Another afternoon in Charleston
Well its the month of January.
The tree is down.
The gifts stowed away.
The house is back to normal.
Whats next?
Last year we stumbled upon the local Museum Mile pass for our downtown, where, for a flat fee, you buy one ticket then get to visit all the museums and museum houses in our historic downtown.
Remember THIS last year?
We visited the Gibbes Museum of Art first this year.
Corene, 1955 By Jonathon Green
When you think of art, what do you think of?
Certainly there are numerous types of art.
Wiki says ART “is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts, expressing the author’s imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill intended to be appreciated for their beauty and power.
Phew!
I always understood ART as anything that makes you think.
To the Gibbes Museum of Art, they sum it up in their Manifesto:
“..the difference between merely existing and being truly alive.”
I think they copied that from my Ourlifein3d Manifesto!
When we entered the Museum we noticed most of the displays were the same as they were last year.
I hoped for newer!
But Art is what you make it and, as Museums go, we set out to learn new things.
First off were the ‘Sisters’.
I call this picture ‘Dylan and Skylar’.
As each of my two ‘sisters’ were humoring their old man and didn’t want to be there either, similar to the sisters in the painting who were being painted by their artist father.
Exhibit number two of what I learned…
Before the roughly 1920-1930 Little Boys were dressed like little Girls in our country and abroad.
In the picture below the caption read the child was the ‘lone son’ of this famous French Commander in our country.
Well the person behind D is dressed like a girl.
I learned in another museum today that around the age of 7 or 8 boys started wearing trousers. Then they were to be treated as an adult (to be seen in pants); not a child any longer.
The quote went on to say how adult women ‘were still treated with the same class as children and hence kept wearing dresses’.
Hmmmm…
Another interesting piece was this little metal carriage that was cut designed with a laser.
Notice the characters. What do you see or make you think of?
This piece was trying to depict a slave’s suffering in the early part of our country.
First, note in the second picture, a demon of sorts up in the tree reaching down to pull out the young dying slave’s heart.
Second, I want to apologize to everyone and especially the Southern Sea Muse. She is a great photographer and scraps her pics if the horizon in the picture is not level ( I read).
I take these pics with my phone. I try to level them off but not one of them you will see today will be level.
Sorry SSM! I will never live up to your standards.
(She’s a bit of a Grammar Nazi too I understand)
The smaller third floor had new exhibits. The Noir floor….
‘A Dark Place Of Dreams‘
Here were several exhibits in black (the land of dreams) and how artists made shapes and things come alive. The various artists are in print under the title on the photo
The first thing that spoke to me were the huge sea shell displays. Real sea shells, they were mounted and painted black.
At first I thought it a bit eerie, but after looking at it for a while it did take on a dream like quality.
Or I was getting tired…..
See if you can blow it up or at least find the detail of all the types of sea shells (and Puffers) in these…
They are all real! (and not riding a Horizontal plane)
Now, keeping with this ‘black box’ theme was this:
Rock, Hard Place, 2012 by Kate Gilmore
..still leaning,
This type of art was not much to look at ….
You had to ‘watch it’!
Have you seen this type of art before?
I hadn’t.
and to speed you to the Big conclusion, this …
WTF?
The exhibit is called, Rock, Hard Place. And the young artist is just throwing rocks into small clay pots with paint in them.
My kids have been doing that since they were four!
Still, if you stood there, and watched the cascading waterfalls, steadily drop paint on the ground (you can see the artist is trying to keep from slipping) it can mesmerize you a little.
….or I was just tired.
The turn of the corner into the next room was a room full of trash.
..made to look like art.
The first artist illustrated was Chakaia Booker,
….’an American artist that is known for her environmental sculpture work that addresses the struggles and victories in human aspirations and involvement. Her work involves transforming found objects (old tires) into expressive art that tackles social and cultural issues as well as femininity.‘ (wikipedia)
I just saw something made with lots of carved scraps of old tires!
There was a lot of detail in the scraps of shaved old tires. They were still all rubber!
The exhibit reminded me of something a new blogger I follow would appreciate, Harleyte.
She is a one-of-a-kind young lady in France that rides motorcycles and kinda reminds me of a female James Dean…in France. She added her own unique touches to Christmas this year.
She’s cool like that.
I mean, James Dean would like this, right?
So If art makes you think…
What do you see in this next picture by Ms. Booker
Hedge Hogs, right?
No?
What did you see?
Well, If I told you what it was depicting you might think I was making it up. So here is the placard describing this piece of art by Chakaia:
Did you see that?
I did Not see that! Hmmm…well maybe…
So one final piece in this trash room.
It is called “OVER, the rainbow”.
Please take a look. I invite you in the comments below to tell me what you see or what you think the author is trying to say …
OVER, the rainbow
Yes, that is an exhibit with old rubber tires on the top flowing into empty gallon water jugs ( I must still have Chakaia’s last display in my mind), flowing into gallons water jugs cut in half, flowing into tin cans.
What does it mean?
Well, as a proud parent I have to tell you my very own Skylar got something she drew hung in the Gibbes Museum as well!
(we are soo proud of her!)
Skye drew that beautiful flower right there in the middle!
My artist in the making!
Get out of there Skylar!
But art is not restricted to a museum, oui?
As we left the Gibbes Museum right next door was the old Huguenots Building and with it its fine metal art work.
What do you think?
Huguenots were typically French Protestants who fled to this country to escape religious persecution. Although clearly, the green sign above the church door and the metal harp over the entrance suggest these people were from Ireland.
But wait, when in doubt, what does the sign say?
Use your context clues..
That would be a rough crowd!
Can you imagine that back in that day?
Catholics and Protestants meeting…… in a bar?
Hmmm?
It was a great day here in Charleston this weekend and across the street from the Gibbes Museum this pretty scene was going on.
They picked a
Great day!
Oh to be married in Charleston!
Things could be worse!
Thanks for reading on through all this knuckleheads!
I will try to do better next time!
Have the best week this week!
And give somebody a hug!
OUR LIFE IN 3D 