Chess sets

Museum Monday

Courtesy Maryhill Museum

Yes, this staying at home and social-distancing routine is getting tiresome. But don’t forget that you can still enjoy lots of art and culture online and, in many cities, on foot, and by car.

Chess Sets

Bullfight chess set at the Maryhill Museum

If chess is one of the games you’ve been playing at home, you can learn about the history of the game and see some incredible chess sets in the online exhibition offered by the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, WA.

Maryhill’s chess set collection includes sets that are odd, whimsical, artist-made, and very rare.

Alice in Wonderland Chess Set at the Maryhill Museum

Drive-By Art

Courtesy Visit St. Pete/Clearwater

If it seems like murals are taking over all the blank walls in many cities, you’re right.

But that makes it possible to take in free art shows from your car or during a socially distanced stroll through a city any time of the day.

By Todd Frain, using images by Creative Clay artists.

Many cities also make their mural collection accessible online. One example: in Florida, the SHINE Mural Festival curates more than 90 murals in the St. Pete/Clearwater area and its virtual tours include photos, videos, and, in many cases, audio descriptions of the artworks.

By Jimmy Breen and Anthony Freese.

Charming chess sets on display at St. Louis Lambert Int’l Airport

Whether you’re a fan of playing chess and collecting chess sets or not, you’ll likely be intrigued by the exhibtion of 16 chess sets and artifacts on loan from the St. Louis-based World Chess Hall of Fame that are now on display at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Capturing Imagination: Pop Culture and Chess includes beautifully-sculpted, resin chess pieces including Avengers: Infinity War with characters Thor, Spiderman, Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther. Other sets feature Hello Kitty characters on a chess board that doubles as a collector’s tin and cast and hand-painted pieces from Winnie the Pooh.

There is also a Star Trek tri-dimensional chess set with precision-cast pieces coated in sterling silver and 24-karat gold and sets that features chess pieces portraying Snoopy, Fred Flintstone, Miss Piggy, Big Bird and Bart Simpson.

Capturing Imagination: Pop Culture and Chess is on display at the Lambert Gallery in the Terminal 1 Bag Claim at St. Louis Lambert International Airport through November 4, 2018.