We initially signed up for the 7:30 A.M. small group tour of the Vatican Museums. But, upon further reflection, it seemed too much with jet lag et al, to go that early. So we changed the tour time to a more civilized 9:45 and then walked to the meeting point. Seeing the art was worthwhile, but the overall experience is exhausting and strenuous. Our group totaled 22 plus our guide, Julie. We thought the group size would be no more than 12! Julie was superb—well informed, organized, and kept us moving! And we had little radios and earpieces which made it possible to both hear her clearly and stay focused on the building and the paintings.
But, and it’s a big but, the Vatican allows so many thousands (and I mean thousands!) of people to be in the buildings at one time that you are always in a packed crowd and have to move very slowly up and down the many staircases and contend with tiers of folks in front of every significant work. Doing this for three and a half hours is wearing! As a former museum educator, I fault them for cramming in so many people. They charge a high price and the crowding detracts from one’s enjoyment. Our tour also included the Sistine Chapel (also packed) and the interior of St. Peter’s. About the only spaces that weren’t wall to wall people were several of the Raphael Rooms.
Detail in the Raphael Rooms
Mornings in Rome are lovely and we enjoyed the walk to the Vatican and also another walk this morning. There are not as many people on the street, businesses are just gearing up for the day, the piazzas, Navona in particular, and the Pantheon are less full, and the light is lovely.
Section of a map in the hall of maps in the Vatican Museums
Note: Text and photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
On our recent trip to New York, we spent some time at the Met Breuer. As it happened, two featured exhibits were by female artists, one a retrospective of a living artist’s career and the other a focus on the fiber art and sculpture of an Indian artist.
I was captivated by Phenomenal Nature by Mrinalini Mukerjee. The larger than lifesize intricately woven flax, hemp and cotton pieces range from gods of the forest to nymphs to a flower. They are usually one muted or dark color, but a few incorporate other color strands. Later in her life (she died in 2015), Mukerjee did a series of bronze sculptures that are rounded or based on a dome shape.
Van Raja (King of the Forest), 1981
Aid Pushp II (Primal Flower), 1998-99
Untitled, 2002
To Fix the Image in Memory is a review of Viji Celmins’ more than 50 year career and encompasses the top two floors of the museum. Her early works are a mix of paintings of common appliances like a space heater, a hot plate, or a lamp, as well as sculptures of familiar objects such as a pink eraser. These are very accessible to the viewer.
Heater, 1964
I found the later works, endless studies of the ocean’s surface, starry skies, and webs, which are shades of gray and black, much more challenging and less visually appealing. They are stripped down and there are only subtle differences between some of the works in a series. But this exhibit has garnered a lot of publicity and praise including the lead article in a recent New York Times’ Art section.
Untitled (Web #1), 1999
Note: Header photo is one of several horse sculptures in Freedman Plaza at the entrance to Central Park. Text and photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
We know a few folks who’ve worked at or graduated from Colby College, but had never visited the campus. It’s located about ten minutes from downtown Waterville on Mayflower Hill—a pleasant spread of green dotted with red brick buildings and athletic fields. A guard at another museum (which will remain nameless) told us that the best art museum in Maine, “its Louvre,” is the art museum here, which prompted this visit.
Founded in 1959 and housed in a contemporary building with two levels and five wings, the Colby College Museum of Art has a wonderful collection focusing primarily on American art from all periods with some pieces from Europe and Asia.
Whimsical seating
The entrance hall includes some fanciful shrub seating while the lobby area is airy and light-filled with splashy red chairs. The young woman at the reception desk was most welcoming and helpful.
Photo in Theaster Gates collection
We spent time looking at some of the thousands of photographs from Ebony magazine in Theaster Gates: Facsimile Cabinet of Women Origin Stories and then marveled at the intricately worked baskets and the colorful paintings which are part of an exhibit of arts and crafts of the First Nations People of Maine and Maritime Canada.
Fancy Basket, 1997 by Peter Neptune
The exhibit is titled, Wiwenikan: the beauty we carry, and includes works from the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Abenaki that collectively are known as the Wabanaki.
I also particularly enjoyed some of the contemporary paintings and sculpture in the permanent collection including two works by Maya Lin, with whom we spent some time in our San Francisco years. Lin’s works are small in scale, one made all of straight pins, and better appreciated up close in person.
Burning House, Night, Vertical, 2007 by Lois Dodd
Untitled, 2010 by Anish Kapoor The Hostess, c. 1928 by Ellie Nadelman
This is a first-rate museum and well worth a visit. For us, it was only about an hour and half’s drive from the coast. Admission is free to both the campus community and the general public.
To cap off our tour, on the recommendation of the museum staff, we drove downtown, easily found a place to park in a large free lot, and then had a most satisfying lunch at the Last Unicorn Restaurant.
The Chief Penguin and I both selected one of the lunch-sized chicken entrees which came with a small green salad and basmati rice. Salads and sandwiches were also on offer with seating inside or outdoors at umbrella tables.
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is ten years old, and it keeps getting better each year. We visit on our own and also bring all of our guests. Our granddaughters are especially fond of the play house where there are kitchen appliances, a cupboard, and a small table and chairs where you can serve tea and cupcakes. Also a draw are the two old fashioned water pumps, a laundry tub with a washboard, a rowboat to climb into, the puppet theater, and a sandbox.
Steve Tobin sculpture
For adults, the scent garden is always worth wandering. And there’s also an outdoor art exhibit, “Unearthed,” a series of towering root sculptures by Pennsylvania artist Steve Tobin. The sculptures are made of metal and placed throughout the grounds. Some are realistic colors (brown and black) while others are bright such as a mustard yellow one and a glossy white one. The sculptures will be on view into 2020. A few years ago Lehigh University presented an outdoor exhibit of Tobin’s impressively large “Termite Hills” sculptures.
MAKING MEMORIES
Our son and daughter-in-law and two granddaughters were here for the week. E is a poised seven and F an active three, the age at which most kids form lasting memories. The Chief Penguin and I very much enjoy their annual visits to Maine and know that even when we’re gone, they will have Maine memories.
Memories of making blueberry pancakes with Grandma, of sampling Grandpa’s muffins, of visiting the botanical gardens, of clambering on the rocks at Molly’s Point for sea glass, shells, and smooth stones, of checking out the books and toys at Sherman’s, and memories of riding the narrow gauge train at Railway Village and more.
E is a voracious reader and quickly devours chapter books. F is at the “why?” stage and is a fan of trains and motion. Together the girls and I read umpteen stories, played with Josie and Rosie, their dolls, and colored and created with construction paper using an assortment of pencils, pens, and crayons.
There was no set schedule and the mornings flowed from a leisurely breakfast, to a walk in the yard or games on the deck, followed by an afternoon outing, and then dinner, be it pizza with friends and their grandkids, hot dogs and lobster rolls on the deck at Cozy’s, or comfort food here at Grandma and Grandpa’s. It was about as perfect a week as could be!
RECENT READING
America’s Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr. by Steven Gillon
Much has been written about JFK Jr. and the Kennedys in the twenty years since his tragic death in 1999. One might wonder why we need yet another tome, and this one is a tome. Gillon was the graduate assistant in an undergraduate course Kennedy took at Harvard. Only a few years older than John, he became a friend and the two got together occasionally over the years. John sought out Gillon’s advice and writing suggestions when he was editing George magazine. While John was alive, Gillon respected and protected his privacy; now he feels comfortable sharing his perspective and his knowledge of the challenges John faced as a Kennedy, the standard bearer after his father’s death.
What was most interesting to me was the account of Kennedy’s years founding and creating George and struggling to make it a truly viable proposition. There is new information on his wife Carolyn’s inability to adjust to being trailed by the press, her volatile behavior, and her drug use, all of which made a marriage fraught with tension more tumultuous. It is in this context of daunting issues at work, difficulties at home, and the prolonged dying of his closest friend (his cousin Anthony), that John Jr. takes off on that fateful flight. The book is overly detailed and, sometimes tedious, but I found myself modifying and enlarging my view of this Kennedy. (~JWFarrington)
