Multnomah Falls

Artwork for Shipment to the UK.

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Time warp: packed on 28 May--is how some of my artwork looks having arrived in June:

 

Memorial Weekend & “Land of Joy & Sorrow” Reunion.

Dean, Me, Mom and Kathy at the Memorial Day Weekend. (Photo taken by Paul.)

Flight to the Americas.

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I thought about calling this ‘The Long Good(?) Friday’ because flying with the sun as it journeys West extends the day; Paul and I left the UK on Friday and arrived in the USA on Friday, having been awake 25 hours by the time we were settled into our hotel room.  Not that it should have been that long—our flight was delayed five hours while Heathrow rescheduled around a hijacking from Switzerland and a separate incident of a plane that had its engines catch fire shortly after takeoff. Five hours was ample time for me to revisit in my own mind the concept of airports as exhibitions to captive audiences--places of waiting and transition and liminal spaces between places. (Please note the above photo is not one of mine--it is from the Vancouver Observer.)

Visit to the Americas: ‘The Itinerary’

 

Whirlwind Tour of Washington State

Museums, Natural Beauty, Family

May 23:    Pete picks up Paul & Kirstin for overnight with Carol, Pete, Pam, Carl,

     Cody in Littlethorpe.

May 24:    Pete takes Paul & Kirstin to London to LHR to fly to Seattle, USA.
May 24:    Arrive Sea-Tac Airport 3:44 pm PST Over Snoqualmie Pass to Toppenish, WA
                  at Days Inn & Suites by 9 pm.
May 25:    Yakima Valley Museum 1 - 8 pm or so for “Land of Joy & Sorrow” Reunion.
May 26:    Memorial Weekend Events 10 - 6 pm (Documentary Filming and Interviews).
May 27:    Tour of ‘E-burg’, Research Morning at CWU, Old Skool and Rodeo Record

     Stores, IOOF Cemetery, Barbecue at Uncle Will and Aunt Cindy’s, Lavendon

     Family Registration Records.

May 28:    Sleep In! Wash Clothing as Needed. Crate/Pack Kirstin’s Artwork for
                  Shipment to the UK.
May 29:    Pick-up Rental/Road Trip: Research at Mary’s Hill Museum and

    ‘Stonehenge’; Columbia River Gorge, Celilo, Multnomah Falls.

May 30-31:   
                  Portland, Oregon: Record Stores; Powell's, other events!
                  Seaside, Oregon; Mt. St. Helens, WA, ending in Olympia 5/31 to sleep.  

    (Also: See to Banking)

Reflection:  We can go from Portland to the ocean, Seaside seems best and (a) spend the evening and most of the day at the ocean with no St. Helens; (b) just have breakfast at Seaside and drive up to Mt. St. Helens having some time there; (c) not go to the ocean and be leisurely in going to Mt. St. Helens and spending time there.

June 1      Boating with Aunt Janet & Jim; Overnight at Jim's on Eld Inlet, Shelton
June 2      TESC Olympia, University of Puget Sound Tacoma, Dinner with Patrice.
June 3      Research at Burke Museum; Pike Place Market then North Bend Visit Cousin

    Laura; Roslyn Cemetery and Visit Grandma Johnson, Back to Toppenish.

June 4      Toppenish: Wash Clothes; Storage Transfer, Dinner with Dad's Friends from

    Marines/Warriors Association and with Loren & Becky.

June 5      Toppenish, Presentations at Heritage University, Follow-up with Virginia, 
                 "Off the Record" in Yakima, Lunch with Nina, Turn in Rental Car.
June 6      Early Travel to Research Day with Tillicum Village 11-3:30; Overnight Seattle.
June 7      Seattle, EMP and Revisit Burke Museum; Arrive Airport by 2:30 pm.
June 8      Pete & Carol (?) pick up Paul & Kirstin at LHR in London. 

Bedsted Reading Secret Society Topic: Rejected Knowledge

'Rejected knowledge' is to the world of 'science' what heresy is to religious orthodoxy. It never occurred to me to think of concepts of continental drift, Atlantis, UFOs, giant comets starting the Ice Age, hypnotherapy, ghost hunting, anomalous phenomna etc. as being combinatorial to a specific discipline of academic inquiry . . . the rejected academy . . .

Bedsted Reading Topic: The Green Man Part 2

ALSO, speaking of the 'Green Man', I apparently have a somewhat personal connection to 'The Green Man Pub' in Lavendon, where Paul and I hope to visit and trace some family history when we return from the United States:

http://www.greenman-pub-lavendon.co.uk/

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Lovely Sunday of 'Star Trek' and 'The Specials'.

I very much enjoyed 'Star Trek':

and had a lovely time at 'The Specials' with Paul, Chris, Iain, Grace and Lou. Here is a video from the Old Grey Whistle Test 1979:

Bedsted Reading Topic: The Green Man Part 1

I find the myth of the 'Green Man' almost as fascinating as dragons . . . and that's saying something. This is a great image from the Wikipedia page regards 'The Green Man', interpreted as a sculpture at Custard Factory in Birmingham:

School for Scoundrels.

I can't believe I never came across this before! I absolutely loved 'School for Scoundrels'--it has been added to my list of all-time favourite films. Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/School-Scoundrels-DVD-Ian-Carmichael/dp/B000HEZ7KW

Boat or Backpack?

I love the design for this little boat that one can strap upon one's back. In reality it was probably quite heavy and unpleasant but it looks great. I also like the way that the museum has displayed these objects--a small model of the boat, with a photo of a man using such a boat placed beside the model.

Book of the Week: Museums and Silent Objects.

Monti, Francesca and Suzanne Keene. Museums and Silent Objects: Designing Effective Exhibitions  (London: Ashgate 2012).

Backyard Blues . . .

Bedsted Reading Topic: 'Dancing the Animals'

I have been randomly opening a page out the 'Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures' book each night and reading whatever I find. My favourite this week is 'Dancing the Animals', a passage about the practice of wintertime guising rituals, most particularly, dancing in imitation of animals . . . but usually beasties with the ability to talk, knock on doors, pose riddles to those who answer and demand food, ale and other forms of remuneration.  In other words, people imitating animals imitating people. One popular winter guising practice is apparently called 'The Mari Lywd' and was (is?) quite common in Wales.

Bedsted Reading Topic: Dragons

"The word 'dragon' from the ancient Greek 'drakonta' or 'drakon' which means 'to watch' or 'to look at', suggesting that from very early on in the conceptualisation, dragons were considered to be guardians. Whether they are good, beneficent creatures or evil probably then relies upon notions of property . . . and whether or not the dragon is viewed as standing in the way of one's interests.

To the right is an image of Dragons from Archives at Cornell University Library . . . they look astonishingly similar to the Leicester dragon!

Bo Ningen.

Going with Paul to see Bo Ningen Thursday Show at Leicester's O2 Venue. Here is one of their videos:

Here's the Wikipedia Page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Ningen


 

The Curator's Journey.

Sensory Experience of Objects.

'Happy Friday' and Media Mentions.

Bedtime Reading: Just finishing 'The Hardboiled Detective: Stories from Black Mask Magazine 1920-1951'.
Museology: Google Art Project's 'Collections page' features links to online image collections made available by museums from all over the world: http://www.googleartproject.com/en-gb/collections/

 Films: Pegg's latest looks wonderfully silly: 'The World's End', impending release 1 July 2013:

Recently watched 'Witness for the Prosecution' (1957) again--brilliant film.

 Music: Public Service Broadcasting's new album, 'Inform-Educate-Entertain' has been released! (PSB is also sellling lovely-looking tea towels.) http://publicservicebroadcasting.net/

Here is another one of PSB's videos--'Spitfire'. (I have always had a bit of a crush on Leslie Howard.)

Museum Studies Reading of the Week: Unpacking the Collection (2011)

Unpacking the Collection: Networks of Material and Social Agency in the Museum; Byrne-Clarke-Harrison-Torrence, eds.

 

Animator Ray Harryhausen, Age 92, Passed Away 7 May 2013.

Obituary for Ray Harryhausen, brilliant stop-motion animator and artist:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/07/ray-harryhausen-dies

http://youtu.be/U9kmjW73-v4
Someone's YouTube video compilation of Harryhausen's creatures/creations:

More Denizens of the Backyard.

While I know they are meant to be viewed as slime-trailing pests only rivaled by sheep in their ability to voraciously consume ambient greenery but we never had them where I grew up so . . . the common garden snail is quite novel and interesting to me. Or perhaps I am simply finding any excuse to take a momentary break from my research and enjoy the lovely weather. Nah. Couldn't be that . . .

Getting Back to Work . . .

Easing my way back into 'research mode' after a long and pleasant bank holiday weekend by maintaining my 'May Day' resolution and trying to provide a journal post for every day. Not perhaps my most inspired journal entry . . . Here, have a link to somewhere more interesting:

http://youtu.be/FgH9OxjXPdg
Mark Steel's lecture about De Vinci:

Brunch from Bank Holiday Monday.

Paulos recommended that I take an image of brunch from the upstairs window of our home which clearly took in a view of our freshly mown lawn. (I believe that the idea was that this image be used as evidence in any future disputation about whose turn it is to do the mowing.)

Wanted: Experty Tadpoleous.

While doing our first bit of serious lawn mowing, patio weeding and general gardening, Paul and I have observed that the defunct, neglected water feature in our yard appears to have become a baby amphibian pond? Absolutely seething with tadpoles! Amazing to look at but not quite sure how to respond to it yet. Where is the resident 'Experty Tadpoleous' when you need them (on a bank holiday weekend)? Hmm . . . I know, I'll try dialing '111' . . .

The reunion celebration that I will be at the end of this month: http://yakimavalleymuseum.org/special/japanese.cfm

A video about the 'Land of Joy and Sorrow' exhibition at Yakima Valley Museum:

Time is Swift.

I cannot believe how fast the past two months have gone . . . and yet it seems a million years ago as well (so much has happened). Where should I begin? I guess I will start with music. One of my favourite musical artists at the minute is 'Public Service Broadcasting'. They have been using stock footage and historical sound clips to create mediated music experiences. I had the chance to see them in performance when they came to Leicester 21 March; brilliant. Here is one of their videos, 'London Can Take It':

Happy Birthday, MVR!

I am so grateful for Mom's friends--who I am told, had a surprise birthday party for her! Happiest of birthdays to 'Mam' (as they say here in Leicester) and I am looking forward to re-celebrating when I visit for the reunion at the end of the month!

Brown Bag Seminar with Prof. Piotr Bienkowski.

What a wonderful Brown Bag Seminar with Prof. Piotr Bienkowski on Wednesday! The work he is doing with the Hamlyn Foundation's 'Our Museum' is very promising. Here is a link to the 'Attic' report for that session: http://attic-museumstudies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/brown-bag-seminar-report-for-prof-piotr.html