Divamensch
WEDS AUG 12
Two big things today: a guided tour of the Guggenheim during the day and the eclipse at night.
It was no surprise that the highlight of the Guggenheim was the building itself, the project that put Frank Gehry on the map. It’s dazzling, inventive, yet doesn’t exactly draw attention itself on the inside. On the outside, yes, that’s what it’s there to do. But on the inside, as Donna said, it allows the artwork on display to breathe.
They have enormous Richard Serra pieces in their permanent collection. I’d experienced Serra twice before and always find his work to be emotionally powerful. They're huge sheets of metal curved and arranged in meaningful ways.
Donna and I had opposite reactions to the Serra - - it gave her a sense of calm and the peace and awe that comes from being in the presence of something larger than yourself. I have a tiny smidge of claustrophobia and being literally dwarfed by those colossal sheets of metal was a bit upsetting. There were bits of sunlight shining on the upper edges of some of the pieces and they tricked me into thinking they were near the exit (as shown in the picture below). They never were. Three of the pieces were enormous coils - - you’d go in and whirl around until you got to the center. Then you’d reverse directions and whirl out to leave. It’ll stay with me for a while, not in a bad way.
Mallery took these great pictures of her, Bruce, and Karen.
I was thrilled that they had special exhibits by two artists I enjoy: Ruth Asawa and Jasper Johns. This was my third time seeing Asawa’s work and it’s always impressive. The installation I saw in San Francisco a few years ago did a better job of lighting the pieces so that the shadows were as beautiful and intricate as the pieces themselves.
Jasper Johns - - love that guy. Nothing will ever match my first experience with him, a tremendous retrospective in Minneapolis in the 90s, but it’s always a treat to see this work in person. This exhibit was maybe a little heavy on drawings, which don’t really appeal to me. Here's a random dude with a Johns in the background.
I love taking pictures of random people standing near paintings.
Here's a pic of our tour guide. I hadn't noticed that the little boy in the background was having a moment in front of the Jeff Koons dog. I'll never know the whole story on that. And that's fine.
They have a huge Louise Bourgeois spider outside.
We had lunch in the café. I placed my food order with the guy at the counter and said, “Y un agua” - - also a water. He said, “Con gas o sin gas?” - - with bubbles or no bubbles. And this is the funny part - - you can tell my last foreign destination was a place where they spoke German because my answer to, “Con gas o sin gas?” was, “Mit gas.” With gas, but in German. He was totally puzzled by that. I realized my mistake and blurted out, “Oh, CON gas! Gracias.” What a dolt.
We split up in solos or small groups and went off in our own orbits. We met up and left the museum and had an obliging stranger take this group pic.
It was a hot and humid day - - I took this picture of me, Karen, Mike, and Bruce in the shade looking at Liz and Mallery walking towards us in the sun.
I’m sure I went for a swim when I got home. Probably followed by a shower and a change of clothes.
Bruce and Mike had found an ideal place for the eclipse, a secluded spot up on a hill, probably a ten-minute walk from our house. Here we are walking up the hill and getting settled.
Mike made some frittatas and schlepped those up there with some bread, sweet pickles, and other nibbles.
We got up there sometime between 7:30 and 7:45pm. The eclipse was at its totality at 8:28pm so this way we could watch the ramp-up, the “bites out of the cookie,” as people were saying. Karen and Bruce brought eclipse viewing glasses for everyone, so thoughtful of them. It was shocking to me how quickly it all happened. I started by looking at it every couple of minutes and was couldn’t believe how much was gone each time.
It was just as magical as I expected it to be, a truly once in a lifetime experience. As Karen said, you can understand why people a thousand years ago and before thought it was the end of the world. It was unreal. And it was a huge bonus to share it with such a fun and special group of friends.
Bruce took phenomenal photos with his camera. He had a special filter on it so it would show the sun the way it was when we looked through the eclipse glasses.
A few people referred to this as "a diamond ring." I told I'm in the jewelry business - - there ain't no diamond on that ring. Yes, you can call it a ring, but it's not a diamond ring unless it has a diamond.
I took this cute picture of the sun (and my foot) pre-eclipse…
And this magical picture of Bruce and the sun in totality.
AJ was wearing the perfect T-shirt:
Mallery took a goofy pic of her and Mike. Here's my pic of the photo being taken and Mallery's final product.
AJ made a special eclipse mix that totally rocked my world. My favorite songs:
Here's AJ rocking out:
This picture of me and Donna boogeying down the hill pretty much sums up the vibe of the whole week:
We talked with this cute blond family after it was over. Mike started by talking Spanish and the dad had perhaps even more trouble than Mike did. The guy asked if Mike spoke English and they did a pivot. I think they were Finns or something. Definitely Scandahoovian, as my Aunt Kat would say.
The expression on the little boy's face in the first picture cracks me up. It's clearly saying, "Can we get away from these people. There is ice cream at home."
