The Water Lilies / Washi Transformed

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
Ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know."
~ John Keats

I had been wanting to visit Penn State's Palmer Museum for a while, and on this day, the planets aligned such that I was able to do that, hooray! My closest near miss was back in April, when I went to the Arboretum. Though you can clearly SEE the Palmer in some of the delightful tulip photos I took, I did not make it to the museum on that day.

My husband and I began our adventure with a nice lunch out in town, and then he dropped me off at the museum and went to shop for groceries and drop our library books off. I had 90 minutes to spend, and of course, I HAD to start out with a quick stop at the Arboretum to see its lily pond, which I used to visit so often. The lilies did not disappoint, as you may see in the photo above.

Let me mention that it was also a blissfully cool day. Our high temperature had been in the low 70s F around midnight, and then the temp dropped into the 60s, so it was almost cool, which was wonderful and exciting and refreshing, for a change. It's been in the 90s for days. So this day provided a much-needed respite from the insufferable heat.

I had brought my little friend Tiny Tiger along, for he loves art in all its shapes and forms. (Except for bulls. He is not a fan of bulls.) It had been a while since we'd visited the Palmer Museum, so when the two nice ladies at the front desk chatted with me, I let them tell me all about the museum and what was where, including an exhibit on the second floor I'd heard good things about. The one lady handed me a map and pointed to the different galleries, and laid out the rules. 

When she was done, I asked one simple question: 

"What is your policy on tigers?" I asked.

"I'm not sure I understand your question," the lady replied.

Then I unzipped my waist pack, and Tiny Tiger popped his head out.

"I'm SURE he will be VERY WELCOME here!" the lady said.

So T. Tiger and I spent a very happy hour there, visiting favorites old and new, and we gasped, again, at the glory of the blue Chihuly glass pieces on the walls of the stairwell, as one simply MUST do. Nothing shines quite like Chihuly.

There is a gallery chock full of art pieces all arranged beautifully on a long wall, with big, comfy sofas in front of it, where you can sit and contemplate the art. That is probably our most favorite room in the whole museum, and some of our old friends, paintings from the prior Palmer Museum, can be found there. It's like a reunion. We just sit and look, and dream. It's so lovely to have local access to real ART, and let me add that the Palmer has a significant American art collection, which I adore.

I did check out the little gift shop at the museum, and it is a big, bright, well organized, well lit space. I looked through the books and t-shirts and other items, some of them strange and interesting. But I have to admit that I miss the old museum shop, which was tiny and gorgeous and also full of fun things.

There was an exhibit on the first floor of Japanese paper art - this was my final stop. It is called Washi Transformed. I encountered fantastic shapes and mesmerizing swirls; everything was made of paper. For more than 1,000 years, Japan has made some of the world's finest paper. 

Japanese handmade paper, known as Washi, is used in many traditional art forms. I've included one photo in the extras; there are more on my Instagram. The first image on the IG posting (it's also included here in the extras) and several others are from Yuko Nishimura's Line Transformation 01, 02, 03. 

Then T. Tiger and I left the museum and walked over to the parking lot where my husband picked us up, and he counted noses, to make sure that nobody got arrested. Oh yes, T. Tiger and I have had an art adventure or TWO! 

But before all of that, as we walked out of the Palmer, our hearts and our souls and our spirits absolutely refreshed, and full to the brim, due to our visit with the art, I waved and thanked the two ladies. I gestured to my tiger. "The Tiger thanks you too!" They were both grinning as we walked out.  It was a VERY good day.

Now, I find myself in need of a pair of soundtrack songs. I never know what my tunes box will throw me next, and on this day, it tossed me one I didn't know I had. It was a David Bowie cover of the Simon & Garfunkel tune, America, which he performed at one of the post-9/11 benefit concerts. Here is David Bowie, with America. And second, for the Japanese paper art which was amazing, here is George Winston, with Japanese Music Box, Itsuki No Komoriuta, from his album, Forest.