Alistair Gillies on mon 30 jan 06
From The Daily Telegraph online:
------------------paste-----------------------------
Museum Visitor Destroys Priceless Vases
A museum director's nightmare came true when a visitor tripped on his =
shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and destroyed a set of priceless =
300-year-old Chinese vases.
The three vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, had =
stood on a windowsill at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for at =
least 40 years. Their prominent position made them among its best-known =
artifacts.
The museum refused to name the visitor, who was unhurt.
Steve Baxter, another visitor, who saw the accident, said: "We watched =
the man fall as if in slow motion. He landed in the middle of the vases =
and they splintered into a million pieces.
"He was still sitting there stunned when staff appeared. Everyone stood =
around in silence, as if in shock. Then the man started talking. He kept =
pointing to his shoelace and saying, 'There it is; that's the culprit.' =
"
Duncan Robinson, the director of the museum, said: "It is a nightmare =
you are always afraid of in a museum. I have been here for 40 years and =
now that nightmare has happened." The vases, from the Qing dynasty, were =
donated to the museum in 1948.
Margaret Greeves, the assistant director, said: They are in very, very =
small pieces but we are determined to put them back together."
-----------------------------------unpaste------------------------
The photo in the Daily Telegraph shows the poor chap at the bottom of =
some stairs surrounded by bits of vase!!
Alistair
Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, England
L. P. Skeen on mon 30 jan 06
O lord they DIDN"T take the man's picture and post it in the paper! Say =
it ain't so. The poor guy. I can see that having been ME, so I happen =
to feel worse for him than for the vases at this point. That'll be one =
hell of a jigsaw puzzle tho.
L
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Alistair Gillies=20
From The Daily Telegraph online:
------------------paste-----------------------------
Museum Visitor Destroys Priceless Vases
A museum director's nightmare came true when a visitor tripped on his =
shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and destroyed a set of priceless =
300-year-old Chinese vases.
Taylor, in Rockport TX on mon 30 jan 06
Ah truely sad, but don't forget...
When the pot breaks, the potter laughs.
Taylor in Rockport, TX
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:36:21 -0500, L. P. Skeen
wrote:
>O lord they DIDN"T take the man's picture and post it in the paper! Say
it ain't so. The poor guy. I can see that having been ME, so I happen to
feel worse for him than for the vases at this point. That'll be one hell
of a jigsaw puzzle tho.
Chuck Wagoner on tue 31 jan 06
I love to take my students on field trips. They are wonderful young
people in general, but this is the great fear that hangs over my head.
One time one of my students just about knocked a Barbara Hepworth
sculpture off a pedestal at the IU IM PEI museum. It was an accident,
but all the same WHOOPS is right. After the incident a guard told me
that they were glad to find out that it was not as securely attached as
they thought, so I guess that is the silver lining.
The same could be said of slipping and being impaled on a Frank Stella
relief or falling into a Richard Hunt and being stabbed. Didn't someone
actually get killed when a Christo umbrella fell on them?
C. Wagoner
Rockville, IN
...one of my dreams is to make it to the Storm King outdoor gallery in
New York and spending a couple of days walking about the 400 acres of
wonderful work that is there. Someone write me off list and tell me that
is as fantastic as I imagine it must be.
Alistair Gillies on tue 31 jan 06
From: "L. P. Skeen"
O lord they DIDN"T take the man's picture and post it in the paper! Say =
it ain't so. The poor guy. I can see that having been ME, so I happen =
to feel worse for him than for the vases at this point. That'll be one =
hell of a jigsaw puzzle tho.
L
Hello L,
Not quite - the picture seems to be from a security camera and only =
shows a chap on the floor surrounded by vase - he has not been named but =
is [was?] a regular visitor so I suspect members of the glorious press =
are hunting him as I write!
A
IBG S E
Lori Leary on tue 31 jan 06
Chuck,
Storm King is fabulous, and it is a place worth writing about onlist.
I look forward to going back one day. They have a tram that takes
visitor around the park, but the best way is to ride the tram and get
out and walk to see everything up close.
If you go, take an extra day and visit Dia: Beacon...it's also well
worth the visit.
I'll let their web pages do the talking:
http://www.stormking.org/
http://www.diabeacon.org/
Regards,
Lori L.
>...one of my dreams is to make it to the Storm King outdoor gallery in
>New York and spending a couple of days walking about the 400 acres of
>wonderful work that is there. Someone write me off list and tell me that
>is as fantastic as I imagine it must be.
>
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>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
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>
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>
>
>
Vince Pitelka on tue 31 jan 06
Chuck Wagoner wrote:
> ...one of my dreams is to make it to the Storm King outdoor gallery in
> New York and spending a couple of days walking about the 400 acres of
> wonderful work that is there. Someone write me off list and tell me that
> is as fantastic as I imagine it must be.
Chuck -
Off list, hell. Everyone should know what a fabulous place it is. I've
mentioned Storm King Sculpture Park on Clayart before. It is a magical
place - hundreds of acres of rolling woods and lawns tastefully interspersed
with fabulous modernist metal and/or stone sculpture. How fabulous to walk
through a grove of trees and gaze across a vast lawn to see one of the
largest sculptures Alexander Calders in existence (and perhaps the only one
with a wonderfully malevolent air). In another direction across the same
clearing is Tal Streeter's monumental re-take on Brancusi's "Endless Column"
and off antoher way is Alexander Lieberman's fabulous "Adonai." Walk across
this vast lawn and pass through another grove of trees, and enter the area
known as "The Valley of the Giants," populated by a large family of
gargantuan Marc DiSuveros. Central in the park is the old stone hilltop
mansion that was once the home of some industrial baron. It is the park
headquarters and indoor exhibition space, with constantly rotating
exhibitions. That was where I first saw Magdalena Abanakowicz's "Backs."
Google it if you want to see an extraordinarily powerful piece about man's
inhumanity to man. In another room was one of Jonathan Borofsky's pieces
with two sheet iron mechanized men standing face to face with their jaws
working up and down in simultaneous yammering conversation. There was
something extraordinary about the juxtaposition of the Abanakowicz and the
Borofsky in adjacent rooms.
Hidden on hillsides and within forest glades are hundreds of sculptures.
It's a constant surprise. One time, I was sitting on the hilltop near the
park headquarters, eating my bag lunch. I was admiring Grace Knowlton's
"Spheres," a scattered group of large impossibly spherical boulders that are
actually featherweight fiberglass construction. A group of adolescent boys
came along and discovered the true nature of these big rocks, and
immediately began to roll the largest one towards the steep dropoff leading
down to the Valley of the Giants. But the best-laid plans are often doomed,
and a guard spotted them and interrupted their inspired work.
I haven't been to Storm King in fifteen years, and I know that they have
expanded the exhibitions considerably. There is now a major permanent Andy
Goldsworty piece, and many other additions
Go to Storm King.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Bruce Lucas on tue 31 jan 06
Lori, for my money, while Storm King is great, DIA:Beacon is rather more
varied and so more interesting. DIA is somewhat unique among museums in
having an immense indoor space (an old factory) which allows them to
display pieces that would have a hard time finding a home anywhere else
in the area. Maybe though it's just because DIA is newer, or a little
closer to where I live.
Regards,
Bruce Lucas
Des & Jan Howard on wed 1 feb 06
Huh!
http://www.mcachicago.org/MCA/Education/Teachers/Book/images/abakanoviczbacks.jpg
Maybe I should read the artist's statement re the work.
Des
Vince Pitelka wrote:
> That was where I first saw Magdalena Abanakowicz's "Backs."
> Google it if you want to see an extraordinarily powerful piece about
> man's
> inhumanity to man.
--
Des & Jan Howard
Lue Pottery
LUE NSW 2850
Australia
Ph/Fax 02 6373 6419
http://www.luepottery.hwy.com.au
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