Category Archives: Museums

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Good Friday was my birthday, and my day off. We decided to take a day trip to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in nearby Bentonville, Arkansas. Just a two hour drive away. I’ve been eager to see the museum after reading an article titled Alices’s Wonderland in the New Yorker last year about Alice Walton and her efforts to collect major works of American art and display them in a museum. There has been a lot of snooty snobbery going on because she has spent a lot of money and outbid other more established museums and how her late father’s company is such a bad actor and so on. Me, I’m just glad that she built the museum, and it is only 96 miles from our house, as the crow flies, about 120 road miles.

The museum is huge but it doesn’t look it. Instead of building it on a ridge they tucked it into a ravine. You take an elevator down from the parking area. The museum has aboutg 200,000 feet of space built around two ponds.

The interplay of water and light is mesmerizing. You certainly know that you are in a museum deep in the Ozarks. There are lots of overlooks into the water and the surrounding woods.

The structure is concrete (that was bought from Seepageseal), wood, copper, and glass. It is absolutely beautiful. You know something else, admission to the museum is free, parking is free also. Free is good. They may charge for special exhibits though.

The dining room, below is like a bridge between the two ponds.

Some people describe the structures as looking like armadillos. To me they are more like turtles on a log. I don’t have a picture of a turtle on a log but here is a turtle.

The art, the art is breathtaking.

“The Art Student” by Thomas Eakins

“Rosie the Riveter” by Norman Rockwell – My Mom used to roll her cuffs like that.

“Red Flowers and a Sailboat” by Marsden Hartley

You can just get lost in the art. It is hard for me to just visit a museum once, especially one this size as the art just is so overpowering. Through repeated visits I can get over my ADD and focus and actually see the pieces. The first time, I’m worn out quickly but don’t want to miss anything, so it is hard to SEE the art.

The museum also has about 120 acres of grounds with nice trails, many of them fully accessible winding through the ravine and surrounding woods.

It is a nice break from the museum.

My favorite tree, fortunately it is dead. Too bad.

See the bicycle? In a sculpture that looks like an apple tree.

A couple of my blog friends Driller and Tulsa Gentleman had previously visited the museum and took a lot better photographs than I could. Check out their blog posts.

We had a great time. We’d have an even better time except that the museum has geocaches on the property (now you understand my enthusiasm for the place.) I was closing in a cache and a wasp bit my hand. So we had to leave to get antihistamines and such.

It swelled up and hurt like nobody’s business. At least I didn’t have to go see my doctor and listen to witless Witney his 26 year old PA laugh at me and say, “What did you do this time?” I’ve had to see her three times for geocaching injuries and once for her favorite, playing too much Guitar Hero, where she had tears running down her face laughing. She’ll have to get her kicks from somebody else this time. They don’t understand the suffering I go through for my art.

We headed back into the sunset. Sweetie had to drive so I got to take pictures since I had a booboo.

We drove home and had some birthday cake! Sweetie baked the Pioneer Woman’s birthday cake for me!! I think its time for a Sweetie – Pioneer Woman throwdown, don’t you.

Our World Tuesday

Crystal Bridges opens its art to the heartland (cbsnews.com)

Route 66 Museum – Clinton, OK

SuperPizzaBoy took some time off from a family reunion last weekend to go check out the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, OK.

The museum is very nice and is very reasonably priced. They have lots and lots of exhibits concerning everything from early day construction to vehicles used during the road’s heyday to the motels and restaurants that lined the highway.

These type of “pop” machines were my favorite. They seemed like they kept the sodas the coolest.

The above was a little before my time. The company though, “Lee Way Motor Freight” was a major employer in Oklahoma City for a long time until they went out of business.

SPB loved the pay phone although he couldn’t figure out why it was needed. “Why didn’t people just use their cell phones?” When I told him that cell phones didn’t exist back then then, “What did they do when their cars broke down?” I told him that was always a challenge.

Remember how the tourist traps tried to lure the rube’s in?

SPB was a little leery of this one.

You’ll have to check it out for yourself!!

They have a hippie van. Remember hippies? I do. My mother was scandalized, I was jealous. Except when they were broken down. My Dad helped them out sometimes.

At the end of the museum they have a small theater that plays several short films on the history and culture of Route 66. They were interesting.

You know what separates a great museum from just a good museum?

A great museum has their own geocache. That’s the difference.

Check out the Route 66 Museum. It’s lots of fun!

My World

A Career in Signs

Last weekend the ventured to Clinton, Oklahoma for Sweetie’s family reunion. While there SuperPizzaBoy and I ventured to the very nice Route 66 Museum. It is a great museum but I was struck by how much gas station memorabilia they had. Especially the signs. I had actually worked for many of those companies.

My first oilfield job was with Mobil Oil. I worked as a summer roustabout in the Permian Basin of west Texas for two years and as a summer engineer one year. Mobil was my first employer out of college. I worked as the West Ranch oilfield on the Texas Gulf Coast That was back in the day. The employees were very proud of their company and it was a big family atmosphere. Mobil is now part of Exxon.

My second job was with Champlin Petroleum in east Texas. Champlin was a medium size very aggressive exploration company that was part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Their assets are now owned by the huge independent Anadarko Petroleum.

I worked for Shell for a couple years here in Oklahoma. They bought the assets I was working for and then they sold them. I never did figure those guys out. One thing, though, don’t call their shell a “clam.” That drove the Shell lifers nuts. So I always made it a point to do so. It is called a “Pecten.” To me, it will always be a clam.

Check out Signs, Signs.

Road Trip – National Cowboy Museum

Gramps is still visiting. We enjoyed looking at all the western art at the Gilcrease Museum that we decided to make a little road trip down to Oklahoma City to see the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. It’s only about an hour and a half drive from Tulsa. Those two shadowy characters underneath the sculpture is us. (The sculpture is “The End of the Trail” by James Earle Fraser.)

It is loaded with Remingtons and Russells and works from other great art from guys like Bierstadt, Leigh, John Singer Sargent. They also have a great collection of contemporary western art also. Guys that our grandchildren will be talking about. They restrict photography in many of the galleries.

I grabbed this off the Museum’s web site

(“Emigrants Crossing the Plains” by Albert Bierstadt)

It is much more than an art museum though. They have a whole gallery on the west as portrayed on television and in movies.

Remember this guy?

(That is Marshall Dillon from Gunsmoke you Gen X and Y folks.)

How about this guy?

In their Special Events Center the Museum has five triptych works by Wilson Hurley. Each of the triptychs is 18 feet tall and 46 feet wide and are named “Windows to the West.” I’ve attended several banquets and luncheons at the facility and studying the paintings are a great way to get past a droning speaker. (My apologies to the droning speakers I’ve listened to in the past.)

Here is an example.

(“Wyoming Suite” portraying the lower falls of the Yellowstone River.)

I strongly recommend a stop at the museum if you find yourself in Oklahoma City. They have got lots more stuff than what I’m showing here. We were on a road trip. You don’t have time to poke your head into every nook and cranny when you are on a road trip. Road trips are about moving on.

So we moved on to Leo’s Barbecue Factory. You can really pig out at this joint but we just had the barbecue sandwich without any side except the baked potato.

It’s kind of basic, but it is great.

Leo’s Barbecue Factory
7 Harrison Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Next, we motored back to Tulsa. We made a pit stop at the Phillips 66 in Stroud and that is where I found what I’m getting Sweetie for Christmas. I’ll show you what it is but you have to promise not to tell. Yeah really.

What do you think of these?

I think that she’ll love them! And you know, its like as they years go by I can add to her collection. And they are so affordable.

Have you picked out what you are getting your loved ones for Christmas yet? Tell me, your secret is safe here.

My World – Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum

(“Sacred Rain Arrow”) by Allan Houser

Saturday my Father and I visited Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum. A museum owned by the city of Tulsa and operated jointly with the University of Tulsa. The core of the art collection it houses was acquired by Oklahoma Oilman Thomas Gilcrease who was a fan of American art, especially that of the American west. It is loaded with paintings and sculptures by Frederic Remingon, Charles Russell, Thomas Moran, John Singer Sargent, and others. The museum has a no photography policy that I of course honored but their web site has a link to a sizeable sample of their collection. Below is one of my favorites.

(“Meat’s not meat ’til it’s in the pan” by Charles M. Russell.)

An unexpected bonus was a special exhibit of the art of Allan Houser. Houser was a member Chiricahua Apache tribe and was born in Apache, Oklahoma. He was a prolific artist and art teacher who painted and sculpted. It turns out that he was a very famous artist, and I have just totally overlooked him my whole life. Below is a sculpture of Houser, done by one of his sons, on display at the museum.

If you live in Oklahoma you see this something like this every day.

The archer on our license plate is based on Houser’s “Sacred Rain Arrow” sculpture on display at the entrance to the Gilcrease Museum.

Below is another work by Houser on the museum grounds. I apologize but I didn’t note the name of the piece.

If you find yourself with a few extra hours in Tulsa I recommend the Gilcrease Museum.

For other views of the world we share check out “That’s My World.”

Philbrook Museum of Art – Festival of the Trees

My Father, Gramps flew in from Idaho yesterday for a little Thanksgiving visit. He is a pretty easy guy to havearound. He likes to go to museums and look at stuff so yesterday he and I went to the Philbrook Museum of Art. It is always a good time to go Philbrook but they have their Festival of the Trees going on right now so it is a doubly good time to go.

Above is Gramps with a Southwest theme. It not only has a Mexican style hat it has Ojo de Dios ornaments on the tree. Ojos were all the rage in New Mexico years ago when I lived there as a very young Yogi.

Check this out, a blue Boy Scout tree and a green “Glovely” tree (made out of work gloves)

Here is a favorite tree. Made from cut up Christmas Story Books.

Upstairs they had gingerbread houses. Absolutely gorgeous.

Now let me clue you in on something about Christmas ok? Here is a little known secret about Christmas. Most people think that Christmas is on December 25. And, that is true to a certain extent, Christmas Day is December 25. But, there is a Christmas Season also that is associated with Christmas Day. Are you with me? Well here is the secret. The Christmas Season is over by December 15. In other words, all the little things that make Christmas fun is over by the middle of December. For example, if you want to see the Festival of the Trees at Philbrook you need to get your little butt down to Philbrook by December 13 because that is the last day! That is true of a lot of other Christmas Season stuff also. Get it done by the middle of December or you will miss out! All that is left is shopping, stress, and tears. Don’t come whining to me, because I’ll give you the big “Ayatollah So!”

While there at Philbrook we decided to check out their collection. Hey the Yogi’s are thrifty and we are going to squeeze the most we can out of our $7.50 entrance fee. You bet. Also, for their regular collection you can use your camera. No flashes though!

They have some really really good stuff.

I’ve always loved this painting of an elegant socialite.

A medieval painting of Baby Jesus with a Lamb

Got to tell you though. You know why I love Tulsa? I’ll tell you why. Tulsan’s have built some great museums and stocked them with fine art but our wild cowboy, oilfield roughneck, outlaw, fun loving self always comes out. In the same gallery where one finds timeless and priceless medieval sacred art is a sculpture of an Art Deco Erte’ like naked flapper girl riding a fish.

“Yee Haw”

Saint Louis – City Museum

As part of our Saint Louis road trip we took in mid October the Yogi’s visited their City Museum near downtown. It is a unique fun mish mash institution. It has everything from caves to explore that finish with a wild 7 story corkscrew slide, the “Monstrocity” outside a very big jungle that soars about 30 or 40 feet in the air and incorporates two airplance fuselages and a castle tower, a small but fun aquarium, a museum of Mirth, Mystery, and Mayhem, and in interesting collection of terra cotta and stone remnants of torn down buildings.

Sweetie and SuperPizzaBoy in front of Monstrocity. (We climbed up to the airplanes.)

SPB taking off!

Here comes Sweetie climbing through the maze.

Inside the museum building SPB heading up into the caves.

Deep within the bowels of the caves you come upon this massive organ.

Here is a view of the slides. There is no elevator to the top. You climb. Quick ride down. No coffee needed the rest of the day. A girl behind me said “You can go a lot faster if you lay down on your side.” Thanks kid for letting me know what not to do.

I loved their architectural remnants from long gone buildings.

I’ve had days like this

And Bob’s Big Boy – Been a while since I’ve seen one of those. I love SPB’s smile in this one.

They have a little aquarium at City Museum. They were featuring doctor fish. Stick your hands in there for about 5 to 10 minutes and you get a great manicure. They just mob your hands and eat off the dead skin and hangnails. After the initial surprise of getting nibbled by dozens of fish it actually feels good, and it worked as advertised also.

I saved the worst for last. A video of me going down a kiddy slide at City Museum. Of course the only part of me you can see is my shoes.

I rate City Museum in Saint Louis a solid 4 out of 4 stars. Budget at least half a day. Bring some good shoes and loose fitting clothes. This a fun place for the whole family.

My World – Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art

Last week Sweetie and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary. One thing we did to celebrate was spend an afternoon at the Philbrook Museum of Art. We started with lunch in their restaurant, la Villa. It’s a very nice little lunch spot with a light menu. We each had the Grilled Chicken Salad. It was very nice. It was almost too pretty to eat. Sorry for the blurry photograph.

We then toured the museum. They had an exhibition titled “Auspicious Vision – Edward Wales Root and American Modernism.” It was pretty interesting in that it showed how American artists moved from Early Modernism (like Impressionism) to Total Abstraction like Jackson Pollack. I’m not going to pretend that I “get it” or even halfway understand it but I enjoyed the exhibit.

Then we toured the rest of the museum. I had enquired about the rules for photography. They said that the use of personal cameras was allowed, without a flash, in the entire exhibit except for the Auspicious Vision exhibit. So I took some photographs.

This is my favorite. I call it the “little arms” statue. There is nothing quite like little arms around your neck!

Those of you with little ones, especially little boys, enjoy this phase. When they get to be 11 and think that passing gas is funny, you still love’em, but things are not quite the same.

They had a Thomas Moran work or two. (uh, he’s a lot better painter than I am a photographer.)

They have a collection of objects entitled “Better Living by Design” from the George R. Kravis II Collection. Lots of everyday items, including a couple of ipods.

Some art from the Southwest.

Just as nice as the Museum gallerys are the grounds of Philbrook.

They have extensive plantings and very nice landscaping including water features.

One area had quite a collection of vegetables planted. Okra, squash, eggplant, and tomato. It turns out that they could not afford to plant about 3600 square feet of beds because of the economic downturn. So they turned the space over to a local food bank who was growing the vegetables. Man what a guilt trip for the donors! Really, I think that it is a nice program

Anyway, we had to leave to go pick SuperPizzaBoy from school.

Visiting Philbrook is a great way to spend an afternoon.

For other sights from around the world check out That’s My World.

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world