Thursday, July 14, 2011

Gallery Listings and Exhibition Reviews: Chihuly- Through the Looking Glass

On the second (and last) of my summer vacations, I was lucky enough to visit the Boston. Thanks to a particularly cloudy day and over-booked duck tour of the city, I ventured to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. A museum visit at this institution comes at a steep price, $20 per adult and $18 per students, but I quickly found out it was well worth the price.

Along with an impressive collection both of modern and ancient work, the museum's temporary exhibition Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass, was fantastic. For those of you from the Dallas area, Chihuly's glass pieces flank the sides of the atrium glass window near the cafe. His glass works are thematical and range from ocean scenes to American Indian constructions. They are colorful and fanciful creations that transport you to a dream-like world. Enjoy!

Ikebana Boat, 2011

 Northwest Room, Tabac Baskets, 2011


 Mille Fiori, 2011


Persian Ceiling

Chandeliers

Neodymium Reeds on Logs, 2011

* Of course, on all for all of these works:

Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 
© 2011 Chihuly Studio, all rights reserved 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Events: Art on the Rocks!

It's been a busy summer! For those of you who kept up with my posts from last summer, then you know that the art world shuts down after Art Basel. However, the summer is great time for museums to get events going for tourists and stay-cationers. As a Dallasite, I have been lucky enough to attend the free Jazz Under the Stars nights at the Dallas Museum of Art and also some of the Nasher Sculpture Center's Til Midnight (the latter of which I will discuss more in a future post).

As with most of you, I recently took some summer trips, one of which was to Birmingham, Alabama. Thanks to a visit to the Nasher Sculpture Center from the Curator of Education at the Birmingham Museum of Art, I decided to visit the website and see what the museum had to offer. I am glad I did! Not only is the museum free, but it also has a fun event called Art on the Rocks! Seeing as my sister recently moved to Birmingham, I took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone- visit her and attend the Art on the Rocks event- not to mention loading up on some delicious Southern cuisine.

Although Art on the Rocks is not a free event, $20 for non-members and $10 for members, it was worth every penny. I dragged my sister to the event that was promoting the upcoming exhibition Who Shot Rock and Roll set to open on June 24th. I missed the photography exhibition, but did enjoy the themed  event's which featured dueling DJs, live graffiti on the Museum walls, and a funky band. Art on the Rocks caters to 20-30 somethings, which is rare in a museum world that  has been focusing on families. The museum had (free) appetizer and (at cost) drink stations littered around the forum and outdoor sculpture arena. Another activity, of which I took part, was having museums patrons 'graffiti' on the sculpture pit walls alongside the real graffiti artists. Please enjoy the pictures of this and other highlights from the Birmingham Museum of Art's Art on the Rocks event.








Thornton Dial, Nobody Knows What Go On Behind the Jungle, 1989
Paint and Mixed Media


As a preview of what's to come:

Inside of the BMA, with a Chihuly sculpture.