Today we parked the car at Freighthouse Square, took the LINK train to downtown Tacoma, and went to the Tacoma Art Museum's monthly free day.
While there, we saw Eric Carle's artwork!!! Up close and personal! You could even see the pencil lines he used in making his pictures of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. That was a favorite book around here, as well as Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?. I stood and stared for a very long time, thrilled in a way I couldn't really describe.
The other highlight of the TAM for me was a sound sculpture called "Conloninpurple" by an artist named Trimpin. You stand in the middle of this room, surrounded by purple "trumpets" and resonating tubes suspended in mobiles from the ceiling to close to the ground. Under each tube is a wooden marimba block, and a little hammer comes up to strike the block, and the metal tubes amplify the sound throughout the hall. These are in turn wired to a computer MIDI file, which will play various songs (original compositions). The sound encircles you completely, but not overwhelmingly. As the mallets strike the marimba blocks, the action will occasionally cause the trumpet mobiles to spin slowly, adding to the interest.
Of the family, I was the one most interested in it. Kids went upstairs and were happily painting in the hands-on art room. :)
So I got my day off, basically, even though I was still called "Mommy" and/or "Honey." Thanks for the encouragement.
1 comment:
LOL Rebecca!
The Art Museum has free Thursdays the third Thursday of every month. I don't think I'd become a member there. It's a pretty small gallery. You can be done and out of there in less than an hour, if you're not the art-pondering type.
I was fascinated with the current exhibits because of my own personal involvement with Eric Carle's children's books. And the "sound sculpture" was just cool to me (but nobody else in my family, very much).
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