two days, two museums
Dec. 9th, 2004 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beige_alertI took Monday and Tuesday off from work and went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
There were an amazing number of small yet loud children running around at the Public Museum, mostly there in large school groups. They were a strong argument for effective birth control, as well as a job where the youngest students you have to deal with are in graduate school. I saw the Forces of Nature IMAX film, which is pretty much your standard-issue IMAX volcano/earthquake/tornado documentary. The Puelicher Buttefly Wing, a warm, extremely humid room filled with plants and live butterflies, is always a highlight of a visit.
I began my visit to the art museum by, well, to make sure you get the right image, I’ll say that I began by entering at the lowest level of the building. If you’ve seen the Santiago Calatrava-designed building, or photos of it, you’ll then imagine that, like the rest of the building, that area is probably painted bright white, with curvy structural parts, and nice indirect natural light. You’d be right. Unlike the rest of the building, though, that level has a really big door, a bare concrete floor with parallel lines painted on it, and you leave your car parked there. It is the nicest parking structure I have ever seen or even heard of. It’s also possibly the most expensive parking in Wisconsin, $3 for the first hour, 1-3 hours for $6, 3-6 hours for $10, and 6-12 hours for $15, which probably looks pretty good to you if you live in Chicago, but around here, that’s more than average. But it’s really nice. It’s especially nice if it is raining, like it was Tuesday morning.
For some reason, the small-child school-groups in the art museum were much more orderly than those in the other museum. I don’t know if kids are quieter in art museums or if different kids get taken to the art museum.
The Masterpieces of American Art 1770--1920 exhibition was very interesting. There is a rather interesting Medusa sculpture, and some remarkable large-size (by which I mean more than a square meter) paintings. I suppose that ideally I’d have taken extensive notes so that I could write something really informative, but instead, I’ll just recommend that you visit yourself. The Eve Zeisel display is also very interesting. Don’t miss the Chair Park, either, a display of reproductions of interesting chairs that visitors are invited to sit on and try out.
There were an amazing number of small yet loud children running around at the Public Museum, mostly there in large school groups. They were a strong argument for effective birth control, as well as a job where the youngest students you have to deal with are in graduate school. I saw the Forces of Nature IMAX film, which is pretty much your standard-issue IMAX volcano/earthquake/tornado documentary. The Puelicher Buttefly Wing, a warm, extremely humid room filled with plants and live butterflies, is always a highlight of a visit.
I began my visit to the art museum by, well, to make sure you get the right image, I’ll say that I began by entering at the lowest level of the building. If you’ve seen the Santiago Calatrava-designed building, or photos of it, you’ll then imagine that, like the rest of the building, that area is probably painted bright white, with curvy structural parts, and nice indirect natural light. You’d be right. Unlike the rest of the building, though, that level has a really big door, a bare concrete floor with parallel lines painted on it, and you leave your car parked there. It is the nicest parking structure I have ever seen or even heard of. It’s also possibly the most expensive parking in Wisconsin, $3 for the first hour, 1-3 hours for $6, 3-6 hours for $10, and 6-12 hours for $15, which probably looks pretty good to you if you live in Chicago, but around here, that’s more than average. But it’s really nice. It’s especially nice if it is raining, like it was Tuesday morning.
For some reason, the small-child school-groups in the art museum were much more orderly than those in the other museum. I don’t know if kids are quieter in art museums or if different kids get taken to the art museum.
The Masterpieces of American Art 1770--1920 exhibition was very interesting. There is a rather interesting Medusa sculpture, and some remarkable large-size (by which I mean more than a square meter) paintings. I suppose that ideally I’d have taken extensive notes so that I could write something really informative, but instead, I’ll just recommend that you visit yourself. The Eve Zeisel display is also very interesting. Don’t miss the Chair Park, either, a display of reproductions of interesting chairs that visitors are invited to sit on and try out.
