(no subject)
Took Megan and Maddie to the Hirshorn museum and sculpture gardens today... I think they liked it more than they thought they would... the exhibits are oddball and interesting enough in an odd way to capture their attention. At the Hirshorn we saw various works by Rodin, who the girls weren't too impressed by (mainly because of the "butts"), and works by artist Ernst Barlach that I really liked. The ones that struck me was the "Old woman laughing", and the Russian beggarwoman; the way the old woman laughing statue was posed made me grin. She had thrown back her head for what looked like that from the belly type laughter. Other works included the bowling Tibetan monks outside in the gardens, and the wall sculpture that although abstract, looked like a knight standing guard.
In the sculpture garden, there was a house where as you moved around it shifted perspectives and a circle of marble seats that looked straight out of scenes from Lord of the Rings. There were giant metallic cubes that moved with the wind, and a large menacing spider that the brochure said represented nurturing....Riiiight. My favorite though was hidden behind some benches in a wooded area. They were child size figures (10-15) with their heads cut off, all standing at attention; made up of bronze over a burlap model, the bronze had a rough barklike texture. They represented children who the Nazi's had put on a train, and who had frozen to death. Very grim but very real. They stood at attention in the shade of the trees that surrounded them.
Walking back to the metro, we passed some people handing out things for PETA... and so the girls were curious. The woman we spoke to seemed nice, and she gave them stickers. I didn't really think anything of it until after we had walked away, the kids started reading them out loud "Meat is murder", "Leather is dead skin" (which horrified Megan once she understood what it meant), my personal fav... an adorable chick holding a sign saying "Jebus loves me too". Not kidding, not at all. Now, there were some issues with this, not the least of which is I wonder what the purpose is in handing them out?? I'm all for animal rights and preventing the inhumane treatment of animals. But some of the things handed out almost seemed to be for pure shock value, and I wonder how many people it turns off? Don't get me wrong by any means, it's a great cause, and getting kids involved at an early age is an effective way to bring about long term change. But they're not going to reach as many if parents don't allow kids to get involved in the first place.
In the sculpture garden, there was a house where as you moved around it shifted perspectives and a circle of marble seats that looked straight out of scenes from Lord of the Rings. There were giant metallic cubes that moved with the wind, and a large menacing spider that the brochure said represented nurturing....Riiiight. My favorite though was hidden behind some benches in a wooded area. They were child size figures (10-15) with their heads cut off, all standing at attention; made up of bronze over a burlap model, the bronze had a rough barklike texture. They represented children who the Nazi's had put on a train, and who had frozen to death. Very grim but very real. They stood at attention in the shade of the trees that surrounded them.
Walking back to the metro, we passed some people handing out things for PETA... and so the girls were curious. The woman we spoke to seemed nice, and she gave them stickers. I didn't really think anything of it until after we had walked away, the kids started reading them out loud "Meat is murder", "Leather is dead skin" (which horrified Megan once she understood what it meant), my personal fav... an adorable chick holding a sign saying "Jebus loves me too". Not kidding, not at all. Now, there were some issues with this, not the least of which is I wonder what the purpose is in handing them out?? I'm all for animal rights and preventing the inhumane treatment of animals. But some of the things handed out almost seemed to be for pure shock value, and I wonder how many people it turns off? Don't get me wrong by any means, it's a great cause, and getting kids involved at an early age is an effective way to bring about long term change. But they're not going to reach as many if parents don't allow kids to get involved in the first place.