Thursday, August 18, 2016

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2008. I recently found all of these photos from our trip to Los Angeles. Which is why I am posting them this week. In a way, they are like new photos to me which I haven't seen for years. However, despite not seeing them in a long time, the content is very familiar to me. That March I took Mattie to Los Angeles so I could attend a conference in Hawaii. While I went to Hawaii, Mattie stayed with my parents for a few days. When I returned from the conference, we did things together around LA. This photo was taken at the Arboretum. A place Mattie always liked visiting. The Arboretum has amazing plants and what intrigued Mattie was the freely roaming peacocks on the grounds.


Quote of the day: Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. ~ Martin Luther

Check out who was sitting in my parent's backyard today. This lizard sighting would have brought great joy to Mattie.

Today we went to the LA County Museum of Art to see two exhibits. One was called Del Toro: At Home with Monsters and the other was an interactive rain exhibit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit that I usually find something worthwhile or positive about every museum experience I have, but with that said, Del Toro's exhibit did not speak to me in any way. Quite the contrary it provided a very visceral distain and disgust for what I was seeing. Furthermore what upset me about this was the incredible drawing of people to this exhibit. In just a few short months after opening, 25,000 visitors have seen this exhibit so far. Del Toro has a real following. I am not so taken aback by his love for horror. But it is his love and fascination with death, torture, and inflicting this horror on children that disturbs me greatly. I would also say that he believe that through the macabre, witchcraft, and horror one can find one's self. Totally not speaking my language, and yet it was a psychological study to try to get in Del Toro's head as well as in the heads of those around me. I must admit it wasn't a place I wish to dwell for a long period of time.  

 

Guillermo del Toro (b. 1964) is one of the most inventive filmmakers of his generation. Beginning with Cronos (1993) and continuing through The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and Crimson Peak (2015), among many other film, television, and book projects, del Toro has reinvented the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Working with a team of craftsmen, artists, and actors—and referencing a wide range of cinematic, pop-culture, and art-historical sources—del Toro recreates the lucid dreams he experienced as a child in Guadalajara, Mexico. He now works internationally, with a cherished home base he calls “Bleak House” in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

 

Taking inspiration from del Toro’s extraordinary imagination, the exhibition reveals his creative process through his collection of paintings, drawings, maquettes, artifacts, and concept film art. Rather than a traditional chronology or filmography, the exhibition is organized thematically, beginning with visions of death and the afterlife; continuing through explorations of magic, occultism, horror, and monsters; and concluding with representations of innocence and redemption.

An example of what was on display. A page from a notebook. Keep in mind that MANY of the objects on display came from Del Toro's home.

The show is divided into eight themes or motifs: Childhood and Innocence; Victoriana; Rain Room; Magic, Alchemy and the Occult; Movies, Comics, Pop Culture; Frankenstein and Horror; Freaks and Monsters; and Death and the Afterlife. References to his films tend to be scattered throughout various sections of the exhibition.

Del Toro at his "Bleak House." Again, this is the name of his house.

In the "Childhood and Innocence" room, it was noted that many of Del Toro's films center on children as protagonists, witnesses or victims. They are not insulated from fear, harm or even death. "In fairy tales, ogres and wolves ate children, and I think that it goes to the roots of storytelling, to have children as vulnerable," del Toro explained in the press notes.

The exhibit was filled with video clips and life like monster models.

Can you see the disturbed faces in this art? What frightening me is those around me found it beautiful.

Del Toro believes that "Humans are frequently false" and trapped by "a series of fantasies that we accept socially that are absolutely terrifying" based on geography, gender and race. "These are accepted fictions that separate us from each other." Monsters are "the patron saints of otherness."

 No comment is needed here.

 Del Toro's drawings

 Clearly this fellow had a bad day

 Monsters on magazines

His fascinating with Frankenstein.

What do you say about this?

Do you see the eye in the palm of his hand?





















TWO minute video of del Toro's house.................Del Toro's Bleak House is a place where every day can be a dark and stormy night, even in sunny, drought-stricken Southern California. Del Toro drew on his experiences as a special effects designer to create a rain room. The room features a rear-projected lightning effects and a false window spattered with silicone raindrops while a thunder soundtrack plays:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0WXqEl846k

Random International’s Rain Room (2012) is an immersive environment of perpetually falling water that pauses wherever a human body is detected. The installation offers visitors an opportunity to experience what is seemingly impossible: the ability to control rain. 

Rain Room presents a respite from everyday life and an opportunity for sensory reflection within a responsive relationship.
Founded in 2005, Random International is a collaborative studio for experimental practice. They use science and technology to create experiences that aim to question and challenge the human experience within a machine-led world, engaging viewers through explorations of behavior and natural phenomena. In the decade following the studio's inception, the focus of Random International’s artistic practice has continuously evolved and today encompasses sculpture, performance, and installation on an architectural scale.

A gallery visit is approximately 10–15 minutes. During the allotted time, 18 to 22 people may enter the gallery while five to seven people may proceed into the rain at once.

A shadow of my mom and I as we walked through the rain.

Rain Room uses approximately 528 gallons of water within a self-contained system. The same 528 gallons will be recycled and used throughout the entire run of the exhibition. The average American family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day.

My mom and I walking into the room. The beauty of this is while you walk slowly, the sensors in the ceiling perceive you and shut off the water as you are stepping. So if you move correctly, you NEVER get wet! I assure you I did not get wet as I had my camera out taking photos.

Video experience of the Rain Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM-rW75kIq4

Chris Burden's Metropolis II is an intense kinetic sculpture, modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one six lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour, the equivalent of approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings. According to Burden, "The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars produce in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st century city."

The huge scale of Metropolis II

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Tonight's photo was taken in March of 2008. We took Mattie to a Noah's Arc exhibit in Los Angeles and as you can see he was having a ball. Running around, investigating aspects of the arc and participated in all the activities they cleverly created for the children. Typically this wasn't something Mattie did, he usually liked exploring things in his own way and time. But this exhibit was really made for him. There were hand on things, things to crawl and run around in, and even creative activities to build your own arc. It was a great day and memory for all of us.



Quote of the day: The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good. ~ Ruth Benedict

I went out to lunch with my parents today before heading the museum. Check out this dessert! It was truly wonderful and believe it or not, it wasn't heavy or too sugary! It was filled inside with very gooey chocolate and fresh cherries!

After lunch, we headed to the Huntington Library. Which is a private, nonprofit institution founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities, and real estate holdings in Southern California.
 
Huntington was also a man of vision – with a special interest in books, art, and gardens. During his lifetime, he amassed the core of one of the finest research libraries in the world, established a splendid art collection, and created an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe. These three distinct facets of The Huntington are linked by a devotion to research, education, and beauty.

My Dad and I by the entrance of the museum and garden.

My mom in the garden with the Canna Lilies.

Pomegranates growing in the gardens.

Black Eyed Susans in their glory.

In 1910, Henry E. Huntington began acquiring a large collection of outdoor sculptures, personally deciding on the exact location for each piece of garden statuary. Some of the statues were moved as many as three times until Huntington was satisfied. Love is a common theme among the garden sculpture, most of which dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Henry Huntington and Armand Hammer never met each other, but the two businessmen had at least one thing in common: they both established great art collections that form the core of major museums in Los Angeles. In an exciting “meet-up” of sorts, 15 important works from the Hammer Museum take up temporary residence at The Huntington, offering visitors the unprecedented opportunity to enjoy masterpieces from both collections in one place.

Garden of the Rectory at Neunen -- Van Gogh painted this in 1885 while living with his family in the Netherlands. He set out to paint the bleak landscape of the Dutch winters. He purposefully picked a dark palette of greys, browns, some yellow and white. This was a sharp contrast from the vivid colors he used after moving to Paris.

View of Bordighera -- Claude Monet (1884) fell in love with the Italian Riviera town of Bordighera. Monet said that to paint this, he needed "a palette of diamonds and jewels because of the blues and pinks of the landscape.

 

Hospital of Saint Remy -- Vincent Van Gogh (1889) -- a place Van Gogh spent time after suffering recurring mental health issues.

While viewing this with my mom, I heard a docent descripting this piece of art to her group and she explained that Van Gogh had schizophrenia but she likes to look at this painting without taking into context his illness. Literally I was rolling my eyes. First of which, research shows Van Gogh suffered with Bipolar Disorder and not schizophrenia. In addition, I think it is always VITAL to take into account one's mind set and frame of reference when creating anything, or when interacting with someone for that matter. So how she can discount this and how it may have influenced what Van Gogh wanted to express is beyond me.

This stunning photo is the hallway of the Huntington Gallery. Which at one time was the actual house of Mr. and Mrs. Huntington. So the in reality you aren't only seeing incredible art, but you are getting to walk through a museum that once was their working home.

Henry Huntington was an avid reader and book collector. This was his library within their home. The wood in the library came from England.

A view into their incredible gardens from the second floor of the house.

Though it was TOO hot to walk around outside, the Gardens that surround the museum are beyond noteworthy and extensive. There is a themed garden for practically every occasion.

The chapel's stained glass window within their home.

A famous room within the Huntington because it showcases the Famous "Blue Boy" and "Pinkie."

This was Sarah Barrett Moulton, better known as Pinkie. She is permanently housed in the Huntington Library. Thomas Lawrence painting this life sized painting in 1794. The painting was commissioned by her grandmother, when the girl was age 11. The sad part about this is Sarah died from tuberculosis shortly after the completion of the work.

A room in their home/gallery

 The dining room

A garden right outside their home.

The Huntington just expanded their gift store and it was incredible. Truly something for everyone. Check out this wonderful tote bag my mom and I found. It says, Love you to the Moon and Back. This is a saying I always said to Mattie and therefore I had to purchase it. He was with me today in mysterious ways.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Tuesday, August 16, 2016 -- Mattie died 361 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2008. That spring I took Mattie out to Los Angeles because I had a mandatory conference in Hawaii to attend. I was working at the conference for five days and needed to make sure Mattie was in good hands for that time period. So while I flew onto Hawaii, Mattie stayed with my parents.

When I got back from the conference, we took Mattie to the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles. The Museum was featuring its special Noah's Arc exhibit, which was very hands on for kids. Outside the exhibit was this neat water feature. As you can see Mattie LOVED it and couldn't get enough!






Quote of the day: If you aren't fire with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. ~ Vince Lombardi

My day started at 4:30am in order to board a plane to Los Angeles at 7am. Indie had no idea what hit her this morning as she was VERY thrown off from our usual routine! She is a very affectionate cat and is used to my daily attention. So I will miss her while I am away.

This was the sight outside my airplane window as we were landing in LA. Can you see this huge jet right next to us? Rather humbling I think to know that so many aircraft are flying around, and yet when you see one outside your window, it makes you wonder how air traffic control keeps all of this straight.

In any case, I am safely in LA. It was in the lower 90s today, with no humidity which sounds like a relief from Washington, DC heat, yet it is still quite hot and standing in the sun felt like baking in an oven.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Monday, August 15, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2009, after we found out about Mattie's terminal diagnosis. As you can see Mattie was wearing oxygen at that point and was also attached to a pain pump 24/7. Yet despite that horror, he was at the art table in clinic playing. On Mattie's right was Jenny, one of his art therapists, and an incredible support to our family. On Mattie's left was Jocelyn. Jocelyn was a big Mattie supporter and a fellow osteosarcoma patient. Jocelyn met Mattie by happenstance early on in his treatment process. Once she found out Mattie had the same cancer as she did, she took him under her wing. Mattie truly related to Jocelyn, trusted her, and felt that she understood what he was dealing with. It is a tragedy that both Mattie and Jocelyn lost their battles with osteosarcoma. Neither one of them will ever be forgotten as they both were super smart, engaging, and full of life. 


Quote of the day: You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences. ~ W. Somerset Maugham


I love tonight's quote because it applies to SO many things. But in this particular case I am furthering to my desire to rescue a cat and a dog. Rescuing a pet that comes with a questionable past can produce uncertainty and fear.  I know I have been wondering whether I could handle this new obligation. After all, we have been without a child for six years and without Patches our calico cat for three years. But I did not make this decision lightly, I thought about it for several months. 

Then an opportunity came to get Indie, our tortoise shell cat, in July and it worked out wonderfully. She is filling up our home and our lives. Last night I received an email from the rescue shelter about a Sunny, the border collie mix, and his status. Sunny is NOW in DC, he was transported here from South Carolina. Sunny hasn't had an easy life, was abandoned and living in a kill shelter, where they kill 90% of more of dogs that aren't adopted. Because I am heading to Los Angeles tomorrow, I did not want Sunny to come into our home until I got back. Peter works full time and Sunny needs a companion by day until he gets used to us and our routine. So while I am away, Sunny is staying with a foster parent in DC. I have already been in communication with Leah.   

This is the photo Leah posted on Facebook of Sunny (dog closest to you) and her dog in the background! They almost look like twins! She described Sunny as a "love bug" and basically house trained. I purposefully wanted an adult dog who was passed the puppy behavior stage. Sunny looks adorable but sad to me. It is very hard to adopt a dog you have never seen, but my hope is that Sunny is as wonderful an addition to our home as Indie.