Only on Vacation

I have never spent much time in museums.  Vague memories of standing next to the giant concrete lions in Chicago lace my memory.  Walking in a museum with high ceilings and dinosaur bones.  I just was never interested.

Until I toured the Fundació Joan Miró museum in Barcelona.  Something sparked!  Hanging here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mom, George, and I find two wonderful museums to take refuge from this bitter cold winter/spring day.  The temperature has been around 22 degrees all day with a knife-like wind.  Ugh.  It was good to be in a warm museum. 

The Mercury Fountain floored me in Miro's museum.  Created by Alexander Calder, I became enamored with this man's work.  Turns out, Grand Rapids commissioned a piece from him and we found it today, perched in front of the Grand Rapids Town building.

 

Here, another Calder piece.  Named an "ani-mobile", this piece is in the GRAM (Grand Rapids Art Museum).  They proudly display a Warhol piece in this museum as well. Some other favorites I snapped.

 

 

Check this one out.  What you will see, is a video of two street sweepers moving garbage.  In the form of a clock!  It is actual time too.  Pretty neat to watch!  Now this is modern art!

 

 

Outside this museum a view.  Kind of artistic on its own, if I might say so myself!

 

Next stop, UICA.  Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts.  These folks seem to like acronyms.  A five story concrete, we enjoyed art which was a bit more edgy and provocative. 

Buses pulled up to deposit loud and enthusiastic children in front of the museum. It made me happy to see young kids get this kind of exposure to art.  As Mom noted, I was hunting and fishing instead.  That's not all bad either!