2024 Detroit Road Trip: Ann Arbor Art and Dining

For the eight days that my husband Rich and I were in the United States touring Detroit, Dearborne and Toledo, we stayed in a hotel in the outskirts of Ann Arbor, MI and used that as a base for day trips. It made sense for several reasons.  First, we were a bit leery about being in Detroit after dark and could not find a downtown hotel that was both affordable and had secure, onsite parking.  Given that Ann Arbor was about halfway between Detroit and Toledo and the Ann Arbor Regent Hotel met our cost and parking criteria with the extra bonus of including daily free breakfast, this seemed like a good option. It also gave us the opportunity to explore Ann Arbor and particularly, yet another art museum.

Having extensively toured the Detroit Institute of Art and the Toledo Museum of Art, in comparison, visiting University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) was much smaller in scale and scope, but it still had a few interesting exhibits.  Another of Jaume Plensa’s large-scaled sculptures of the head of a young woman is on display outside.  Lately, it seems like every art museum that we visit has one.  Titled “Behind the Walls” (2018), this one is unusual in that a pair of hands (cut off at the wrists) cover her face.  The building currently housing the art museum was originally designed in 1909 as a war memorial for the university’s fallen alumni who died in the American Civil War, then used as administration offices before officially becoming an institutional art gallery in 1946.  Designed in classical styles, Doric columns are found outside while Ionic columns hold up two levels of the oval-shaped inner courtyard/lobby, which is topped by a large skylight. Works of art line the walls of the two levels and a pair of marble sculptures sit on the ground floor including “Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompei” (1861) by Randolph Rogers. Given the limited space of the museum, many smaller decorative art pieces are kept in an Open Storage gallery which features floor-to-ceiling glass shelving containing American, African and Chinese decorative arts, pottery, glass, woodwork, folk art and more.

An interesting exhibit called “Unsettled History: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism” displays contemporary creations along side of 17th to 19th Century European and American art to recontextualize these works and their traditional historical narratives. The highlight of the exhibit is Titus Kaphar’s “Flay (James Madison)” (2019) where Kaphar paints a portrait of American Founding Father James Madison, then shreds the bottom into strips which are folded up and pinned above the work.  Most telling are the strips that come out of Madison’s mouth.  Usually depicted as a heroic figure, the painting and its mutilation draw attention to Madison’s ownership of hundreds of slaves.  Even more provocative is Tyree Guyton’s “Bird cage (relynching)”, created circa 1980-2010. A paint-splattered metal bird cage stand contains a tattered American flag, and the replica of a human penis hanging upside down and painted black.  The art piece references the history of the horrible practice of castrating black men accused of rape before lynching them.  Betye Saar’s “Lullaby” (1999) consists of a framed photo sitting on a wooden serving tray.  The photo depicts a black servant caring for three white children while an image of her child sits in the left corner of the matte surrounding the photo.  The physical separation of the mother and child in the work and the lyrics around the photo highlight how enslaved mothers are forcibly absent from their families and community.

On display on the second floor of the UMMA are items designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, that come from the opulent home of sugar magnate Henry O. Havemeyer.  The interior view of the massive front doors of the mansion feature honey-coloured wooden frames surrounding ornate copper panels that are imbedded with iridescent Favrile glass designed by Tiffany, and warm-coloured stones. Even more stunning is the chandelier that once hung in the Havemeyer library.  Made from bronze and more Favrile glass, golden half-globes of glass blown from molds are laid out in a circular pattern around a large central globe to form a flower-like design. Ornate metalwork with embedded green baubles surrounds the outer circumference of the chandelier, which is attached to the ceiling with a beaded central pole. A peacock mosaic was in the entrance hallway of the house over a fireplace. It used a variety of glass including translucent, opaque, gem-cut and cabochon glass to create the pair of peacocks facing one another with their tail feathers spread out.  The peacock is one of Tiffany’s signature motifs.  The Favrile glass in a window panel from the dining room is made with gold, amber and brown glass that forms a scrolling leaf pattern and looks gilded from afar.  A translucent fire screen designed with gilt metal and opalescent glass would be backlit when the fireplace was operating, forming a lilac glow.  Based on these magnificent pieces, one could only imagine the splendor of the Havemeyer mansion.

German Expressionist artist Max Pechstein’s set of twelve woodcuts with hand colouring depict the text of the “Lord’s Prayer” (1921) in German (“Das Vatar Unser”) with accompanying images that look frightening and demonic as opposed to charitable and Christian.  Pechstein had a “distinctive style of bold, dark colours, angular forms and emotional intensity”.  The image of God is said to be influenced by South Pacific, African or Oceanic sculptures.  He created these works just after WWI, when the German society was dealing with war guilt, economic hardship and political unrest.  His images reflect the human wretchedness and need for spirituality felt by the German people at that time.

The Asian Gallery has a poignant sculpture titled “Apsara Warrior” (2004) by Cambodian artist Ouk Chim Vichet. The figure is of a woman in an iconic pose from a Cambodian dance tradition, where “aspara” means “celestial dancer”.  But looking closer, you can see that the dancer’s form is made from parts of AK-47 and M-16 rifles taken from former fighters of the Khmer Rouge, a far-left Cambodian Communist party.  Pieces of gun barrels, nuts and bolts, cartridges, hammers, levers, magazines, muzzles, and triggers were welded together to create this form.  This juxtaposition of a cultural dance with the weapons of violence is jarring.  But the dancer’s raised hands are grasping a rifle which she has broken in two, perhaps leading to the hope for future peace.

In addition to the museum, we did a quick walk around downtown Ann Arbor and as usual, we looked for interesting architecture and signboards.  We saw examples of Art Deco in the State Theatre, a historic 1942 movie palace designed by C.Howard Crane (who also designed the iconic Fox Theatre in Detroit), as well as a sign of the former Ann Arbor Bus Depot, built in the Streamline Moderne style in 1940.  Today, only the Art Deco façade and marquee of the former bus terminal remains as the frontage for a Marriott hotel.  The ornate door at 313 Slate St. reminds me of architecture designed by French architect Hector Guimard. We liked to vintage look and atmosphere of the Fleetwood Diner which was the first sidewalk café in Ann Arbor when it opened as the Dagwood Diner in 1949.  There were some cool signboards in front of buildings and restaurants in the downtown area, including HopCat, a popular craft beer bar and restaurant.

But the most impressive building that we found was the Michigan Theatre, another historic movie palace that was opened in January 1928 and designed in Lombard Romanesque style.  We were initially attracted to the magnificent marquee and the pretty blue and green terracotta pattern on the façade.  On a whim, we wandered into the front doors hoping to get a glimpse at the interior and were overwhelmed by what we found.  The lobby has a barrel-vaulted ceiling, Romanesque columns, gilded arch decorations, wood paneling, wrought-iron balcony and staircase railings.  An original 1927 Barton Theatre Pipe Organ is used for live performances and special events.  The Michigan Theatre screens independent films, hosts live stage productions and musical concerts.  The Ann Arbor Film Festival and performances by the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra also take place here.

We found some fun shops in the downtown including BonBonBon (good candy in French?) which sells these delightful handmade chocolates called “Bons” that come in a tiny paper box.  Most of these treats consist of a chocolate shell with some sort of flavoured ganache inside, although a few like the lemon comes with a different flavoured shell.  We decided to buy six to try, but had the hardest times choosing since they all sounded so good, and all had quirky names.  We finally settled on two of the Cherry Lux (maraschino cherries and dark chocolate ganache) since we both wanted our own, then shared a Lemon Bar None (shortbread crust, lemon custard ganache, sugar dust); Coffee and Donuts (dark chocolate shell, coffee and donut ganache, sprinkles);  Hazel-What (Milk Chocolate shell, toasted hazelnut and flaky salt), and Mustachio (Dark chocolate shell, Moscato caramel and pistachio gianduja).  They were all amazing!!  At Cherry Republic, we found Cherry flavoured Hot Fudge sauce and bought two jars to take home.  The store was closed but we had fun looking in the window of the Robot Supply & Repair store, which had signs touting the “Robot Revolution”.

Because our hotel was in Ann Arbor, we also did most of our evening dining in that city and its surrounding areas.  One of our first meals was in the neighbouring town of Ypsilanti at an upscale local restaurant named Bellflower, which was known for its seafood options.  Going along with the restaurant’s strengths, we concentrated on seafood for our meal, starting with Matiz sardines served with feta, toasted almonds, Castelvetrano olives and freshly baked bread.  For our mains, we had the cornmeal trout filet with mashed potato with green garlic, spring sauteed cabbage, lemon button, and the Masala catfish fried in beer batter with chili, turmeric, ginger, and milled grits.

We returned to Bellflower on our last day in Ann Arbor, lured by the promise of Oyster Poboy sandwiches, which I love.  Unfortunately, there was no oyster on the menu, so the closest I got was the oyster shell wallpaper in the bathroom.  Instead, our choice of grilled sandwiches was either catfish or shrimp.  We opted for one of each to share.  There did not seem to be much else to see in Ypsilanti, except for the giant water tower that appeared to be shaped like a phallic symbol! (I’m not imaging, right?).  The tower was built in 1890 and was the only supply of water for the town until 1956.  A levy of $5 per tap was charged for residences with an extra $2 for a private bath.  Saloons were charged $7 for the first tap and $3 for each subsequent.  Each cow owned cost another $1 in water fees.

Our first meal in Ann Arbor was at Gandy Dancer, a trendy restaurant which is situated in the historic Michigan Central Railway Depot.  It was built in 1886 in the Richardson Romanesque style and features stained glass windows, red oak ceilings and French tiled floors. This was a bustling train station until in 1960s when rail travel declined.  The restaurant opened in 1970.  Artifacts of the train station still remain including a model train, photographs of a railroad crossing and rail tracks, the plaque for Baldwin Locomotive Works 346, as well as a sign indicating the distance from Ann Arbor to Detroit (38miles), Buffalo (289miles) and Chicago (249miles).

We selected this restaurant partly for the cool atmosphere, but the food was quite good as well.  Continuing with our seafood theme, we started with calamari fritti, and then had Ora King salmon with broccolini and Mahi Mahi with crab topping and asparagus as mains our mains.  Both dishes came with a tasty side of coconut ginger rice.  We ordered an extra side of seared scallops which we shared.  For dessert, we shared a slice of key lime pie made from real key limes.

We dined at Aventura Spanish restaurant where we drank a pitcher of sangria and shared a bunch of tapas.  These included the cod croquettes with potato and pinenut in a lemon aioli; grilled prawns with garlic, pepper, parsley and olive oil; seared wild mushrooms with garlic, lemon, truffle oil and parsley; Brussel spouts with green apple, shallot, crème fraiche, honey and pistachio; Iberico pork shoulder with sherry, cabbage, spring onion, apple and hazelnut; crispy potato with salsa brava, garlic, aioli and a fried egg; tuna tataki with shallot, ginger, chili, sherry vinegar and olive oil.  For dessert, we shared churros with pots of delicious chocolate sauce.

Our next two eateries were chosen more for the quirky dining experiences as opposed any expectations of fine dining.  Even the name “Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burgers” and the logo and imaging of the eatery’s mascot white polar bear is fun, as is the stuffed polar bear and all the bear imagery that line the walls.  During the winter, snow sculptures are made of the beloved mascot.  Blimpy Burgers was founded in 1953 by eponymous Jim Shafer but he sold the business in 1969 to Richard Magner who initially worked there as a student.  Richard developed the bear mascot because it was easier to draw than a cow.  Blimpy Burgers is known for its customizable burgers with numerous unique combinations of toppings such as grilled salami and fried egg, or blue cheese, mushrooms and black olives on a pumpernickel roll, triple burger with provolone cheese, or preset items such as the Pepper Steak Bullet which consisted of a triple burger on an onion roll with grilled onions, peppers, provolone and bacon ranch sauce.  Ordered cafeteria style, the burger joint’s gimmick is its regimental ordering procedure where you are required to answer the questions from the serving staff in strict order: # of patties, kind of bun, grilled items, cheese? Condiments?  Do not try to bypass the order or there may be “No burger for you”, ala Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi schtick.  Not wanting to make a mistake in the ordering process, I just went for the Pepper Steak Bullet since it sounded great anyways.  We also ordered some delicious non-greasy deep-fried vegetables, cherry cola and root beer.

The other over-the-top eatery was Zingermans, which is also a large specialty grocery store with a deli counter.  Zingerman’s is known for its Reuben, smoked meat and corned beef sandwiches and offers free refills at its soda pop fountain which has unique flavours such as Rhubarb Lavendar or Blueberry Acai mineral water, black cherry cream soda, Pomegranate lemonade or Pink Grapefruit soda.  Fun paper mache figures, painted bright green with facial features to resemble animated pickles, hang from the ceiling.  The online order kiosk shows cartoon images of the meat options that you could select from for your sandwiches.

Bright, vibrant cartoonish drawings line every inch of the walls in the indoor and outdoor seating areas.  I especially liked the drawing of the Mama pickle pushing her baby pickle in a stroller while they walk past the State Theatre, which we saw ourselves during our tour of Ann Arbor’s downtown.  It was a nice day, so we opted to sit outside near a large colourful mural featuring grinning animals including an octopus, fish, other sea creatures and a cow wearing an underwater scuba oxygen tank.  Our grilled sandwiches came with bags of pickles (choice of crunchy or “cucumber”) which all went to Rich, since I don’t like pickles.  Instead, I ate more of the bag of chips that we bought to augment our lunch.

Our final restaurant was one of our favourites and we came across it by pure luck.  While we were visiting the Henry and Clara Ford House in Dearborn, MI, we had a brief chat with one of the volunteer gardeners who were working on restoring the gardens to their conditions during the Fords’ lifetimes.  During our conversation, she recommended that we go to Miss Kim, a hipster Korean restaurant in Ann Arbor that offers traditional Korean cuisine with a modern twist.  We started off with a French 75 (gin, lemon juice, champagne) cocktail for Rich and a pear-ginger cider for me.  We were given complimentary kimchee and other pickled vegetables which again, I left mostly for Rich.

We ordered a series of small shareable dishes including deep-fried smashed potato tossed with chili flakes; broccolini in an anchovy caramel sauce with cashews and cilantro; lightly battered Korean fried chicken in chili dry rub with a soy glaze; potato noodle salad with mixed mushrooms, sauteed seasoned vegetables, sesame and soy; and steamed rice mixed with a butter soy sauce.  To finish off the meal, we shared a chocolate rice flour cake with miso caramel topping.

We liked our meal at Miss Kim so much that we returned for a second time to order some items that we agonized over but ultimately passed on, in favour of other dishes the first time. For this second visit, we had the Korean fried mozzarella cheese balls; baby back pork ribs with a sweet chili glaze, sesame and scallions; Miso butter asparagus tossed with a soft-boiled egg, cashews, scallions; and a peppery spice and crispy roasted duck breast with a sweet/vinegary bulgogi sauce served with arugula salad.  Miss Kim ended up being one of our more memorable eating experiences.  We enjoyed not only the innovative dishes but also the fun décor including bright modern art and whimsical cartoon characters marking the entrances to the restrooms and on the windowsills.

2024 Detroit Road Trip: Toledo Museum of Art

Having traveled to other former “Rust Belt” cities including Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Detroit to tour their world-class art museums, the last stop in our current road trip was Toledo, Ohio, to visit yet another internationally recognized art institution.  Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) has a collection of over 30,000 works stored in 45 galleries within a 280,000 square-foot museum designed in Greek Revival style.  Completed in 1912, the museum was founded by Edward Libbey, president of Libbey Glass Company, who was known as the “father of the glass industry” in Toledo.  TMA sits on a campus that spans 40 acres and includes a large outdoor sculpture garden dedicated in 2001 as the Georgia and David K. Welles Sculpture Garden.  Alexander Calder’s “Stegosaurus” made from welded steel painted in his signature “Calder Red” is positioned in front of the museum’s main entrance, acting as a harbinger to the sculptures to come.  

In recognition of the museum’s exceptional glass collection that reflects Toledo’s historical significance in glassmaking, a separate Glass Pavilion was added in 2006 to highlight and showcase these important works.  Situated across the street from TMA, the pavilion adds an additional 74,000 square feet with over 5000 glass works from ancient to contemporary.  Also found on the campus is a modern addition for the Centre for the Visual Arts, designed by star architect Frank Gehry and completed in 1992.  While part of the University of Toledo as opposed to TMA, the Visual Arts building’s proximity to the museum and pavilion on the campus makes for an interesting juxtaposition of architectural styles.

The three parts of the Toledo Museum of Art are each such distinct experiences that it feels like you are visiting three separate museums.  We decided to tackle them from the smallest to largest collections and therefore started off with the sculpture garden.  

Running along the main TMA building’s Monroe Street façade, there are 25 sculptures nestled within greenspaces, trees and landscaped plants. A series of animal sculptures include “Gorilla”, a bronze of a seated gorilla by Daisy Youngblood (1996) that looks almost abstract when seen from a certain angle, a bronze horse sculpture titled “Second Daughter” (1989) by Deborah Butterfield that appears from afar to be created with tree branches, a marble polar bear bench (2000) by Judy McKie, and Barry Flanagan’s bronze leaping hare (1982) on a stainless steel triangular pedestal.  Behind the hare is another one of Jaume Plensa’s colossal, elongated heads that seem to appear at most art museums.  This one titled is “Paula” (2013) depicting a young woman with her eyes closed and a calm demeanor.

Jim Dine’s strange bronze sculpture titled “Vermont (The Autumn)” (1984), consisting of two partial, legless figures and a hatchet, seems like something out of a Surrealist painting.  A headless female holds a tree branch while the male figure gestures with his right hand while a cloth is draped over his forearm. No explanation has been given for the meaning of these figures or how they relate to the title of the work.  Josiah McElheny’s Moon Mirror (2019) is a crescent-shaped work made from pressed blue prismatic glass mosaic tiles that glimmer and reflect the light, changing colours as you move around it. Albert Paley’s steel structure “Continuum” (1995) is said to be inspired by a sculpture of a Roman youth, but it looks more like a musical instrument to me.  A bronze carving of naturalist John Burroughs by Italian sculptor Cartaino di Sciarrino Pietro, which was donated to the museum in 1918, is probably one of the oldest sculptures in the garden.  Joel Shapiro’s blocky bronze sculpture of a gesturing figure (1991) reminds me of the cartoon character Gumby.

Polish sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz used burlap to make a hollow human form that is standing on a trunk with wheels created with wood, She then cast in bronze to create her sculpture that she aptly called “Figure on Trunk with Wheels – Big” (2000).  Mark di Suvero’s “Blubber” (1980) is a Calder-like steel beam structure with a rubber swing attached to it made from a split tractor tire.  It seemed to invite people to sit and swing, but I was scared off by the nearby sign indicating that the area was monitored by cameras.  Jaume Plensa’s Spiegel (German for “mirror”) consists of two gigantic figures made from painted stainless steel.  The figures are seated and hugging their knees while facing each other.  Coming up close to inspect the figures, you see that they are made up of a series of letters from eight alphabets—English, Greek, Latin, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese (Kanji).

It is quite fitting that the Toledo Glass Pavilion is a masterpiece in glasswork in its own right.  Designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa from the firm SANNA, the building incorporates large panels of curved glass to create a series of interconnected glass rooms where large, open-plan exhibition spaces as well as artist studios and demonstration areas with glassblowing demos and workshops can be found.  Natural lighting flows through the glass façade to illuminate the pieces.  Out on the grounds surrounding the pavilion, a stunning glass sculpture by Pinaree Sanpitak titled “Hammock” features 700 large glass orbs held together with steel.  The piece was created during Sanpitak’s artist residency with the glass museum in 2014.  Hammock for evokes thoughts of rest, comfort and cradling of a body, aligning with her interests in depicting womanhood, femininity and the female breast.

We saw so many beautiful works from different time periods, created with different glass making techniques. Some older pieces in the collection from early to mid 1800s include an aquamarine creamer and pitcher that are examples of blown glass that is tooled to create patterns on the surface. A purple amethyst glass compote dish from the same era is one of several examples of machine-pressed glassworks, where glass is pressed into molds to create objects of uniform size, shape and design with complex patterns.  No glass collection would be complete without a creation by Dale Chihuly, whose massive white chandelier at the pavilion’s entrance is magnificent.  Named “Campiello del Remer Chandelier #2” (1996) after its original installation location in Venice, it consists of 243 unique crystal vessels, each with intricate designs etched on them. Karen LaMonte’s magnificent life-sized cast-glass, sandblasted and acid-polished “Dress Impression With Train” (2007) retains the shape of a human figure without depicting the wearer.  The ripples on the bodice and train make the dress look so realistic.  Venetian artist Lino Tagliapietra created “Dinosaur” (2006) from blown, tooled, ground, polished battuto glass which melded colours into a delightful teardrop design.  Judy Hill clothed her raku-fired ceramic figure of a young girl with a “cire-perdue cast” glass dress that simulates a lace pattern in a work called "Lace Dress" (2001).

Robert Kehlmann created his “Composition #55” (1979) using traditional stained-glass techniques, but his resulting works are more like abstract drawings in glass, using lead appliqués to create unusual patterns.  French jeweler and glass designer René Lalique is represented in the museum with several pieces including a pressed and acid-polished, turquoise Tourbillons vase (1925) that was inspired by the movements of a fern, a mold-pressed glass dragon fly (1930) and a Greek-inspired female figure (1924) that was originally designed as part of a fountain for the 1925 Paris Exposition.  Two staunch competitors in the period of the early 1920s were Frederick Carder who founded Steuben Glass in Corning, and Louis Comfort Tiffany.  Stunning Art Nouveau pieces by these two designers are on display in the museum including glassware that look like flowers.  Created probably by a Bohemian glassmaker in the 1600s, a gorgeous Cobalt Blue Jug is made from blown glass that was gilded and enameled.

A Royal Flemish vase with a medallion depicting a dragon (1894) has a tall narrow neck decorated with a floral motif and bulbous body made from machine mold-blown glass then covered with gilding and enamel.  Although made by the American Mt. Washington Glass Works company, the design looks exotic and European.  Several glass pieces have designs that tell a story.  A drinking beaker named “Revenge of the Hares” is decorated with transparent enamel drawings of hares armed with lances capturing and hanging a hunter.  Probably from Germany around late 17th Century, the images critique on political tyranny through satire.  An Italian Jug (late 15thCentury) made from opaque white glass called lattimo was painted to depict a mythological scene of Gods and sea creatures while its handle resembles a snake.  A mold-blown, cut and polished green base is painted with opaque polychrome enamels and gold paint (circa 1925-30) depicting the Greek myth of Polyphemus (the one-eyed cyclops son of Poseidon) discovering Acis, son of Pan and his love, the sea nymph Galatea. Cleverly using the transparency of the glass, the artist paints Polyphemus on one side of the vase, looking through the glass at the lovers on the other side.  Reverse painting on a mirror is a technique where paint is applied to the back of a glass surface, creating an image that is visible from the front.  A reverse mirror portrait of Elizabeth Graham was created in China (1736-95) as commissioned by Captain John Lennox who was enamoured with her.

While we were visiting the Toledo Glass Pavilion, a special exhibit called “In A New Light” featured Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings and other art works of various medium taken from the TMA’s collection, displaying them along side glassworks from the same period.  Displaying these pieces within a space that is made totally of glass literally shines a new (natural) light on them.   Some beautiful works of glass were set aside to be displayed in this exhibit.  Two gorgeous vases by Emile Gallé included an opaque yellow Vase with Irises (1900) made from blown and cased glass with acid-etched decorations and cameo glass, as well as a see-through Vase tinted gray/yellow with polychrome enamel depictions of blue dragonflies and flowers (1890). René Lalique was also represented with a pair of stunning vases. Serpent Vase (1928) was made from red-brown glass that was mold-blown and acid polished with the coils of the serpent winding around to the top of the vase where its opened mouth is found.  His Vase Marisa (1927) design consists of grey semi-lead glass with polished raised surfaces depicting fishes swimming upwards.  Another animal-themed work was Henri Bergé’s Tray with Chameleon (1920), made with a technique called pâte-de-verre (“glass paste”), where finely ground glass is mixed with a binding agent to make a paste, color oxides are added, then the paste is shaped in a mold and fired in a kiln.

Some of the non-glass works in the exhibition included unique ceramics vases from early 1900s, a forged iron, steel and bronze gate by Louis Majorelle gate and items from Tiffany including one of his iconic lamps and a pair of stained-glass windows that came from mausoleums.  Edgar Degas’ dancer sculpture and a fireplace by Hector Guimard were also on view.

A set of paintings compared three different depictions of rain by painters from three different countries around the same timeframe.  Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige’s woodblock print (1857) depicts a heavy afternoon shower as pedestrians cross the New Ohashi bridge, sheltering themselves with small umbrellas and bamboo mats while a boatman is seen in the background on the Sumida River.  Frenchman Henri Rivère’s woodcut “Funeral under the Umbrellas” (1891) also shows people under umbrellas in heavy rain.  It is obviously influenced by the earlier work but has a definitive European as opposed to Asian feel to it.  Finally American artist Childe Hassam’s oil on canvas painting titled Rainy Day, Boston (1885) depicts a similar topic, but is totally different in technique, look and feel and perspective.  It was very interesting to see the three works side by side.

Our last stop was to tour the main building of the Toledo Museum of Art.  The artists and works found in the European and American collections were quite similar to ones we have seen in other art museums, so we spent less time in those galleries and concentrated on the others.

We found some amazing pieces in the Africa Unmasked exhibit including one of the highlights of the museum.  This was The Seated II (2019) by Wangechi Mutu. I found this bronze sculpture of a regal African woman seated on her throne to be absolutely stunning and took multiple photos of her from many angles. Standing around 7 feet tall and over 840 pounds, the figure is dressed in a long robe made from bronze coils and wears a polished bronze disc at her forehead, meant to reference African jewelry.  Her pursed red lips, half-closed eyes and hands over her knees give the impression of power, dignity and reflection.  Romauld Hazoumè's work titled “Made in Porto-Nova” (2009) depicts a jazz quartet of instruments including a saxophone, double bass, trumpet and drums made out of discarded oil cans while the masks on the wall made pay tribute to fuel traffickers who risk their lives to bring petroleum to local communities.  The “Queen Mother Head” brass sculpture from Nigeria (circa late 19th Century) follows a tradition of Benin kings who commemorate their mothers by placing such a piece on an ancestral altar.  This head features a peaked hairstyle known as the “chicken’s beak”.  A reliquary figure from Gabon made of brass, copper and iron (early 20th Century) and a Crest Helmet or headdress from Tanzania made from wood, antelope skin, palm fibre, bamboo, clay and pigment (early 20th Century) each are supposed to have two faces representing male and female, but in each case, I could only see one face  The other face might have been on the reverse side which I did not know to look for.  The one from Gabon was used as a handle for a sacred basket of bones, while the headdress was used in serious ceremonies such as funerals.

The items in the Asian Gallery were also fascinating, starting with the provocative “Donkey Sofa” (2019) from Seoul, created by South Korean performance artist Gimhongsok.  The piece consists of a life-sized plush donkey costume lying prone on a blue velour bench with a sign behind indicating that a 40-year-old peasant, who escaped from North Korea and is now an illegal immigrant, is being paid $8 USD a day to occupy the costume and lie there as part of performance art.  This immediately invokes uneasy discussions about whether there is actually someone occupying the donkey suit here in Toledo, if this really happened in South Korea, or is it all just art meant to draw attention to political and social issues around migrants and cheap (slave?) labour in Korea and around the world?

Another fun work is Zhang Hongtu’s complete set of 12 Chinese Zodiac animals (2014), created as Earthenware coated in a three-colour (amber/brown, green and white) glaze as was done back in the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD).  Hongtu updates the traditional figures by attaching the Zodiac animal heads to the body of Chairman Mao, rendering the clothing (Mao suits) and poses (hands clasped behind their backs) of each figure to reference Mao Zedong’s appearance. A Funerary jar decorated with a dragon (1127AD) is made of stoneware with a celadon glaze that makes the piece resemble jade.  From around the same time period of early 1100’s is a Cambodian sandstone sculpture from Angor Wat depicting a Garuda (an eagle-like divine bird in Hinduism and Buddhism) fighting off three Nagas (cobra-like creatures).

TMA has a Medieval Cloister Gallery that includes three Medieval arcades or arches made up of columns and capitals (top-most parts of the columns) from different monasteries in southern France.  In particular, the St Pons Capitals (mid 12th Century) have carvings which taken together, depict scenes from the Old Testament and important episodes in the life of Saint Pontius, patron saint of the Sant-Pons-de-Thomières monastery.  The Cloister and adjoining Classical gallery exhibit an impressive collection of works from the Middle Ages as well as classical items of ancient Greek and Roman art.  The museum also has a Peristyle Theatre, added during a 1933 expansion, which features a Greek agora-inspired theatre with 28 Ionic columns surrounding the main seating area that holds 1750 people.  A 2-story lobby is decorated with a painted Greek frieze and the ceiling can create effects ranging from bright sunlight to a starry night. Unfortunately, the theatre was closed to prepare for a school graduation ceremony and so we were unable to view it. 

There are some interesting and eclectic works in the Contemporary Gallery. Viola Frey’s "Man and World" (2003), a monumental ceramic work depicts a businessman in a suit and tie seated in front of a globe, as if turning his back on the world.  Julian Schnabel’s "Portrait of a Freedom Fighter" (1984) portrays Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas who was persecuted and exiled for his homosexuality.  Approaching the work, you can see that Schnabel painted the image on fragments of broken ceramic plates.  A humorous and unique sculpture by Deborah Czeresko titled “Oh God/Martina 59/9” features a trophy of a female tennis player being swallowed by flames made of neon lights while atop a barbeque grill that is “heated” by briquettes made from blown glass. The title of the piece refers to lesbian tennis phenom Martina Navratilova and her 59 Gland slam appearances including 9 wins at  Wimbledon. The piece is a critique on gender inequality and gender wage gap as the female trophy is being burned by the ultimate male-dominated cooking device.  An untitled triptych (1980) by Robert Longo made from forest-green tinted lacquer on cast aluminum bonding depicts three images of snapshots in time of a twisting, gyrating male in a business suit.  The work is related to Longo’s Men in the Cities series that reflect on the “tension and alienation of urban corporate life”. To me, it recalls Hans Solo imbedded in carbonite in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

We were so lucky to discover that the feature exhibition running during our visit was a comprehensive retrospective of the art produced by 60s’ Venezuelan pop artist Marisol (nee Maria Sol Escabar - 1930-2016) whose drawings, paintings, collages and sculptures are whimsically satirical, cuttingly critical and political in their messages.  Her works commented on America’s obsession with celebrity and pop culture, as well as issues of identity, gender roles and norms, women’s roles in society, interpersonal violence, the immigrant experience, our interdependence with oceanic life, and other societal topics.  Ironically as much as she mocked celebrity, Marisol became a celebrity in her own right due to her exotic beauty, reclusiveness and frequent silences.  She became known as the “It Girl” and the “Latin Garbo”, hobnobbing with celebrities and artists like Salvador Dali.  One of her earlier carvings was “The Hungarians” (1955), depicting a persecuted family that stand on a rolling cart, suggesting the “immigrant experience of mobility, vulnerability and displacement”.

The opening piece of the exhibit is a painted bronze sculpture titled “Mi Mama y Yo” (1968) which depicts Marisol as sullen, scowling child standing on an ornate bench while shielding her smiling, seated mother with a patterned parasol whose design matches the bench.  This is both an homage and perhaps a critique of her beloved mother who committed suicide when Marisol was just eleven, causing the traumatized girl to stop speaking for several years.  Some of Marisol’s drawings include pages from a sketchbook (1958) where she pasted cut-out faces of women onto painted bodies. For her lithograph in two colours titled “Diptych” (1971), Marisol oiled her nude body and pressed it against two lithograph stones before transferring the image onto paper, inspired by the Japanese tradition of pressing fish against paper to document a catch.  In 1975, she drew “An Elastic Face Man” in coloured pencil on paper, showing a man stretching the two sides of his face.

As intriguing as her works on paper are, what I really liked were Marisol’s giant sculptures, often made by decorating large blocks of wood.  Baby Girl and Baby Boy (1962-63) depict two gigantic (journalists described them as “monstrous”) infants. The seated Baby Girl is 6 feet tall, 3 feet wide, 4 feet deep, meaning that she would be 10 feet tall standing.  She is wearing a painted white dress with a bow at the collar with actual lacy frill pasted at the bottom.  The dress was a copy of the one that Mattel’s recently released Midge doll wore.  Baby Girl is holding a doll that has Marisol’s own face imprinted on it.  Using her own image would be a repeated motif in Marisol’s work, reflecting her exploration of identity. The size of the baby may comment on the overwhelming demands that infants place on women who care for them.  Standing at 7 feet tall, Baby Boy has a more political reference.  He is symbolic of America and US imperialism—a young but powerful and irresponsible bully with potential of causing great damage.  The boy also holds a doll with a photograph of the artist’s face pasted on it.

Three Women with Umbrella (1966) depicts three adult female figures with emotionless expressions on their faces, standing upright while wearing stylish hats and dresses.  The woman on the left has a bluejay calmly perched on her hand while the one on the left holds a parasol and has a cast of Marisol’s nose and mouth as part of her face.  The most interesting is the woman in the middle whose dress depicts a replica of a 1965 photo from Life Magazine depicting two distressed Vietnamese women clutching their children in midst of destruction during the Battle of Dông Xoài.  The contrast of women and children’s terror versus the demeanor of the figures and the calmness of the bird comments on the lack of understanding and empathy that Americans have over the devastation of the Vietnam war.  

Self-Portrait (1962) is composed of seven heads atop a single woodblock segregated into four body parts (one with breasts) with the middle two bodies each possessing two legs, while the outer bodies only have one leg each.  Walking around the back of the sculpture, we see five bare buttocks distributed across the block.  The multiple heads represent different sides of a personality with different expressions, hair or head gear on each of them.  Self-Portrait is influenced by Marisol’s exploration of self-identity and her exposure to American folk art.

In the late 1960s, Marisol concentrated on sculptures of political and cultural figures. Marisol created a sculpture of her friend Andy Warhol.  "Andy" (1963) depicts a seated Warhol with his face and body drawn on two blocks of wood, both in front and side views.  The sculpture includes casts of the Marisol’s own hands and Warhol’s actual shoes to give the work a personal touch. Warhol also often used shoes in his artwork.  "LBJ" (1967) is a satirical depiction of Lyndon B. Johnson during his unpopular presidency in midst of the Vietnam War.  He is represented with a block head and a coffin-shaped body, perhaps a reference to all the killing in the war. Three wrens perched on his left palm, bearing the faces of his wife, nicknamed Lady Bird, and their two daughters.  "John Pope XXIII" (1961) is a political commentary on the Roman Catholic Church’s patriarchal, male-dominated structure.  It depicts the Pope riding a wooden hobby horse with Marisol’s own face incorporated in the work.  The hobby horse, which is a child’s toy, points to the perceived childishness or absurdity of the Catholic Church’s authority and traditions.  "Ruth" (1962) refers to Marisol’s friend, American abstract painter Ruth Kligman, depicted as three heads with thick wavy hair and pink lips, and three corresponding sets of legs protruding out of a barrel.  Artificial fruit was used as breasts attached to the barrel and casts of Marisol’s own hands painted with red nails also protrude from the barrel.

One of Marisol’s larger works, “The Party” (1966) is a collection of 15 figures at an elegant event, separated into smaller groups mingling at a cocktail party.  Each figure has a version of the artist’s face, whether carved, photographed or cast in plaster or rubber, as well as casts of her hands.  Almost predominantly female, the guests all have different hairstyles, are dressed in elegant gowns, some bejeweled and one central figure wears a crown. Most of the clothing is painted on but there is one real dress that is attached to its block figure.  A figure in the back has a cast of Marisol’s nose and mouth only, while the eyes are represented by a small TV screen.  There are two service staff, a maid dressed in an apron holding a tray, and a butler who is the only male figure.  The mood of the party is somber as none of the faces are smiling,  those with eyes have them closed and they all seem isolated from one another.  This may reflect Marisol’s own feelings about parties and large gatherings where she did not feel like she fit in and did not want to.  Marisol rebelled against conformity and critiqued on the shallowness that she felt in some forms of social interaction.

The Kiss (1966) consists of three repeated faces in a yellow semi-transparent resin, each cast from Marisol’s face.  The faces extend out from a lightbox where the light glows through the work.  The two inner faces are directed at each other with lips pursed in a kiss.  The third face is positioned facing away from the middle one and its lips are also puckered waiting for a passerby to kiss it and complete the image.  Ironically, the sign describing the work has lips with a line through it, warning the viewer not to actually touch or kiss the piece.  An entire room is devoted to Marisol’s oceanic themed works including Fishman (1973), a wooden sculpture with a humanoid body with a protruding painted white fish with glassy eyes for his face.  He is holding a fish in his left hand which has Marisol’s face.  Beside him is a small green birdlike creature also cast with Marisol’s face, in the act of consuming a red fish.  All around the rest of the room are videos of sea life as well as more sculptures of mutant fish, again cast with the artist’s face.  This is her commentary on man’s affect on oceanic life, referencing horror movies where radiation and nuclear fallout transform natural figures into horrific ones.

The last room in the exhibition had several impressive pieces that represented Marisol’s later works.  "Funeral" (1996) depicts the iconic scene where three-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. saluted as his father’s American-flag-draped casket passed by.  The funeral procession is rendered to resemble a sequence of toy soldiers.  Marisol was commissioned to design a public memorial honoring John A. Roebling, his son Washington and daughter-in-law Emily for designing the Brooklyn Bridge.  The memorial was never constructed due to lack of funding but the models for her design remain. John died before the completion of the bridge and Washington fell ill so Emily acted as a go-between with the construction foreman and her husband to keep the work moving along.  Marisol’s sculpture titled "John, Washington and Emily Roebling Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge for the First Time" (1989) marks the moment where Emily rode a carriage across the bridge, carrying a chicken as a symbol of victory, but adds John and Washington to the work, in honour of their contributions.  Finally, and fittingly, the exhibit ends with a sculpture of Marisol’s father, simply titled “My Father” (1977) as a bookend to the start of the exhibit that began with the sculpture of Marisol with her mother.

Given that I love large-scaled sculptures and satire and commentary in art, being able to explore the Marisol exhibit was right up my alley.  This was the perfect way to finish our visit to the Toledo Museum of Art, which in my opinion stands with the best of the Rust Belt art museums that we have toured in the past.

2024 Detroit Road Trip: Dearborn, MI and Henry Ford

We spent a day in Dearborn, Michigan (about 20 minutes west of Detroit), immersed in the world of Henry Ford.  We started with a quick early morning stop at the historical estate Fair Lane before proceeding with a full day at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

We would have allocated much more time to Fair Lane, the home of Henry Ford and his wife Clara, had it not been closed since 2014 for extensive renovations with only the grounds available for viewing.  The 1300 acre estate includes a 31,000-sq foot limestone mansion designed as a mix of Baronial and Prairie styles (with input from Frank Lloyd Wright).  Built in 1913, the house has 56 rooms including an indoor pool, billiards room and bowling alley.  Unfortunately, we were not able to tour inside but will definitely return once this renovation is done.  When we arrived, it appeared as if most of the work on the façade was complete as there was very little scaffolding in place, and we got a good look at the structure from the outside.  Gardeners were hard at work trying to restore the landscape and gardens to the original design by landscape architect Jen Jensen, who also designed Henry’s son Edsel’s home.  Work was also going on inside the house with plans to restore wood finishing and all decorative elements to match the period when the Fords occupied the home.

When we first arrived at the property, we came across the former garage/powerhouse which was large enough that it could have been the main house for a lesser family than the Fords.  As part of the restoration efforts, the building will become an event space and visitor’s welcome centre.  Next to the garage is a smaller potting shed/greenhouse where a head gardener and staff of 25 once maintained the grounds.  Wandering through the various gardens on the grounds, we encountered a life-sized bronze sculpture of Henry standing next to a seated Clara.  The work was unveiled in 2018 as a gift from his great granddaughter to honour the legacy of the couple.

Fair Lane was built along the Rouge River both to take advantage of its power generation capabilities and to create great scenic views and nature walks including a RiverWalk, all part of the landscape design by Jensen.  A lily pond full of blue lilies once received water from a spring-fed cascade and a rock garden reflects the horizontal-slabbed stonework of a boathouse that Jensen designed to appear as if it is a cave imbedded into a limestone rock face.  The Rouge River once flowed into an open channel leading to the boathouse so that the Fords’ boat “Callie B” could be navigated directly into the river.

The grounds of Fair Lane include a large meadow, trail garden that winds through the woodlands, rose garden, English perennial garden, peony garden, tribute garden commemorating Clara Ford's 150th birthday, vegetable and herb gardens, peach orchards and more. During Henry Ford’s time, there was also a skating house, poultry house, pony barn and staff cottages.  Today, turkey vultures are known to frequent the estate, and we saw several of them on our walk around the grounds.  We only explored a small portion of the area since much of it was blocked off due to the ongoing construction.  We look forward to visiting Fair Lane again once all the work is done.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is an enormous museum spanning over 523,000 square feet.  It contains a rich collection of interesting artifacts and stories about America’s history, technology and greatest innovations.  It is part of the larger Henry Ford Museum which also includes Greenfield Village, a set of historical buildings including Thomas Edison’s Laboratory and the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop. Surprisingly, the Innovation Museum has little related to Henry Ford’s own accomplishments, but rather, reflects Ford’s passion for collecting artifacts that represented the technological and cultural advancements in the United States. It was originally opened as the Edison Institute, dedicated to Ford’s friend Thomas Edison. The extensive collection includes everything from planes, trains and automobiles, machinery, agricultural technology, architecture and design, decorative arts, and cultural artifacts relating to American history. 

The first thing that we did upon arriving at the museum was to check out Lamy’s Diner, an old prefab diner that was built for owner Clovis Lamy in 1946 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company.  Clovis selected a diner shaped like a streetcar with 40 seats consisting of 16 bar stools along the lunch counter and six 4-person booths.  The diner was sold and moved several times over the years until it was purchased and relocated to the Henry Ford Museum in 1984, where it was restored to its original condition with its wood counter, red vinyl coverings for its stools and benches, and black and white patterned linoleum flooring.  The nostalgic menu board is typical of those found in old diners with its original prices of hamburgers, hotdogs and sandwiches for 15-35 cents.  On the table of each booth is a personal jukebox machine.  Outside the diner was a vintage neon sign advertising Lamy’s Diner.  Wanting to secure one of the six booths, we decided to have an early meal before the lunch crowd descended.

The current menu for Lamy’s Diner is curated to reflect the offerings of the original eatery in 1946 New England, albeit at today’s prices.  The limited menu had a choice of 3 sandwiches—chicken salad, turkey with bacon and cheese or ham and cheese.  There was also a sloppy joe and daily soup.  The sandwiches came with potato chips or coleslaw and drinks included fountain drinks like frappes and floats.  We each ordered a chicken salad sandwich, shared a chocolate milkshake and a chocolate chip cookie.  The waiters were dressed periods uniforms to fit the era.  This was a fun dining experience to start off our museum visit.

In addition to the Lamy's Diner sign, other vintage neon signs were on display including one for McDonalds Hamburgers, which were selling for 15 cents in the late 1940s and boasted a count of over 160 million sold (that number currently sits over 99 billion).  There were also signs for A&W Root Beer, White Castle, Holiday Inn and Douglas Auto Theatre (aka Drive-in).  These colourful, glowing signs were not just advertisement but rather nostalgic works of art and a marvel of technology when they first came out.

The Ford Museum has a large and very eclectic collection of cars.  I loved the extremely rare 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale with an elephant hood ornament.  It had twice the horsepower of a Rolls Royce.  One of only six Royales built by Bugatti, this one was originally purchased by a German physician in 1932 and has a long-documented history before it ended up in the museum.  The 1951 Beatty Belly Tank Lakester hotrod was billed as “The World’s Fastest Fuel Tank”, using a disposable external fuel tank from a WWII fighter plane as its car body.  For over 25 years, the 1965 Goldenrod held a land speed record for wheel-drive vehicles after streaking across Utah flatlands at 409.277mph.  It is 32 feet long with a wheel base of 17.25 feet and is not meant to make any turns.  The vehicle contains four massive Chrysler engines in its long, slim shaped body, which also minimized wind resistance.  The 1980 “Comuta-Car” was a tiny electric car designed for traveling limited distances within a city.  Demand for this vehicle would rise and fall with constantly fluctuating gas and fuel prices, so it never became very popular.

The 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was representative of the type of luxury cars that people wanted in the prosperous 1950s when gas was cheap, and the future looked bright.   This 4-speed automotive car is almost 19-feet long, weighed over 2 tons, has a V8 engine, massive tail fins and cost $7400 at the time, which was 1.5 times the average person’s wage.  In a special interactive display, we were allowed to climb into and sit in a 4-cylinder 1917 Overland Touring Automobile, giving us the chance to inspect the seats, steering wheel and dashboard up close. The most unique vehicle in the collection had to be the 1952 version of the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, which was used both as transportation and promotion of the company and its products.  Newer versions of these vehicles continue to be used today as marketing tools for Oscar Meyer.  The museum has a collection of model car prototypes including concept cars such as a green 1952 Lincoln Futura model that became the inspiration for the Batmobile in 1960s Batman TV series with Adam West. A 1987 model named Mazda RX-44 includes four bubbles on the roof that are a visual reference to the four engine rotors for this vehicle.

An interesting subset of the museum’s car collection is a set of Presidential Limousines, which illustrated an ongoing battle between presidents wanting to be seen while in their vehicles, and their secret service wanting to protect them.  Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1939 Lincoln Sunshine Special was the first car built specifically for presidential use and was customized with back doors hinged at the rear to facilitate getting the paralyzed president in and out of the car.  There were extra wide platforms with chrome handles at the rear corners to accommodate Secret Service agents, a special compartment in the front seat for firearms, bullet-proof glass and tires and steel armor plating for extra security during WWII.  Dwight Eisenhower’s 1950 Lincoln Convertible had a distinctive removable plexiglass bubble top so that the president could be seen, even in inclement weather.  There was also a folding bug shield to protect the president’s face when he was standing during parades.  John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Lincoln Continental (known as the X-100) is the vehicle which he was riding in with the roof open when he was assassinated in 1963.  Following the tragedy, the car was rebuilt with a permanent roof, bullet-proof glass and tires, an armored steel body and a gas tank filled with foam to prevent explosions.  Further presidents used the modified version of the car until 1977.  Ronald Reagan ‘s 1972 Lincoln (originally used by Nixon) has a sunroof panel that opens to allow two people to stand up and wave to the crowds while most of their bodies were still protected within the vehicle.  In addition to all standard bulletproof glass and tires, armoured body, and platforms for the secret service, the vehicle has PA system for the president to speak within the car and fluorescent lights so that the occupants can be seen through the windows.

There is some beautiful ceramics and pottery on display including both vintage ones from the 1930s-50s and contemporary works from the past few decades.  The “Lorelei vase” (cira 1930-50) by Van Briggle Pottery Co. in Colorado looks like an open-mouth fish from far away but up close, you can see the figure of a woman with flowing hair.  I liked several vases from the Roseville Pottery Company from Ohio (1945-50) including two with floral designs and one with a tree motif.  As expected, there were examples of Detroit’s own Pewabic Pottery including a classic design from around 1903-1907.  Newer pieces included a 1991 orange/gold glazed teapot from Adiran Saxe of California that looks a bit the Genie lamp from Aladdin, and a “New Vision Vessel Cup” (1997) by Les Lawrence that has black and white images printed on it including one of the Mona Lisa.  From far away, the work seems like it is covered with newsprint.

The collection of glass art is equally beautiful and much larger since it encompasses an entire room in the Davidson-Gerson Modern Glass Gallery as opposed to just a few display cases for the ceramics.  This gallery focuses on the studio glass movement that started in the 1960s and highlights the evolution of glass as a medium for fine art.  There is a larger gallery in Greenfield Village which follows the history of American glassmaking from the 18th Century to the present.  We did not include Greenfield Village in our visit as we did not have enough time, but really enjoyed the beautiful pieces in this gallery which ranged widely in colour, texture, design, technique and subject matter.

I really liked the work of Emily Brock who makes sculptures out of glass. Her “All Night Takeout” (1999) depicts an old-styled Deli in such detail that there are tiny glass sausages hanging on the back wall, the breads, cheeses, meats and wines in the display cases, and the décor of red table and bar stools with a checkered black and white floor.  Another of Brock’s pieces called “Intimate Encounter” (2007) depicts a girl on a bridge peering down on a pond that contains large pink water lilies.  I also liked Paul Stankard’s glass designs that included flowers, inspects, fruits, plants and even humanoid figurines into his paperweights.

An exhibit called “Miniature Moments: A Journey Through Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments” consists of a room full of almost 7000 Hallmark ornaments made between 1973 to 2009.  There are ornaments for traditional holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween, as well as specialty sets for TV shows, movies, comic characters, sports figures, cars, houses and more.

The “Fully Furnished” exhibit is a collection of furniture that is both unique and historic.  The Vanderbilt Rocking Chair (1865-1875) owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt (once one of the richest men in the world) is made from intricately entwined tree roots and branches.  The “Tete-a-Tete” Settee (1895-1915) was created during a time when rules of propriety dictated that young people of the opposite sex be physically separated when seated.  This ingenious design allowed them to be close enough for private conversations without breaking social decorum. Philco’s Predicta Television Receiver (1958-60) was marketed as the first swivel TV screen, featuring a futuristic green-hued picture tube that was separate from the rest of the cabinet.  Unfortunately, this was a black and white TV set and the trend was to move to colour TVs, so the production run was just 3 years. A wooden Sheet Music or Print stand (1865-75) was painted black to simulate ebony, then overlaid with bright colours and pictorial marquetry to emulate Italian Renaissance designs. The Exploded Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (2006) turns the iconic furniture into a sculptural art piece by separating and suspending each component so that you can see the complex way that the plywood, rosewood shell, plush leather upholstery and aluminum frame come together to form the iconic chair.

A permanent exhibit called “Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond” tries to make math accessible through interactive displays and visual mathematical models.  A Probability Board (1960), designed by Charles and Ray Eames (designers of the Eames chair) with funding from IBM, drops balls down a vertical board lined with horizontal rows of pegs, to show the central limit theorem that eventually a bell curve will be formed. A “Minimum Length” demonstration dips hollow metal shapes into soap suds, using the soap films to form minimal surfaces.  A Multiplication Cube shows how multiplication works in 3-D. A Stretched String exhibit shows that surfaces, even curved ones, can be formed using straight lines.

A section called “With Liberty and Justice For All” contains some important historic artifacts that had major impact on America’s past.  We were able to board the infamous bus where Rosa Parks made her stand for equality by refusing to give up her seat towards the front of the vehicle.  In the same vein, we also saw a “coloured only” water fountain and segregated restrooms.  Another highlight in this collection was the rocking chair from the Ford’s Theatre in Washington that President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated in 1865.  Other exhibits in this area included artifacts from the Womens’ Suffrage period.

For us, the highlight of the museum was the Dymaxion House, an innovative architectural concept developed by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller in the late 1920s.  His futuristic-looking prefab homes were meant to be mass-produced, easily shipped and assembled in the desired location.  Each house consisted of a modular circular-shaped structure made from aluminum alloys and other lightweight metals with plastic, plexiglass windows around the circumference and synthetic rubber for the flooring.  The structure was around 36 feet in diameter, providing 1017 square feet of living space and had a central stainless-steel beam supporting it.  The roof and floor were suspended by cables. The design incorporated energy efficiency from the dome effect, a rainwater collection system, power generation and efficient water use.  Fuller coined the name Dymaxion as a portmanteau of the words “dynamic”, “maximum” and “tension”.  The homes did not come furnished but were meant to hold modular furniture that could be easily rearranged to fit residents’ needs.

Fuller made two protypes but never mass-produced the structures because of engineering challenges and lack of funding after investors deemed the endeavour as too risky.  Fuller’s employee William Graham bought the two prototypes and used parts from them to create his own Dymaxion-based home which he used as an extension of his ranch house.  He and his family occupied their Dymaxion house between 1948-1970.  In 1990, the Graham family donated their Dymaxion House to the Ford Museum. After extensive restoration, the house opened for tours in 2001. The furniture on display was added as part of the restoration process and aimed to reflect the original designs based on available documentation and photos of the prototype.  There aren’t fixed rooms in the circular structure, but moveable walls and the layout of the furniture implicitly delineates the various spaces.  Walking around the prototype, we found a living area with a sofa, coffee table and fireplace, a dining table and chairs and buffet, a bed and nightstand, built-in shelves and revolving hangers in closets, a bathroom that included a septic system and a kitchen with appliances including an electric refrigerator, deep-freeze storage unit, stove/range and sink.  It was quite the unique experience to walk through what almost looked like a spaceship from afar. While the Dymaxion did not endure, the concept of “prefab”, modular homes did.

I usually don't particularly like museums that are not focused on art, especially those filled with antiquities and chards of broken glass or pottery.  But I really enjoyed the wide variety of interesting objects that filled this museum, and all the fascinating stories behind them.