Imbolc Bloodroot Moon Great line in a note from Tom Byfield, longtime docent at the MIA, recently […]
Read the rest of this entry »A Stroll Down Memory’s Lane
Lughnasa Waxing Harvest Moon Took a stroll down St. Paul’s living museum on Monday. That’s the way Emily Shapiro characterized Summit Avenue, the western end of it that turns sharply, avoiding Ramsey Hill and heads off toward the state capitol. We visited the first SPA building (complete with a bronze sculpture of a young Fitzgerald), […]
Read the rest of this entry »A Member of the Loyal Opposition
Lughnasa Waning Honey Extraction Moon Today members of the guide discussion group meet with Katherine Milton at the museum. We’ve had specific concerns around continuing education and requested this meeting to discuss them with the head of the department that includes Art Adventure, Collection in Focus and Docent programs. I had this in mind the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Inverting the Pyramid of the Museum
Beltane Waxing Garlic Moon A museum is an odd organization since it has a bifurcated purpose, one dealing with things and another dealing with people. As to things, it has a responsibility to the art works in its custody, a responsibility to not only exhibit them, but to care for them in such fashion that […]
Read the rest of this entry »Imagine a Line
Beltane Waning Last Frost Moon A very interesting conversation among fellow docents over lunch. When I reflect on it, it seems like we’re asking a potentially troublesome, certainly challenging question. What is the role of the docent? The museum? Art in a museum? What kind of experience do we want our visitors to have when […]
Read the rest of this entry »Uh-Oh
Beltane Sliver Bee Hiving Moon Bees check this morning. Colony 1 is queenright. Colonies 2 and 3 were not queenright because I had improperly handled the indirect release. The queens were in the cage still, being tended to by the colony so I direct released both of them. At the next hive inspection, I imagine […]
Read the rest of this entry »Salute to the Spring Ephemeral
Spring Waxing Bee Hiving Moon We have hundreds of daffodils just about ready to bloom. A few scylla have popped up in the front and crocus, too. Tulips have also broken through. It’s an exciting time for a perennial lover, especially if you are, like me, a lover of the spring ephemerals, those hardy flowers […]
Read the rest of this entry »Representative
Fall Waxing Harvest Moon Spent much of the day with stars in my eyes. Literally. After those damned dilating drops at the ophthalmologist. However, my pressures are still below glaucoma level and the photographs of my retina show insignificant change. The technician photographing my retinas kept saying, “Watch the green dot. Your eye’s moving. Watch […]
Read the rest of this entry »And some more misc.
Beltane Waning Planting Moon A fine tribute to Michele Yates. Merritt did a tour of various galleries and played music appropriate to the era. Plain chant in the medieval and renaissance gallery, madrigals and recorder music in the Tudor Room, a movement from a Mozart concerto next to Ganymede and the Eagle, romantic music by […]
Read the rest of this entry »
Banned Art
Winter Waning Moon of the Winter Solstice I have now seen “A Fire in My Belly.” What did I think of it? Much of the movie disturbed me: scenes of lucha masked wrestlers throwing each other to the mat, a grainy clip of bull fighting, occasional interpositions of an Aztec priest lifting the heart out […]
Read the rest of this entry »