What Luck!

I always look forward to the third week or so of February when the days are noticeably longer and the sunsets visible from the Woodson Art Museum’s second floor offices are indescribably magnificent. For many years, these late February days have provided watershed moments, so to speak, when I feel confident that I can “make it through” the remaining weeks of winter.

This year has been strangely different.

Temperatures have been almost consistently in the 30s. I’m certainly not complaining; in fact, I’m grateful. The sun “feels” far warmer than I remember previously experiencing. My observations are, of course, not scientific, but there’s no question that this has been an unusual winter.

And it couldn’t come at a better time.

With the Museum’s building addition project on the fast track, we’re benefitting from every mild construction day. Work is perking along, including almost daily concrete pours, and we’ve been able to avoid the extra cumbersome measures the frigid temperatures impose on most wintertime building projects.

As I write this blog post, I know that the groundhog saw his shadow and that March can be a ferocious weather month – in like a lion, out like a lamb, as the old adage goes. But I also know that the sun is higher in the sky and I heard the birds chirping on my early morning dog walk.

I’m banking on continued good weather and count myself darn lucky!

A Dinosaur Love Affair

Did you go through a dinosaur phase as a kid? Or, like me, did you never grow out of it? Visitors to the Woodson Art Museum are finding their love of dinosaurs to be stronger than ever. The key to re-igniting this passion for our long-extinct love interests is James Gurney’s Dinotopia book series.

As the author and illustrator, Gurney weaves together adventure, ancient civilizations, ethical standards, cultural traditions, and of course, dinosaurs. The series follows a father and son as they travel throughout the vast geography and societies of the island of Dinotopia making new friends, even finding first love. The highly detailed and realistic oil paintings invite visitors into lush green forests, arid deserts, and bustling urban landscapes all filled with dinosaurs and their human companions. The characters and stories of Dinotopia are enchanting, but the illustrations truly are inspiring and memorable. One visitor over the weekend shared her fond memories of the series:

“Thank you so much for bringing the Dinotopia exhibit to the museum. These books were my life as a child. Seeing the art in person brought back so many emotions that I cried several times. I’ll be back to meet the artist.”

In the galleries you can overhear young paleontologists rambling off the identifications of dinosaurs depicted by Gurney, and you know their love for these prehistoric stars is at an all time high. Also heard are those quiet mutterings of adults speaking to themselves, trying to remember the names of the dinosaurs pictured.

Art Park, the Museum’s interactive family gallery, turned ten on Saturday and the birthday was celebrated by hundreds of visitors, volunteers, and education staff. Many came as dinosaur enthusiasts and left as honorary citizens of Dinotopia. Dino-ramas encouraged creative habitat construction; travel journals were filled with stickers, drawings, and coded messages in the Dinotopian written alphabet. Stepping into the shoes of a dinosaur was another way to leave a coded message during the birthday party. Some visitors slipped on a pair of Crocs™ with a dinosaur footprint stamp adhered to the bottom and literally stamped out their names and notes onto paper.

While the exhibition does have immediate appeal to younger visitors, adults can enjoy a sociocultural survey of dinosaur history in the Museum’s Art History 101 lecture series. My second and final presentation of “Dinosaurs in the Museum: Reconstruction, Restoration, and Interpretation” will be offered to the public today, 12:15 – 1 pm. Bring a bagged lunch, if you like, and learn about how museums and the American public have interacted with dinosaurs in academic and entertainment settings.

Whether your love of dinosaurs is undiscovered, newfound, or an everlasting flame, we hope you join us at the Museum for programs complementing “Dinotopia: The Fantastical Art of James Gurney.”

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Woodson Art Museum!

Let Art Move You

We’re on the move at the Woodson Art Museum.

 

From yoga in the galleries and box step dance demonstrations complementing recent wooden boxes exhibitions to elephant exercises during an upcoming Carnival of the Animals-themed Toddler Tuesday, staff is folding movement into the mix.

The reason is simple: moving is fun. Visiting the Woodson Art Museum should be fun, and hands-on, active programs help ensure visitors thoroughly enjoy their time here.

Moving more throughout each day also benefits many of us who, often by necessity, remain sedentary at school desks or computer workstations. (After two thirteen-hour car trips in recent days, I’m definitely ready to get moving!) Video games, television, and Facebook combine to add even more sedentary screen time to family leisure hours, as well.

At the Woodson Art Museum, though, you can:

• Stroll through the galleries and sculpture garden.
• See Team USA snow sculptors create DinoSNOWpia! along Twelfth Street on Thursday and Friday, February 9 and 10, 10 am - 4 pm. This year marks the 22nd year Mike Martino, Tom Queoff and Mike Sponholtz have worked their winter magic at the Museum. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to try your own creative play in the snow.
• Join a yoga class, offered by River Flow Yoga, amid Dinotopia artworks in the galleries on Thursday morning, February 9, 10-11 am.
• Experiment with hands-on art activities on Saturday, February 11, 1-3 pm, during a 10th Birthday Bash for Art Park, the Museum’s interactive family gallery.

And that’s just this week.

The Woodson Art Museum is participating in a national initiative, Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens, designed to encourage movement and healthy food choices. Check the Museum’s website, www.lywam.org, for details about upcoming programs that do just that throughout the year, and discover new ways to fold the fun of movement into more of your days.

Glass Artworks Are Wisconsin Icons, Too

Hank Murta Adams, Head with Rods,  1980

The state of Wisconsin lays claim to many icons: the Green Bay Packers, the moniker “cheeseheads,” the tagline “America’s Dairyland,” as well as such tasty foods as bratwurst and cheese.

Another distinction belongs to the University of Wisconsin–Madison where in the fall of 1962 Harvey K. Littleton began a revolutionary hot-glass program. This might not seem to fit with the ranks of the more popular items listed above, but it rates high in the art world. Advanced technology made it feasible as well as cost effective to construct small glass furnaces for use in artists’ studios. Previously, glasswork typically was created in factories by teams, which produced multiples of each design. This evolution was exciting for artists who were eager to stretch the limits of the fluid glass medium.

Margie Jervis/Susie Krasnican, Ice Rain, 1980

During 2012, many museums across the United States will celebrate the 50th anniversary of those humble beginnings. The Woodson Art Museum is one of ten regional museums recognizing this milestone. Others are the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Art Institute of Chicago, Racine Art Museum, and Rockford Art Museum. The events are coordinated by the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, an organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass.

Americans in Glass, a thrice-held, triennial exhibition inaugurated at the Woodson Art Museum in 1978, promoted the burgeoning glass movement. The first exhibition featured 110 works created by juried and invited artists, including Harvey K. Littleton, Dale Chihuly, Joel Philip Myers, and Marvin Lipofsky. Subsequent Americans in Glass exhibitions were organized in 1981 and 1984; extended national and international tours followed, garnering considerable attention for studio glass.

 

The Americans in Glass Legacy, on view through April 7, presents forty-three works from the Museum’s permanent collection acquired from artists participating in the three Americans in Glass exhibitions. The vessels, panels, and sculptural objects demonstrate the artists’ creativity and their abilities to manipulate the fluid medium.

There are no cheeseheads, and no one will be doing the Lambeau Leap (hopefully). But you will see the best of studio glass created during an especially creative and inventive time.