High Museum of Art

Today we made the trip down to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and after the usual amount of traffic - even on a Saturday - we eventually made it there with plenty of time to explore.  For all of us, it has been a long time since we've been there.  In fact, it predates this blog.  We were there in 2009 to see the Terracotta Warriors, and that was the last time we were there.  There was no exhibition here today, or at least nothing worth traveling all the distance we did to see - no offense meant there.  The main gallery is what we came to see, the pieces that the High Museum owns.  And in that, there's plenty to see if you haven't been there before.  It's a decent museum.

We got there after a bit of traffic and found our way to the parking deck rather easily.  After paying, can you believe it?  We ran into some friends from church!  Even wilder, we ran into more friends from church a little later after that.  Fun coincidences!  Here's Madison playing around with some of them in the children's area:

The backdrop there is a bit of digital art that reacts to motions in front of it, so it was reacting to their jumps, which they tried a lot.

The kids section also had a place to try origami, which Madison naturally gravitated towards.  We hung out with friends for a bit here, just playing around and talking for a while.  The kids had a great time, which you can see below as well.

Madison even had time to practice some of her taekwondo.  Our church friends also go to Edge ATA, so we were doing our form practice in front of the digital boards.

Here's a group shot of the younger ones, all assembled in one unique area.

Oh, and here's Mommy.  There's a "rainbow room" where you can slide a lever to change the color of the entire room.  We took different pictures of Mommy in different colors - this picture is called, "Mommy Red #5."

Meanwhile the kids were still at the digital boards, doing all kinds of moves to get different streaks of color and light going across the frames.

That's a high kick at the High Museum.  And right next door, the giant hanging green beans were fun to go through as well.  The kids all raced through those, laughing all the way.

Mommy and Daddy were laughing too.  We all went through this one mirror room, where you can see us taking a selfie below:

These below were the favorites though, with the kids dancing, kicking, and jumping even more:

It's like the cover of High School Musical.  Only it's "High Museum Musical!"  They did just about everything in front of these boards, even a cartwheel or two!

Soon after all this, we were on our way to the main portion of the museum, which you can see below. They call it the High Museum because, well... look up!

One side has the descending ramps that lead to each floor, I think three or four total.  The other side has these large colorful decorations hanging.  You can see Mommy and Madison between a few of them here:

But that doesn't give you an idea of the size of these things.  Here's another picture of Mommy and Madison, and the entire display:

Each floor has different galleries with different types of art in there, from European to American to African to furniture to modern art, like this one below.

I remember this painting from a book a few years ago, and have all this time never once thought of it the way Madison did.  It's called "Duet," and it's created by Albert Gottlieb.  BUT... Madison looked at it and said, "Look, it's a Tatooine Sunset!"  And to prove it, she even posed like Luke Skywalker, over looking the sunset.  Can you hear the swelling Star Wars theme now?  

Here's another painting we got to see, one by Georgia O'Keefe.  It's called "Red Canna," painted in 1919.  It's wild to think this canvas in front of you was actually painted on by one of your favorite artists.  Daddy likes this artist quite a bit - in fact we've got a book at home we'll be looking at tomorrow, one filled with different paintings that she's created.  Here's another painting by Mark Rothko, one called "#73".

Mommy and Madison are doing the Ferris Bueller pose in the gallery, because why not?  Rothko's paintings all look like oversized litmus tests.  It is a little known fact that he was obsessed with litmus tests, as his uncle worked in a litmus test factory, and he would go there as a kid trying to determine how much acid was in various liquids.  Apparently the High Museum has a high acidic content, according to Litmus test #73.

Yes, I made all of that up.  Perhaps it is time to move on.  Perhaps it is time to "SHOW ME THE MONET!"

Now here's a master artist!  And to think, we have one of his paintings here in little ol' Atlanta.  There are two of his paintings side by side.  We asked Madison what it looked like, and she said it kind of looks like the Houses of Parliament in the fog, and oddly enough, that's what the painting was called: "Houses of Parliament in the Fog."  Monet is one of those painters that Madison will learn even more about soon enough, but were glad enough to know she knew the name, and even recognized the style.  Her recent viewing of "Miracles from Heaven" actually prepped her somewhat for Monet.  

Ah, here's a picture of Mommy and Madison appreciating another painting, and you can see the ramps of the High Museum in the background here.  We went from level to level, until we reached the top, and that's where we ran into Howard Finster's stuff.

Howard Finster is a completely fascinating man.  He's passed away, and we actually had a chance to go visit with him while he was still alive.  We missed that opportunity, but we can still head over to Summerville and visit his place, "Paradise Gardens."  We just might do that.  But there's a massive collection of Finster's material here, wall hangings with scriptures and angels and ... I have no idea what this thing is below.

I think that's a self-portrait of him on the television in the center there, covered with concrete and these mannequin heads.  Pretty odd!

Madison saw that and said, "Good luck sleeping tonight!"  But there are other things he made that basically set the standard for folk art.  All folk art is probably compared to his pieces from this point on.  Mommy and Madison are below looking at a mansion of glass (or plastic), one representing a mansion that awaits us in heaven.

He writes scriptures and quotations all over many of his pieces, and yet other pieces are so bizarre you sort of wonder what was going inside that mind.  Some things are so fascinating and some have even powerful statements about unity, eternity, and other Biblical concepts.  He was a very unique artist, and yes, we'll probably get over to Paradise Gardens soon enough.  In the meantime, here's Madison at a small folk church: 

A really small folk church.  There was a very big section of the gallery devoted to folk art, which was pretty fun to walk through.  And you can't have folk art without having those pots with faces on them.

This is Madison modeling for the next face!  She probably doesn't want this picture on the blog, but we've been cracking up at it, as have a few others.  Madison, you're good at making us laugh!

I'm not sure who this guy is, but if this museum comes to life at night, my recommendation would be to stay away from him.  We left the folk area, and went into the always entertaining modern art area, where this time, I have to say, the pieces weren't quite as experimental.  There was one called "Velvet Bed," by Rona Pondick that... well, look:

It's a railroad tie with a sleeping bag on it.  I didn't take the picture above, but there is something missing from this bed.  It's a small object that looks something like this.

It was one of those things you had to be careful not to step on.  The whole idea behind this creation was to get viewers to see how sleeping in bed can be gross if you start to really think about it.  Fortunately, there are artists like this to show us that life can be really gross.  But seriously, is there anyone here on this planet that doesn't know life can be really gross?  I mean, we're changing diapers, dealing with runny noses from allergies, and we see roadkill on the way home.  That's all gross.  Like this was supposed to be, I guess.  I just didn't get why there's a sleeping bag on a railroad tie.  Is that supposed to represent how under the comfortable sleeping bag, there's a harsh reality of life and that we merely cover up this unpleasantness with something that looks more attractive to our eyes.

Only... the sleeping bag didn't look attractive.  It looks like a dark garbage bag on a railroad tie with a piece of poop next to it.  In the middle of an art museum.

Daddy went to school and studied art, and yes, I know there was Marcell Duchamp's "Fountain" in 1917, which was just really a toilet.  And yes, that is shock art, something that changed the way we see art or something.  But one hundred and two years later, why is it that we're still making toilets?

I guess "Velvet Bed" made an impact though, as I'm still typing about it.  The point of this art, perhaps, is to demonstrate that we talk most about what we don't like.  So let's move on to something new!

This is a piece by Frank Stella.  Daddy actually wrote a paper about Frank Stella many, many years ago.  You're probably thinking to yourself, "Hey, I can make that!"  This may be true, what separates you from Frank Stella is that fact that he can make it, and then sell it for thousands of dollars.  These lines have actually grown on me somewhat though, as have some of the other art pieces on the third floor.  There was a much more interesting collection up there.  Granted, some were very unusual.  But at least they didn't have the feeling that they were slapped together and thrown together at the last minute, as there used to be.  So I must amend my earlier assessment of the third floor - it was actually an interesting and enjoyable walk. 

Just be careful where you step, especially around "Velvet Bed."

Here's a place where Madison has stopped to reflect.  Jokes aside, this actually amplified sound to a great extent - you could stand across the room and whisper, and whoever was in front of this concave creation of mirrors could hear everything amplified.  We tried this a few times, and Madison got a little dizzy looking into so many of her reflections.

Ah, this is the first sculpture ever created of Grimace.  And this piece below came in like a wrecking ball.

That's no small moon.  And those aren't lines on the bottom either.  The artist wrote over and over again these important words for all of us:  "A Great Comet Over the Acid Hills."  Because there's a comet on this sphere, and it's great.  And, it's over acid hills.  You may be asking yourself what acid hills are.  Go ahead and ask, and then let me know what you came up with.

I didn't get to share too many pictures of the furniture here, but I loved it.  There was so much Art Deco here - that alone was worth the visit.  Some of the furniture here was absurd, but wonderful.  Much of it was so stylized and amazing.  

Anyway, I've written a bit, and it's time to close up here.  We got home and watched an episode of "Agent Carter," and got ready for our new day tomorrow at KidPak.  It was a great day today, one full of fun, and yes, full of friends too.