The Bell Museum of Natural History

The Bell Museum of Natural History main feature is their dioramas. Here Minnesotans can come view native animals up-close in their natural habitats. So many times I have gone to the Como Zoo waiting by the metal fence to get a glance at the wolf deep in the trees; I have never seen it. But at the Bell Museum, I saw up close what a wolf looks like and saw what a natural home looks like for them. Although the zoo tries, it cannot achieve the animal's actual home environment for their captives. Dioramas show what animals would be doing in their daily lives, such as hunting or caring for their young; Not pacing back and forth in front of a glass window. I was also shocked to see some of the animals up-close and discover something new that I may have never known unless it was two-feet in front of me...I did not know weasels are so tiny, the large paw size of the minx, and what an underwater nest looks like. The dioramas capture, teach, and show what may not strike people in a film or in a book.

Steve Quinn explains the history of dioramas in better words than I can. He said,"Diorams first appear[ed] in the late 1700s, early 1800s as illusionistic, theatrical installations. It wasn't until the late 1800s, early 1900s that they were utilized by science museums for teaching science and educating the public." Dioramas were used to educated the public on dissipating wildlife due to expanding civilization westward. Today the dioramas are still important "to raise awareness and strike an emotional chord among visitors, to make them concerned about the loss and disappearance of wildlife" (Quinn).

The museum has a room called "Behind the Diorama". Inside the room one can learn about the artists , history behind them, the research and craftsmanship that went into designing the dioramas. I learned the background in the diorama creates the feeling of a large environment; the illusions of depth and space make one feel he or she is actually there. Artists and Scientists work together to accurately portray an environment- they sketch, take notes, and collect materials from actual sites. Then the artists may, such as Francis Lee Jaques did, create a small-scale model of the diorama to ensure everything would be correctly places. Lots of more work (too much to explain on this short blog) is put into designing the animals and foliage in the diorama; But a few interesting facts I learned were that some of the fish models have real fish scales on them and creating the foliage is the most time consuming.

Upstairs at the museum is a gallery are environmental art pieces from various artists. I enjoyed the variation the museum displayed of different artists with different styles. Dan Metz painted animals in their environment with oils. Chris Faust took beautiful photographs of of nature scenes. I particuliary liked "Copper Falls" taken in 1993 in Mellen, Wisconsin. It shows water rushing down the falls in a deeply wooded area; sometimes in the city I forget that such beauty is just a car-drive away. Vera Ming-Wong painted upclose painting with watercolors of flowers and foliage. Wendy Brockman painted with watercolors close-ups of leaves to show their intricate detail. While Tim Trost got up close to vegetables with colored pencils (very nice drawings to hang in a kitchen I would think).

Overall, I really enjoyed this museum. I was surprised that I had never been their for a field trip as a kid. I like that it offers artistic beauty with science and learning behind it. I liked that it also helped me to learn more about Minnesota wildlife.

Reference:
Quinn, Steve. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dioramas/bison/transcripts/diorama.php

Ausburg Art Galleries

This week I went to Ausburg College in Minneapolis two view two art exhibits. The first one I saw is Pixel & Pen: An exhibit of digital art and processes in the Christensen Art Gallery. Check out this website for more information on it: http://www.augsburg.edu/galleries/pixel_pen.html. The exhibit features 13 pieces of artwork from various artists, created by various artists by "manipulated traditional media to computer rendered vector and analog art" (Ausburg didactic). At the end of the hallway of artwork is a computer going through a slideshow. The slideshow shows how some of the pieces were digitally created; appearing to be lots of line "drawing" on the computer and layers of shapes of colors. It is amazing how these lines, shapes, and colors come together to look like objects and people.

My first favorite piece is a digital print by Nicholas Blechman titled, "Auto Hell" done in 2002. The background is a royal blue. In the center of the picture shows the front part of a car with the hood up. The car is a simple drawing of black lines, as is the city drawing scene inside the car. Wide black squiggled lines are coming up from the city/car engine representing the pollution. I liked this piece because of the pollution message, it could be a promotion poster on walls. And I liked to learn the process and steps of how it was made from the slide show; I thought the blue background would be the first step, but the center city was actually the first.

The second piece of artwork I liked was "Shoe Show" by Andy Powell in 2009. He used pen, ink, acrylic, correction tape and digital. It shows a woman's fishnet stocking leg in the center of the artwork coming down into a two-inch open toed high healed shoe. The shoe is standing on a red carpet, on either side are spotlights shooting up into the air. The background is a dull grayish blue color that makes the reddish orange carpet line pop. I liked this piece because I would want it for my house. It has a cute 20s/30s Hollywood glamor feel to it. It's neeat that the white spotlights are made from correctional tape.


Next I walked down to the Gage Family Center at Ausburg College to see the exhibit What's Up? by Lucia Hwang. Check out more information on it here:http://www.augsburg.edu/galleries/hwang.html. The purpose of this exhibit, as Hwang states is, "the true confession and acceptance of this schismatic world". In a schismatic world for this exhibit, I think Hwang is portraying the differences between materialistic and non-materialistic people in the world. She describes herself as humble and she is comparing herself to the people that view materials as to what gives them worth.

Hwang uses everyday household materials and adds a humorous twist to portraying the schismatic world. There are four different 3-D artwork pieces, but they are all linked together by an imitation Louis Vuitton like print.

When I see a person with something in a Louis Vuitton print, I think of that object as high-quality, also overpriced to give it a perception to rich people that they need that print to show they social status. Kids beg their parents for Louis Vuitton because it is what the rich and famous have, even if the kid has a knock-off of the print, she still feels an extra boost to her ego.

What is comical about Hwang's artwork is that she uses that print in ways such as in the chalk line of a murder scene, lining in egg containers, a little purse for a display chicken, toilet paper packaging, and the design on the outside of a trash can.

I liked this exhibit. It reminded me that designers/labels do not mean anything. An LV logo on something does not give it worth.

The Precious Object

I went to the Cargill Hall within the Central Public Library to view the exhibit The Precious Object. The interesting exhibit “ explores issues related to nature, simulation, craft, collecting, and fantasy” by 14 Minnesota artists. Eah artists artwork is very different from the next; from the idea they are portraying, to the matreials used (carcusses to felt), to the designs (sculptures, paintings, drawings, etc). But in all of their differenent “ideas, perspectives, and personal histories,” the artists have a common theme: Take a second to step away from the digital age, look around and think of the precious tactile objects in our lives (Artmn, 2009).

Go to this website to get exhibit information. http://mnartists.org/event.do?rid=241460

The first piece of artwork I enjoyed was "Where did you come from? Memoirs from the Past Present, and Future, or, the Underlying Connections that Facilitate our Everyday Architecture" by Andy Ducett in 2006. It is a large drawing about 3 feet by 3 feet, done with pencil, pen and colored pencil on paper. Ducett's drawing depicts real and imaginary events while he was at the University of Illinois for five months. Ducettt said, "I wanted this drawing to behave like the inside of my head, showing how memories are ordered, structured, and stored on top of each other" (Henneping Library didactic). What I like about the drawing is that there are so many tiny details in the drawings, I could spend hours looking for them, like searching for Waldo. I like the humor in the drawing, for example a star wars seen and a desk lamp lighting up the streets. It reminds me of a kids creative mind going all over the place. And along with Ducett's explanation of his art, it reminds me of just sitting back and daydreaming; so many ideas and dreams all stacked and intertwining with each other. Which brings me along to his next piece of artwork I liked, "it Could Have Happened Yesterday or it Could have Happpened Today" done in 2009".

The artwork is a college handpicked items stacked together. Some of the items are:record player, desk lamps, sport trophies, animal figurines, weather vain, skateboard, and a scale on the floor set at 280 pounds. The items recall his childhood in Minnesota, departure, and return. Like the previous drawing, he does not display time in logical sequences, but bundles them together. I like this piece like the other, because their is so much detail at every angle I kept trying to discover something new within it. The artwork reminds me of the same reason I scrapbook-to put together lots of loose memories into one book/piece and say "this is me, what's important to me and why I am the way I am".

The third piece of artwork I liked was "Mimicry" by Alison Hiltner in 2009. She used wax, clay, and artificial flowers to create a large flower buds on the floor and climbing up the walls. Hiltner wanted to give life to mundane things as she wondered what the new life forms would look like. I liked this because the flowers were beautiful, but yet did make me a little timid feeling to walk by them. The flowers reminded me of the carnivore flowers from Jumanji. The flower roots looked like spider legs that allowed them to crawl up the walls on their own; looking pretty to trick the passerby into getting close before it jumps out.

The fourth piece of artwork I liked was "54847" by Ginny Maki in 2009. Maki had three residents of Iron River, WI (assuming zipcode 54847) to draw maps of their town with a writing utensil on white felt. She asked them to make it personal, drawing homes and businesses with personal connections. The felt maps where cut apart, threaded and twined together with metal and hung from the ceiling. It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, houses flying in the air jumbled together as if in a tornado. Maki's artistic objective is to explore the different "relationships formed by a common site and how the personal behavior is recorded through each map" (Hennepin Library didactic). I liked this piece because it reminds me that three people can have a same concept and perceive it different ways, yet the three people are still bound together.



I had never been to the Central Public Library, I was amazaed at the beauty of the building when searching for it in my car. It looked like a castle next to all the other brick scenery around it. Walking into the building of the Central Public Library reminded me of a futuristic heaven. It was sunny the day I went, the sun beamed in through all sides of the glass windows to the sides and above. The rays shined right though the glass elevators and glass guard rails. When going up the escalator, all I could see was the bright blue sky before me; the escalator steps appeared to just fall of the top.

The Minneapolis Institue of Arts

I cannot believe I have never been to this museum, it is amazing! I got lost many times as I went form one room to another. There were so many different thing to see it was impossible to lose interest in anything. Everything was beautiful and I learned so much history. I love artwork that teaches me something about the past and people interpretations of history.

The first piece of artwork I liked was an Enshrined Buddha, circa 1800 from Burma. It is wooden with decorated with gold leaf and mirrors. The Buddha is sitting cross-legged as the didactic states he is in meditation underneath a fig tree. A tour-guide of a group studying religion mentioned that one hand is touching the ground signifying Buddhas as coming to earth. And his bun on top of his head is an extension to heaven. I choose this piece because it is beautiful and because of the deep meaning and religious purposes behind it. To Buddhists this is their ultimate meaning in life, that is a significant piece of artwork.

The second piece of artwork I liked was Portrait of a Boy painted by James B. Read in 1856 in America. I choose to comment about this piece because I liked learning a part of American history. In 19th century mourning rituals were held to remember the dead by viewing a portrait of the dead. The painting is an oil on canvas and depicts a boy, about 5 years old, standing on his porch at home. The withering flowers winding on vine on the porch resemble life is temporary. The painting depicts mourning from the use of the black, red, and white coloring (typical mourning colors) and a stormy sky.

The third piece I liked was Cartonnage of Lady Tashat an Egyptian pine coffin about 710 B.C elaborately painted with hieroglyphs. I choose this piece because its amazing the craftsmanship put into a coffin and learning the history of ancient Egyptians views on afterlife. I like how the hieroglyphs explain the story of the person's life. In this case Teshat, just in her mid-late teens, was daughter of the treasurer of the Temple of Amon at Thebes. Her higher status allowed her to be buried in such elaboration. Her tomb was also actually robbed of jewels from grave-robbers. Its amazing how something so old has survived through time.

The fourth piece of artwork I liked is a crown made in 1920 by an Yoruba tribe from Nigeria. I choose it because I would never think of a crown to look like this. It's an elaborate crown of glass beads, leather, canvas and wicker. The top of the crown is like a funnel. The base is of a face with birds climbing up to the top. Strands of beads come down that would cover the neck to top of the torso of the person wearing it. This crown would be worn by a king, priest or priestesses, and herbalist-deviners, known because they are the only ones that would wear a crown of beads. The face of the person is blocked out from the ordinary people and the birds represent royalty.

The fifth piece of artwork that I liked was Power figure from the Kongo made in the 19th century out of wood, metal, glass, plant fiber, grourd, clay and undetermined materials. It is a dark brown figurine about one foot high the torso and feet are in box shapes. The face is of a man with his mouth open and two different colored eyes widely opened. I am guessing around a hundred nails are driven into the figurine into all parts of the body. I choose this figurine just because it was interesting to see a real voodoo doll. And I thought voodoo was to bring harm on people, but this one was actually used for healing powers and given powers by a ritual healer. A mirror on the figurine "refers to the gateway to the spiritual other world".

The Day of the Dead Alters in the education corridor were very interesting to see and read about. Students from El Colegio, "an urban-based magnet school in Minneapolis made the alters to show honor their past loved ones. I find it amazing when people are given the same assignment, how people interpret it and change it into such different styles of art and make it their own; this is their own form of their artistic impression.

Michael Graves was a featured artist at the museum, exhibiting his building and and consumer product designs. His designs are "classical forms and modern composition with a sophisticated wit." I would describe his designs very modern, straight clean lines, with a cartoony look to some.

Vincent Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists. I was amazing to see such well known artist work in real life. One of the rooms I really enjoyed was the Impressionism room. It included artists such as Philip Little and Theodore Wendid. I like how beautiful all the impression paintings are from a distance and as you get closer you can see all the fine lines of colors with little brush strokes. As seen in Blessing of the Tuna Fleet at Groix by the french artist Paul Signac painted with oil on canvas in 1923. It shows about 20 ships all tightly packed into a harbor in the clear blueish green waters waters. Each boat is brightly painted in primary colors with lots of pright flags on top of the masts and hanging down. In the back ground is buildings and a large hill that blend up into the blue sky. I just love looking closely at all the small brush strokes of colors that almost make you dizzy when you stand to close to move back and see the full painting.