Mister and Lady: DMA Re-opening

With another 3-day weekend in front of us, Mister saw that the Dallas Museum of Art was re-opening and reserved us spots. It's 11 a.m. and we are going to see a couple of new exhibits. The first one is "For a Dreamer of Houses" and almost all items are from the permanent collection here at the museum. Let's go inside - As you pass the entrance, flanked by the huge wooded doors, the first thing one sees is the Dream House. Of course, at this point my camera decides to white everything out and the pictures don't do this any justice at all, but I do get it under control later.

I'm at the back of the house now. Ahhhh, my camera is fixed but I cannot go back in line due to new regulations.

The far side -

Mister's camera appears to be working too.

And the front once again.

As I wait for entry, Mister is always watching.

Stepping over the threshold into the house makes me go slowly at first. I wasn't sure if there was a drop or not as it is covered with a clear component.

Inside there is a screen and it plays several musically accompanied scenes in succession.

I took a short video and so many other scenes played out later, but it gives you a glimpse.

Mister

Onto the next room - one person at a time can enter through this.

Looking through the sides

And playing with Mister

The next room has a placard that reads: "Nests - The two images: the calm nest and the old home, weave the sturdy web of intimacy on the dream loom . . . If we return to the old home as to a nest, it is because memories are dreams, because the home of other days has become a great image of lost intimacy. -- Baston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space --- It goes on to say, "In addition to acting as protective encasements, homes are containers for relationships -- familial, spiritual, and communal. Inhabiting them leaves traces of the emotional resonance of daily life, of births, growth, and death, on the physical space. In other words, a house becomes a home through its emotional associations. These deeply human experiences are embedded in the structure of dwelling, in the singular intimacy of porches, stairwells, and bedrooms."

Inside is rather unsettling to me - but I do spot the quilt blocks and am able to focus on those. I love how the shifting of color or shade in these simple hour glass units adds such movement to the piece.

Right beside this odd dwelling is a painting by Clementine Hunter. If you remember, we were able to learn all about her last fall in our trip to Louisiana. If you are interested, here is LINK ONE and LINK TWO. On the side of the piece, "Hunter's deep attachment to her home is evident in her works, which portray daily life on the Melrose Plantation in Louisiana, where she spent most of her life and began painting in her fifties. Her lovingly rendered works capture the rhythms of Melrose - the washday, Sunday service, picking cotton, or the special Saturday night gathering seen here - in a celebration of her community."

As we move into the next room, a smile comes quick. This chandelier is made from underwear. Yep, you read that right. It is by Pipilotti Rist, Switzerland, and is "Massachusetts Chandelier." "Rist's Massachusetts Chandelier draws our attention to our bodies by transforming clothing into a suspended sculpture. With the intimate associations of underwear, the installation reminds us that our private experiences of vulnerability are also shared: they are a part of the collective human experience." Okaaaay --- it really just made me smil.

Back in the corner is another fiber exhibit. This one is by Janine Antoni, the Bahamas. Entitled "Grope" it is made from men's pants pockets. "The repetition of men's pants pockets in Grope monumentalizes the intimate folds and accidental crevices of clothing against skin. The simple wool circle is typically associated with invasive touches, but "to grope" can also mean to rely on our own sense of touch rather than sight -- something we commonly do when searching for an item in our pockets."

It merits an up-close look and notice how these are all hand-stitched together.

In a small alcove, another smile comes to my face. This is quite the microphone stand.

Leaving the Dreamer exhibit, we discover some fun fiber displays nearby. I have spotlighted this batik before, but it is worthy of a repeat. It is a wraparound skirt with a cloud design from Indonesia. "In Cirebon, on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java, sultans wore this type of skirt, and wealthy households used it as decoration. The stylized rendering of clouds, a welcoming sign for parched land, originated in 18th-century China. Batik is a wax-resist process for dye-decorating cloth. It took several months to complete a batik with the cloud motif because the cloth had to be dyed and waxed six separate times to achieve the color variations and contrasting background. This traditional pattern enjoyed a revivial in the 20th century, although the production shifted to synthetic dyes." It's crazy hard to get a good picture when they are encased in glass and lighting is all around.

This short coat of dragons and auspicous symbols is thought to be from the late 19th century.

Look closely at the amazing embroidery.

Next is "Fish in Check", 1969 from a European textile company owned by two Swiss families. Brunnschweiler & Co, Ltd. and it's susidiaries began printing imitation Indonesian batik and other fabrics for the West African market. Company representatives working in West Africa leveraged the opportunity to learn about the colors and patterns preferred by locals. Today, factory-made "African trade cloth," as it is commonly known, has replaced many locally handcrafted textiles.

Plume Diagonal is another example from the same company.

The last item I see is not fabric, but still quite interesting. It is from asbestos. "Tree of Life"'s maker is unknown, which is sad but it is from the U.S. in around 1930. "Textiles featuring the Tree of Life motif made their way to the American colonies as trade goods. This object from the 1930s reveals the continued use and adaptation of the motif long after."