We left just after 8 AM, and after some rush-hour traffic on 128, it was clear sailing up to lunch with Uncle Jon and Aunt Libby in Middlebury.
The main reason for this trip was TO SEE ADIRONDACK WATERFALLS! The USA has had a good winter for snowfall and rain, so I figure the waterfalls ought to be "at their best". Mix in some family, and friends, and art, and you have the recipe for a wonderful 3-day trip.
After lunch Wendy and I made our way up Route 7 to the Shelburne Museum.
They have quite a far-ranging collection, including: a steamboat and lighthouse from Lake Champlain, an elegant "old House" filled with Impressionist Paintings (Monet, Manet, Degas, Cassatt) and sculpture by Frederic Remington, a "modern art" gallery space, and a specific gallery devoted to Ogden M. Pleissner:
We went to see a specific exhibition "Upstream with Ogden Pleissner"
He did a wonderful job with watercolors of outdoor scenes (lakes, rivers, forests, mountains). Unfortunately, all his work is behind glass - our brains can figure out how to "see through glass", but cameras do a bad job with the reflections.
Across the Museum grounds is their Webb Gallery which houses their (rotating) American Art Collection. The Museum does not have "search capability" for their art database, so I can only find out what is (deep) in their collection by physically visiting the Museum. I had previously seen:
Andrew Wyeth - Soaring, 1942-50
Martin Johnson Heade - Coastal Scene with Sinking Ship, 1863
but I had never seen (or been aware of):
Martin Johnson Heade - Hazy Sunrise at Sea, 1863
Jasper Francis Cropsey - Country Lane to Greenwood Lake, 1846
Thomas Worthington Whittredge - The Meadow, ca. 1870
Up the hill, in their Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building, my favorite Monet's are:
Grainstacks, Snow Effect, 1891
The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1899
and it WAS GREAT seeing something that looked like it came out of "Steampunk North":
Aaron T. Stephan - Flat World, 2008
I am looking forward to returning up here later this summer for their exhibition "Wild Spaces, Open Seasons: Hunting and Fishing in American Art":
"including iconic works by Thomas Cole, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Alfred Jacob Miller"
Friends Alex and Nancy are only 15 minutes down the road, so we were there shortly before 5. Excellent conversations and dinner equals the close of a wonderful day! THANK YOU GOD for these wonderful adventure days!
Music for today was albums from my iPod:
Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones, 1979
Michael Stanley Band - Right Back At Ya' (1971-1983)
The Michael Stanley Band was a good Midwest band (Ohio) and had a great live album (Stagepass), with an Excellent Song: Midwest Midnight. They have maybe an album's worth of great songs scattered among their work, and I have four on this ripped album.
We Are Augustines - Rise Ye Sunken Ships, 2011
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising, 2002
I never listen to this full album ("The Rising" and "My City of Ruins" bring me to tears), so it was good to hear this driving down the road, experiencing it as a long (15 songs) good album.
The Moody Blues - Legend of a Band, 1990
Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine (On Sept. 1, I joined Deede and Tad hiking Mt. Katahdin [Hunt Trail] - his final day on the AT!)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/
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