Recent Museum Trips

I've been lucky enough to have two fun museum trips is as many weeks.

On 3/5, I traveled with my friend Cheryl up to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. We went to see an exhibit called Eye to Eye: European Portraits 1450-1850. The exhibit consisted entirely of a private collection of portraits, and many were from the SCA's period of study. We really enjoyed it, though we both agreed that the audio tour was, at times, too lengthy. We also poked our heads into an exhibit of Albrecht Durer prints - it turns out that the Clark has an extensive collection of them. Given that many of the prints were fairly small and our eyes were tired (and it was quite crowded), we didn't spend a lot of time. I prefer to look at his prints in a book, rather than on a wall. It's just easier. All in all, it was a fun trip - good art and good conversation with a friend that I don't get to see very often.

This past weekend I traveled down to Philadelphia with kls_eloise  and her husband to see the Secrets of the Silk Road exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. About 10 years back, I had purchased and read The Mummies of Urumchi by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, a book that discussed a group of 3000 to 4000-year old Caucausoid mummies from the Tarim Basin in what is now western China (the Uighur region). This region was part of the "Silk Road" and was a cultural melting pot for thousands of years.  About a week and a half ago, I read a Washington Post article about the Penn exhibit, which contains three of those mummies and lots of artifacts. The exhibit had already been at two other U.S. museums and was supposed to be at the Penn until June, but a misunderstanding of some sort with the Chinese government means that the mummies and artifacts will only be there for a few more weeks. Given the imminent departure of the mummies, we bought our timed entry tickets, found a nearby hotel, and went.

It was worth every penny. Being forewarned about the almost uselessly bland, approved-by-the-Chinese-government descriptions of the artifacts, we bought the audio tour which often provided more detailed information (or was at least willing to speculate about some of the items). The mummies were amazing, and the artifacts were well chosen. One of my favorites was a black hat that was found in a woman's grave. It was in the shape of typical "witch's hat" - the type you see on Halloween imagery -- and it was covered in a fine sprang net. Sprang! Once you know about it, you see it everywhere.

The mummies and the artifacts won't be there for much longer, though the museum will display photos of everything in the exhibit until June. If you have any desire to see these amazing artifacts in person, ACT NOW. You won't regret it.