asian comics exhibition will be closing the day we post this entry, but the Bowers is planning an exhibition that will appeal to comics fans also. Fantasy: Realms of Imagination will open October 26, 2024 and run through mid-February 2025. The museums website says this about it:

From epic visions to intricately envisaged details, Fantasy: Realms of Imagination celebrates some of the finest fantasy creators, reveal how their imagined lands, languages and creatures came into being, and delve into the traditions of a genre that has created some of the most passionate and enduring fandoms.

Journey from fairy tales and folklore to the fantastical worlds of Studio Ghibli. Venture into lands occupied by goblins and go down the rabbit hole. Explore the realms of the one ring and travel into the depths of Pan’s Labyrinth. And discover how the oldest forms of literature continue to inspire fantasy authors today.

Presented in partnership with the British Library, Bowers Museum invites visitors to discover 160 fantastical items that include costumes, historical manuscripts, rare first editions, drafts of iconic novels, scripts, maps, original artwork, film props, and immersive multimedia experiences.

A short list of things we liked in the rest of the museum:

  • The carved ivories in the China section
  • The silver artifacts in the nearby Miao room
  • The Pio Pico memorabilia in the Missions and Ranchos room
  • Plein air paintings in the California Bounty area
  • The carved gemstones

Unfortunately, the Native American (First Californians) gallery was closed for renovation.

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Accessibility is good. Adult admission is $18, with discounts for seniors and students. Parking next to the museum cost $6.99; we had no trouble finding a space, but when we left in the mid-afternoon that lot was full. There is a museum café offering sandwiches and salads, but we chose to eat a late lunch at a local sushi restaurant, Taberu Sushi, instead. The food there was outstanding!

What, Me Worry?

By | |
Comments Off on What, Me Worry?

Rockwell Museum
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
June 23, 2024

At the entrance


Earlier this summer we spent some time at the family camp on Pine Island Lake in Westhampton, Massachusetts. We made hiking a focus this visit and had gone out tramping in the woods two days already. We planned to try a new spot after Mass on Sunday, but the weather was a little drizzly. Why go out in the wet woods when you don’t have to? Instead, Meredith suggested a visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. We enjoyed seeing the museum several years ago, and Bob had checked their website a few weeks earlier just to see what special exhibition might be on this summer. It is a retrospective of art from MAD Magazine, running from June 8, 2024 through October 27, 2024. The name of an artist we know from San Diego Comic-Con, Sergio Aragones, was on the list. We set out.

It was a pleasant drive to Stockbridge. We took Route 9 to avoid the “soul destroying” monotony (Meredith’s expression) of the Massachusetts Turnpike. As we headed up into the Berkshires the weather improved, and the day turned fine and hot.

With “Grendel”


Once inside we began as we had the last time, by going downstairs to see the well done, short documentary outlining the facts of Rockwell’s life. The video is narrated by his oldest son Peter, who also became an artist and whose sculptures can be seen as one walks to the museum from the parking area.

As you sit to view the film, you are surrounded by the framed covers of all of the Saturday Evening Post magazines on which his art appeared during his long career, 323 of them. We perused these and again were struck by the beauty and humor of his storytelling works. As Rockwell said, “I love to tell stories in pictures;” that was his passion, and his images needed no words. We both agreed, as students of history, that one intriguing aspect of this display is the way it chronicles the changes in American society over the decades, while also showing the unchanging characteristics of human nature. Bob was taken by the number of well-known authors whose names appeared on the cover of the issues that bore their work. Some are still widely read, like P.G. Wodehouse, Other authors are merely names to people of our generation, vaguely familiar because they were popular with our parents and grandparents, like Mary Roberts Rinehart. Rinehart is best known as a mystery writer and is credited with creating the phrase, “The butler did it,” although in her book the butler actually did.

At last, the special exhibition!



We moved on to the special exhibition, which took up much of the first floor of the museum. Organized chronologically, it laid out the history of the visual art used in MAD Magazine, from its early years beginning in 1952 through its original run ending in 2018. A reboot of the magazine was created that year, largely recycling material from the original. Bob got a kick out of some Peanuts cartoons that led up to the final strip of that week, when Charlie Brown gazes at the horizon and the sunrise is represented by the head of Alfred E. Neuman with the caption “What! Me worry?” Sergio Aragones apparently organized the use of the MAD icon by his longtime friend Charles Schulz.

We also found interesting the legal battle over the development of the magazine’s visual mascot. The widow of an artist who drew a similar goofy, gap-toothed kid with the same catch phrase sued the magazine. The court found for MAD when they presented evidence of the general concept being used in the late nineteenth century and even the image of a “Me worry?” kid being used to sell war bonds in the 1940s, before the widow’s husband had used the image.

Another item of historical interest was correspondence between Rockwell and MAD. He had been approached about doing a piece for the publication and had tentatively agreed, but before a contract was signed he wrote a letter expressing his hesitation and backing out of the deal.

Apart from the historical items, the MAD Magazine art was a pleasant stroll down memory lane. Bob was never an avid MAD consumer, but he did always enjoy the Spy v. Spy piece. It was fun to see the evolution of the characters illustrated in the exhibit. The variety of artistic styles used by the various artists appealed to him. He also liked the examples of the movie send-ups, particularly those of the Godfather films. Meredith was much more in touch with the magazine when she was growing up. Though not a subscriber, her father was a fan and would always pick one up at the newsstand (there’s something you wouldn’t do today!) when he noticed that the latest issue was on display. Meredith liked the Rockwell send-ups and was particularly taken by the picture of Alfred E. Neuman painting his self-portrait—only Neuman looking at himself in the mirror was painting the back of his head! The details on that piece were very clever as well—where Rockwell had posted on his easel examples of such portraits by famous artists, Neuman had pictures of other comic characters.

Meredith also remembered vividly her enjoyment of the fold-in section of the magazine. There was a display of several examples, and she puzzled quite a while before each trying to figure out the joke that would be revealed were one to fold in the image. It was only when we were near the end of viewing these panels that Bob noticed there was a picture of the folded in sheets below each page. The museum should have better pointed those out to the viewers as they were not immediately obvious.

A last family observation. We began this blog years ago when we would visit Meredith’s mother in Los Angeles. As her physical capabilities, and later her mental ones, faded, we found that going to museums was a good activity—it allowed Margaret to be pushed in a wheelchair, and we could tailor the pace and interactions with her to fit her attention span on the day. Meredith’s father happened to call her while we were at the Rockwell Museum. She greatly enjoyed telling him about the MAD exhibition, and they shared fond memories of things they had each enjoyed about the magazine. Since he is a sharp and well-educated man, he also enjoyed hearing about the Saturday Evening Post covers and the Four Freedoms permanent display.

The museum is easy to reach in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. We drove past the main entrances to the Tanglewood Music Center, and although people were arriving for the evening concert when we drove home, traffic was not a problem. Admission to the museum is $25 for non-members. Rockwell’s studio building, which was moved from the center of town to the museum campus in 1986, is open for viewing. We explored it on our previous trip in the Fall of 2017 but not this time. To ensure admission to the studio, the museum recommends taking one of the scheduled tours which cost $10. Parking is free and plentiful. The museum is handicapped accessible. It has an elevator between the main and lower levels, and walkways on the grounds are paved and slope gently.

We spent more time in the gift shop than on our previous visit. Visitors can purchase postcards and prints of many of the items on view, and shipping can be arranged. Meredith bought some coasters, both to bring home and to leave at our lake house in Massachusetts. Also on this trip we enjoyed picking things out for our granddaughters, both of whom have summer birthdays and were coming to the lake the next week. The six year old has enjoyed, our daughter reported later, the book of the Rockwell series A Day in the Life of a Girl, which was turned into a book with the permission of the estate and has added text. There is a museum café, but we did not eat there. Instead, we enjoyed a late lunch at Pleasant and Main, a café in Housatonic a short drive from the museum. The setting is a little quirky—it bills itself as a general store as well and seemed to be doing a business as an antique store too. The food was excellent and reasonably priced. The service was a little quirky also. We were given complimentary mimosas, very nice, but Meredith was served a crepe rather than the quiche she had ordered. We made no fuss, and both ended up enjoying the goat cheese and spinach crepe. The berry crepe for dessert was also excellent.

Note: to be respectful of copyrights, we have not pulled Rockwell painting images into this post. The collection can be searched on the museum website. We invite you to explore the extensive archives on that site, which include source materials such as photos, as well as the finished paintings.


Center for Wooden Boats

By | |
Comments Off on Center for Wooden Boats

Center for Wooden Boats
Lake Union, Seattle
May 25, 2024


We took advantage of the Memorial Day weekend to fly up to Seattle to visit two of our children. They live together north of the city, far from Sea-Tac airport. Fortunately, we discovered a few years ago that Alaska Airlines runs a service to Paine Field in Everett which is about ten minutes from the kids’ house. We recommend that airport if that fits your travel plans; it is small and quick to get through, and the waiting area boasts a bar, two fireplaces, ample and comfortable seating, and a wonderful view.

On the Saturday of our visit, we all went down to Lake Union to visit the Center for Wooden Boats. We had learned about its existence in the Los Angeles Times, strangely enough. On Sunday, May 19, the paper ran a special section titled The 101 Best West Coast Experiences. Bob set it aside, but Meredith waded through it and came up with this gem—our youngest has said that her folks’ super-power is finding obscure museums! The article piqued our interest and we planned to make that our family outing this trip.

The Times article mentioned that it is possible to reserve a “Peapod” rowboat to use for free for one hour with an advance reservation. Meredith went to the website but did not find any slots open that day. We decided to visit the museum anyway.

The museum is small but interesting. There are a number of small wooden boats of various types suspended in the visitor center with explanatory plaques nearby—go up the stairs to view the boats from above and read about them. There are also displays about the process of building wooden boats on the upper level, with examples of the tools used in the process. We came away with a definite understanding of the difference between a “clinker built” boat and one that was “carvel built”! As we arrived, a boat building class was concluding in the workspace; this can be viewed from the upper level by visitors. There is also a large classroom area upstairs where a sail making course was being conducted. But, as the docent said when we arrived, the real museum is on the water.

We proceeded to the dock area. On the way we passed a display of two traditional dugout canoes under a protective roof. Another volunteer told us that they were the work of a local boat builder, himself a member of the Tulalip tribe, the guide said. They were fascinating: carved from single huge logs and painstakingly shaped by the use of water and heated stones to achieve their final form.

On the docks we saw a variety of boats. Some are smaller rowing boats and canoes, while others are larger sailing vessels. On the floating dock is a workshop from which wafted scents of wood, pitch, and paint over the waters. One young volunteer was being taught how to drill holes through thick timbers to insert lap bolts—part of an ongoing project to repair and upgrade the Center’s docks.

In the end, we found an unexpected bonus. When we asked, we found they had boats available to take out after all, and three of our group went out for a row. We proceeded to don life vests and enter the “Peapod,” though ours was not a true “double ender.” We were curious about the name. Peapod was a boat type developed in Maine for use in near-shore lobstering.



After a practice lap around the sheltered pool by the workshop, admiring the lilies and a turtle on a rock enclosure in the middle, Meredith guided us out onto the lake. It is quite unlike the rowing Meredith does at ZLAC Rowing Club, where she rows in modern shells. She and our youngest had fun dividing the rowing between them. Bob manned the stern and took a few pictures. It was a wonderful day after a damp morning, which might have discouraged the people who had claimed the reservations, and we enjoyed all of the views: toward Lake Washington, off toward the locks that lead to Puget Sound with the Space Needle and Museum of Pop Culture in sight to the south, and keeping a wary eye on other lake traffic, including the seaplane offering tours.


It was a wonderful few hours. That area offers many dining options, and we chose to walk a few blocks to Tanoor, an excellent Lebanese restaurant, new to us but well reviewed.

Parking is limited close to the center and is park and pay. Their site offers suggestions for parking; we parked in a commercial space under an office tower two blocks away.

Book Crawl

By | |
Comments Off on Book Crawl

San Diego

April 29, 2023



We celebrated Independent Bookstore Day by visiting five independent bookstores around San Diego. One was an old favorite; the other four were new to us. Thirteen independent bookstores around the county joined in making this national trade association day into a weekend “Book Crawl.”

Meredith had heard about the Book Crawl through an email from Reading Legacies, a nonprofit organization.

The participating bookstores offered a map and passport for Crawl participants. Shoppers who visited and purchased something at three stores earned a free sticker. Other prizes included a tote bag (6 stores), a pin (9 stores), and a coffee mug (all 13 stores).

We have been loyal and enthusiastic customers of Mysterious Galaxy since its founding 30 years ago, so of course that was our first stop, in Loma Portal. They specialize in science fiction and mysteries. We went on to Bluestocking Books in Hillcrest, then Book Catapult in South Park. We finished the day in North Park, home of both Verbatim Books and Meet Cute Romance Bookshop.

We had almost forgotten how much fun it is to browse the offerings at a thoughtfully curated, well run independent bookstore. The time flew by, and it was the dinner hour before we called it quits, heading home with some new acquisitions to read. Looking forward to next year’s crawl! In the meantime, we try to support independent bookstores, both through in person shopping and also when we do online book shopping, by using bookshop.org rather than Amazon.

Animated!

By | |
Comments Off on Animated!

San Diego Comic-Con Museum
Balboa Park, San Diego
February 3, 2023

Meredith went to a preview showing of the Comic-Con Museum’s new exhibit, The Animation Academy: From Pencils to Pixels. She enjoyed the exhibit immensely; it was both informative and fun. It spans the entire history of animation, explaining technological advances at each stage, including information about the creators and creative process, and offering numerous video loops. The 1914 short film Gertie the Dinosaur is playing at one of the first stations. It is amazingly well done from a technical standpoint and remains gently humorous a century later.


Meredith found the side-by-side Gumby labs fascinating. On the left are the tools for creating the modern stop motion animation. On the right is a work bench with tools and a video showing the original clay techniques.


There are hands on stations where museum visitors can draw and otherwise learn and create. Period merchandise is displayed also, such as Mickey Mouse watches and vintage cartoon lunch boxes.


There are many nuggets of information about the ideas behind favorite characters:

  • Two Hanna-Barbera characters were inspired by The Honeymooners: Yogi Bear drew on Art Carney’s Ed Norton, and Jackie Gleason’s character Ralph Kramden inspired Fred Flintstone.
  • Art Clokey’s wife Ruth suggested that he start with a gingerbread boy, as he was trying to find the right shape for a clay figure that could be easily reproduced and manipulated; that is how Gumby started.
  • Mark Twain’s description of a coyote he saw in the old West inspired Wile E. Coyote: “ A long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton… a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry.”

There is a good deal more to the animation exhibit. We recommend it highly.

Meredith took time to see a few more small exhibits at the museum. On the upper level visitors can see cover art from 50 years of Comic-Con souvenir guides. Tucked away in a side room, also upstairs, are impressive Cardboard Superhero statutes made by teenage artists.

The Comic-Con Museum does not keep a permanent collection. Visit soon to see these exhibitions! The museum is closed Monday; open other days from 10 am to 5 pm.

Monet to Matisse

By | |
Comments Off on Monet to Matisse

Monet to Matisse
San Diego Museum of Art
Balboa Park, San Diego

May 29, 2022


We enjoyed the Monet to Matisse exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art with our friend Chris. Apologies for lagging so far behind in making this post! But the exhibition was recently extended and will run through October 10, 2022, so it is still possible to view it.


The museum describes the exhibition as follows:
See Impressionist masterpieces from some of the most significant names in European painting, including Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Pablo Picasso, Alfred Sisley, and Pierre Bonnard.

Organized by the Bemberg Foundation, which is based at the historic Hôtel d’Assézat in Toulouse, France, the exhibition features more than 60 works produced from the 1870s to the 1930s. This is the first time this collection of works is on view in California, and SDMA is one of only two showcases in the United States.


Meredith was pleased to see a painting by Maurice de Vlaminck. Her grandmother’s second husband Herb was a distant cousin of Maurice, an established Impressionist painter.



Adult admission to the museum is $20, but youth under 18 are free. There are discounts for seniors, students, and military. For this exhibition there is an addition $5 charge. We have the Balboa Park Explorer pass, which is accepted at multiple museums, so we only needed to pay the exhibition fee. Parking is free in Balboa Park but is not close to the museum. Plan to walk or ride the park shuttle.
After our museum visit we ate at Panama 66, the open air restaurant next to the museum. We enjoyed it, as we have in the past. The food is good, they have craft beers on tap, and diners can stroll through the sculpture garden.


Timken Reopens!

By | |
Comments Off on Timken Reopens!

Timken Museum of Art
Balboa Park
San Diego
June 5, 2022

We are delighted to say that the Timken Museum in Balboa Park has reopened after more than two years. During its hiatus it has undergone a major refurbishment and systems upgrade. The Timken is probably our favorite museum, and it was delightful to get reacquainted with an old friend.


We attended a members’ preview on the first weekend in June; the museum reopened to the public on June 8. The San Diego Union Tribune did a pair of very thorough articles, a long piece about the reopening which covered the history of the museum and what’s new, and a second, shorter piece that highlighted ten “must see” works of art in the collection. We recommend those articles highly and will not try to repeat all that they covered.

Here are some highlights from our visit:
We enjoyed seeing the two new works on display as part of the permanent collection. The first is an 1874 marble bust Eve by American artist Thomas Ball.

The second is an 1890 oil painting Salome by American artist Ella Ferris Pell.

Hearty thanks to the donors who made those acquisitions possible! (Kevin and Irene Rowe, for Eve, and Sandra and Bram Dijkstra, for Salome.)
The gallery walls have been repainted, and the overall effect is to make the interior lighter and more pleasant. The collection has been rearranged in chronological order. The prior grouping was by category. The new system makes sense and is pleasing, and it did not take us too long to find our old friends. Every work of art now has an explanatory text on the wall to inform visitors. The bronze details have been refinished, inside and out, and this beautiful mid-century modern building really shines now. The air conditioning system has been completely revamped, an invisible but important upgrade.
Among our all-time favorite works in the collection are:
Eastman Johnson’s 1880 painting, The Cranberry Harvest, Island of Nantucket:

And the 1557 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Parable of the Sower:

Early in the pandemic lock down, Meredith ordered a mask from the museum store online with that Brueghel image, and she wore it for our recent visit.
The museum website has photos of all the works in their permanent collection, along with facts about each piece.
The gallery that houses special exhibitions was not open when we visited. There is a planned exhibition of works by summer artist-in-residence Marianela de la Hoz set to open July 10. Something to look forward to!
Things to know: The museum is open Wednesday – Sunday 10 am – 5 pm. Admission to the museum is free. Please make a donation! Parking in Balboa Park is also free, but located at a distance from the museum, so you will need to walk or take the park shuttle.

Lemon Grove Outing

By | |
Comments Off on Lemon Grove Outing

Main Street Murals
Parsonage Museum
Lemon Grove
March 12, 2022


While Meredith was visiting her Dad in March, Bob went exploring. He was in search of some new history murals being painted in Lemon Grove, about a half-hour’s drive from home. Bob had read about those new murals in the San Diego Union-Tribune in February, and the story caught his eye. One feature that interested him was the inclusion of images telling the story of the Lemon Grove school desegregation case from the 1930s. As a history teacher, Bob knew of this incident, and he had shared with his classes many times over the years the story as told in a television program produced by the local PBS station, KPBS. The Lemon Grove Incident relates the events of the 1930s surrounding an attempt to segregate Mexican and Mexican-American children into a separate elementary school. It is told using re-creations and interviews with surviving children who experienced the event and participated in the lawsuit that ended the segregation. In the end, Bob did not find that mural this time—another search for another trip. But he did see other murals.

Bob searched online to see if there was any new information about the location of the murals and found “murals” mentioned on one website. He set out. He found murals that depicted the history of the town and city of Lemon Grove on the side of a commercial building on Pacific Avenue at the corner of Main Street, just south of the city’s famous landmark. “Those paintings — 65-feet wide by 18 feet tall, filled with art depicting the Kumeyaay people, the 15th and 16th century Spanish Conquest, 1800s Mexican heritage, 19th century buildings and a current look at Lemon Grove — were created over an eight-year span, starting in 2005.” [SD Union-Tribune, 18 April 2018]



Still not seeing the murals he was looking for, Bob wandered south towards Treganza Heritage Park (formerly Civic Center Park), which he had noticed when parking his car. On the east side of the park is the headquarters of the Lemon Grove Historical Society. At that location the Historical Society maintains the Parsonage Museum. (It is the firm belief of our youngest child, commented on many times, that her parents can find a little, out-of-the-way museum anywhere!) The building started life as the Atherton Chapel, the community’s first church, and was repurposed to house the clergyman’s family when a later church was built. The parsonage was moved to its current location.

Bob happened to be visiting on a Saturday and the museum was open. (It is open on Saturdays from 11 am to 2 pm.) A friendly docent told him a little bit about the history of the building and then left him free to wander. There are several rooms downstairs that are typical of such museums, housing collections of period clothing, artifacts, furniture, etc. Of interest were the items on display that told the history of the eponymous industry of the town including lemon size sorters, graders, shipping boxes, and photographs. There is a larger room that is used for exhibits that change periodically. The house had the standard display of a period kitchen with rooms upstairs that showed bedroom, children’s room, office, and bathroom. Poking around in the house was a very interesting and pleasant way to spend the better part of an hour. Admission is free; donations requested. (Please be generous!)

Epilogue: Bob heard from a teacher colleague that she had seen the completed murals he had originally set out to find. Now he has a good reason to revisit Lemon Grove.

To Boldly Go

By | |
Comments Off on To Boldly Go

Skirball Cultural Center
Sepulveda Pass
Los Angeles
October 30, 2021

We trekked up to Los Angeles the day before Halloween to see Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds at the Skirball.  We met up with Meredith’s sister Kathleen in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic.  This was only our second indoor museum visit since March 2020.  It still feels a little awkward, but also a pleasure returning to old routines.

We have always enjoyed Star Trek, in its various incarnations, and we enjoyed this exhibition.  At the start there is a large timeline on the wall, showing the timing of various events in the fictional Star Trek future.  Excellent short videos are spread out in spots around the gallery, which include comments by actors and writers from the several Star Trek series, along with other commentators.

The display cases throughout the gallery house items such as spaceship models used in filming, costumes, set pieces, and props.

The original Star Trek series enjoys pride of place, but all of the TV series and films are covered.  The exhibition also puts the optimism of that first series in context, against the backdrop of what was happening in the 1960’s – the Vietnam War, space exploration, and civil rights protests.

The Star Trek exhibition has timed admission.  We arrived a little early and looked through the permanent collection, Visions and Values, for a while.  We each liked the outdoor reproduction of the third century synagogue at Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee.

Meredith splurged at the gift shop, then we enjoyed a late lunch with Kathleen at Zeidler’s, the museum cafe.  The food was excellent, as always. Zeidler’s is our favorite museum restaurant.

The Star Trek exhibition will run through February 20, 2022.  Admission requires advance reservations, and COVID protocols are in place.  Visitors must show proof of vaccination, along with matching photo identification.  Parking is free and accessibility is good.

The Los Angeles Times’ review of the exhibition can be read here.

Bemberg Foundation Treasures

By | |
Comments Off on Bemberg Foundation Treasures

San Diego Museum of Art
Balboa Park, San Diego
September 5, 2021

We donned our masks and headed to the Museum of Art for our first conventional indoor museum visit in a year and a half.  We went to see the special exhibition “Cranach to Canaletto: Masterpieces from the Bemberg Foundation.”  The exhibition included more than 80 paintings belonging to the Bemberg Foundation collection in Toulouse, France.  Artists represented included, in addition to Cranach and Canaletto, Clouet, Boucher, Tintoretto, the younger Brueghel, and several others.  Their home is undergoing restoration, making it possible for the works to be sent on tour elsewhere.

We saw some impressive and beautiful works from the 16th through 18th centuries. They were gathered by type and subject matter, with portraits all shown together, interiors in another section, religious and mythological works together, and then landscapes and other exterior scenes in the final room.  Meredith particularly liked the portraits painted by Tintoretto.  We were both amused by Boucher’s putti (cherubs).  They were playing in their own paintings, apart from any larger scene, and looked as if they were taking a break from dancing attendance on God in some great theophany scene.

In the gallery just outside the Bemberg exhibition we looked at some contemporary paintings inspired by the pandemic.

The Bemberg exhibition has since closed. We are planning to go see the Renaissance to Realism exhibition currently on view which features secular paintings from the 17th century.