My wife and I made a weekend trip recently to Bentonville, Arkansas for a little break. On the town square, the county courthouse had some nice shadows in the late afternoon.
I’m linking with ShadowShot Sunday 2 – come check it out!
A shot from our trip to Orange Beach, Alabama earlier this summer for vacation. I love hanging out at the beach. What you see changes every second.
A full moon from earlier this week. I’m told it was the Thunder Moon or the Buck Moon. I captured not too long after moonrise so it had some color to it.
Earli
From our trip to Bentonville, Arkansas recently. They have a charming town square. I noticed this confederate monument in the middle of the park. As far as I know there is nobody clamoring to have it removed. It is interesting to me that Oklahoma and Arkansas are right next to each other and you won’t see sights like this in Oklahoma. Arkansas was a state long before Oklahoma is the reason I am guessing. Just as an aside, Stand Waite was a Cherokee from what was then “Indian Territory” who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and was quite successful fighting Union troops and was responsible for keeping them out of Oklahoma and east Texas during the Civil War. He was the last confederate general to surrender which he did in Doaksville, in what is now Oklahoma on June 29, 1865. I stumbled across the ghost town of Doaksville years ago and wrote this blog post about it.
Well, I got off on a tangent. Sorry about that.
This past Sunday the family loaded up and ventured over into Bentonville, Arkansas to see the Dale Chihuly glass art exhibition hosted by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Chihuly’s art is amazing. Blown glass with all sorts of colors made into all sorts of shapes. Big pieces, little pieces, everything.
As good as the art is, the presentation is also special. The setting, the lighting, everything is perfect. Not only the glass but the shadows and the reflections are part of the installation.
All sorts of designs are his hallmark.
They had some of his paintings on display along with three videos of him in action. His painting technique fascinated me. This isn’t some guy with a beret dabbing at a canvas. He paints directly from the tubes in big bold strokes. He drips paint from buckets, it is all very physical. They had videos of the glass being blown. Big burly guys struggling with the big pieces trying to get the color and shapes right. This is very muscular art.
The exhibition has two parts “Chihuly in the Gallery” and “Chihuly in the Forest.” The piece above seemed to hover in mid air and seemed alive as it shimmered in the sun. It reminded me of something from a Stephen King story. This piece contains over a thousand individual pieces.
The art seemed a part of the forest, the woods and the glass complimenting each other.
Once a week or so they have a nightime exhibit. I think that would be spectacular.
I love this boat.
And these two pieces.
And not far away were two fawns. That is cool. I don’t know where mom was. They were in a safe spot.
Afterwards we drifted in the town square of Bentonville to eat and came across Sam Walton’s first store and museum.
They had an old time soda fountain with ice cream at 99 cents a scoop. Not a bad finish to a great road trip.