Inspiration Saturday: A trip to the museum

Being the party animal that I am, I think that a trip to a museum can be a really fun time.  I've been lucky enough to visit quite a few around the world.  Whether it's playing with the interactive elements at a children's museum, knitting mitts while my dad explores the train museum, or standing in front of Van Gogh's Starry Night in a traveling exhibit in Houston and promising it that I'll see it again in New York, I have a lot of memories of museums.

But there are always more to visit.  This week there were a few exhibits in particular on my radar.  Some of them may sound a little strange, but hey, I'm also a little strange.

Toilets at the Tokyo Science Museum



This popped (yes, I spelled that correctly) up on my Twitter feed from my NBC affiliate, KXAN, and I just had to click.  It's so very...Japanese.  First of all, some of the toilets that I encountered on both of my trips to Tokyo were epic in terms to features.  Musical jingles to avoid aural embarrassment, heated seats, and so many flushing options it was stressful.  It's not surprising to me that they would put on display the intricacies of a well-run waste disposal system.  And it's not surprising to me that they would offer a gigantic slide and poop hat to help make their point.

Folk Art makers' weekend at Tate Britain

Inspired by their British Folk Art exhibit (see a video here), this weekend only the Tate has a slew of really cool workshops going on.  This is another one that I found out about on Twitter when they linked to their blog post about the event.  There's embroidery, sign painting, collage, but the one I really wish I could go to is knife-carving.  You get to whittle your own spatula!  How cool does that sound?  And it reminds me of Destry Rides Again, except he whittled napkin rings.  But still, if it's good enough for Jimmy Stewart...

Chihuly at the Denver Botanic Gardens

I so enjoyed seeing the glassworks of Dale Chihuly in Phoenix earlier this year that any time I hear about something new from him I only wish I could go to see that as well.  Though I believe many of the pieces in this exhibit may be the same or similar to the ones I saw, I know that it will still be entirely different because of the different location.  Just in terms of botanics, Phoenix versus Denver offers an entirely different kind of setting for the huge pieces of blown glass.  It's running until the end of November, but I doubt that I'll go, so instead I'll just stare longingly at the gallery of pictures.

In the Company of Cats and Dogs at the Blanton Museum of Art

Here's one I probably will get to see, yay!  The closest I've been to going to Blanton in the past was when my mom knit a tree cozy for an outdoor knit bombing exhibit by Magda Sayeg.  But I've never actually gone inside.  There's so much artwork out there, I think this exhibit is a really interesting and accessible way to group some of it together.  Maybe it's hard to identify with the mixed-up faces of Picasso, but I think we all feel a connection to our animals, and have an interest in how our relationship with animals has changed throughout history.  Blending the art with some humanities and science, I think it should make for an interesting outing.

Are there any museums you would love to visit?  Particular pieces of artwork or interesting/weird exhibits you've heard about?  For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.