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Best-laid plans went a bit agley today!
Feb. 18th, 2008 09:52 pmMy friend Kate and I planned to meet at the Newberry Library to see their map exhibit. I got there a bit early, having had a few errands downtown that took less time that expected. But I figured I could browse the bookstore there while waiting. Wrong! The bookstore turns out to be closed on Mondays. Fortunately, I had a book in my bag (as always). When Kate arrived, we went into the gallery, only to be confronted with Library staff removing the exhibit! It had closed on Saturday. We called up to the conservation lab, figuring that at least we could drop in on our friends who work there, but no answer; they probably had their heads under a fume hood or something.
But we are nothing if not flexible, and decided to hop a bus and go to the Art Institute instead. They are having an exhibit of Indonesian textiles that is stunning. I'm always very impressed by weaving - the mathematics of the pattern-making is mind-boggling when you think about it. The descriptions were full of phrases like "gold-wrapped lacquered paper threads". And the dyeing! There was one piece that had been resist-dyed with designs of shadow puppets, each image different. At first glance, it looked like paper cuttings. Simply amazing.
Then we went and looked at furniture and decorative arts, from the simple modern work of Ray and Charles Eames, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc., to the European Decorative Arts galleries, where some of the design philosophy seemed to be "throw everything at it and hope it all sticks" (though there were some quite nice pieces there as well). We lunched at the Garden Restaurant, made a bit more affordable because we get a 10% member discount.
I don't see Kate often enough, and I'm very glad we were able to get together.
Yesterday I woke up to greary dray weather, so mostly did stuff around the house. When I did go out to the produce store in the afternoon, it was surprisingly warm; the thermometer on the back porch said 52ยบ. Of course, it was raining. (Today, we were in single digits.)
Saturday night was a Newberry Consort concert, The Play of Robin & Marion (Li Jeu de Robin et Marion), by Adam de la Halle, and some other medieval French love songs. A bit of post-Valentine's Day music. It was such fun! It's a pastoral story, Marion a simple shepherdess, Robin and his cousins being given to japery and fart jokes. There is a villainous knight (played with great gusto and an over-the-top phony French accent by Mark Rimple) who tries to seduce Marion, without success, and the country folk picnic and play a game that is the medieval French equivalent of "Truth or Dare"! I think the musicians enjoyed themselves as much as, if not more than, the audience.
But we are nothing if not flexible, and decided to hop a bus and go to the Art Institute instead. They are having an exhibit of Indonesian textiles that is stunning. I'm always very impressed by weaving - the mathematics of the pattern-making is mind-boggling when you think about it. The descriptions were full of phrases like "gold-wrapped lacquered paper threads". And the dyeing! There was one piece that had been resist-dyed with designs of shadow puppets, each image different. At first glance, it looked like paper cuttings. Simply amazing.
Then we went and looked at furniture and decorative arts, from the simple modern work of Ray and Charles Eames, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc., to the European Decorative Arts galleries, where some of the design philosophy seemed to be "throw everything at it and hope it all sticks" (though there were some quite nice pieces there as well). We lunched at the Garden Restaurant, made a bit more affordable because we get a 10% member discount.
I don't see Kate often enough, and I'm very glad we were able to get together.
Yesterday I woke up to greary dray weather, so mostly did stuff around the house. When I did go out to the produce store in the afternoon, it was surprisingly warm; the thermometer on the back porch said 52ยบ. Of course, it was raining. (Today, we were in single digits.)
Saturday night was a Newberry Consort concert, The Play of Robin & Marion (Li Jeu de Robin et Marion), by Adam de la Halle, and some other medieval French love songs. A bit of post-Valentine's Day music. It was such fun! It's a pastoral story, Marion a simple shepherdess, Robin and his cousins being given to japery and fart jokes. There is a villainous knight (played with great gusto and an over-the-top phony French accent by Mark Rimple) who tries to seduce Marion, without success, and the country folk picnic and play a game that is the medieval French equivalent of "Truth or Dare"! I think the musicians enjoyed themselves as much as, if not more than, the audience.
