Yesterday, I went with two friends to the Peabody Essex Museum, a wonderful small art museum in Salem MA to see the Alexander Calder exhibit. I wanted to take some pix to post from the exhibit, but photography was forbidden, boo hoo. The works on display were from the 1930s-70s and included mobiles hanging from the ceiling, stabiles (stable bases either sitting on the floor or table or attached to a wall with moving parts) and maquettes (small mock-ups) for large outdoor sculptures. There were about 25-30 pieces in all.
In the background, modern music (by modern, I mean, Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie from the early 20th century, John Cage’s and Milton Friedman’s atonal music from the mid- and later 20th century) was playing in different areas of the show. Sometimes you could hear one piece playing over another, and that was pretty cool.
Here are a few photos in the public domain (from wikipedia) that are similar to some of the pieces in the exhibit. If you’re not familiar with Calder by name, I’m sure you’ll recognize the style of the mobiles that pretty much ushered in the idea of having colorful mobiles over babies’ cribs in the 1960s and beyond. The exhibit made me want to break out the wire coat hangers and wire cutters and get to work!
Beauty Blogazons Weekly Roundup: October 30-November 6
Here are this week’s beauty blogposts from Beauty Blogazons. In case you missed it, my post is toward the bottom, a review of two products from City Cosmetics that I’ve been using for more than 3 months. Get the skinny on them!
- TheFabZilla: For dark spots, aging skin and occasional acne woes, Murad Environmental Shield has the answer.
- beautyXposé: While she’s trying to not purchase any fashion or beauty items this month, Kristin can at least do a little online shopping.
- Lola’s Secret Beauty Blog: Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette Infinity is GORGEOUS! See all of the Swatches!
- Alice’s Beauty Madness: October Beauty and Lifestyle Favorites
- My Stunning Nails: A patriotic design for voters on election day.
- Beauty on the Bayou: KEEP THOSE BROWS PERFECT & PRECISE – Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade
- The Feminine Files: Wet n’ Wild MegaLast Lipsticks are my budget beauty pick of the week!
- Beauty by Miss L: Needle marble nails tutorial.
- Never Say Die Beauty: Allison has been using City Cosmetics Rejuvenating Eye Serum & their Dark Spot Corrector. See what she thinks about ’em!
- The Passenger Element: Milani Color Statement lipstick in Best Red – swatch
If I were rich I’d have a Calder mobile. Or would at least have bid furiously on them, even if I lost, lol. And I’ve always been fascinated by maquettes. Ideas for grandiose sculptures and installations are infinitely intriguing, even if they never materialise in full-scale. And sometimes I wonder if maybe the mock-up was enough for the artist? I loved working with miniatures in college and would catch a lot of grief from my instructors since my “miniatures” were often viewed as proposals for much larger and more imposing structures. I mean, sure I’d probably make a 50-foot tall whatever if given the chance, but I was a college student…Where did they expect me to get the money and supplies and fabrication experts to make that happen?!? 😛
My comments are going back and back in time, aren’t they? hahaha
Work schedule + wonky acting computer = constantly playing catch-up. I don’t know how you bloggers keep up with things!
I wish you could see this show, Rach! It is so wonderful and whimsical and peaceful. I agree that if I were rich, I’d have a Calder mobile, too. Oddly, the copies of some of the smaller mobiles that are for sale at the Worcester Art Museum gift shop (that I should buy one of these days) were not available at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, boo hoo. Regarding the maquettes, they were shown along with photos of the actual huge sculptures. And I had seen one of the finished huge ones at Storm King in upstate NY, so it was kinda cool to see the maquette! I can’t believe that your profs gave you a hard time about creating miniatures. Not everyone can be Louise Nevelson. I’d love to see your work. Do you create art these days??
As a buyer for a museum shop, yeah they missed the boat by not having those mini mobiles. Though I suppose there could be some legal reason. Exclusivity agreement or something, possibly?
As for my art, I create little bits and bobs when I have the time and workspace. Lately I have far too little of each, lol
I never really fancied myself a sculptor (my expensive shiny piece of paper is actually for printmaking) but I’ve come to appreciate paper and paper pulp products in all their guises. Whether I’m printing on it, cutting it into little shapes, doing origami, or just gluing it together, I have a fondness for paper that cannot be denied. If I made a Calder-esque mobile it would probably be from cardboard taken off the back of legal pads. 😛 That’s what we should do though- we should indeed bust out the coat hangers and wire cutters.
Wow, you’re a buyer for a museum shop, what a wonderful job! Which museum?
Tomorrow is members’ day at the Peabody Essex Museum Shop and it’s a day I always look forward to, lol. They have such great merchandise there, it’s often hard to resist.
Last night, Charlie Rose on PBS had the curators of the Matisse show at MOMA on talking about Matisse’s process and his later years of life. Man, do I want to go to NYC to see that show! I agree with you that paper (and now there are so many gorgeous handmade papers around) and even the cardboard backs of writing pads make great materials! Keep creating when you can, and thank you, Rachel, for your thoughts on the Calder show etc. I was disappointed that nobody seemed interested. Calder is so wonderful and so accessible, I was surprised at the seeming lack of engagement in the topic…unless it was the links to the blogposts 😉
Our museum is but a tiny place, focused on early aviation. I don’t get to buy cool stuff like artsy mobiles (well unless they’ve got airplanes!) but I do find some really fun historical stuff from time to time. Plus I get to play with lots of toys. Who doesn’t love toys? I’ve probably got the best selection of tiny pull-back airplane toys this side of the Mississippi, hahaha. Well aside from my own suppliers, maybe. 😉
I hope you get to enjoy your Member’s Day! Members really are important to museums and I love membership perks. I’m an off/on member of the Art Institute of Chicago though I don’t even live in Illinois. It’s worth it just to get early access to special exhibition tickets. Much easier to plan a vacation that way! We did the same thing for the Downton Abbey costumes exhibit at Winterthur. The lady at the desk was like, “wait… you’re a member here and you live in OHIO?” It was hysterical. But admission to the grounds and the exhibit is free to members, AND you don’t have to do the timed ticket thing that everyone else does. That sounds like winning to me.
You’re probably correct about the links thing. I think a lot of readers just gloss over link roundups, especially when they’re subscribed to most if not all of the blogs in that particular grouping. Nothing like opening your blog reader and finding ten posts in a row that say the exact same thing! Which is why I appreciate that you always go the extra step to make yours different. As for making every beauty blog reader see the relevance in art appreciation, we’ll just have to keep working on them. 😛
Oh and I’ll have to see if I can catch a rerun of that Charlie Rose! I like his program to begin with and that segment sounds really interesting. 🙂
Do you have a favourite artist? I know, I know. Loaded question. lol