Pennsylvania Art Museums: Day 4/4

Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019 - Wendy has a Retreat this weekend up in New Hampshire, so I'm on a 4-day road-trip, mostly focused on Pennsylvania Art Museums. Today I will be coming home:


The map shows me backtracking to the Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Harrisburg. I don't like backtracking, but I made my Rodeway Inn reservation before I figured out where I was going to church - but it all worked out. I left at 8 AM, headed west through Hershey, PA ("The Sweetest Place on Earth") and got to the church 10 minutes before 9. Good Shepherd Anglican Church meets in the downstairs of the Zion Lutheran Church:




After church - It was a beautiful day to be driving through the Pennsylvania countryside:


I reached the Reading Art Museum at 11:30


I have been here once before (4/22/2014). I wanted to come back and get Better Pictures than I had gotten before, and see new art from their collection. Highlights include:

Jasper Cropsey - "Passing Shower on a Spring Afternoon", 1846 oil:


Frederic Edwin Church - "Syria: Ruins by the Sea", 1873-74 oil:

Wendy and I had seen this painting in June 2018 when we went down to the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT) for an exhibition: "Frederic Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage"; if I'm starting to repeat myself, at least I'm having a beautiful time.

Edmund Darch Lewis - "Landscape", 1860 oil:


Down in the basement lowest floor is a HUGE painting - Christopher High Shearer - "Smoky Range, Allegheny Mountains", 1895 oil:



And for Ellie, a Costume Exhibition - "Costume and the Cinema":


and I couldn't leave without saying Hi-and-Goodbye to the diorama:


I love the Pennsylvania-stone houses:


It took me an hour to get to the Allentown Art Museum (Allentown, PA):


and see their Canaletto - View of Piazza San Marco, Venice", ca. 1740-45 oil:


and yes, Another Costume exhibition - "Designing Hollywood":


From here, Google Maps originally had me going east on I-78, merging into I-287, and going over the Hudson River on the Tappan Zee Bridge just north of New York City. I have gooten a little gun-shy about going anywhere near New York City, and the Tappan Zee Bridge is just a little too close for me (on a Sunday afternoon). So I headed northeast through the Delaware Water Gap:

which was a lovely drive.

I eventually picked up I-84 East, which was a nice easy (fast) drive. My (aggressive) timing just did not work out today, and I reached the New Britain Museum of American Art at 4:55

They close at 5 PM. They actually have TWO wonderful exhibitions currently - "The Art and Artists of Monhegan Island" [AUG 15, 2019 - AUG 30, 2020] and "For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design" [OCT 17, 2019 - JAN 26, 2020]. Wendy and I will be back!

Dinner on the road, and home by 9 PM - Thank You God for this GREAT 4-day 1,500-mile Road Trip!!

Today, for my listening pleasure, I started with the last album on yesterday's cd (I burned with mp3s back in August 2000):

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are a-Changin', 1964 third album


And then it was time for another cd I burned with mp3s back in August 2000:

Counting Crows - Across a Wire: Live in New York City, 1998 double live album


Pearl Jam - Binaural, 2000


The Cure - Bloodflowers, 2000

Since I can't see all the info when I'm driving, it was fun guessing that this album was by The Cure.

Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want, 1999


The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Walk That Walk, Talk That Talk, 1991


Steely Dan - Katy Lied, 1975


Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun, 1995

Pennsylvania Art Museums: Day 3/4

Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 - Wendy has a Retreat this weekend up in New Hampshire, so I'm on a 4-day road-trip, mostly focused on Pennsylvania Art Museums. Today will be my big "Trip West":


I left the Super 8 in Carlisle at 7 AM, and got to the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh, PA) at 10:00:03:

It opens at 10 AM, so pretty pretty pretty good timing, if I do say so myself!

I have been here once before (10/8/2013). I wanted to come back and get Better Pictures than I had gotten before, and see new art from their collection. Highlights include:

Thomas Moran - "Clearing in the Mountains", 1865 oil:


Martin Johnson Heade - "Thunderstorm at the Shore", c. 1870-1871 oil:


Jasper Cropsey - "Florence", 1875 oil:


Vincent van Gogh - "Wheat Fields after the Rain (The Plain of Auvers)", 1890 oil:


Jackson Pollock - "Number 4", 1950 oil:


And YES - IT WAS PRETTY COOL hanging out with Monet's "Water Lilies (Nymphéas)", c. 1915 - 1926 oil:


It took me an hour to go 31 miles east, to The Westmoreland Museum of American Art (Greensburg, PA):

Good thing I have "Road Food":


I have been here once before (10/11/2016). I wanted to come back and get Better Pictures than I had gotten before, and see new art from their collection (no "Special Tour" this time). Highlights include:

Jervis McEntee - "Twilight on the River", c. 1875 oil:


Childe Hassam - "The Outer Harbour", 1909 oil:


Worthington Whittredge - Home by the Sea, c. 1872 oil:


And I always appreciate seeing something from the Cape and Islands when I'm out here on the road - Joseph McGurl - "Nantucket Harbor", 1994 oil:


I was originally planning on visiting a gallery in Carlisle, PA, which closed at 4. I have had a difficult time hitting it over the years - it is just far enough away that it is closed by the time I get there, or it is not open on the weekends. And it turns out that today continues that string - on my way to Pittsburgh, I passed a sign for "Flight 93 National Memorial". At the next rest stop, I checked Google Maps on my phone, and it is on US Hwy 30, 42 miles east of Greensburg. So I headed east and got there at 1:30 PM:



Like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., or Gettysburg nearby, this is a very somber place. Visitors pay their respects to the passengers and crew who sacrificed themselves to stop one of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 - this plane was headed for the White House:


The Visitor-Center area has an open area, directly along the flight path:



The inscription reads: "A common field one day. A field of honor forever."

I hiked the 3/4-mile path down to the Wall of Names/Memorial Plaza:



The boulder marks the crash site:


Looking back up at the Visitor Center:




Back up closer to the highway is a beautiful tower - the Tower of Voices:


It is unfinished, but it looks like it will be a beautiful installation (it already is!)

Sure is pretty driving through the Pennsylvania countryside:


So, I wasn't going to make The Trout Gallery back in Carlisle --- so I decided to GO TO PARIS!

"New Paris, Pennsylvania 15554", that is - ha ha ha, I crack me up!

Made it to the Rodeway Inn in Lebanon, PA - pizza and college football. I'm All Set!


Thank you God for this great Art Day!

Today, for my listening pleasure, it is a cd I burned with mp3s back in August 2000:

Joe Jackson - Night and Day, 1982


lyrics "Steppin' Out":
Get into a car and drive

Joni Mitchell - Night Ride Home, 1991


Jimmy Page and Robert Plant - Walking into Clarksdale, 1998


Patti Scialfa - Rumble Doll, 1993


Rickie Lee Jones - Pop Pop, 1991

An album of covers - the Best 2 are Jimi Hendrix's "Up from the Skies" and "Comin' Back to Me" from the first Jefferson Airplane album.

Neil Young - Silver & Gold, 2000

There is a great line in the song "Without Rings" - "Fighting drugs with pain."

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls, 1978


The Rolling Stones - Stripped, 1995 studio + live


Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow, 1967 first album


James Taylor - That's Why I'm Here, 1985


Tom Waits - The Black Rider, 1993

This album is garbage - Waits just growling and yelling. Now I know why I don't have anything by him since the late-70s (when he was Really Cool).