Exhibits

Fresh art at SFO Airport features shoes from around the world

Exhibits, Museums, , ,

Combat boot, Mickey McGowan (Apple Cobbler), courtesy SFO Museum

 

The newest exhibition from the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport features footwear from around the world, including wedding shoes, early basketball sneakers, beaded moccasins, European clogs, Chinese children’s shoes, art shoes and more.

Here’s a sampling of the fantastic footwear on display in Stepping Out: Shoes in World Cultures, located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby at San Francisco International Airport through November 12, 2017.

Snow boots (Japan, palm fiber). Courtesy SFO Museum

Moccasins c. 1940
Gwich’in Alaska; courtesy SFO Museum

Sneakers c. 1910
Hood Rubber Co.; courtesy SFO Museum

Museum Monday: Games of Chance at SFO Airport

Art, Exhibits, Gambling, Museum Monday, Museums, , ,

If, by chance, you’ve got some time before or between flights at San Francisco International Airport, you’re in luck.

That’s because the SFO Museum has just kicked off a new exhibition featuring more than sixty examples of early gambling devices, including the first automatic payout, three reel slot machine.

 

 

According to the exhibition notes, at one time San Francisco was a hotbed for these types of games:

“In no part of the world did gambling take place so openly and on such a large scale than in San Francisco during the Victorian era. The city’s residents were largely pioneers or one generation removed from those who risked all to relocate and gamble on a new life in the West. San Franciscans wagered in nearly every possible manner, including horse races, sporting contests, card games, wheels-of-fortune, and impromptu barroom arguments on every conceivable subject. At the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 3,000 machines operated freely, enticing customers from busy sidewalks into the saloons and cigar stores that proliferated throughout San Francisco. “

 

 

The devices on display range from very early models that rely on simple clock mechanisms and a payout by the bartender to automatic slot machines with elaborate carved-wood, cast-iron, or painted-aluminum bodies – and each was designed to part a person with a small bit of their money.

 

 

All the objects in this exhibit (and all photos used here) are courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum in San Bruno, California and will be on display at SFO Airport in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F through June 18, 2017.

You can see descriptions of the gambling devices featured here – and photos of others – in the SFO Museum’s online exhibition.  But I bet the exhibition is far more entertaining if you see it in person.

At SFO Museum: spooky, cool Ouija board exhibit

Exhibits, Museums, , , , ,

 

The Amazing Answer Board c. 1944 Courtesy Eugene Orlando_Museum of Talking Boards_SFO Museum

The Amazing Answer Board c. 1944 Courtesy Eugene Orlando_Museum of Talking Boards_SFO Museum

It’s Halloween season and a perfect time for the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport to host an exhibit of Ouija boards and other “talking boards” from the 1890s to the present.

These devices can be dated back to 1886, when news spread of Spiritualists in Ohio using a “talking board” with letters, numbers and a small wooden device, called a planchette, that pointed to the letters. With that set-up, the living could ‘simply’ hold their hands on the planchette and then spirits could move their hands to letters and words and spell out messages. (“Water the plants.” “Bring home milk” “You snore..” are some of the messages I imagine…)

Official “Ouija” boards began being produced in 1890 and a variety of knock-offs were issued with imagery that included Egyptian sphinxes, swamis, fortune tellers and witches.

Here are some images from the exhibition,  The Mysterious Talking Board: Ouija and Beyond, which is on display at San Francisco International Airport through May 7, 2017, post-security in Terminal 2.

sfo-ouji-star-gazer-mystical-question-board-tray-c-1944

 

sfo-ouji-the-mitche-manitou-board-c-1917

sfo-ouija-ziriya-human-battery-circuit-talking-board-1972

Can’t make it to Terminal 2 at SFO before next May, 2017? Here’s a link to the online version of the exhibition and here are links to an online Museum of Talking Boards and an online Oujia board you can use to communicate with a spirit of your choice.

All images courtesy SFO/ Eugene Orlando/Museum of Talking Boards

Get ready for Star Trek’s 50th anniversary

Exhibits, Museums, ,

Star_Trek_Gallery at EMP. Brady Harvey_ EMP Museum

The 50th anniversary of the airing of the first Star Trek episode on TV is coming up on September 8 and there are a wide array of parties and special events lined up to mark the day. I’ve got a round-up of those in the works for CNBC, but in the meantime, here are two Star Trek-themed museum exhibits you can visit right now to get in the mood.

In Seattle, the EMP Museum is hosting Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds, an artifact and prop-filled exhibition that offers a unique view of the show.

Star Trek Costumes _Brady Harvey_EMP Museum

And in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum recently put the restored model of the USS Enterprise used in all the TV episodes back on display.

Star Trek USS Enterprise from National Air and Space Museum

SFO Museum exhibits mid-20th century modern design

Art, Design, Exhibits, , ,
Mid-Century Design

Cinderella garbage pail 1940. Chemex Corp. Courtesy SFO Museum

The newest exhibit from the SFO Museum at SFO International Airport highlights exquisite examples of mid-twentieth-century modern design which, the museum notes tell us:

“…balanced expression with efficiency and utility. Geared towards everyday living, modern design redefined housewares, furniture, and decorative arts. The form of each object followed its function, with innovative construction methods finished in natural tones and bold colors. Working in the spirit of their time, mid-century designers created items that lent style and comfort to the necessities of modern life.”

This exhibit, A Modern Approach: Mid-Century Design, gathers examples of mid-century studio art, graphic design, and manufactured goods from the 1930 through the 1960s.

Here are few more items from the exhibit, which is in SFO’s International Terminal Main Departures Hall.

Mid-Century Design

Special Model K portable electric phonograph 1940. Courtesy SFO Museum

 

 

Mid-Century Design

LCW Chair; designed by Charles and Ray Eames. Courtesy SFO Museum

 

Mid-Century Design

PHX Airport celebrates National Park Centennial

Exhibits, History, Museums,
PHX Grand Canyon 1932

Grand Canyon, 1932, courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park

The National Park Service turns 100 this year and to celebrate the Phoenix Airport Museum at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has put together an exhibition  showcasing the diverse range of Arizona’s National Park offerings.

Each of Arizona’s parks is represented with historic images and objects.

PHX Pot

Flagstaff Black on White Bowl, 1100s, clay, courtesy of Wupatki National Monument

The selection includes ancient pottery from early cultures, a button from a Buffalo Soldier’s uniform, a fossil cast of an early reptile from pre-historic times and a boat that was used by Otis ‘Dock’ Marston in 1963 for a complete traverse of the Grand Canyon. There is even a slab of petrified wood that lived 225 million years ago.

phx petrified wood

 

PHX Gallery

On August 25 – from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – two National Park Rangers from Arizona parks will be in the PHX Gallery in Terminal 4 answering questions and offering more information about the Find Your Park in Arizona exhibit, which is on display through Jan. 29, 2017.

 

Museum Monday: SFO Museum’s latest offering

Exhibits, Museum Monday, Museums
Platter, Tomb of the Emperor Shah Jehan (Taj Mahal) pattern c. 1824–30s Oriental Scenery Cartouche series maker unknown possibly Staffordshire, England earthenware, blue underglaze Collection of Michael Sack . Courtesy SFO

Platter, Tomb of the Emperor Shah Jehan Collection of Michael Sack . Courtesy SFO

The newest exhibit from the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport, “From Print to Plate: Views of the East on Transferware,” features early nineteenth-century blue-and-white transferware with scenes of India, the Middle East, and China.

You’ve likely seen examples of transferware or transferware-like plates, but never looked closely at the actual images there. If you’ve got a some time to spend at SFO on a layover, here’s your chance.

This exhibition features blue-and-white wares made by Spode and a number of other British potters featuring scenes of famous architectural views of India, such as the Taj Mahal, drawn from early illustrated books, such as ‘A Picturesque Tour along the Rivers Ganges’ and ‘Jumna in India’ (1824) to scenes of Turkey and China taken from ‘Views in the Ottoman Empire’ (1803) and ‘A Picturesque Voyage to India by the Way of China’ (1810). The prints are alongside the corresponding plates and all come from the collection of Michael Sack.

from Print to Plate

courtesy SFO Museum

 

‘From Print to Plate: Views of the East on Transferware’ is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby at San Francisco International Airport and will be on view through March 19, 2017.

More images from the exhibition are on line here.

PHL Airport readies for DNC

Events, Exhibits, Politics, , ,

PHL Betsy Ross Flag

Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and Alexander Hamilton (characters…) are getting ready to hand out 13-star Colonial flags and otherwise entertain passengers when Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) welcomes the delegates, party officials, journalists and spectators traveling to the city for the Democratic National Convention (DNC), taking place July 25-28.

“Many of these folks will be traveling by air to Philadelphia for the convention, and the airport will be their first impression of the City. We want to make sure it’s a positive one,” said Airport CEO Chellie Cameron.

Beginning Friday, July 22, airport staff will fan through the terminals to greet and assist delegates. And volunteers from the DNC Host Committee and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) will be in the baggage claim areas to help convention attendees.

Inside the airport, visitors will be hear The Sound of Philadelphia – a playlist of popular songs by Philadelphia’s own legendary producers and songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

In the baggage claim areas on Saturday and Sunday, July 23-24, visitors will be treated to complimentary Philadelphia-centric Tastykakes and soft pretzels while Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross, and Alexander Hamilton hand out Colonial flags.

There’s more:

There will be a pop-up movie theater in the B/C bag claim, courtesy of the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and History Making Productions, showing short documentaries about the city’s cultural and innovative history;

Shops and restaurants will have special sales and DNC merchandise for purchase;

The airport’s landscape is getting a tidying up and taxis are being offered a free wash in advance of the convention;

And, to get ready for the departure of attendees on Friday, July 29, the Transportation Security Administration will have extra screeners on duty.

And don’t forget the art:

PHL Political pins

An exhibition – Philadelphia’s History of Presidential Conventions, 1848-Present (in Terminal A-East) highlights the 12 Presidential conventions the city has hosted. The 11th took place in 2000 when Philadelphia was the site of the Republican National Convention