Because I have not yet written up Sunday's trip

[anagramofbrat]

extrajoker and inle_rah have both posted their pictures, so I can write up Sunday now!

So sneaky random Andee fact? I love museums. It doesn't matter what sort of museum it is, the prospect of going to one makes my inner six year old do her best impression of a severely hyper dog upon hearing the word "walk." Granted it's extra super duper fun if it's a science museum (hands on sorts of things for the win), or a museum of something or other I find interesting (The American Museum of the Moving Image is like my personal Mecca - someday I will go), and I get super crazy about natural history museums (AMNH in New York of course being the alpha and omega of that sort of thing for me) because Dinosaur. Skeletons. Are. Fucking. Awesome. I like the ones that just have paintings and sculpture and odd things consisting of a single gear caught in a net of string too. Even little topical exhibits of things like the history of... I don't know, farm equipment, I find really neat and interesting. Blah blah blah. Long story short, me, museums, we get along.

Perhaps not so oddly when I think about it, I had never been to the Springfield Quadrangle before. It's not so oddly because, well, there was the whole not driving thing up until last year, but also, it's Springfield, which in some ways is kinda the armpit of Western MA. That said, there are some really neat/interesting things in that city if you're adventurous enough to find them, like the Quadrangle, CityStage/Symphony Hall, the Memorial Bridge, the basketball hall of fame, the Forest Park Zoo, downtown... yeah. Its just most people don't really bother with finding them. Believe me, I get it - I grew up in Brooklyn in the 80s, no one wanted to go there either, even though there's some seriously neat stuff there. (Still can't quite cope with the idea that Brooklyn is like... hip now. WTF.)

Anyway. Point being, I'd never been there before Sunday. The main thing that lured the three of us there this weekend was The Art of the Brick exhibit. I am a lapsed devotee of the Church of LEGO, so when extrajoker told me about it I was all OMG OMG OMG YES LETS GO.

I was not disappointed. Nathan Sawaya's sculptures are something "on paper" as pictures, but seeing them in person is another thing entirely. I was especially taken with a large model of a human heart, complete with disturbingly well done blood vessels. I think I totally geeked out at one point and said "hey it totally has a superior vena cava!"

What? I used to page through Grey's Anatomy when I was bored, shut up.

Other bits on display: I have to mention the T-rex skeleton, because GODDAMN. It's a T-Rex skeleton MADE OF OF FREAKING LEGOS HOW AWESOME IS THAT SHIT. But there were also smaller pieces I found myself coming back to as we toured the exhibit. The silly, pissed off looking Tiger-Giraffe for one. The four skulls done in four different colors on the wall which were all identical except for their color and, less noticeably, their teeth. "Yellow," which is the piece featured on all the promotional material hit me on a gut level because I totally get that feeling. "Hands" was also a bit of a gut puncher as well. I think the piece that got me most emotionally was called "Lonely Night" which was a black cityscape on a night blue background... and one single lighted window represented by one flat yellow 1x1 brick. I think I saw that one and literally went "Aw... AWWWWWW."

I should also mention the artist is extremely good at sculpting human figures. So good that extrajoker pointed out that the first one we saw had a rather realistic looking butt crack. Which we then of course had to look for on every single figure sculpture because we're those sorts of people. One of inle_rah's shots is of three of his figures standing together, and extrajoker and I on either side of them... I'm unabashedly checking out the back side of one, and extrajoker is making like she's going to cop a feel on the other. Yeah. You can't really take us anywhere.

From there there was a quick run around the rest of the Fine Arts building, wherein I had to be forcibly led away from this wall-sized bit of mesmerizing fantasticness, lest I stare at it for the rest of the day (and I so would have) and then out to the garden and Dr. Seuss sculptures for silliness and pictures. I'll add that we got there right before the entire Quadrangle was swarmed with kids so extrajoker and inle_rah managed to get some fantastically silly shots (The one where I seem to be getting crushed under Horton's massive foot came out especially well) before we were chased inside by the noise of more people showing up and the heat. After a bit of time oohing and ahing over the architectural detail of the George Walter Smith building (GUH) we went in to admire the Japanese arms and armor. We then wandered upstairs and went into what is apparently the Hasbro Games Art Discovery Center (mostly because it's the only bit of that building with A/C)... I can't exactly describe that corridor in any way that does it justice, because it is breathtakingly painted, and my exclamation that I was being hit with all 96 colors in the Crayola box (in a very very good way) is a little on the crass side. But yeah, um. COLOR. Definitely made returning to the land of bare white wall a little depressing, that's for sure.

At that point we kinda had to cut the museum browsing short as I was getting linoleum legs and inle didn't feel well, so after some browsing of the museum store, where I quite firmly told myself I couldn't walk out with the softest, fluffiest Horton plushy I have ever hugged ever, nor every single large format Dr. Seuss hardcover I have ever loved (Do you all realize how insanely happy it makes me to know that SOMEWHERE I can actually buy The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins??? I was half convinced it was out of print until I found it on Sunday! And I'm kicking myself for not remembering to look for The Bitter Butter Battle!) and a bit of a squee fit because extrajoker bought me a postcard of the painting I had to be dragged away from, we headed out. A good morning and early afternoon was had though, and now that I know it's there and have a vague notion of how to get there, I totally want to go back. With camera. And maybe company if anyone wants to brave the wilds of Hampden County with me. Hell, maybe even with drü+kidz one weekend.

extrajoker's pictures: http://extrajoker.shutterfly.com/1743
inle_rah's pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/inle_rah/sets/72157624590170280/

Like I said, me forgetting my camera = you actually get to see me in some pictures for a change.

Comments

[horizonchaser.livejournal.com]

Ooooohhh... Fantastic!!!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

You know, those four skulls look weirdly like a Legend of Zelda puzzle ...

I love the shot of you geeking out at the heart. Actually, you are ADORABLE in every picture.

Also, this may be a good time to admit that I am ... mildly afraid of Dr. Seuss art. I have no idea why. I think it upsets my sense of reason.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank goodness, someone else who remembers The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins!!

[anagramofbrat.livejournal.com]

That 500th hat was such a pimp hat. No wonder the king wanted it.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Is that the one with the trees or is that the Oobleck?

[anagramofbrat.livejournal.com]

that's Oobleck. The last hat was the one with like seven feathers and a big ass ruby stuck on the front.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember that hat alright! I was just wondering about the trees 'cause I love those trees.

[extrajoker.livejournal.com]

Glad you had fun, babe! Can't believe I'd never road-tripped you there before. I guess nothing screamed "Andee" to me quite so loudly as the Lego exhibit did.