Van Gogh and Picasso are local

In honor of Smithsonian Magazine's 6th Annual Museum Day, I went to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach and brought my parents along with me.

The Norton is the perfect museum for art lovers and non-lovers alike  It's small, but still has some impressive works.  Everyone leaves happy, the art lovers got to see some cool pieces and the non-lovers didn't waste an entire day aimlessly wandering the corridors.

What drew me to the museum and helped convince my father to join, was one of Vincent van Gogh's self-portraits.  It is on temporary display from the National Gallery of Art.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889, oil on canvas

It is one of at least 36 self-portraits.  If you think that's a lot, think about this: van Gogh did not start painting until he was in his late 20's and he committed suicide at the age of 37.  In those years he created over 2,000 works of art, which means at the very least, he was producing 200 pieces a year.

This painting will be on display at the Norton Museum of Art until Feb. 8, 2011.

In their permanent collection, the Norton has multiple paintings by Spanish cubism artist, Pablo Picasso.  Tete de Femme is my favorite at the museum, oddly enough due to the lack of color.  The whites, grays and black are striking and stand out more to me than his more colorful pieces.

Pablo Picasso, Tete de Femme

This painting is always on display and I'd suggest taking a look at it.  You make like it, or you may have similar feelings to my dad's.  On our way back to the car he said,

"You know what I think?  That Picasso crap is so overrated."

That is coming from the same man who walked into a museum in Florence, Italy, home of the Renaissance, and said,

"I am so sick of this Madonna and baby Jesus stuff.  Who actually likes this?  They all look the same.  I'll be waiting on the bench over there." 

Museum Hours

Tuesday - Saturday - 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday - 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Second Thursday of each month - 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Closed Mondays and on major holidays

•  $12 for adults
•  $5 for visitors ages 13-21
•  Free for Members and children under 13.
•  $10 for Adult Group Tours 
•  Free for School Group Tours 
•  Every Saturday, admission to the Norton Collection only is free for residents of West Palm    Beach, with proof of residency. 
• The first Saturday of each month, admission to the Norton Collection only is free for residents of Palm Beach County, with proof of residency.

Art cinema to open in Coral Gables

Lovers of foreign and independent art films rejoice.  Coral Cables Art Cinema is set to open on Oct. 15, 2010 with the film Freakonomics.

The non-profit organization is a year-round seven-days-a-week establishment.  The 144-seat theater is an intimate and comfortable way to view films that are not shown in other theaters in South Florida.

The cinema is founded by Steven Krams of Coral Gables Cinematuque, Inc. and is also available for film festivals, lectures, book readings and other cultural events.  

It is located at

260 Aragon Ave.

In the heart of the Coral Gables cultural center.

More details on an Opening Night Special Fundraiser event will be available soon.

Museum Day is just around the corner

If you love art and even if you aren’t so sure about art, Saturday is the day for you!  Smithsonian Magazine presents the 6^th Annual Museum Day! 

It’s one of the best days in the whole wide world for art enthusiasts and art not-so-enthusiasts.   Why? Because it’s FREE!

Museums all across the county are opening their doors to you on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010.  All you have to do is go to the Museum Day page on the Smithsonian Magazine website and sign up.  

You choose your museum and then a ticket will be emailed to you.  The ticket grants entry to one person plus a guest.  If you love art, you can bring a friend that is unsure and make them sure.

Think about how lovely it would be if each of us art lovers opens the door and welcomes a new appreciator of art into the world.

Participating museums in South Florida:

• 
  
  Armory Art Center
• 
  
  Norton Museum of Art
• 
  
  Art and Culture Center of Hollywood
• 
  
  Bass Museum of Art
• 
  
  Coral Springs Museum of Art
• 
  
  Gold Coast Railroad Museum
• 
  
  MiamiHistory
• 
  
  International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum
• 
  
  Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum
• 
  
  Lowe Art Museum
• 
  
  Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale
• 
  
  Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
• 
  
  Seminole Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum
• 
  
  The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum
• 
  
  Zoo Miami

Watch promotes living in the moment

Ever hear of watch that promotes living a life not ruled by time? Personally, I feel that whether I like it or not, time controls everything I do and I wouldn't mind a change.

Ian Koslow and Ron Muram decided to “stop worrying and start living.” So is the basis of their business, Time-Peace.

Time-Peace is a collection of watches and clocks created to help people view the world and their lives in a more peaceful way of living in the moment.

One of their business owners, David Damnjanovic told the Sun-Sentinel,

“Everyone is bound up by time, and everyone wears a watch. It’s not a watch; it’s a time piece, so it’s like a new kind of watch. It’s the anti-watch.”

The watch faces are designed by a graphic artist and first a peace sign, but then turned upside town to become the tree of life.

http://www.facebook.com/TimePeace

Koslow told the Sun-Sentinel,

“We want to remind people to live in the present. That’s where you can find peace. In the now.”

The company was founded on four basic principles:

• Time is an Illusion
• Your perception creates your reality
• Everything is interconnected
• The Universe is in alignment

The Time-Peace watches are unisex and range from $36 to $145.

Help feed shelter dogs

This post is off topic from what I am supposed to be writing about, but it supports a very important cause that I couldn't pass up.

Pedigree is hosting a 'Write a Post, Help a Dog' project.  For every blog post written about the Pedigree adoption drive until September 19, the company will donate a twenty pound bag of their Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to a shelter.

Also, for every "like" they get on their Facebook page, Pedigree will donate one bowl of food to a shelter dog.

Fellow bloggers, get writing and become a fan of Pedigree and feed shelter dogs!

Once you write you blog post the link to this site so Pedigree will see it and make sure that your blog accounted for.

Blog Hop!

Must see events for this coming weekend

The Arthur and Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts presents the First Annual Letterpress Appreciation Day Open House. Visitors will receive a hands-on experience by printing on an antique Wesel Iron Handpress. In the studio, different relief presses are on display and occasionally still used by students and artists.

This open house is sponsored by Convivio Bookworks, they will have items available to purchase.

The open house is free to all who would like to come, though donations are welcome and go directly to The Jaffe Center for Book Arts.

The exhibition is located on the third floor east room 350 of Florida Atlantic University’s Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton Campus. It runs on Friday Sept. 17th and Saturday Sept. 18th.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

This weekend is the last chance to see the Star Gazer Exhibit in West Palm Beach. Featured is the astrophotography of Robert Q. Fugate. See the universe and galaxies along with spacesuits from NASA and Russia.

The exhibit is free and open to the public from noon until 8pm everyday except Sundays it is open from noon to 6pm at the Waterfront Lake Pavillion located at 101 S. Flagler drive.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Ahhh! Monsters Invade the Morikami

This Summer, monsters invade Morikami Museum.  This fun all ages exhibition, titled Kaiju! Monster Invasion! features vintage toys from the 1960s through the 1980s.  All the toys were inspired by Japanese films and television shows.

One of many display cases featuring the monsters..Ahhh!

Courtest of YouTube and Morikami Museum


One particuarly interesting monster is Eyezon by Mark Nagata.  It was inspired by soft vinyl based on Tokusatu films and TV programs.  Japanese soft vinyl toys monsters from the '60s and '70s have a huge influence on international art toy movement in recent years.  (Information provided by Mark Nagata and Morikami Museum.)

Eyezon in all his glory surrounded by his monster friends.

Apart from hosting fun exhibitions like the monsters, the Morikami Museum hosts a variety of family programs during the weekends.  This past weekend was learning how to make an origami crane.  For a $1 donation you can pick the paper color of your choice learn while an instructor shows you what to do step by step.

The program is geared toward children, so naturally I had to try my hand at it.  I am very thankful for the great instructor because I never would have made it to the end without her help.

My very first origami crane!

Kaiju!  Monster Invasion! is running through October 17, 2010.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is located at:

4000 Morikami Park Road

Delray Beach, Fl 33446

It is open Tuesday- Sunday from 10am - 5pm

Admission:

$12 + tax for adults

$7 + tax for children 6-17

$11 for seniors 65+

$7 for college students with ID

Japanese Gardens

Ever want to take a trip to Japan and enjoy the beautiful gardens?  Well you can, and no passports or brutally long airline flights required.

Hidden within the hubbub of Delray Beach is a jewel called Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.  The mile-long trial around a lake offers 25 points of interest that make even the hottest summer day bearable.

Walking through the gardens is an aesthetic experience of landscape architecture and botanical artistry at its finest.  You feel as though you have been transported across the globe, forgetting that you are in south Florida until you feel that large bead of sweat making its way down your back.

Some points of interest:

• Morikami Falls
• Yamoto Island
• Bamboo Grove
• Hiraniwa Flat Garden
• Nelson Family Memorial Garden
• Morikami Bonsai Collection



Morikami Falls.  The larger of two waterfalls in the gardens.



The lake with Yamoto Island on the far side.









Yamoto Island houses the original museum building.  It has now been transformed into two exhibitions.  Japan Through the Eyes of a Child and The Yamoto Colony: Pioneering Japanese in Florida

Bamboo Grove.  The museum asks goers to refrain from carving into the wood because it permanently damages the tree.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is located at:

4000 Morikami Park Road

Delray Beach, Fl 33446

It is open Tuesday- Sunday from 10am - 5pm

Admission:

$12 + tax for adults

$7 + tax for children 6-17

$11 for seniors 65+

$7 for college students with ID

Mark your calendars for Second Saturday

Second Saturday events are great way to visit galleries.  They are fun and take place just often enough to avoid being redundant.  Lucky for us all, this coming Saturday the 11th is the second Saturday of the month!  


In Lake Park, Art on Park Studios and Gallery is hosting their monthly 2nd Saturday Celebration.  It will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.  It will feature works from the gallery along with Studio Artist Members.  Each month the gallery promotes a new artist, so don't fear seeing the same things over and over again.  It is located at 800 Park Avenue and best of all, it's FREE!


Further down south in Miami is the Wynwood District Second Saturday Art Gallery Walk.  It goes from 7:00 - 10:00 pm and is FREE and open to the public.  The galleries stay open late while entertainment and drinks take place on the streets.  The Wynwood Art District is located at North Miami Ave to I95 and extends from 10th to 36th street.


On a side note:

   This lovely painting is titled Maecenas Presenting the Liberal Arts to Emperor Augustus.  It's creator Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was one of the most successful Italian painters of the 18th century and the most famous since the Renaissance period.  When I chose to write my thesis on this painting last semester, I'd never heard of Tiepolo and was very proud of myself for choosing an artist that was obscure.

Wrong.

I was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York a few weeks ago and they have an entire room dedicated to him.  Too bad the painting I chose to write about lives in St. Petersburg, Russia.  I would love to see it in person.

 

Hello.

The first thing that I would like to say is that I am not an artist.  I find the task of drawing a simple stick figure utterly daunting and will never be able to create a respectable looking one.

With that said, I do however appreciate art.  To me art is not about just looking at a piece of work and saying, "Ohhh ahh!"  Art is much more than what you just see.  There is a history behind each painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.  There is a reason for each brushstroke and color choice.

I hope to use this blog to write about different art exhibits/fairs/shows/galleries in South Florida that I will visit.  I will also post upcoming events that are short-term.  What would be the point in bragging about a great show if it was only a two day event and you couldn't go see it for yourself?

On a side note:

Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

   This painting is titled "The Sower" by a Dutch man called Vincent van Gogh.  You may have heard about him; they crazy guy who sliced off his own ear.  Yes, he went a little nuts and spent some time in a mental institution, but he was not the type to just slap some paint on a canvas in his unstable state.  He applied paint to create texture and depth.  In "The Sower" he chose colors that offset each other in such an eye-catching way.  This is one of my favorite paintings and for the record, this photo does not do it justice.