Goin' Mobile

Are you tired of all the bird pictures yet? Well, here's something I've been meaning to share since my trip to DC in September of last year, but I never got around to it. This is a large Calder mobile in the National Gallery of Art, the East Wing. I missed this on my first trip up in May, but I caught it on the second trip. Pretty impressive, and I don't know if you can tell from these poor photos, but it moves!

Evidently, it's so well balanced, the breeze from the AC and any stray air current from open doors and blowhard grad students make it spin.

I asked a docent if it ever gets stuck and he looked at me strangely. Surely something like this is supported by some large bearings, and those bearings must occasionally seize up. But he said no, it never stops. Oh, well.

That Other Calder

Here's that black Calder stabile I mentioned earlier. This one is located outside of the National Gallery of Art-East Building, and those blocks in the background were evidently designed by I. M. Pei (but more on that later). I was unable to find the name of this piece, but it's got to be Alexander Calder. And something I missed during my trip was one of his mobiles inside this very building. That's what I get for not doing my research beforehand.

Another Calder

Lookee, lookee, I found another sculpture by Alexander Calder. This one is called Red Horse (or Cheval Rouge), and it was in front of The National Archives in the National Sculpture Garden. Everything in Washington DC is National this or Official that. Nothing is plain or ordinary. I think I saw another sculpture by Calder on my trip, but I need to figure out where it was and get the name. It looked very similar to this one, only it was black. If I had to guess, I'd say it's gonna be called Black Horse, but we'll see.

That Calder

When day two of my Chicago stay turned out to have nice weather, I decided to get out and shoot after work. I left my hotel with directions to the Sears Tower and figured I'd see plenty along the way. Guess what? I was right. I stumbled onto both a large Calder sculpture, and a peace protest that was to follow me around the rest of the evening. I think the protest was in the gathering stage when I stumbled across it (Turns out it was the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq). They were gathering in front of this large Alexander Calder sculpture called Flamingo. I didn't remember it at the time, but I recently noticed it in the background of a shot in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I guess I should have watched that again before I travelled to Chicago. To my eyes, this sculpture is very much influenced by the Picaso just a few blocks away, which, by the way, was where I ran into the peace protesters next.

The Next Week In June

Here's this week's calendar page for you. It's the ceiling of the Bellagio check-in area in Las Vegas. After I saw it in person last summer, I went back and watched Ocean's Eleven, and you can see it in there, too. (The newer Ocean's Eleven, with George Clooney, not the old one with Frank Sinatra.) These giant glass flowers are designed and created by none other than Dale Chihuly.