Monthly Archives: October 2015

Hammer Museum — Landscape Painting

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Hammer Museum
Westwood
October 24, 2015

We did not expect to go back to the Hammer Museum so soon; we had last been here in August. But we were intrigued by Mike Boehm’s article which we saw in the Los Angeles Times on October 10, Brush with Conflict or Stroke of Genius?, about the Canadian landscape artist Lawren Harris. A follow up article appeared in the Times the day we went to the exhibit.

Hammer_Harris

The Harris paintings were quite striking. Although they are landscapes, they are somewhat abstract. There are echoes of art deco in them. A great range of Canadian geography was represented, from Lake Superior to Baffin Island to the Rocky Mountains. It reminded us of our trip to Canada last year, although we had stayed in urban areas of Ontario, but the exhibit inspired us, and perhaps we will go back to see some wilder places in the future. The Harris exhibit at the Hammer runs through January 24, 2016.

We toured the other special exhibitions, including three that were in small galleries: Avery Singer; Njideka Akunyili Crosby; and Jessica Jackson Hutchins. We enjoyed the intricate details and shapes and perspective of the paintings in the Singer exhibit. We also liked the collages by Crosby and Hutchins’ use of ceramics. We then went on to a larger exhibition of Frances Starks’ works. She uses quite a variety of different media, and there were several pieces we liked. We were most entertained by a three-dimensional piece: a black dress on which an old-fashioned rotary dial telephone face had been affixed. Margaret and Bob posed in front of it, with Margaret holding out a hand to make it appear she was dialing the phone, although of course she was not actually touching the art.

Hammer_phone

We ate lunch in the museum café and were all pleased with our food. Margaret had a good appetite, which was nice to see.

Museum admission is free. Parking on Saturday costs a flat $3 charge. Wheelchair accessibility is generally good, except that the doors into galleries are heavy and do not have automatic opening mechanisms. With two of us assisting Margaret, that is not an issue, but a wheelchair patron visiting alone would have to rely on staff and other patrons to open doors.

We did have a few odd moments in the museum parking garage when leaving. Margaret at first thought we were at the wrong car and did not want to get in it. We did finally convince her it was our car.

We then met up with Meredith’s sister Kathleen for coffee, and we gave Margaret a book of cartoons from the 1940’s that she had remembered recently, Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley, by Crockett Johnson. She was very pleased with the book, and Meredith read through the first chapter with her.

Fowler Museum — Native American Art

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Fowler Museum
UCLA Westwood
October 10, 2015

Fowler_group

We took Margaret to the Fowler Museum to see two new Native American exhibitions. We first saw Zuni World, a series of paintings displayed around the atrium. They were created by contemporary Zuni artists and feature traditional places, symbols, and subjects. We enjoyed the balance and colors and the fine details. Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon were each depicted in several paintings, reminding Margaret of visits she had made to those sites. This exhibit will run through January 10, 2016.

We then went into a gallery featuring textile art of the Southwest, mostly made in the period 1860-1880. This exhibit, Treasured Textiles from the American Southwest: the Durango Collection, was written up by Jessica Galt in the Los Angeles Times the same day we went, although we did not see the article until after we had been there. The majority of those pieces were blankets woven by Hopis and Navajos. Different designs were represented, and the display showed the evolution of designs over time. We were impressed with how vibrant the red pieces still are. The final pieces in the gallery were woven by Hispanic artists. Interspersed with the textile pieces were some historic photographs providing context, and there were good explanatory notes with each piece. This exhibit likewise runs through January 10, 2016.

Our final stop at the Fowler was a room displaying ancient Colombian pieces from the Magdalena Valley, both ceramic and metal, from about 900 to 1600 A.D. These pieces will be on exhibit through January 3, 2016. We did not spend much time in the permanent collection on this visit. It contains some excellent anthropological pieces from around the world, and also the splendid Francis E. Fowler, Jr. silver collection.

We had lunch before the museum visit, at an Italian café in the Anderson business school, Il Tramezzino, just a few buildings over from the museum. We each had a panini and enjoyed our meal. There were very few people in the restaurant when we arrived at noon, but as we finished a number of students crowded in. The restaurant is up a level from the museum, so we had to go into a classroom building and take an elevator up. We blundered into what turned out to be a service elevator letting us out in a kitchen, but the staff were quite nice and showed us the way through the kitchen out onto the Anderson plaza. After we ate we found the passenger elevator for our return trip, and a fellow passenger made sure we were oriented in the right direction to head back toward the Fowler.

Admission to the Fowler is free. There is a donation box at the entrance for those who wish to contribute. We parked in a nearby underground garage and paid $5 to park. There was ample parking for our Saturday visit; we do not know what the weekday parking situation may be.

Fowler_Zuni_video

Margaret was fairly talkative and alert at the beginning of our outing, and chatted with us about family over lunch. We reminded her that her oldest grandchild had a birthday coming up the following week, and helped her pick out a card in the museum gift shop. Margaret grew tired as the afternoon went on and was struggling a bit for words at the museum, but she did enjoy the videos there. The Zuni exhibit included a video explaining the origin of the art project, and showing several of the artists at work. She also watched two short videos in the permanent collection, one about potlatch ceremonies in British Columbia and the other about Hopi culture in the Southwest. She perked up a bit and joined in the conversation when we met up with Meredith’s sister Kathleen for coffee at the end of the day. The transfers from wheelchair to car and back remain hard for her, and we are now planning our outings so we can eat at or near whatever museum we visit, and not have to make an additional transfer. For smaller places that do not have a café on site, we may bring a picnic or get sandwiches to go.

Springfield Armory

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Springfield Armory
Springfield, Massachusetts
September 23, 2015

We spent a week on vacation back in Massachusetts, visiting family. While there we visited the Springfield Armory with our son-in-law. What originated as the Springfield Arsenal, a military supply depot, became known as Springfield Armory in 1794 when on-site small arms manufacturing was approved by President Washington. From 1794 until 1968, the facility was an armament factory run by the U.S. government, and it was famous for its rifles. One of the main buildings is preserved as a museum run by the National Park Service.

We first watched a video covering the history of the armory, which nicely set the context for the displays. The museum is divided into two areas, one explaining the development of the industrial processes and key inventions used at the armory, and the other section showcasing representative guns from the 18th through 20th centuries. In between is a large gift shop area. The entire museum is housed on a single floor within a red brick room which was one of the assembly shops for the armory when it was in business.

Springfield_lathe

Around 1819 Thomas Blanchard invented a lathe which was capable of shaping irregular surfaces. This lathe dramatically reduced the time needed to make the stock of a rifle, and other industrial advances soon followed. The era of individually crafted guns gave way to mass production of guns with interchangeable parts. The Springfield Armory manufactured guns used in every U.S. war from the War of 1812 to the Vietnam War, and production progressed from flintlock muskets to M14’s.

Springfield_guns

The greatest number of employees at the Armory, mostly civilians, worked there in World War II from 1941-45 when over 14,000 men and women labored day and night fabricating the semi-automatic M-1 Garand rifle. The original Armory stretched over two city blocks in what was known as the “hill shops,” and this is the area we visited. Also associated with the Armory were the “water shops” located about a mile south on the Mill River, where heavy metal forging and machining was done as well as gun stock shaping. That is now a privately-owned industrial site, and we did not see it. We were told that although it is closed to the public the buildings are still there and can be viewed from the outside.

The park is open free of charge, including the museum. There is no on-site restaurant; we went out to dinner after our visit. Parking is free in front of the museum, and the facility is wheelchair-accessible.

Getty Center — Bronzes

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Getty Center
Sepulveda Pass
September 13, 2015

We took Margaret to the Getty Center to see the special exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World. The exhibition runs through November 1, 2015. The Getty has gathered many bronze sculptures of the Hellenistic period, from 323 to 31 B.C., some on loan from museums in the Mediterranean world. The exhibition presents a wonderful sampling of Hellenistic art of portraiture and the human form. Each piece was accompanied with a good write up explaining where it was found, when and how it was made, and what the salient details are to look for in it. The museum’s website offers an excellent gallery of images of the pieces in the exhibition. We were both very impressed with the seated bronze statue of the tired boxer in the center of the second area of the exhibition space. Margaret liked the two very similar statues of athletes in the middle room. Their large size and fine detail make each statue an outstanding piece in its own right, but they are also interesting because they are clearly made from the same master model.

Getty_bronzes_plaza

After the bronzes we took a short walk through the exhibit about Renaissance artist Andrea Del Sarto and his workshop. We caught that exhibit on its final day. It was interesting because it included both drawings and paintings, giving an idea how the masterworks were put together.

At the end of our stay we took a stroll through the 19th century European painting area of the permanent collection, including the Impressionist paintings. Bob likes the Sisley landscape depicting the road from Versailles to St. Germain; Meredith never tires of Monet’s painting of snow dusted wheat stacks in the morning sun.

We ate in the museum café, a food court style cafeteria that is less expensive than the museum restaurant upstairs. Margaret had a salad, and we each had Mexican dishes. The food was good. There was not much of a crowd. Perhaps the Sunday attendance is lighter than Saturday.

Admission to the Getty Center is free. The only cost to get in is $15 per car to park. If one arrives by public transport, then there is no cost.

Getty_hike

We had a bit of an adventure leaving. The trams between the parking garage and museum had broken down. We had the choice of taking a shuttle bus or walking down the hill. We chose to walk. That is not an option we have ever seen offered before so wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. It took us a little more than 15 minutes, and the walk gave us a chance to enjoy the views out over the pass.

California Science Center

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California Science Center
Exposition Park
September 6, 2015

We took Margaret to the California Science Center, to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, on its final weekend there. The Science Center is in Exposition Park, as is the Natural History Museum, near USC and the Coliseum. Exposition Park as at the outer range of as far as we like to drive when we go up to see her, but we had been looking forward to this exhibit for months, and did not begrudge the extra driving.

Science_ctr_deadsea

Admission to the permanent galleries at the Science Center is free, but the center charges for special exhibitions and the IMAX theater. The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was separately ticketed, as was the companion IMAX movie, Jerusalem 3-D. We had purchased tickets online, and we were glad we did; the Scrolls exhibit was sold out that day.

We arrived early enough to have lunch before the movie. The café has expanded from what it was last time we visited. There is now a grill run by Trimana, and several other food court options as well. Service was quick, and the food was good.

We then went on to the IMAX theater, where Meredith’s sister Kathleen and our youngest daughter and her boyfriend all joined us. The movie had some stunning aerial footage of Jerusalem today, and interesting narration and interior shots of the various holy sites, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. Good production values all around, and the film was narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.

After we saw the movie, we had a gap until our timed entry to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. None of us had seen the retired space shuttle Endeavour, so we went over to the pavilion that houses it. That area is separately ticketed, but it was included with our tickets for the Dead Sea Scrolls so we were able to walk right in. (For visitors who are not purchasing IMAX or special exhibit admission, the museum charges $2 for admission to the Endeavour pavilion and requires timed entry tickets on the weekend, but not on weekdays.) The website gives information about Endeavour reservations. The first area has material about the history of the space shuttle missions generally and Endeavour in particular. There is a simulated Mission Control center with a rotating series of videos. Margaret and Meredith watched the video of the final launch of the Endeavour, while the rest of our group circulated around looking at other parts of the exhibit. We were all intrigued and amused by the zero gravity toilet, displayed in a glass case. There is a very interesting video of the final journey of the newly retired Endeavour, through the streets of Los Angeles to its new home. Then we went on in to see the shuttle itself; it is a quite impressive sight! Bob spoke with a volunteer who had samples of the various materials that make up different areas of the outer surface of the shuttle and was able to touch them. (Visitors are forbidden to touch the shuttle itself.)

From the space shuttle we went on to the third-floor special exhibition space. We still had a little time to spend before we could get in to the Dead Sea Scrolls, so we looked through the transportation exhibits on that floor.

The first part of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit consisted of a timeline, with representative artifacts spanning a broad time period of the history of what is now Israel, from prehistory until the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Next there was a room with a short video describing the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and explaining what the scrolls consist of. We then went into the main room. Fragments of the scrolls were displayed in a circular area in the center of the room under glass, with dim lighting to protect the fragments. Translations and explanations of each fragment were displayed next to the cases. Around the edge of the room were displayed a number of ancient artifacts contemporary to the Scrolls, such as pottery, glass, and mosaics.

Even with the timed entry, the room was crowded. The patrons around the central display moved slowly and made room for newcomers only grudgingly, and then we found that Margaret could not see the scroll fragments from her wheelchair. She was too weak to stand and look down at them as other visitors were doing, so we took turns showing her around the outer area of the main room instead. After that room, we passed through a small room with a stone which had fallen from near the southwestern corner of the Temple when the Romans destroyed it in A.D. 70. We found the experience quite moving, to actually see and touch a stone from the Temple. Paper and pen were there for visitors to write notes and leave them, as visitors do at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Nearby there was a video screen displaying a live feed from the Western Wall. We passed fairly quickly through the final room, which had some hands-on activities.

We finished our visit as we began it, down in the café, this time enjoying some coffee and chatting with the rest of the group before we all headed our separate ways home.

As noted above, admission to most of the science center is free. The permanent galleries include many hands-on activities and are popular with children. Parking is $10 per car and can be in short supply when the Coliseum is being used for a USC football game. Visitors are encouraged to use public transport, and our daughter and her boyfriend used the Metro. The permanent collections of the museum are adequately accessible for wheelchair patrons. We did find some access challenges on this visit though. When we first arrived, the main visitor elevator was out of service, so we had to wait in a long line to use the service elevator in a back hall. Then we found the layout of the Dead Sea scrolls display did not allow for good viewing of the Scrolls themselves from a wheelchair, as noted above. There was limited disability seating in the IMAX theater, and Meredith was only able to get a seat next to Margaret by asking another patron to move.