It’s one of my favorite places, so on my recent trip to California (my first since the start of Covid in 2020) of course I had to revisit the beautiful Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades. Here are a few random images of art that impressed me inside the building — something different, since I usually focus on the gardens and beautiful views.
An archer made of glazed brick from the reign of Darius I, 522-486 BC. He was one of many decorating the walls of the palace at Susa in Iran. Beautiful colors!
Persian Guard from Persepolis in Iran. 486-465 BC
Awesome and dramatic marble sculpture of Mithras standing on the back of a bull and sacrificing it with a dagger. This Roman sculpture dates from AD 150-200.Great view of the Outer Peristyle Garden and pool from second floor balcony. It was HOT the day I was there, 95 degrees by noon, and I really wanted to sit in that pool for a while.
The Getty Villa is smaller and more serene than the big Getty Center museum in Los Angeles. Here’s a link to their website for info about visiting. If you’re in the area it’s worth a visit!
I’m back from a trip to Los Angeles, tired but without coronavirus I hope (crosses fingers for luck). While there I was lucky enough to go on a DTLA Walking Tour of some of the murals in the LA Arts District. Here are just a few samples I really enjoyed!
Actually, this one is from Santa Monica! It’s by Ruben Rojas and Cloe Hakakian.
Not very many words in this post — just pictures of awesome street murals in Portland, Oregon’s Alberta Arts District. We visited there last week and were fortunate enough to escape the rain. I’m going to attempt to credit the artists correctly if I can find the info online. There’s a lot more street art in Portland if you ever visit, and even a map online through Portland Street Art Alliance. Enjoy!
Mural by Pablo Gonzalez
“Six Strong”, by Michelle McCausey, Darci Johnson, Una Kim, Corie Hinton, Heidi Elise Wirz, Lucid Rose
Here are just a few images from the Cincinnati Art Museum yesterday. The exhibit is called No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man. It’s spread out through galleries in different sections of the museum, so it’s interspersed with the regular collection. I thought this turned out really well.
My favorite was an installation called “Gamelatron Bidadari” by Aaron Taylor Kuffner. I couldn’t do it justice with a photo, since the sound is an essential part of the experience. It’s a peaceful, lovely piece — if you go, be sure to find this one!
One part of “Deep Thought” by HYBYCOZO
One part of “Deep Thought” by HYBYCOZO
Thorax, Ambassador of the Insects by Tyler FuQua (Awesome tights, by the way, Thorax!)
Here are a few images from my recent trip to Basel, Switzerland. Basel is located on the Rhine and has a beautiful Old Town and Basel Minster, a Catholic Cathedral (now a Protestant Church) that was built between 1020 and 1500.
Georgsturm and Martinsturm, the two towers of Basel Minster.
St George and the dragon on the facade of Basel Minster
Basel Minster courtyard
Rathaus Basel, or the Basel Town Hall, in the Marketplatz (with bonus Piadina Stand!)
Guy with an attitude, Old Town Basel
Basel’s heraldic animal, the basilisk. To be seen in several places around the city.
I love art museums. In the Los Angeles area, I’ve been to the Getty Center and the beautiful Getty Villa, the Norton Simon Museum, the Huntington Library Art Collection, the Bergamot Station arts complex and more. This time I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). We only made it through a small section of the museum, but I found some personal favorites.
Of course everyone who visits takes pictures of “Urban Light” by Chris Burden. Here are some of the 202 street lights that make up the installation. They turn on at dusk, but they’re still wonderful during the day.
Here is a beautiful Archangel Raphael from 17th century Naples:
And some pop art by Idelle Weber, a fun piece called “Jump Rope”.
More pop art, a fun wooden sculpture by Joel Shapiro called “Dancing Man”. I also like “A Lawn Being Sprinkled” by David Hockney behind the dancing man.
My sister particularly liked this one. It’s called “Balloon Monkey (Orange)” by Jeff Koons, and it’s located outside the Ahmanson Building at LACMA. It sits in a reflecting pool, apparently at least partly to keep people from touching it. (I’ve linked an article below about the reflecting pool.)
Here’s a little more info about some of the pieces and artists above:
Fellows Riverside Gardens in Youngstown, Ohio is part of the sprawling Mill Creek Park. Elizabeth Fellows donated the land and money for a free public garden which was first planted in 1963. I stopped by the other day (after four hours in the car 😩) and enjoyed the beauty and tranquility of a garden in spring.
The Silver Bridge (also known as the Cinderella Bridge) is in Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, Ohio. Built in 1895, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It looks as if it belongs in Narnia.
The Dingle Peninsula is in County Kerry. It’s the farthest west you can go in Ireland. It’s a place of steep cliffs dropping into the sea, sandy beaches, and green pastures dotted with a lot of sheep. There are archaeological ruins, including ogham stones and Dunbeg Fort, an Iron Age promontory fort built right above the sea. We were blessed with warm weather and sun our first day, then rain and a blast of wind the following morning.
One of many views from the Slea Head Drive on the Dingle Peninsula. July 2017.
The Slea Head Drive is a circular route around the edge — in some places the very edge — of the peninsula. It’s traveled in a one-way manner in a clockwise direction, because the roads in some places are narrow enough they won’t fit two cars. If you do encounter someone going the opposite way, one of the vehicles must back up until there’s a wide spot. This happened twice while we were there, once while we were a few feet away from a low stone wall on the edge of the cliff. That was unnerving. I’m glad I wasn’t the driver!
There were a few bicyclists as well, on what must be an extremely demanding ride.
A seagull at Slea Head.
Inch Beach. It has a surf school — see image below.
Dingle Town itself (An Daingean) — permanent population about 2,000 — is crowded with tourists in the summer. It’s got a harbor with a permanent dolphin resident named Fungie. We didn’t take a boat trip to see Fungie, but his statue is in the town center, so we feel we know what he looks like. Fungie was first seen in the harbor in 1983, and is known for being friendly to humans. Is it still the original Fungie? Here’s a link to a story in the Independent on that subject.
Part of Dingle harbor, July 2017.
Dingle Town itself is the base for tourists wanting to explore the region. In spite of being a Gaeltacht, a place where Irish is the official language, English is commonly spoken in town. The Gaeltacht was created to preserve the Irish language. I’m told schoolchildren from around Ireland spend time here in the summers, learning their native tongue. It seems the use of Irish is declining, though. Here’s a link to a 2008 article discussing the challenges of trying to preserve the language.
Paudie’s Bar, Dingle.
Murphy’s Pub, Dingle.
In July, Dingle was full of flowers. Fuchsia, in particular, bloomed everywhere.
And below, a last look at the green hills of Ireland. The sheep had mostly been shorn when we were in Dingle. Many were marked with blazes of color — bright reds, blues, greens — so the owners could distinguish their own sheep when it was time to retrieve them again from common fields on the mountainsides.
The green mountainside pastures of the Dingle Peninsula.
Author Anne Marie Lutz 