NAEA Boston, part one!

I spent the past extended weekend in Boston, at the annual NAEA convention, a gathering of thousands of art teachers from all over the country; actually from all over the world!  So much to share, I'm going to divide it into two posts.  This first post is an overview of the convention experience.  The squirrel pictured above is one of a number of sculptures by Okuda San Miguel, which are stationed along the median of a street in Boston.  Pretty cool, huh?  Getting to see these, as well as the installation Prismatica (part of which is pictured below, right) was one of many fabulous experiences during my days in Boston.

Over the space of four days, I both taught and attended workshops, visited the vendors and tried out new materials, attended an opening night party and danced my feet off, spent time with old friends and new friends, ate fabulous Italian food, seafood, and sushi, attended a fun meet and greet courtesy of the Art Class Curator, saw really cool street art, visited the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts), walked thousands of steps, and took hundreds of pictures. Whew!  It was a busy whirlwind, and I came home exhausted but happy.

(By the way, the silver-haired lady in all of these photographs is me.)

Boston is a lovely city.  My son lives nearby, so I've definitely visited the city a number of times, but still, every time I'm there, I see something new, like this.

The side of that building is flat, by the way.  It's all an illusion. 

And yes, I took a lot of pics, but I did NOT take a lot of photos of people, so the images of people in this post are all borrowed from friends - thanks everyone for doing what I neglected to do!  I hope its OK that I'm using your pics.  Above, yummy dinner at Giacomo's, and below, eating with friends at Legal Harborside.

And at the meet-and-greet.  I wish I took pics of the sushi we ate afterward!

Look at these photos below of artists Janet Echelman (1st pic) and Amy Sherald (2nd pic). I was lucky enough to get to hear them both of these inspiring women speak at the convention.  Do you notice, they seem to have the same pair of glasses?  Maybe I need to get a pair like them!

I'm sure you know who Amy Sherald is, right?  (If you don't, she's the artist who painted the official portrait of Michelle Obama for the National Gallery).  But maybe you don't know about Janet Echelman. Her floating sculptures flying in the air over cities and such are amazing.  I posted about her work when it was in Boston in 2015, referring to it as a psychedelic hairnet in the sky.  You can see that post HERE.  Her talk was engaging and enlightening - I loved hearing how happenstance really changed the direction of her life and art-making in such a fabulous way, and how science and mathematics are such a big part of her art-making process.  Here's a pic from her presentation.

One of the cool things about NAEA conventions is that they usually include the opportunity to visit local museums for free.  I'd been to the MFA before, but I was glad to have the opportunity to return.  Below, some pics of favorite things from the MFA.

This painting below, of the Lincoln children, by Susan Catherine Moore Waters reminds me of the creepy twins from The Shining.  Is it just me, or do you see it too?

This painting below is what this past winter felt like.  Hopefully, now that it is spring, we won't get too much more snow (though some is predicted for Friday).

I'm going to juxtapose two paintings from the MFA by Charles Sheeler with photos that I took while in Boston.  Do you see the relationship?  Cool, huh?  I think I need to learn more about Charles Sheeler and his intriguing compositions.

 Just a few more from the MFA...

So much more I could show you, but I've already included enough for you to see this time. In my next post, I'll tell you all about the two workshops I taught - the good and the bad (mostly good!).  I'll close with a pic from my hotel.  Isn't it cool?  I walked past that several times every day!

Highlights of a visit to the Boston MFA

My husband and I had a few hours to kill in Boston on Monday, and decided that, since we'd be in the car for a few hours afterward, and since the weather was not great, we should spend the time visiting the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts).  I was particularly interested in the current exhibition "Class Distinctions - Dutch Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer".  Photos aren't allowed in this exhibit, but we both found it extremely interesting.  One complaint though: I knew that, since it is vacation week, it would be crowded.  But this exhibit was filled with people pushing strollers, and several very tall men (I would guess over 6'5") who stood close to the artworks, taking their time reading the labels that explained about the work.  While it wasn't a problem for my 6'1" husband, it was really frustrating for 4'11" me.  By the time I got to the final room of the exhibit, I simply gave up.  Please folks, be considerate of others!  Let short people in front of you, and re-consider bringing baby strollers in an exhibit like this, unless you have someone who can watch the stroller in the center of the gallery when you are getting up close and personal with the artwork!  Thank you!!

Other  parts of the museum weren't so crowded.  Our time was limited, so we picked certain areas to explore before we had to hit the road.  There was another current exhibition I wanted to see, though it did not interest my husband at all!!  The exhibit is called "Crafted: Objects in Flux", and a few pieces really caught my interest!!

The temporary site-specific ceramic installation "Poros", by Nathan Craven, pictured above and below, and also at the top of the post, is made from approximately 6000 fired clay elements, fitted to a window, with light pouring in from the outside.

Here's a few other pieces that intrigued me, from this exhibit. 

I'll admit, the MFA is NOT my favorite art museum, but there still is much to see.  We spent a bit of time exploring European painting, including works by Monet, Picasso, van Gogh, and more.  But it was a contemporary piece that totally grabbed me:  Endlessly Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism by Josiah McElheny, pictured below and at the top of the post.  This installation is made from hand-blown vessels of mirrored glass, and mirrors.  It was totally fascinating!

Pictured below is me!  I'm taking a photo of the mirrored installation, so you are seeing a reflection of me in the case that holds the blown glass display.  Confusing, I think?

To confuse me further, there was a piece of performance art ongoing:

All in all, visiting the MFA was a great way to spend some time before we hit the road!

Chihuly! Chihuly!!

I'm head over heels. In love. With Chihuly.

It's like a party of flowers, and undersea shapes, and vegetables, and sea sponges and coral outcroppings; sort of Alice in Wonderland meets Dr. Seuss with a taste of The Little Shop of Horrors. It feels like a tropical fruit salad, or maybe a party. There's birdlike shapes, and silvery planet-like orbs. And towers and chandeliers and boats filled with the most amazing things.

I spent the day with my husband and son (that's them, and me,below) at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, most of it at the most amazing art exhibit we've EVER seen - Chihuly "Through the Looking Glass".

I

I've included these photos with us in them, mostly for a sense of scale. The stuff is SO much bigger than you'd think from photos. And the color is richer, and more luminous. Hard to describe. Just amazingly amazing!

This photo is from the "Persian Ceiling". I just can't post all the pics, but imagine looking up at a ceiling overhead, filled with richly colored glass in every shape imaginable, illuminated from above, that looks like sea shells, and oh there was an octopus, and then we found this angel, and all the amazing shapes, and the spectacular colors...

I'll admit to being late to jump on the Chihuly bandwagon. The truth is, you've just got to see this stuff for real. Photos will never do the work justice. But we tried, shooting hundreds of photos between my son and me.

Tomorrow is the last day of the show, so I was lucky we were able to time our visit to Boston (we are here to scoop up my son and take him with us to Maine) and see this amazing show. The museum was packed; so many people waiting to see this spectacular exhibit! As a matter of fact, it was supposed to end today, but they extended it due to the huge crowds. People really DO care about seeing art!

I wanted to bring home an exhibit book for school, but they were a pricey $50 and anyhow were sold out, but lo and behold there was ONE just sitting there, with a binding that needs re-gluing, for HALF PRICE. Lucky me! I can glue it myself!

Definitely expect Chihuly lessons sometime later this school year. Maybe in the middle of cold snowy monochromatic wintertime?