On about 5 occasions when we have got into Elaine's car the car would not start when Jim turned the key in the ignition. On each occasion Jim got out of the car, walked around it and got back in and the car started. It is probably some New Mexican rite that he has to perform. Anyway, we thought that we should check out with Elaine but she has never experienced the car not starting - maybe she automatically performs the rite before getting into the car! At any rate, the suggestion was that Jim was not engaging the clutch fully. Jim thought that was nonsense and insisted that we go to the garage to investigate the situation. The man in the garage explained to him that it was necessary to engage the clutch fully (or properly as I would say!!)
Elaine also had her difficulties with our Astra. She could not get the car into reverse. Jim maintained that she was not putting it into reverse properly by lifting the gear stick. I'm sure Elaine thought that was nonsense but discovered it was right when Geoffrey showed her. So exchanging cars is not always plain sailing as our trip to Germany had taught us!
Finally, with all problems solved, we set out, armed with raincoats, on today's adventure - not really an adventure, just a visit to museums.
First we went to the New Mexican State Capitol. I was expecting to be bored but it was a surprisingly worthwhile visit. This is the seat of Government of New Mexico. It is unique as the only round state capitol in the US. The building was designed to resemble the Zia sun symbol when viewed from above with 4 entrance wings that protrude from the main cylindrical centre. The building has 4 levels with one of them below ground. This is where the house and senate chambers are but they can be viewed from the second floor galleries. Visitors have access to the 3 upper floors. The State Capitol houses the Capitol Art collection in the areas open to the public. There is a wide range of styles, traditions and media.
The ceiling of the Rotunda
This is the New Mexico's Zia sun symbol, closely associated with the Land of Enchantment (Land of Enchantment is on all New Mexican number plates). It represents a circular sun with linear rays extending in 4 directions. To the Zia people 4 is a significant number. It is embodied in the 4 directions of the earth, the 4 seasons, the 4 times of the day and the 4 divisions of life, childhood, youth, adulthood and old age. Everything is bound together in a circle of life, without beginning, without end .
And that is just a little of the art in the State Capitol!
I was delighted because we happened on the first day of a temporary exhibition of contemporary book arts. It was fascinating and showed what talented people can do with paper. I just loved it!
Loved this!
I could have stayed much longer here but the car could have been towed!
From the Capitol we went to Museum Hill where, after a snack in the cafe there, we went into The Museum of International Folk Art expecting to spend only a short time there. We spent much longer than planned, due mainly to the exhibition entitled Multipe Visions: a Common Bond, in the Girard Wing. Alexander Girard was an architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He first began collecting folk art in the 1930s and he and his wife Susan began a lifetime of collecting objects on their honeymoon in Mexico in 1939. Objects were collected for their beauty, humour, spontaneity and enthusiasm. In 1978 the Girard family made a gift of over 100,000 objects that made up the Girard Foundation Collection to the state of New Mexico. This quintupled the size of the collection in the Museum of International Folk Art and led to the construction of a new wing to house the collection. Alexander Girard himself designed the exhibition and it took him 3 years. It is absolutely magnificent and is the largest cross-cultural folk art exhibition in the world.
The next 4 photos are scenes from the day of the dead as celebrated in Mexico - I thought Carol might like these.
This is a painting of Florence that caught Alexander Girard's eye when he was in a cafe in Florence. He eventually found the priest who had painted it from memory. This shows the great lengths he would go to to get something he liked.
This is the most fantastic one for perspective. It shows a baptism and the Church is full right along to the very back .
And he had bits of humour is a few places!
This is a Portugese depiction of the Last Supper. Notice the dog in the right hand corner!
Very irreverent indeed!
Another tableau features a cockfight in the square wbich disturbs the couple in the balcony!
And there is a very clever one set in Communist Poland.
In a much bigger town tableau there is a band playing in the left corner. In the midst is a very small Hitler , much smaller even than those depicted sitting, playing the cymbals. Great!
It is worth going to Santa Fe for this one museum and that was only a very small sample of what there is to see. Some scenes are presented as if in a house with the possibility of peeping in through the windows. Other scenes are huge like a river scene and a market scene.
And we weren't finished yet. There were other exhibitions that were very interesting and thought-provoking.
The Gallery of Conscience, an experimental space set aside where the public is invited to help shape the content and form of the exhibition through dialogue and interactive elements, has an exhibition entitled Between two worlds: Folk Artists reflect on the Immigrant Experience. Folk artists from the Americas, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe articulate the challenges, hopes and fears of those leaving their native homes to settle in a new place. They consider those left behind and those who welcome them to their new abode.
This exhibition reminded me of the installation in the museum in Sydney which was called Banana People and which looked at another aspect of immigration - the impact of immigration on the descendants of immigrants into Australia.
The final exhibition that we looked at was Pottery of the US South: A Living Tradition. There were lots of examples of trafitional stoneware and 2 very interesting videos about how pots are made. Again there was some humour in the pieces of art.
And with that face I come to the end of a very arty day!
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