Day at the Museum

My visit to Indianapolis and the Midwest Weavers Conference, “Textiles at theCrossroads”, was a delight. After an 8-hour drive, I arrived late Wednesday afternoon. When I got out of my car, I was blasted by the 92degF temperature. Oh, and the humidity. But the fiber fun – and other fun – more than made up for the melting heat.

There are two things in particular I want to mention about the conference. First, there is a lot of volunteer work that goes into making a successful fiber conference. And I want to thank all of the volunteers for their efforts. They really helped me personally – to make sure I had my workshop space in order, to help me load and unload all my workshop materials, to direct me to locations of vendors, exhibits, coffee shop, and cafeteria. They were all tireless, cheerful, and effective. I do so admire them and, again, thank all of them.

The second thing I want to mention is my visit to a local museum. I had arrived a day early, so I had Thursday to spend as I wished. This is an unusual opportunity for me when I travel to teach; often I arrive, I teach, then I leave.

Nora, Tammy, and Nancy invited me to join them for breakfast at Café Patachou, followed by a visit to the Eiteljorg Museum. This museum has as its focus Western American art and Native American art and culture. I was mesmerized. I took some photos with my phone. I want to share some with you, even though some of the photos are fuzzy (or worse).

One of the first things I saw was a triptych of paintings by Wilson Hurley, “October Suite, Grand Canyon”. The paintings are large. They are beautiful. I was especially struck by the “blurb” posted next to the paintings. Here:

So, George James was wrong; Wilson Hurley was right. Here are the paintings.

Just after spending time admiring those paintings, I glanced at another which at first didn’t strike me as all that interesting – until I read the title of the painting, “Shadows”. Then I took some time examining the painting. It’s beautiful, and aptly titled. I can’t quite decipher the artist’s name from this photo.

In one of the rooms, there were several sculptures by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. I was quite familiar with Remington, but not of Russell. I have to say that I preferred Russell’s work to that of Remington. The pictures I took of the sculptures were a disaster, but here is some interesting commentary comparing these two artists:

The museum was hosting a special exhibit, “Dogs. Faithful and True”, that focused on the role of dogs in the West and in Native American cultures. There were several pieces that I just loved! And I loved reading the commentaries that were posted, such as these:

Here is a picture of a painting by John James Audubon, “Hare-Indian Dog”:

There was a magnificent bronze sculpture by Alan Houser in this exhibit. I loved that it was beautiful from all angles. Here is one picture (the others are too crappy to share), and description:

It was a marvelous day at the museum. I didn’t get to see everything before we had to leave. If I ever get to Indianapolis again, I will most certainly make another visit to this museum.

I arrived home late Sunday afternoon and was greeted by 72degF temperatures. Ah!

Something to look forward to: the next Midwest Weavers Conference, “Uncommon Threads”, is scheduled for June 17-22, 2019 in Grinnell, Iowa. I can hardly wait!