The Night of the Haunted Museum

Before every Halloween over the last few years the Art and Archaeology Museum has been converted into a Haunted Museum.  Between 6:00 and 8:30, the night before Halloween, the museum is decorated with cobwebs, stickers, crepe paper and posters to inspire awe, delight and amusement in both young and older visitors. So Saturday evening I grabbed my camera and went to take photos and enjoy a scare or two. My husband decided to come along in case I was attacked by a ghoul.   (Remember to click on any picture you want to enlarge.)

The front doors were festooned to welcome museum visitors.






This young lady handed out the tickets.


 The visitors received tickets for the approximately 20 minute tour through the art gallery upstairs from the ticket lady at right. This was just for organizational purposes.  The tours were free. Tour groups had about 15 visitors each and each group had a spooky name such as Ghosts, Werewolves, Vampires, Mummies and so forth.  While the groups waited their turns to be called upstairs, children could take in the Charlie Brown movie, or go into the Cast Gallery to color pictures, get a tattoo  or admire the snakes.

Happiness is......





Click to get a good look at the snakes and snake skins.





 This pygmy rattlesnake is native to Missouri. Yikes!



Coloring is an absorbing activity
even for a lady bug.

 Up in the Art Gallery many mysterious goings-on were taking place.  The reception desk was manned by the Phantom of the Opera.










Youngsters listened to a Lady Hamilton brag about the many portraits an artist named Romney painted of her.

On our left Cassandra blamed her brother, Paris, for starting the Trojan War, and above an Egyptian spirit waited for her audience.

The little group of four on the right patiently posed for this picture as they came down the stairs from their tour.  They are my neighbors and are used to my chasing after them with my camera.

A Greek naiad with her friend  (at left) and the talking portrait from a Harry Potter movie (at right) helped direct traffic and answer questions.

  This family posed for their picture as I found them discussing the headless statue of Nike, the goddess of victory in the Cast Gallery.  I wonder if we would find the statue so striking if she wasn't headless.  Perhaps without her head we are more aware of the sweep of her wings. 

Darth Vader, with his mom and sister, thought the evening was a great success. 

On our way out the door, I spied this little pixie reading a museum brochure. Her mom assured me that she just loves to read.  Well, I guess so! 

 What a perfect evening.

Rolling Bees Wax Candles

I am not crafty or artistic.  Therefore, three years ago,I offered my services in organizing and spearheading the church bees wax candle making in order to contribute to the annual Christmas Bazaar.  Of course there was much to this project that I had not anticipated.  First, in August, I inventory the candles left over from the year before.  Then I order the sheets of candle wax.  About 200.  Once the wax arrives, I count the order to make sure we received the number and colors ordered.  I have help and advice every step of the way from friends and former organizers. Those church members who have expressed the least little interest in rolling candles are on file in my Outreach Express.  I notify them of the day and times we are rolling.  This year we have alternated weeks.  One week we roll candles on Monday mornings; one week we roll on Wednesday nights. Remember to click on any picture to enlarge it.

Cutting board with cardboard template



Sheet of wax ready to be cut





Wisk is laid on the long edge.



Press the wick into the wax as the wax is rolled.

Rune cuts the wicks off the template.

The candle rolling is simple.  First each sheet of wax is cut in half on the diagonal, in order to make the candle taper, using a cardboard template. Wicks are cut, also using a cardboard template, from a huge roll of white cord.

 One sheet of wax makes two candles.  To roll the candle lay the candle wick on the longest edge of the wax sheet.  Getting started to perhaps the hardest part of this craft.  The long edge of the wax must be pinched around the candle wick. 



Now we're rolling!



Many candles are tied together in two's with pretty ribbon.  Sets of advent candles are bundled together:  three purple, one pink, and one white.



Denise ties the bows.





Sometimes choir boys display their own candle rolling talents.



Summer Retrospective

Summer is certainly over now.  I shouldn't complain about it's passing.  Autumn days have been cool and sunny.  We haven't had rain for two weeks.  After grumbling about rain throughout the summer, why do I regret its passing now?  I need to keep a record of the flowers that flourished and the rejects.

 Don't you just love vinca?  They bloom in all weather, rain or drought.  They love the sun, and bear up well in heat. They are still blooming as of today.  What a joy!

More vinca.  Pink and white. I planted them on either side of the steps leading up to the door.

Another winner is ageratum.  They are in their element in cooler weather, although they manage to survive the heat of summer, too.

Cosmos.  Beautiful, right?  Wrong!  What a fraud!  I planted cosmos in the front garden, thinking they would replace the cone flowers when the cone flowers began to wane in August.  These plants grew to enormous heights (over 5 feet) and flopped over.  Yes, they had some blossoms as you see on the left, but mostly their feathery leaves turned brown, shaded the ageratum border and covered the lawn.  I finally cut them down with grim disgust and put them in the trash.




Spring Pansies

Fall Pansies




I filled planters with scads of pansies in the spring.  I rooted them out in July in favor of the moss rose which thrives in the hot sun and endures both drought and rain.

Now I am pulling out the same moss rose, grown spindly with reduced sunlight and warmth, in favor of the delightful pansies again that flourish in the cool fall. 

Zinnias are hearty summer survivors.  I still have a few that haven't surcomed to rust or fungi; these few are still visited by tardy butterflies.  This picture of zinnias, however, was taken in August, and have since been dispatched with clippers.

Finally, last spring my neighbor gave me two English aster plants.  I put them in the front garden between the cone flowers and the now destroyed cosmos. She advised me that they wouldn't bloom until fall.  They grew long stems and fell over, and I viewed them with suspicion.  They looked like weeds to me.  I looked in vain for flowers or even buds.  September came and went and they continued to look weedy.  This week I ventured outside to see how the ageratum and  zinnias were doing and walla!  There they were, English asters:  a brilliant deep blue, even violet, maybe. Hurray!






The Way Things Go - The Art and Archaeology Museum

Allyson and Blondie

Cathy Callaway of the Education Department at MAA held a family event Saturday afternoon, September 25, inspired by the art film about kinetic sculpture, The Way Things Go. A number of families, including fathers as well as mothers, and children from the very young to pre-teens, came. We assembled in Room 106 of Pickard Hall in an informal atmosphere. Since Blondie, the miniature horse arrived in the parking lot, everyone went out to meet her and Allyson, her handler from Stephens College.  (Click on any picture to enlarge it.)





Tentative hands reach out to pet Blondie.



 
 
 
 
 

Some clients weren't at all sure this was appropriate behavior.

 

Some clients were willing to give it a try.

MAA has a new gallery exhibition on Equine Art that focuses on the human fascination with horses. 
 
Once back inside Pickard Hall, we watch The Way Things Go. This approximately half hour film keeps your attention as you see one
happening leading to another with a cause/effort relationship.  The unwinding of the tie of a trash bag begins the action (similar to falling dominoes) and moves through a rolling tire, exploding fireworks, rivers of soapsuds and clouds of foaming dry ice.  This all take place in what appears to be a warehouse, and should never be tried at home.  One comment I heard overheard was something like, "I wonder how many times they had to film this to get this effect."  The film can also be observed on You Tube.



Birds fly from this mobile.

 


Choices take a lot of concentration.

 Making mobiles was the next activity.  Allisa, an  MU art student had cut out little Picasso figures and new moons and she and Cathy demonstrated how they tied  objects to a wire coat hanger to make the mobile. We had many versions of the mobile.   

Whee!  Look at mine! It matches my dress.



I can see you, too.



Family members work together.

An artist must focus on his work.

This is a serious job.

One can work anywhere - even on the 'stage.'

Even the youngest artist makes her own selections.





Really, this was easy.

Finished!



Even Dad's can do it! (We are an equal opportunity operation.)

 Everyone seemed to go home happy.  Then it was time to clean up.  Cathy and Allisa did most of it.  I hung around for a while. It was nothing but pleasure for me.

A Day in the Life...Arrow Rock

The Museum of Art and Archaeology organized a tour for docents to Arrow Rock (population 50) named one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destination’s by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The famous 19th Century Missouri painter, George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879), lived in Arrow Rock, and we are celebrating his 200th birthday next year.

We met at a parking lot on the west side of town. We car-pooled, and although I had volunteered to drive that turned out not to be necessary. Arrow Rock is about 45 miles west of Columbia on Highway 70 and 41.   It is a nice drive through green hills and woods.



The restaurant.  I am sitting at a table on the right (off camera)-
except when I took this picture.

Once there, around noon, we ate at a charming local restaurant that opens to serve mainly tour groups. 

Remi shows a book to Arthur (off camera)
Remember you can click on any picturre to enlarge it.

 
The proprietor, served the group with a choice of chicken salad and croissant sandwich or quiche accompanied by a lovely green salad, grapes and cantaloupe. Several desserts were offered, but I stopped listening after I heard peach cobbler with ice cream; that’s what everyone at our table took, except Arthur who absented himself from the table. I wondered if he was on a diet. But aren't we all.


Canopied bed with antique hand sewn quilt



From the restaurant we drove to the parking lot by the Visitor Center. There we saw a half hour movie on the history of Arrow Rock that before the Civil War was a town of up to 19,000 residents (25 % were slaves). Very crowded, loud (river town) and muddy. Another half hour or more was spent listening to our tour guide answer questions. We looked at the19th Century museum exhibits…

Side-saddle:  notice the vertical post that the lady was expected to hook her right leg over. (click to enlarge)

Many of the residents came from Virginia and the Southeast, and tried to bring as much of that ‘civilization’ with them as possile. Beside slaves, they brought a preference for Federalist architecture and some items of luxury.



Decorative arrangement - tavern



A solid block of tea.  Tea could be shaved off as needed, or broken into small blocks and sold.

We visited the Huston Tavern where we saw coffee containers that held coffee from Java, Rio and other places around the world. Tea from China came in solid blocks.


George Caleb Bingham’s family came from Virginia to Franklin, Missouri when he was very young. (Franklin was flooded so many times that the residents moved to higher ground, now called New Franklin.) Later the family moved to Arrow Rock, where his mother, now a widow, opened an academy for girls.

Academy for girls

One of his most famous paintings is Fur Traders Descending the Missouri at the Metropolitan. His bread and butter was portrait painting, but he also painted frontier life, The Jolly Flatboatmen and Order No. 11 showing the eviction of residents from Western Missouri after the Quantrill raid of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863.



Docents in front of the Bighanm house.

 We toured Bingham’s Federalist style house. The upper wooden story, as well as the wood frame kitchen wing was taken off in the 1930’s when the WPA was restoring it on the mistaken assumption that it wasn’t original.

Antique spinning and winding wheels in the Bingham house.

Much of the town was destroyed by two fires in the last two centuries, and other buildings were torn down in a successful attempt to make the town park like. An old church was remodeled to house the nationally known Lyceum Theater. This building has since been expanded to provide more seating.



The movie Tom Sawyer ( 1975) was filmed in Arrow Rock.
If you want to check out some paintings by Bingham, google George Caleb Bingham paintings.