We drove over to the Huntington in Pasadena, supposedly to see the Gees Bend Quilts in an exhibition. There was only ONE original quilt, and then there were smaller artworks of paintings of small quilts. So we were disappointed, having seen the original exhibit of the Gees Bend Quilts at the Whitney in Manhattan years ago. But the Huntington! Wow! It consists of a Library, one of the largest independent research libraries in the world, and then the Gardens, which are 16 themed gardens covering 130 acres and 83,000 plants, and THEN the Art Museum which features British, European, American, and Asian art spanning more than 500 years and includes more than 45,000 objects. Yikes! And the Huntington does not disappoint! Here Miss Vivian explores what must seem strange for a three-year old - a bronze decapitated head on its side in a garden. The piece is called "The Landmark" by Enrique Martinez Celya.
The first garden we went to was the Japanese Garden which consists of three gardens: the original stroll garden with koi-filled ponds and a drum or moon bridge, the raked-gravel dry garden and the traditionally landscaped tea garden. In addition, the gardens feature a large bell, the authentic ceremonial teahouse, a fully furnished Japanese house, the Zen Garden, and the bonsai collections with hundreds of trees. And that's just ONE of the gardens at the Huntington. Here the "ladies" sit on the steps of the high arched Moon bridge over one of the Koi ponds. Miss Vivian's hat is a year out of date - she is almost 3!
3 comments:
It is nice to see you all together. Family time is the best. Love the photo! You all look wonderful. The gardens sound lovely. It is cute how Vivian looks a little unsure of the big head and whether to or how to approach it. I don't blame her. Trace
Love the photo of Vivian inspecting the head which is a rather odd sculpture in my mind, Betsey and I were at the Yale Art Museum a week ago and saw a piece that reminded us of visiting Gees Bend Quilt show with you years ago. We were so fortunate to see so many of the old quilts. A wonderful experience. Love the family photo too!
Joan
I’m glad that Joan mentioned the piece which reminded us both of the Gees Bend quilts. It was astounding and memorable. Sorry that the exhibit was disappointing! Would love to see more photos of the Japanese Garden - sounds delightful. Love seeing the family photo. Miss Vivian is getting tall. She is definitely curious as she steps around the huge head sculpture. Betsey
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