American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland Bob Benson is a reflective glass artist. I met him at the American Visionary Art Museum and asked him if I could have my picture taken with him near his work “The Flatulence Post.” Instead of the photo, he offered this, teaching me about the power of sound in … [Read more…]
The British Museum, London Exhibit designers make all kinds of decisions to help visitors navigate through curators’ and educators’ plans for their learning. Linear narrative? Limit directional choices by making spaces narrower! Need to impress with a monumental message? Open up that gallery so visitors can see it all at once! Need visitors to go … [Read more…]
Tammy and daughter at the Eastside Gallery of the Berlin Wall, what used to be an international symbol of bad walls, but now a place for art. Arlington, Virginia When I worked at the Michigan State University Museum in the late 90s and early 00s, our director, a savvy guy, often spoke of a museum … [Read more…]
British Museum, London Part of the south metope of the Parthenon at the British Museum shows a Cenataur and a Lapith in hand-to-hand combat. So the story goes that the Cenataurs got drunk on wine (not judging…not judging at all…) and made off with some Lapith women, which most certainly upset the Lapith menfolk and … [Read more…]
Museo Botero, Bogotá, Colombia My first time in South America included a visit to Museo Botero, a museum founded in 2000 to house a major collection of figurative artist Fernando Botero’s sculptures and paintings. I attended with my new friend Beatriz, a French scholar presenting on the same conference panel with me at the International … [Read more…]
