Garden Variety, 2006, Oil on Panel, 5x7
So on Friday Doug and I finally decided to take a short trip with the kids. It was the last few days of spring break, the kids were home, their friends and their families had all gone off to Europe, or the Caribbean or to Mexico and so we decided to go to Corning, NY to visit the Corning Museum of Glass. Woo-hoo.
But it was fun! The kids had brought their important things, game boys, books, and drawing pads, for the 3 hour drive and so they were fairly quiet in the back, while Doug and I discussed art, galleries, painting and photography in the front. We stopped and had the absolute worst lunch ever at a crappy diner, but we all sat at the table and laughed about how even the bottled juice was bad. As we left, we all gazed longingly at the McDonald's that was next door, totally regretting the decision not to eat THEIR crappy food. We also found, as I have recently suspected, that the air conditioning in my car does not work, so the drive on Friday was pretty uncomfortable as it was a warm day. But we got to the museum and we quickly forgot about the bad lunch and hot car. If you ever have a chance to visit Corning, definitely go to the museum. The first thing we did was to sign up for the free workshops. We got into sandblasting, but they also had fusion, glass blowing and flameworking classes. While waiting for the class to start, we took the tour. There was a whole section of glass sculpture. I took some photos, but am having trouble loading them today, so perhaps I will add them later if Blogger will allow me to. The next area showed the history of glass and there was an interactive section which we all really enjoyed. The sandblasting workshop was fun. We all had to wear very attractive safety glasses while we put teddy bear and bumble bee stickers and made masking tape patterns on drinking glasses.
As usual, the highlight of any trip for the kids is a night at a hotel, and this was no exception. Swimming, a great dinner which provided the true highlight of the trip, according to the kids. Oddly, they were all beyond excited to get miniature ketchup and mayonnaise bottles with their dinner. They have even taken them to school today to show their friends. The night was topped off with movies in our rooms, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the kids and Munich for Doug and I.
Saturday, we went back to the museum for a few more hours, so that our son could take a glassblowing workshop and so we could see the rest of the exhibits and a live demonstration (which was awesome) and do some shopping in their huge gift shop. We then spent 5 million dollars in the museum's cafe for lunch and then headed home.
Great trip, everyone behaved and the drive home was uneventful. We had a nice quiet day at home on Sunday, and then (hallelujah) the bus came and whisked the kids off to school bright and early this morning.
For me, it's back into the studio today, where I must stay until I finish at least 20 paintings!
2 comments:
While you were visiting Corning Museum i was busy shipping boxes to them. Sounds like a successfull outing.
Aaron, while I was taking some photos of bottles at the museum, I thought about you and your new work with the bottles. I know, could be creepy stalker-ish, but it was really just the timing of recently seeing your painting. What were you shipping to Corning?
Shan, I know what you mean, I love that about our kids too. There was a show with cut glass up, but somehow we missed it. Glad you enjoyed your visit there too.
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