For the Fun of the Thing - Sun., Sept. 4, 2016

Our staycation continued today with the luxury of sleeping in late. Our first destination today was McNay Art Museum. One of their special exhibits here until September 11 is Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008.

Ever since the exhibit opened on May 11, I have wanted to see it but as we know life sometimes gets in the way. This weekend is a perfect time to get to the museum for the exhibit.

The McNay's website describes this exhibit below:

"Coney Island: Visions of the American Dreamland, 1861–2008 celebrates the most iconic, uniquely American amusement park in the United States. Also called, “the People’s Playground,” Coney Island is a national cultural symbol that has inspired artists, musicians, novelists, poets, and filmmakers. From Coney Island’s beginning as a watering hole for the wealthy, through its transformation into an entertainment mecca for the masses, to the closing of Astroland Amusement Park following decades of urban decline, the exhibition explores 150 years of the lure of Coney Island. The modern American mass-culture industry was born at Coney Island, and the constant novelty of the resort made it a seductively liberating subject for artists. Taken together, these tableaux of wonder and menace, hope and despair, dreams and nightmares, become metaphors for the collective soul of a nation.

"Coney Island is organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, and the McNay is the exhibition’s only Southwest venue. The exhibition features more than 140 objects—paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, documentary and popular film clips, posters, side show banners, architectural artifacts, memorabilia, and carousel animals. From early depictions of Coney Island by Impressionists William Merritt Chase and John Henry Twachtman to modern and contemporary images by Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Red Grooms, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, Joseph Stella, Swoon, George Tooker, and Weegee, Coney Island investigates America’s playground as a place and an idea."

No photography allowed in the Coney Island exhibit...
this is as good as it gets for a photo.

This is a particularly fascinating exhibit to me because it incorporates not only the art and advertising over 150 years, but it delves into human subjects as well. For example, sideshows exploited people's disabilities and deformities, showcasing those suffering from certain diseases, charging admission, and making spectacles of them.

Another example of the psychology of Coney Island was creating thrill rides in which total strangers were thrown into others on roller coasters and Tilt-A-Whirls. Singles often met their spouses by literally bumping into them on these rides. There was an allure and adventure in going to Coney Island when it was in its heyday.

Percey's Pocket Dictionary of Coney Island is mentioned in the exhibit under the title of "For the Fun of the Thing." I looked up the quote to find its origin. Here is how it is used in the book:

"Photographs. — If you should for any reason, personal or otherwise, desire to have your picture taken at Coney Island there is a small pavilion devoted to the art near Leach's West End Hotel, and at the Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion. There are generally itinerant photographers also to be met with on the beach. The quality of the pictures taken, of course, rarely surpasses
the original, but you don't pay for flattery, but 'for the fun of the thing.'" 

Coney Island consisted of three separate amusement parks -- Luna, Steeplechase Park, and Dreamland -- as well as seaside resorts, vaudeville theaters, croquet lawns, an aquarium, piers, pavilions, bowling alleys and restaurants. The first carousel was built at Coney Island in 1876 by a Danish woodcarver.

One of the movies on display in the exhibit was from 1905 and showed the park at night lit by Thomas Edison's light bulbs. All the buildings were outlined in lights. It was very pretty.

A huge, seven-story building in the shape of an elephant was visible to people arriving on Coney Island. Known as the Elephantine Colossus, this building housed a hotel. People the world over traveled to Coney Island to partake in the amusements.

The amusement parks suffered a decline during the depression. During part of that period, Coney Island was used to train troops when the U.S. went to war, and the sound of soldiers marching took over the boardwalks. In WWII there was a resurgence in the need for amusement parks and once again the parks gained in popularity.

Another impressive portrait of Coney Island in art and photographs was the sheer number of people on the beaches. The crowds were body to body. I couldn't figure out how anyone could get from their towels to the water, or how they ever found their way back to their belongings!

From the Coney Island exhibit, we toured the rest of the McNay and spent some time on the grounds of the museum which are worth investigating.

"Man on Fire," by Luis Jimenez, Jr.,  cast bronze

The installation below is a continually changing video of wildflowers revolving and moving. It was beautifully mesmerizing.

"We Came from the Stars," by Jose Alvarez

Inner courtyard

Tile art of Don Quixote

"Guernesey," by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1882

A new exhibit since the last time we visited was the art of toy theaters. These toy theaters had elaborate moving parts, lighting, and an array of set drops and cut-out characters. The toy theater below was made by Ruloff Kip, a wealthy New Yorker, for his daughter Elizabeth. What was special about this toy theater was his attention to detail and his use of his own family for inspiration.

Kip's Toy Theater

 Below is another toy theater created by Everett Shinn.

Everett Shinn's Toy Theater

The McNay Art Museum not only has an interesting and eclectic collection of art, the museum itself is a work of art. The building is a 24-room, Spanish Colonial-Revival house and has gorgeous lines and a beautiful inner courtyard. In 2008, 45,000 square feet was added to create gallery space for major exhibitions, classrooms and an outdoor sculpture garden.

Bob on the second floor of the McNay

Lovely lines of the second floor landing

"Stream of the Black Pond," by Gustave Courbet

We then wandered outside to see the grounds.

Nice walkway

Bob by the fountains

Me with a big tree

Us in front of the McNay Spanish Colonial-Revival mansion

Bob with his new girlfriend.

We had worked up an appetite and headed to Broadway where we have been working our way through the many restaurants along that street. Broadway 50/50 was recommended to me by my hairdresser so we gave it a try. 

Our lunch stop

Interior of Broadway 50/50

Art on the walls

Bob's salad and my burger and sweet potato fries

That was a good plate of food!

With that part of our day complete, we headed home to rest before we headed out to the San Antonio Missions baseball game. Oh, just before we got home, we took the Escape Pod to the car wash, it was a mess! At least we got it clean.

The ball game was supposed to start at 6:00 p.m. We arrived at the ball park a little after 6:30 p.m. only to find this...

Rain delay

Everyone waiting under cover until the rain passes.

A definite "hurry-up-and-wait" scenario.

The game had a couple of false starts. The crew started taking the tarp off the field, but ended up putting it back on three different times. It was fun to watch the process...not something we usually get to see.

Removing the protective tarp

Removing the tarp in a different direction.

Putting the tarp back on.

They finally removed the tarp for good about 7:15 p.m. and the game was played at 7:40 p.m. We stayed until the top of the 9th inning. The Missions were down by one run to the Corpus Christi Hooks. I'm not sure who ended up winning.

We had another wonderful day on our Staycation. When we returned home, I wrote a blog. Then I noticed Six Flags Fiesta Texas was having a 70% off sale on their 2017 Season Pass! OMG, that's amazing. The sale is only good until midnight, Sept. 5. The Season Pass includes admission to the park for the rest of 2016 until the end of 2017, parking, admission to special events and, from time to time, we get to bring a friend to the park for free! I signed us up and for good measure added the Dining Package. Any time we go to the park, and we can go as much as we want, the Dining Package gets us lunch, dinner and a snack. We couldn't pass that up. My friend, Susan, bought tickets for her and her hubby, Darren too. Score!

Thank you, Bob, for such a wonderful weekend. And we still have a day to go. Yee ha!

Culture in All Its Forms - Mon., Dec. 1, 2014

I can't believe I haven't written since my birthday 1-1/2 weeks ago. Time flies when you're having fun and enjoying some culture too.

After working all day Friday the 21st, Bob and I went rock 'n' roll dancing with friends. Usually we like classic rock, but the band we went to see played mostly heavy metal. We danced anyway. Couldn't stay too late because I had to work 10 hours on Saturday.

Saturday night we went to our RV park's Ice Cream Social. For $1 we had two scoops of ice cream with toppings. The RV park celebrated the birthdays of all those born from May to November. (We have to make up for the May to October birthdays in November because that's when the Winter Texans/snowbirds return for the season.)

Thankfully, I took my umbrella to the Ice Cream Social. When we left, there was a massive thunder and lightning storm. Bob and I shared the umbrella in the pouring rain (oh, how romantic!), and made it back to our 5th wheel before the water came up. In one hour, the water was up to the bottom step of our 5th wheel. (We are in a low spot in the park; a few sites flood.)

By Sunday morning the water had receded. Bob went out to run a half-marathon as part of his marathon training. Susan and I did a Volksmarch from Mission San Jose to Mission San Juan. The day was absolutely gorgeous.

Mission San Jose Visitor Center - our start point

Most of our walk was on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River. We passed Espada Dam and the site of a town which is no longer there. At Mission San Juan, we walked the grounds, toured the museum, did the nature walk behind the museum and looked in the chapel.

Mission San Juan entrance

Mission San Juan

The chapel

Interior of the chapel at Mission San Juan

Inside the museum at Mission San Juan

Mission San Juan diorama

Beautiful weaving

The Royal Road of Texas

Community Goods

River of Life

When we finished at Mission San Juan, we retraced our path to Mission San Jose.

After our walk, we wanted to see "The Theory of Everything." Bob was finished with his half marathon and wanted to go with us. We went back to the RV park, picked some tangerines for Susan to take to Darren, and picked up Bob. We drove to Santikos Bijou Theater for the movie. The Bijou Theater serves food so we all ordered lunch to eat while we watched the film.

"The Theory of Everything" is the story of Stephen Hawking, a famed theoretical physicist; his first wife Jane, and his battle with Lou Gehrig's disease (motor neuron disease/ amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS]). When he was diagnosed with the disease at age 21, he was not expected to live past 25. He is now 72 years old.

The movie shows the progression of the disease and its effect on Stephen's body. However, the disease does not affect his mind. Stephen goes on to theorize about black holes and time and writes "A Brief History of Time." He becomes a professor at Cambridge University. All of us enjoyed the movie. Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking was excellent.
We thought the musical soundtrack drowned out some of the conversation. We all agreed we need to watch it again with subtitles so we could catch everything that was said.

Sunday afternoon, Bob and I drove to Universal City for dinner with Jim and Peri at Cheddar's Restaurant. We hadn't seen them for quite some time, so we had to catch up on everything. Peri learned how to make soap at one of the places they stayed. She brought us eight bars of homemade soap.

Monday and Tuesday, I worked at an insurance agency for Snelling Temp Services and Wednesday, I worked my ten-hour shift at Travelers World RV Resort.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Susan and Darren's home.

Susan and Darren in the kitchen

Darren carving the turkey

Beautifully set Thanksgiving table

Everything is ready.

There were nine of us at dinner.

Susan M., Susan A., Bob A., Shawn, Sharif, Coral, Travis, Kyle

Susan M., Susan A., Bob A., Shawn, Sharif, Coral, Travis, Kyle

We feasted on turkey, stuffing, cheesy baked potatoes, gravy, mashed yams, praline sweet potato casserole, tossed salad, green beans, pumpkin bread, cranberry relish, pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin/pecan pie. So good!

Thanksgiving feast

Bob enjoying dessert while watching sports.

Friday and Saturday, I worked two more ten-hour days at the RV park. Friday night we had movie night at the RV park. I'm in charge of Movie Night. This month's selection was "The Impossible" about the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia. The movie follows one family's harrowing experience. It's a true story. I am amazed by the special effects that make you feel like you're right there with them through the whole ordeal.

After work Saturday, we went to see "The Great American Trailer Park" live musical at The Cameo Theater. It was fun, although it was hard to hear all the lines and song lyrics.

The trailer park set

Great American Trailer Park Musical

Audience interaction

The finale

Finally Sunday arrived and I had a day off. I made pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon applesauce and fried eggs for breakfast.

I really wanted to go to McNay Art Museum for their Intimate Impressionism exhibition, the most extensive exhibition of French impressionist and post-impressionist paintings to come to San Antonio. Nearly 70 landscapes, portraits, interiors and still-lifes demonstrate similar aesthetic goals shared by avant-garde painters of the era. We saw Jongkind, Boudin, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Pissarro, Picasso, Sisley, Fantin-Latour, Gaugin and Vuillard. The impressionists enjoyed painting en plein air (outdoors).

In the lobby of the museum, is a beautiful wall of birds. Look closely. The birds are made from vinyl record albums.

"Burst"

Part of Paul Villinski's "Burst" in the museum lobby

"The Towpath" by Johan Barthold Jongkind

Renoir's "Woman with a Cat"

"Flower Beds in Holland" by Vincent van Gogh

In addition to the impressionist exhibition, we were there when a Belle Voix Concert was being held by Copperleaf. This quintet of a capella singers entertained many museum visitors for an hour. Their beautiful voices carried throughout the impressionism exhibit and down the stairs to the sculpture exhibit.

Copperleaf quintet

The regular McNay exhibits include modern French art, Medieval and Renaissance art, 19th and 20th century art, Southwest art, art after 1945, prints and drawings, theatre arts, and outdoor sculpture. I especially enjoyed one of Chagall's paintings, "Dream Village." If you enlarge the photo and look closely at the blue background, you can see neighbors talking over a fence, a cow playing a stringed instrument, the Russian village where Chagall was born, and lovers embracing.

Chagall's "Dream Village"

Henri Rousseau's "Landscape with Milkmaids"

Needless to say, I could go on and on about the beautiful art we saw today, but I also want to show you a little of the museum itself. It used to be the estate of the McNays. The building is its own work of art!

Beautiful tile art on an interior wall

Looking out to the courtyard

Main entry

Interior courtyard

Tilework art

Window seat on the second floor

Bob on the staircase

One of a pair of Puma sculptures

Staircase to library

Front entry of the home

One side of the home

Just one more photo. After spending four hours at the museum, we were ready for dinner. "The Big Bib" BBQ restaurant wasn't too far away and we love it. I had a turkey leg with sweet potato casserole. Bob ordered turkey breast with sweet potato casserole and potato salad. We heard how good their desserts were, so we ordered banana pudding and peach cobbler. Don't fret, we only ate half of the desserts and brought the rest home. I only ate half of my turkey leg and brought the rest of that home as well.

Eating dinner at "The Big Bib."

Whew. Finally caught up with 1-1/2 weeks' worth of activities.

All kinds of culture:

• Rock 'n' roll dancing
• Movie night: "The Impossible"
• "The Theory of Everything" at the Bijou theater
• Ice Cream Social
• Thanksgiving dinner
• Mission San Juan Museum
• A walk
• McNay Art Museum
• "The Great American Trailer Park Musical" (live theater)
• Belle Voix Concert by "Copperleaf" a cappella quintet

Travel Bug out.