Tea Party Appearance Marks One of Many Teen Mad Happenings

The Hatter and March Hare presided at a table set for tea last Thursday at the Woodson Art Museum. The table was a large one; it seated 27 guests, including the Hatter, March Hare, and Alice.

Alice looked around the table to see the fanciful, inventive hats created by the Little Masters and Young Artists, ages 5-12, who were guests for tea.

Alice hoped the Hatter would be on his best behavior. Of course, he was not. He kept saying Alice’s hair needed cutting. The guests wanted cookies. The Hatter said there were none, even though several plates of cookies and cakes were scattered prominently around the table.

The guests were asked to tell the Hatter riddles, but of course he didn’t know what they meant. The March Hare didn’t have the slightest idea, either. Poor Alice; she just gave up.

The Hatter and March Hare tried to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” but sang of a bat and tea tray instead. It was a most confusing tea party for Alice. She didn’t quite know what to say, so she helped herself to some tea and cake. The young guests, though appropriately puzzled, giggled graciously and maintained their good manners most admirably.

The Teen Art Council (TAC) invites you to join them for more “Mad Happenings,” impromptu theatrical appearances, at the Woodson Art Museum on May 7, May 14, and June 4.

The Mad Tea Party is one of many adventures in the Woodson Wonderland – part of the Almost Alice and teapot exhibitions on view through June 19. For details, check the Calendar of Events on the Museum website, www.lywam.org, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or call 715.845.7010.

Nature’s Joke Sends Big Chill

Mother Nature has a good sense of humor. Just when you thought it was okay to put your cold weather gear away after a long dark winter, when all but a few patches of snow remained, central Wisconsin gets hit with yet another snow fall. On April 20, no less.

 Burt Brent, The Heavyweight 1994

I thought the old saying “April showers bring May flowers” meant rain showers, not snow showers.



Debora Butterfield, Kua 1994 



In less than a month, the Woodson Art Museum will host sculptor Steven Siegel for two weeks while he and a volunteer corps makes a monumental paper sculpture in our sculpture garden. Let’s hope Mother Nature decides not to pull a funny one on us. Didn’t it snow last year in May? Let’s hope we avoid a belated April Fool’s Day joke this year.

Teatime Connections

     Time and temperature are two keys to making the perfect cup of tea. That’s what I learned from Rishi Tea demonstrations presented this past weekend during the opening of Mad About Teapots: From the Racine Art Museum and Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor, on view at the Woodson Art Museum through June 19.

      Dave Jones of Rishi Tea would know. Rishi Tea, a Milwaukee-based purveyor of specialty teas, is the largest importer of loose leaf tea in the United States and the 2011 North American Tea Champion.

During tea tastings he presented at Friday evening’s preview party and at Saturday afternoon’s “Tea 101,” Jones said black teas can be steeped in water “right off the boil,” at 210 degrees Fahrenheit for a solid five minutes. Green teas and oolong teas require gentler treatment to avoid scorching the leaves. Cool the water to 185 degrees and steep three to four minutes.

      I was struck by the parallels between steeping tea and the relationship nurturing that teatime rituals encourage. Carefully attending to the time you invest and the degree of warmth infused into the conversation are keys to improving the quality of the relationship – perhaps the most satisfying part of partaking in tea.

      The formal Victorian-era ceremony and etiquette surrounding teatime does get turned – and delightfully so – on its head in Mad About Teapots, so this exhibition is a fitting complement to Almost Alice, a reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

     But basic essentials of tea, friendship, and even good business do turn on time and degree of warmth.

     As mail order and social media manager at Rishi Tea, Jones and I do have Facebook in common. Part of his job, as well as mine as the Museum’s marketing and communications manager, is to monitor and post updates to Facebook and Twitter throughout each day. Part of social media’s appeal, of course, is that it’s free. But Jones and I certainly do invest time and energy into ensuring that our interactions with potential tea customers and Museum visitors are infused with plenty of warmth. That’s something that has to remain a constant priority.

      My goal? I want every interaction with visitors – whether through our doors or through the virtual realms of social media – to cause them to emerge “Mad About the Woodson Art Museum!”

Erin's Adventures in Museumland

The Woodson Art Museum galleries are transforming this week. Good Design is being dismantled and Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor and Mad About Teapots: From the Racine Art Museum are taking its place. Venturing into the galleries this week is a “down-the-rabbit-hole” experience; nothing is quite how it seems. The journey into a topsy-turvy world seems like an appropriate analogy considering our next exhibitions.

 

Maggie Taylor’s surreal, dreamlike vignettes of scenes from Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, encourage us to look for creative inspiration everywhere, as she did with old photographs and toys, animals, and everyday objects.

The whimsical, bold, and beautiful teapots in Mad About Teapots highlight Taylor’s imaginative worlds. The teapot forms range from a bellhop to a slab of weathered wood. Works in the galleries truly are inspiring and unexpected in this exhibition.

This behind-the-scenes transformation is one of my favorite time periods at the Museum. Precisely orchestrated events unfold, worthy of time-lapse photography: artworks off the walls, packed, and shipped; walls painted; walls moved; cases arranged; artworks laid out and installed; labels placed; and finally lighting set. Then it’s show time. 

(Watch the following YouTube clip of “Metamorphosis One” composed by Philip Glass – my installation soundtrack)

It’s a privilege to get a sneak peak; some of my co-workers prefer to wait to see the finished installations on Friday evening, right before the members preview party (Should we assume these people can keep surprises a secret and don’t snoop for holiday gifts?) not me; I like to take it in. Call it “Erin’s Adventures in Museumland.” I just make sure to stay out of the way and not overstay my welcome.