McNay Art Museum (12/24/2014)

Next stop: The McNay Art Museum. I'd never been before in all my San Antonio visits. It's very cool. Marion Koogler McNay, upon her death in 1950, left her 24-room mansion, the surrounding 23 acres of land, a collection of over 700 works of art, and an endowment to establish the first museum of modern art in Texas. In 1954 the McNay opened its doors to the public. Since then, much has been added to the building, but the heart of the museum is the original home and collection. These peacock-inspired rod iron gates separate the dining room from one of the patios on the house.

There was an exhibit from the National Gallery of Art on Impressionism that we toured along with the rest of the museum. Our tour group split into two small groups and we each had a private tour with our own docent. Our docent was knowledgeable and made it all very interesting. I of course was drawn to the more geometric pieces. This is "Winged Figure II" made in the very good year of 1957 by British artist Barbara Hepworth.

This is "String Composition #T-220" by American artist Sue Fuller, created in 1965.

Fortunately, our amazing tour director Sheryl, who has been to San Antonio many times, made sure that we all saw the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, which comprises over 9,000 theatre arts objects focusing on scene and costume designs, as well as the research library, cool spiral staircase, and REALLY big doors. We got two private tours of the McNay. :-)

Institute of Texas Cultures (12/24/2014)

First stop: The Institute of Texas Cultures! We were here in 1968 when this was brand new and a part of HemisFair. At the entrance are flags representing the various cultures that are a part of Texas. Find the Irish flag and Patricia is just across from it. Per a sign on the flagpole: "Although Ireland did not become an independent nation until 1922, the color combination of the modern Irish flag was in use in 1848."

Entrance selfies...sorta.

In the Lebanese section is the story of Newman McKool and it mentions his son Mike McKool who is the dad of my friend and fellow Lamplighter teacher, Mitzi McKool.

They were celebrating Christmas at the Institute by displaying trees typical of some of the cultures. Here's the one in the Czech section. "Veselé Vánoce! Many Czechs decorate their trees in the traditional ways, using natural objects such as fruit and nuts, handmade decorations, and homemade foods. Bright red apples. cookies, candies, and walnuts wrapped in shiny foil, colored paper chains, popcorn strings, and beeswax candles. A manger scene may be put under the tree as might a loaf of bread.

"The cedar tree from the family ranch stood ablaze with candles in tin holders that had come from Germany with Oma's family. The tree bore cookies covered with glittering colored sugar and baked with hooks embedded in them, oranges, apples, and porous net stockings holding gay hard candies hung on many limbs. each family had at least a few delicate decorations, treasured and hoarded carefully from year to year." Flach, Vera. A Yankee in German America: Texas Hill Country. San Antonio Naylor, 1973.

Then there's this "tradition": The German Pickle Ornament. "According to legend, parents in Germany would decorate their trees with blown-glass ornaments--many representing apples, candy, etc. one was clearly a pickle and always was the final ornament to be hung, so the parents kept the children away until time to open presents. To the sharp-eyed child who found the hidden pickle ornament went either an extra present or at least the right to open his or her presents first. The problem with this wonderfully charming story is that there is no record of it anywhere in Germany. One explanation has a German immigrant fighting int eh Civil War who is captured and asks for a pickle as a dying wish. Other variations tend to run along the lines of the first narrative. Many are content to believe that the pickle is actually a German-American tradition, or even is unique to German Texans, but there is no reliable research of documentation to support this."

And from Poland: "The Christmas celebration, which lasted from December 24 through January 6, began with Christmas Eve dinner when the head of the household served everyone part of a small, flat, oblong wafer, an oplateck, which was blessed by the priest. It had a nativity scene impressed on it symbolizing love, friendship, and forgiveness. ... In some households, hay or straw was scattered in the ktichen and on the table briefly before clearing it and setting it for the big Christmas meal. This Old World custom reaches back to a time when the bounty of the field was transferred to the kitchen and the table, but since the advent of Christianity, it has come to symbolize the hay in the manger of Christ's birth."

Not a good picture of it, but I was fascinated by this timeline of Texas history where one inch is 70 years. (It's straight in real life...I tried taking a panoramic photo of it and got the curve.)

Answer to the ongoing game for this blog series: Two Patricias

8/18/2011 A "Modern" Museum

If modern means keeping up with the times then the Nevada Museum of Art is a modern museum. It's also a museum with modern art in it, but I'm talking about the museum itself in its principles and practices. In the Egyptian exhibit, you could rent audio tours that included an audio player of some kind where you could listen to detailed descriptions of items in the collection. OR, if you saw a sign with a red cell phone icon on it and a number, you could call a specific phone number on your cell phone, press the number on the sign followed by the pound key, and listen to the detailed information on your own cell phone. I saw it in Washington DC at some of the monuments two summers ago but this is the first time I've seen it in a museum like this. Very impressive.

And then there was this notice! Wow. We are into MODERN times now.

8/18/2011 Nevada Museum of Art

Jacque and I took a little time off on Thursday to go to the "To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum" exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art. The Egypt exhibit was very cool and then we toured the rest of the museum (also very cool) and had lunch in the Café Musée which was chic and yummy. It was a great way to spend the morning.