There is a reason and a use for lawns. Croquet! Although I can’t say that our turf is finely maintained. A cultural foray. Off to North Adams and Mass MoCa, the Museum of Contemporary Art which is housed in the renovated old Sprague Electrical Factory. The museum of part of the revitalization of this old mill town and it is just about 45 minutes from our house, across the historic scenic highway, The Mohawk Trail. We stopped to admire the views from both the Eastern and Western summits. We eschewed the gift shops of both. With difficulty.
The upside down trees are the iconic art work at the entrance to the museum. We don’t know the meaning of this work. Is it about the way man, humankind, are always trying to bend nature to their own purposes? Or is it to show that no matter how hard we try, nature will have her way? The trees persist is trying to grow up and have to be replaced periodically. We thought there should be a society against cruelty to trees.
We saw some good exhibits inside. There was Jenny Holzer’s Projections. We got to lie on giant bean bags (no jumping or walking on them) while words were projected across the enormous dark gallery. We could read the words but not really the sentences. A frustration for a reader, especially since I supposed the text was part of the exhibit.
Then up to the Kidspace Gallery and the Deborah Sperbver exhibit of spools of thread acting as pixels to recreate great works of art, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, American Gothic. The artist is very interested in the way our eyes and brains perceive form. It was very interesting and kind of magical. We got to make our own pixilated art with special markers and sticky dots in lots of colors. What a great place!
Back to the farm. The Major mowed a big path in the field. After he turned the mower off he took us on a long tour of the path.
It took us a while to decide how to arrange ourselves, but we had a great ride. We love the tractor. After supper we went to a Theatrical Event.
The Mettawee River Theater Co. comes to Shelburne Falls every summer with a most unusual puppet performance on the lawn of the elementary school. Usually the stories are taken from myth, Greek to Native American. This year’s performance was about Nanabozho, the trickster hare and Grandmother Earth. This is a Winnebago tale.
The sun had died in the west long before Grandmother welcomed Nanabozho back from his arduous quest, and told him he still had a lot of work to do to get ready for the arrival of humans. Spectacular theater effects. We look forward to Mettawee every year.