Natura Obscura

If you've been following along for a while you'll know that I'm a big fan of interactive and immersive art exhibitions. The kids and I visited quite a few of these sorts of interactive exhibitions and pop ups while living in the Bay Area, and we always thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Art is always more fun when you can be a part of it, right? So when I came across Natura Obscura, an immersive art exhibition in Denver, I knew we had to go check it out.

Natura Obscura, on display at the Museum of Outdoor Arts, is a self guided experience where visitors will find themselves immersed in six rooms of art, all with a link to nature. When you step through the doors, you're taken to a dream world, where forest spirits light up under black light, messages on the floor and walls lead the way, fairy tales comes to life, and soft music creates a calm atmosphere.

Macy's Flower Show 2019

The heavy rains this Winter and Spring have brought a mass of blooms to California this year. But the desert isn't the only place experiencing a blast of color. Macy's right here in San Francisco is in full bloom at the moment thanks to the annual Spring Flower Show.

This week the kids and I headed into the city to check out this year's displays. Macy's annual Spring Flower Show is always one of my favorite events of the year and despite a little construction work going on in the store, the displays were as beautiful as ever.

Every year the Flower Show features a different theme. In past years we've seen woodland fairytale, hidden urban garden, carnival, fine art, and Americana themed displays. This year's Flower Show, "Journey to Paradisios" features a space theme with astronauts, aliens and rocket ships throughout the store.

This year's display is a little smaller than previous years due to construction work in the accessories department, but there is still plenty to see with the main displays located in the cosmetics and fragrances departments, as well as smaller displays on other floors.

Here's a look at this years Flower Show...

Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline at Oakland Museum of CA

A few weeks back the kids and I visited Oakland Museum of California to check out their latest exhibition, Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline. 

If you've got kids that love prehistoric creatures, vivid artwork with fun hidden surprises, and hands on fossil fun, then this is the exhibition for you. 

Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective

Last Sunday Mathilde and I headed to the de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to check out the current exhibition, Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective.

Keith Haring: The Political Line

It's been pretty colorful here on Little Hiccups lately and today's post is no exception.

A few weekends back I visited the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to see The Political Line, an exhibition of Keith Haring's work.

Keith Haring (1958 - 1990) rose to fame in 1980s New York with his bold urban street culture and graffiti style artwork. Haring's work was often political in nature, touching on issues that concerned the artist including nuclear proliferation, racial inequality, the excesses of capitalism, environmental degradation, and AIDS awareness. 

During his brief but intense career Haring's work was displayed in more than 100 group and solo exhibitions. He also devoted much of his time to creating public artworks in dozens of cities worldwide, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, day care centers and orphanages. Haring's life was cut short when he succumbed to an AIDS related illness at the young age of thirty one in 1990. Despite such a relatively short career, Haring's work has left a lasting impression on a generation of artists and the public.

The Political Line showcases more than one hundred and thirty artworks including large scale paintings on canvases and tarpaulins, sculptures and subway drawings. Several pieces have not been published or on public view since Haring's death in 1990.

Let's take a look at some of the exhibition...

Washed Ashore at San Francisco Zoo

Recently we visited an amazing exhibition at San Francisco Zoo called Washed Away.

Created for the The Artula Institute for Arts & Environmental Education under the leadership of Angela Haseltine Pozzi, Washed Away features sculptures of sea creatures made from debris and plastic pollution collected from Pacific beaches. Over the last three years community members have collected over 11 tonnes of debris from Pacific beaches to create more than thirty sculptures. These sculptures form a travelling exhibit and education programs that tours the country to highlight the impact that marine pollution has on wildlife.

Visitors to the exhibition are greeted at the entry of the exhibition by a sculpture of a sea lion pup.

Tara Donovan: Untitled

Toothpicks, buttons, pencils, drinking straws, pins, broken glass... Sounds like a list of the random stuff I find in the bottom of the stroller - or my handbag. But for artist Tara Donovan this is a list of art supplies. Through Tara's imagination and skillful hands these every day items become amazing works of art.

We recently visited Pace Gallery in Menlo Park which currently houses the exhibition Tara Donovan: Untitled, a collection of the artist's work from 2000 to present.

SFMOMA On the Go at Crissy Field

Over the weekend we headed into the city to check out a few places we've been meaning to visit. Our first destination was the San Francisco Cable Car Museum (which I'll write about in another post soon) and our second destination was Crissy Field down by the Golden Gate Bridge.

We've visited Crissy Field quite a few times in the past though I don't think I've ever written about it on Little Hiccups. While Crissy Field is a great park with spectacular views over the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge, and therefore a popular tourist destination in its own right the reason for our visit this weekend was specifically to check out an outdoor art exhibition. Back in June last year SF Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) closed its doors due to extensive building renovations set to be completed in 2016. While the museum is closed SFMOMA will continue to hold exhibitions around the Bay Area as part of their SFMOMA On the Go program.

The expansive grassy park that is Crissy Field is currently home to one such exhibition featuring eight large sculptures by artist Mark di Suvero. The monumental sculptures date from 1967 through to 2012 and have been brought to San Francisco from all across the country. The Golden Gate Bridge, which has clearly been an inspiration throughout the artist's career makes the perfect back drop to this exhibition.

Tim Burton: The Exhibition

My last post about The Art of the Brick exhibition has reminded me about another wonderful exhibition that we went to last year at Federation Square.

Last June we stopped by Melbourne for a day on our way to the snowfields. Our trip happened to coincide with one of the most popular exhibitions ever held at Federation Square; Tim Burton: The Exhibition.

Ava and I outside ACMI, Federation Square

Kim and I are both big fans of Tim Burton's movies so we were pretty excited to see his artworks in real life. We were amazed at the sheer number of works on display. Every time we thought we'd come to the end of the exhibition we'd turn a corner and a new wing of the gallery would open up in front of us full of drawings, paintings, sculptures and movie paraphernalia.

Assorted Artworks

As well as  artworks the exhibition included a large range of props and costumes from movies such as Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland... pretty much anything you've seen Johnny Depp in! Ava was pretty intrigued by the Edward Scissorhands costume on display. I had thought that she may be scared by the long shears but this was one particular item that she kept going back to see.

Original models used for the animated movies Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride were also on display and a delight to see. These were another item that Ava loved and on returning home from our trip she watched these two movies repeatedly for the next few weeks.

Models from Nightmare Before Christmas

I think that Ava's favourite part of the exhibition was a dark tunnel with walls painted black featuring paintings that glow in the dark. Towards the end of this tunnel was a round chamber featuring a glow-in-the-dark carousel. I was so sure that the monsters featured in this part of the exhibition, along with the darkness, would have scared Ava but the bright colours seemed to trump the darkness and subject matter and she did not want to leave!

Monsters glow along the walls of the dark tunnel

Glowing carousel

Ava was also pretty excited to discover a room full of paper, crayons and pencils where she could create her own masterpiece to hang on a wall full of fan art. Here she is with her drawing of dinosaurs.

Ava with her masterpiece

What a wonderful exhibition this was. If only it was still on now I'd recommend that you all go out and get yourselves tickets!

Here are a few more shots of us outside the exhibition.

Aarrghh!

It's going to get us!

Ava and Kim at the entrance to the exhibition

Ava at the entrance to the exhibition

Ava and I in Federation Square after the exhibition.
Lola's there too, tucked away in that big belly!

Please note that as photography was not allowed inside the exhibition I have borrowed exhibition photos from zimbio.com to use above. You can view the rest of the Zimbio album here.

The Art of the Brick

A few week's back Ava, Lola and I travelled to Melbourne to visit the USA consulate to attend our visa interview. Due to an early morning interview time and the available flight times we had to arrive in Melbourne the day before our interview. I decided to make a trip of it and show the girls a little bit of Melbourne before we head off to the USA.

Being the cultural and artistic heart of Australia, Melbourne always seems to have at least one or two wonderful exhibitions on the go at any given time. This time was no exception with Federation Square playing host to New York artist Nathan Sawaya's The Art of the Brick.

Now, an art exhibition may not sound like the most exciting place to visit for a four year old until you realise the medium chosen by Nathan Sawaya for his work: LEGO!