It's not every day that you go to the Bimingham Museum of Art and bump into the master himself! Several weeks ago the museum threw a Family Day and look who showed up? Leonardo da Vinci schmoozed with the kids and greeted visitors as they came in the front door! Everyone in town is excited about this special collection of his drawings that have never before traveled as a collection from the Biblioteca Reale in Turin. The works include one of his most celebrated notebooks, the Codex on the Flight of Birds and 11 other important drawings. The exhibit is unusual in many respects. Because the drawings are small and detailed ( you can actually see each and every stroke of his stylus) , the viewer is allowed to get extremely close with a magnifying glass. This invites a very personal experience between the observer and the artist. The room is kept darkened somewhat with a chilly temperature of 62 degrees F. To highlight the theme of the flight of birds and some of his horse drawings, the museum invited the Birmingham Zoo to bring birds which everyone enjoyed seeing in the Sculpture Garden and horses from the Birmingham Police Department were a favorite in front of the museum. In addtion, art activities were provided in the main lobby area for the kids. What a great way to introduce children to the wonders of art and make them feel comfortable visiting our museum.
Tomorrow, I will be a volunteer inside the exhibit for the first time. It will be a very chilly 3 and a half hours, but getting to view the drawings as much as I'd like is a good trade off I think!
Postscript: Grazie to my friend Fabrizio, who taught me that he is referred to as Leonardo, not da Vinci. He explained that "da Vinci" merely means that he is Leonardo of Vinci.
BELOW: Art Birds!
The Tune du Jour is " Per Te" by Josh Groban
PARIS COUNTDOWN.....18 DAYS!
Merci beaucoup to my friend D.C. Confidential for sharing the BFF AWARD! You have raised the bar for me in so many, many ways, and I thank you for that. You are talented, articulate and passionate about what you believe in. I hope to follow your example my friend.
Discover Josh Groban!