Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Springing...into Summer

Another image from my artist/photographer friend, this time of a redbud tree growing at the bottom of a canyon in a local city park. I think that the contrast between the luminescent tree and the muted gray of the rocks is striking. Great image!

_____

My wife and I took a day trip via chartered bus to Washington DC on Saturday. All of the folks in the group had a connection with a local photographer whose work is featured prominently in a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History.

The museum was very crowded--Saturday afternoon at the end of the school year probably wasn't the best time to visit. Nevertheless, we got an hour-long guided tour of the exhibition, and then had 1-1/2 hours of free time before we had to board the bus back home. Because the natural history museum was so crowded, we headed over to the National Museum of Art's East Building, which features a collection of contemporary art. I wanted to see the installation called Roofs by Scottish landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose work has intrigued and inspired me. It's worth a visit if you're in Washington, but not worth a special trip.

We returned to the bus with a few minutes to spare, boarded promptly at 4:30--and then waited. One of the tour group's members failed to show up at the appointed time. It was very warm in Washington on Saturday--in the low 90s--and the bus was like a greenhouse. A few members of the group got off the bus to wait in the shade of the trees near the museum while other members of the group scoured the museum to try to find the wayward traveler. Many of the group's members stayed on the bus--I don't know how they tolerated the heat. Forty-five minutes later, the woman showed up at the bus stop, confused and flustered.

To make matters worse,the bus's air conditioning system didn't work, so we rode back home in considerable discomfort, arriving back at the rendezvous point about 8:45 p.m.
Roofs, Andy Goldsworthy

No comments: