Dennis Dixon is heading West!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Upper Midwest - Day Four (Duluth, MN - Minneapolis Institute of Arts - Minnesota Marine Art Museum - Rantoul, IL)

Starting in Duluth, MN, I will be seeing two art museums and spending the night down in Rantoul, IL. It took 13 1/2 hours, covering 740 miles.

My timing was excellent - I left Duluth at 7:30, and got to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts at 9:55 (for its 10 AM opening!)

It is a major museum, and I knew that I was not going to be fair by limiting myself to 45 minutes. They have wonderful works by Canaletto, NC Wyeth, Renoir (2), Van Gogh, Frederick Childe Hassam, Homer Dodge Martin, Philip Little (a nice painting titled "The Upper Ipswich River" [yes, that Ipswich River]), and Roy Lichtenstein. Maxfield Parrish has a very good piece "Dream Castle in the Sky" (1908):

They have three by Claude Monet, two by Albert Bierstadt, and single works by Jasper Cropsey, Thomas Moran, and William Trost Richards. The Hudson River School piece I select today is "Quiet Seascape", 1883 by William Trost Richards

the Monet I love is "Grainstack, Sun in the Mist", 1891

but the knockout piece is the sculpture "Kiss of Victory", 1878-1881 by Sir Alfred Gilbert - it took my breath away

To go southeast to Winona, MN (the Minnesota Marine Art Museum), you travel on US 61 alongside the Mississippi River - this section is known as Lake Pepin

I am adding US 61 to my list of "favorite roads"!

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum is an absolute treasure! First, they had a special William Bradford exhibit titled William Bradford and the Arctic

Second, they had an Ansel Adams exhibition: Classic Images

and third, on long-term loan from a private collection, is a super-impressive collection of Marine, Hudson River School, Impressionist and Modern Art

There is a "no photography" policy, so I will just say that the works include:
Albert Bierstadt - Sunrise
William Bradford - Ships Off a Northern Headland, c. 1862
William Bradford - Bark Panther Among the Icebergs, 1876
William Bradford - Arctic Sunset with Rainbow, 1877
William Bradford - Morning on the Arctic Ice Fields, c. 1880
Alfred Thompson Bricher - On the Mississippi Near Winona, Minnesota Shower Clearing, 1868
Alfred Thompson Bricher - Mississippi River (Dubuque, Iowa), 1870
Alfred Thompson Bricher - Near Cape Elizabeth, Portland, Maine, 1887
Thomas Cole - A View of Boston, 1837-39
Frederic Edwin Church - Autumn, 1853
Jasper Cropsey - Watching the Stream, 1868
Robert Seldon Duncanson - Mount Orford, Summer Evening After a Thunder Storm, 1864
Asher Brown Durand - Landscape, 1855
Sanford Robinson Gifford - The Beach at Cohasset, 1864
Sanford Robinson Gifford - Long Branch Beach, 1867
William Stanley Haseltine - Off Newport, Rhode Island, 1863
William Stanley Haseltine - Rocks at Halibut Point, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, 1863
Martin Johnson Heade - Seascape at Sunset, c. mid 1860's
Martin Johnson Heade - View From the Fern-Tree Walk, Jamaica, 1887
Winslow Homer - Winding Line, 1874-1875
Winslow Homer - Three Schooners at Anchor, Gloucester, c. 1880
Richard William Hubbard - A Mountain Stream, 1867
David Johnson - The Natural Bridge, Virginia, 1860
John Kensett - At Newport, c. 1870
Claude Monet - La Seine a Vetheuil, 1881
Claude Monet - Pres de Fecamp, 1881
Thomas Moran - Near Southampton, 1891
JMW Turner - Hampton Court Palace, c. 1825-28
Worthington Whittredge - Autumn on the Delaware, 1875-76

Luckily, some images are available on commons.wikipedia
This is Thomas Moran - Near Southampton, 1891

and Frederic Edwin Church - Autumn, 1853 (also known as Autumn on the Hudson)

Then back on the road for a beautiful fall day

Who did the lighting?

Thank you God for a beautiful day! (although it was a bit long - I pulled into the Super 8 in Rantoul, IL after driving an hour in the dark)

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

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

Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life (double album, released 1976)

(It contains the song "Summer Soft" and the lyrics:
When you find it's October
And she's gone, and she's gone
Summer's gone)

Grateful Dead - Live Dead (live recording, released 1969)

David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk (live recording, released 2008)

Yes - Yessongs (live recording, released 1973)

Monday, October 20, 2014

Upper Midwest - Day Three

Monday is when (almost all) museums are closed, so today is "Nature Day" - over the bridge to the Upper Peninsula, see Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, plus three-of-the-five best waterfalls in Wisconsin

450 miles, 11 hours

Because Michigan is at the far-left end of the Eastern Time Zone, it is light later at night (good for yesterday's driving), but it is pitch black at 7 AM. As a result, I could not see anything when I went over the Mackinac Bridge - it should be a spectacular view! It remained dark for a while, eventually lightening when I got near Munising Bay on Lake Superior, with its view of Grand Island

Lake Superior was a little rough!

I stopped at Agate Falls, and then made my way down route 2W to Potato River Falls. The falls are great:

and I even got a selfie:

The cottonwood/aspen/birch are beautiful up here, but maybe a week past peak foliage

My next stop was Amnicon Falls. I saw cascades:

Upper Falls:

and Lower Falls:

Only 20 miles away is Big Manitou Falls & Gorge State Natural Area (which is also less than 20 miles from Duluth). There is a beautiful pond that feeds the Falls:

Although the individual parts of Big Manitou Falls are very impressive (there are two observation decks on the north side), the only way to see them all together is from an outlook on the south side

I did some hiking down to the "End of State Park Trail"

and a beautiful area

At the end of my visit I saw Little Manitou Falls

Google Earth has a great view of the area:

And then off to Duluth! I lost an hour with the time zone change, so check-in was 6:30 - plenty of time to work on my big project for Wendy: we spoke and we are going to meet Deede in LA!! I'll let you know the details later.

Monday, October 20, 2014

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

Miles Davis Quintet - The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 (live recording, released 1995)(only discs 1,2, and 3 this morning)

Van Morrison - It's Too Late To Stop Now (live recording, released 1974)

Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder (live recording, released 1988)

Joni Mitchell - Miles of Aisles (live recording, released 1974)

Warren Zevon - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (anthology, released 1996)

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Upper Midwest - Day One & Two

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)