Yesterday Thom and I went to New York City. With the holiday craft show season behind me and vacation upon me, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go and explore some museums. I needed some new inspiration for the New Year.
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| stair-ing at Thom - New Museum |
First stop was the New Museum (speaking of new). Highlights of our visit included jet propelling down Carsten Holler's Experience slide, watching Thom conduct psychological experiments on himself, and taking a technicolor primate nap.
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| Carsten Holler's Experience |
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| Pinocchio Nose Experiment |
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| primary primates |
Next, we headed to one of my favorite places - The Museum of Arts and Design. When we came upon its location at Columbus Circle, I nearly stopped in my tracks. Smack dab in the center of the circle were some old friends: two giant elephant statues. Let me explain. Back in mid-October, I had a strange day. It started with finding five shopping carts neatly parked in front of my house on my way to work.
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| art ala cart |
At the end of that same day, I met up with some friends at Molten Java in Bethel. We parted ways on that rainy and dark night and I headed back toward Danbury. A few blocks from the coffee shop, a huge flatbed truck slowly pulled in front of me from a side street, carrying two life-sized elephant sculptures. I drove home behind these colossal creatures in awe. From start to finish that day was both sculptural and surreal.
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| larger than life drive home |
Well lo and behold, these two behemoth buddies greeted me once again in a swirl of traffic right outside the Museum of Arts and Design. It was such a surprise because I never thought I'd ever see them again! It was fun getting up close and personal with the sculptures. On the placard, I found out the elephants were created by sculptor Peter Woytuk and that there were eighteen other whimsical sculptures of his scattered about the city. Things really came full circle at Columbus Circle.
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| Well hello again! |
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| a fruitful encounter |
The rest of our night out in the city was a whirl of activity. We explored jewelry and mid century design at the MAD, karaoke sang our hearts out until we nearly lost our voices, visited the mecca of all synthesizer shops (it was a religious experience for Thom), and ended the night sharing the perfect little pizza in Little Italy.
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| burning out my chords |
Throughout the evening, I kept having "whoa" moments whenever I thought about my reunion with the elephants. It was the perfect reminder that life is quite spectacular when you stop and take notice of the beauty around you. Sometimes it comes in unexpected forms: shopping carts, glances down staircases, bright blue orangutans. Thanks to two elephants, I will never forget this!
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| There's magic everywhere! |
Happy New Year from Twitch and Whiskers!
