SAM

I finally made it to the Seattle Art Museum after the remodel. I think it's been 2 years now? Hopefully not that long, but pretty long. I don't really know what happened, I used to go all the time when I first moved here. I think it was a combination of life moving way too fast and, well, their exhibits felt stale to me. I like this new fresh SAM.



Today I saw some wonderful mobiles by Alexander Calder. I loved the variety in scale, shape and color, but I especially loved how gracefully they moved in the slight breeze. The image above is a miniature, which I didn't notice on my first trip through the exhibit. It is so cute to me.

I wandered around the rest of the floors on my way out of the museum and love that the last thing I saw was a Frankenthaler. One of her works was the first piece I ever fell in love with at the SAM and I'm happy that I ended today on the same note.

Chihuly Paintings

At my employer, I really feel fortunate that these two world class medical centers are making a concentrated effort to showcase beautiful art throughout the halls and public spaces. Art can be extremely soothing, and can help lessen the level of stress, when most people in a hospital environment are high stressed or have high emotions due to a loved one undergoing something health crisis related.

This is a recent procurement and unveiling of Dale Chihuly. He donated five panels that are hanging above a grand circular staircase up at UW Medical Center. The colors in this are amazing, and it's a nice contrast to the overly clinical white walls often associated with hospital space.

99 Feelings

We all have them, some good some bad, but did you realize that there are 99 feelings any one person can have? I didn't until I ran across this very cool art project where a woman sculpted in ceramic each and every one of those 99 feelings. I think they are great! To see them all click here. But for a quick peak, here are some of my favorites.

Torn



Crushed



Cold



Sad



Irritated



And my absolute favorite. Stressed.

Creative Recycling

While going through my regular blog routine this morning I ran across this cool article about an event last week at west elm celebrating the opening of its newest manhattan shop. They hosted a silent auction of one-of-a-kind furniture and objects created by david stark using recycled west elm packing materials. All of the proceeds went to the cooper hewitt and at the end of the night, david’s work was able to raise $8,000 for the museum. Since I love west elm and I love design I thought I'd share it with you.



I would have loved to see these in person.

Just Amazing

Last night was simply that, amazing! There is something mystical about this circus type environment, you walk up to these small looking tents surrounded by nothing in this park only to find that when you walk into them they are really quite big. You wonder where the performers live, where they go to the bathroom...where you'll go to the bathroom for that matter. Then everything leaves your mind as you gape at the performances and wonder in awe how they do these things. There were people maneuvering in giant hoops, acrobats flying through the air, jugglers, crazy body twisting people, and yes floating little people (trying to be PC here). The basic premise of Corteo is a clowns vision of his funeral in a carnival type atmosphere. Those wearing clothes had excellent costumes, my favorite being the angels at the end that look like they came right out of an italian painting. Those not wearing clothes (well, not much anyway) had unheard of bodies. Anyway, I wanted to get into the spirit of things, so I tried on some masks in the gift shop and made Bop take my picture. I tried to take other pictures but got my hand slapped by the usher, so this will have to do.

Cirque Du Soleil Corteo

We are going to the Cirque Du Soleil Corteo performance this evening over at Marymoor Park in Redmond. I'm really looking forward to this. One of the perks of my job is getting comped tickets from time to time to venues in town, since I advertise frequently in a lot of the local magazines. Anyways, this is one of Cirque's newest venues, and the tickets I received for Beep and I are AMAZING! I'll be writing a complete review later this week on the performance.

REVIEW:
Last night's performance was really amazing. The costumes were very elaborate and reminded me of old time Venetian style. The performers have some serious physical strength to do what they do. My favorite items were the flying bicycles, the tiny lady flying around on huge balloons, the trampoline act, and the male / female acrobat performance where the guy was swinging and holding onto his Asian partner's pony tail. How could that not HURT! Beep and I now have been to two Cirque venues. I'd like to go see "O" sometime. That is the water production Cirque puts on down in Las Vegas.

Sunny Seattle

Well as usual Bop beats me to the post, but I've got pictures! We had a great time with our friend relaxing and enjoying the sun. Totally reminding us why we love Seattle! We have some other friends who live here but are from L.A. who I'm sure were absolutely thrilled with Saturday's wonderful weather. Maybe they'll change their minds and stay in Seattle after all! Anyway, I loved the sculpture park for two reasons. One, its a beautifully designed public space with amazing views around every corner. And two they had a really cool exhibit by Geoff McFetridge. I had never heard of him before but I guess he is big in the design community. Anyway, I found it really intriguing to see the larger than life graphic posters displayed as an oversized bulletin board with huge push pins. If you're in Seattle I highly recommend taking a look at this small exhibit before you stroll through the sculpture park.




The park is also excellent for people watching. We saw this woman walking her many dogs, all wearing little outfits! Some were even pushed in a little baby carrier. It was hilarious!




It was a beautiful day in Seattle!