two art museums

[42itous]

On Saturday we went to the Fuller Craft Museum, which was recommended by Sunspiral. I wanted to go to see their Michael James quilt exhibit, but by chance we missed the entrance to that and went the wrong way 'round, which I think was lucky. It meant we saw beautiful bowls made of found wood, dresses and quilts made of teabags and matchsticks, and most of the rest of the museum before we found Mr. James's quilts. And when we did find the quilts, we started at the most recent end of the exhibit and walked toward the quilts that were pieced in the 1970s.

Michael James has been one of my idols since I first saw his work at the Renwick in DC. I love how he manipulates colors, and the fact that his workmanship is so perfect that you can't tell what order he put things together in. It turns out that what I love about his work is mostly absent from his more recent quilts -- he now works with photographic images printed on fabric, which doesn't appeal to my taste for bold color and geometric shape. Oh well: there were still plenty of older quilts for me to feast my eyes on. Some were easy to understand, but some were so complicated I couldn't figure out what the pattern was (though it was clear there was one). Case in point: one huge quilt was inspired by a contra dance in Concord MA, and I couldn't figure out the logic behind all the curves and checkerboards.

When we left the museum, we figured as long as we were in the neighborhood we might as well see if we could get into Ikea. We lucked out, it being lunchtime, and didn't have to wait horrendously long to get in. We ate in their cafeteria -- really quite good food, for surprisingly cheap. The exhibits -- I mean, store displays -- were interesting. Their design sense doesn't overlap a whole lot with mine, so I wasn't tempted to buy a lot. It felt a lot like being in a children's museum for grown-ups: play kitchens that had real spoons and measuring cups in the drawers and cupboards; chairs we could sit in, and huge piles of rugs that looked fun to jump on. One thing that struck me is how kid-friendly the place is. A lot of people had brought their small children, but only once did we hear a kid cry -- and that was because he couldn't reach the pillow he wanted to play with.
We wound up buying a shelving thing for CDs, a ladle, and two pounds of frozen Swedish meatballs. We'd hoped to find silverware to replace our current set, but none of theirs was quite what we wanted.

That evening, I stayed up too late working on a quilt. :)

Comments

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you had a better experience than we did yesterday. Spent 4.5 hours surrounded by constant noise and (somewhat) fussing children and adults. On top of that, we did want to buy things but had problems with lack of stock. Grrr.

[merilisa.livejournal.com]

I am dying to go to Ikea. We need bookshelves, preferably ones that match and aren't in horrid woodtone colors. First, I have to handle other things in my office, though. We are also going to be buying a bed soon from there. We've had bed frames, but never a "real" bed as long as we've been together, so it would be nice for a change.

[provscout79.livejournal.com]

some day when my living space isnt a bunk and 5 square feet of living space... I too will go to Ikea.

Inmates get more room, and more regular meals btw.

:-)
Ype