Are you ready to visit a museum? If so, it’s a good bet you’ll find a museum near you that’s open, or getting to ready to open its doors to the (masked ) public again soon.
Here are some of the museums we’ve got on our list.
Seattle’s Museum of Flight
It was cute when animals from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo got to visit the Museum of Flight. But we were still jealous. Now we’re happy people can visit the museum too.
Can’t make it? Don’t worry. The museum’s collection can be viewed online. In the artifact section, we found this talking GI Joe Astronaut from 1970. “When his dog tag is pulled, GI Joe narrates his way through a lunar mission, from liftoff to Moon landing to splashdown.”
Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum
The Mütter Museum is a medical museum with far-ranging collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments. Einstein’s brain is here. And so is a specimen from John Wilkes Booth’s vertebra.
We’ve spent a lot of time with Memento Mütter, the museum’s online exhibit of more than 60 items from the Museum’s collection, about half of which are not on public display. If you check it out, be warned that the paper mache eyeball is one of the least alarming objects you’ll see.
Now that the museum has reopened, there’s a new exhibit of photographs by Nikki Johnson, who got to go behind-the-scenes at the museum and create still-life photos of items that intrigued her.
Fashioning Art from Paper at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum
A new exhibit at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY features life-size costumes that look like fabric but are actually made from paper. Beginning in 1994, Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave started creating these incredible paper works. She ended up with four collections ranging from the fashion of Elizabeth I to 20th century Venice and tributes to famous artists like Picasso and Matisse. All four collections are part of this exhibit.
The museum made a video of the ‘unboxing’ of some of the dresses in the exhibit.
The folks at Atlas Obscura have a new book out. And a new daily podcast.
In their new book Rogue Routes, Atlas Obscura and Nissan outline fifty unusual drives through the United States. You can download a PDF for free here. And the Atlas Obscura daily podcast (well, Monday – Thursday) promises 15 minutes of “exploration and celebration of some of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.”
Rock Hall of Fame schedules induction for Cleveland in October
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will host the 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio this year on October 30, 2021.
This year’s nominees include Mary J. Blige, Kate Bush, Devo, Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Iron Maiden, JAY-Z, Chaka Khan, Carole King, Fela Kuti, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Todd Rundgren, Tina Turner, and Dionne Warwick.
Have a favorite? Fans can vote for their favorite nominees now through April 30, 2021 at vote.rockhall.com. The top five artists selected by the public will comprise a “fans’ ballot” that gets tallied along with the other ballots to select the 2021 final inductees.
Quito Airport’s new public space design
Last March, Covid-19 put a halt to a scheduled renovation project for the public areas of Ecuador’s Quito Mariscal Sucre International Airport. But when the country decided that construction projects could proceed, the airport went ahead with the renovation project.
In addition to replacing a big swatch of ceramic flooring with Brazilian granite, furniture specially designed for the airport was installed. New greenery, including vertical gardens, was added and a sculpture (above) made with local balsa wood from sustainable forests was installed in the center of the departure hall.
The #AeropuertoUIO already boasts a renewed image in its public areas thanks to a comprehensive remodeling of the departure and arrival halls of the passenger terminal, a work undertaken by @Quiport as part of its improvement plan. More information👇https://t.co/dPoBwL1efipic.twitter.com/MAc83YgmVE
Alaska Airlines offers free flights for CA residents
If you live in California and you hurry, you may be able to score a free flight from Alaska Airlines.
The first 25,000 California residents who sign up for Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan by March 3 2021 will get a flight within California for (almost) free. You’ll only need to pay taxes and fees – from $15 each way. Details here.
Art exhibit showcases WWII Trench Art
On Thursday, March 4, The National WWII Museumin New Orleans opens its newest special exhibit “SOLDIER | ARTIST: Trench Art in World War II.” The exhibit includes more than 150 artifacts and souvenirs, such as ashtrays, jewelry, tools and cookware, radios, and musical instruments that explore the military pastime of creating art, souvenirs, and tools out of the discarded materials and waste of war.
From the exhibit notes:
The practice of creating trench art is as old as military conflict itself. During the American Revolution, prisoners of war created ship models from the bones of their rations. Soldiers in the Civil War carved charms and trinkets from lead bullets. World War I brought the advent of “classic” examples of trench art—and gave name to the pastime—as changes in technology presented soldiers with the material that best characterized the art form: the brass cartridge. During World War II, a more mechanized army offered increased access to the tools needed to fashion trench art, and the artifacts became more varied in form and were produced in greater quantity.
New name for the San Diego Zoo
Today, March 3, is World Wildlife Day and the San Diego Zoo Global is marking the day by becoming San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA).
The new brand underscores how the health of wildlife, people, and the environment are interconnected and linked to the health of our planet.
A new mural by world-renowned artist, Romero Britto, is being unveiled today to mark the rebrand and Alaska Airlines is donating 1 million miles to support the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s efforts.
Miami-Dade County will be hosting Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 and, in preparation, Miami International Airport (MIA) is displaying artist Duane Hanson’s hyperrealist sculpture “Football Player.”
The sculpture is on display on MIA’s Concourse D, between gates D47 and D48 through February 2020 and is on loan from the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum.
At FLL, the Duane Hanson sculpture called “Vendor with Walkman” is in the Baggage Claim area of Terminal 1.
The airport has owned this artwork since 1990.
Orlando International Airport (MCO) has owned Hanson’s “The Traveler” since 1986. The sculpture is located in the Terminal A concourse between the East and West security checkpoints, near the food court.
Beyond these airports, many modern art museums have
work by Duane Hanson in their collections.
Hanson, who died in 1996, created a special technique of casting in polyester resins reinforced with fiberglass. He’d make casts of living people and then painstakingly paint the figures to look exactly like the models.
Los Angeles International Airport has two new site-specific murals. Look for them in Terminal 7 and the connection between Terminals 7 and 8.
Renée Fox’s mural in collaboration with WriteGirl, “Songs of Freedom: Renée Fox + WriteGirl.” Photo by Panic Studio LA, courtesy LAWA + City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Displayed in the corridor connecting Terminals 7 and 8, Renée Fox’s 200-foot-long intricate mural, titled “Songs of Freedom: Renée Fox + WriteGirl,” mixes delicate graphite drawings of different species of local and regional birds with poetry by young writers mentored by the nonprofit organization, WriteGirl.
This mural collaboration was curated by Elizabeta Betinski and is on view for ticketed guests through early February 2020. WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring association that promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls.
Tofer Chin’s mural “Intentions.” Photo: Panic Studio LA. courtesy LAWA and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
In Terminal 7, Tofer Chin’s new mural, “Intentions,” greets departing airport guests at the United Airlines ticketing lobby. This mural will be there through September 2019.
Here’s some more background on Chin’s mural:
It features an abstract urban landscape of bold shapes and a spare paint palette of white, black and bright apricot. The shapes emulate shadows of buildings, and the glow of the apricot color is reminiscent of Los Angeles’ vivid sunsets. For Chin, who was born and raised in this city, the spirit of Los Angeles shifts at sunset as the metropolis’ iconic atmospheric light changes and becomes filled with deep oranges and pinks.
