The Coolest Art Museum in the World

"Too much of a good thing is wonderful." 

- Mae West

That's the quote in the entryway of the American Visionary Art Museum's new exhibit entitled, "What Makes Us Smile?"  The girls and I went there today and they were still talking about it at dinner time.  Unfortunately, there is no photography allowed inside the museum so you'll have to take my word for it that it's amazing...or go see it for yourself!  Some of the highlights include: "Fifi" (a 12 foot kinetic sculpture of a giant pink poodle which they use in the yearly Kinetic Sculpture Race in Baltimore), a giant ball made from bras, art cars, a giant egg covered in mirror mosaic, robots, a sock monkey sculpture, and toys hanging from the ceiling... just to name a few.  The building itself is even a work of art!

In the entrance to the museum - yes, those are toothbrushes!

 

One of the best parts of the museum, especially for kids, is the Cabaret Mechanical Theater.  This is a whole wall of tiny wooden sculptures that move when a button is pressed.  Z had a blast pushing all the buttons.  There is also an outside wildflower garden with various whimsical sculptures and fountains.  

I was also able to get to the Walters Art Museum this past weekend (with a friend!) to see their exhibit on Walter Wick.  He is the genius behind the Can You See What I See? and I Spy book series.   These books are treasure hunts for kids and consist of photographs of real installations.  They are not composites.  The exhibit was so fascinating because, in addition to the actual photos used in the books, they also had some of his installations on display - and they were even more amazing.

This is an example of one of the photos (from the Walters website) and it seems like it might be done in Photoshop, but actually, the pieces are all glued to a large piece of Plexiglas or hung by wire into the shot.  The camera is at a precise angle to hide all of that from the viewer.  It's really cool.  I ended up with a few of his books for Christmas!  

Two art museums in one week - Mae West is right!