Dennis Dixon is heading West!: Upper Midwest

Wendy is visiting Ellie in St. Louis, so I am taking this opportunity to visit Art Museums in New York State and the Upper Midwest (and see waterfalls in Wisconsin). Saturday, October 18, 2014 was fairly straightforward: drop Wendy off at Logan Airport at 1:30 PM, and then head out the Mass Pike (see the rowers down on the Head of the Charles) to spend the night at the Super 8 in Batavia, NY. 440 miles, 6 1/2 hours

Day Two is where things got interesting!

8 AM Service at St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church in Tonawanda, NY (just north of Buffalo on the way to Niagara Falls [and Canada!])

The Rector knows Bishop Bill Murdoch!

Then off into Canada (no sightseeing today)

I caught a nice photo of Detroit going over the Ambassador Bridge

The University of Michigan Museum of Art has a very impressive structure

But unfortunately their collection is too big - they are only able to display 8% of their holdings! As a result, of the 20 works by the 14 artists I am interested in, I was only able to see 4:
In the Mountain Fastness, 1850, by Daniel Huntington
Sunset Near Darien, circa 1872, by John Kensett
Jamaica Bay, 1865, by Frederic Edwin Church
Moon over Lausanne, 1836, by JMW Turner

It was very interesting to see the contrast between my photo of the Huntington:

and the much-greener picture the University has in their online database:

note: my photo is much closer to reality than their green one.

Imagine my surprise when I was told that to see the Turner, I had to pull out the drawer!

It is a lovely watercolor - too bad it's glassed, and there is no space to hang it

56 miles north I had another unpleasant experience - the Flint Institute of Arts was holding (Saturday and Sunday) their annual First Frost Arts & Fine Crafts Fair. To allow the exhibitors space, they removed the artwork from the galleries I was interested in

There was a fun piece by Dale Chihuly

and a really nice "light piece" in their auditorium

I don't feel too badly because Flint is on the direct line from Ann Arbor up to Mackinaw City, where I spent the night with a pepperoni pizza and Sunday Night Football. Better luck tomorrow! (600 miles today)

Saturday, October 18, 2014

for this trip I am listening only to double-albums - let's see where that takes us

Dire Straits - Alchemy (live recording, released 1990)