Saturday, September 22, 2012

Welcome Autumn with more art from the Wichita-Sedgwick County Museum

It's time for summer to shed its heat and humidity and time to welcome in autumn. Many believe this is their favorite time of year. I'll take anything that brings on cooler weather, including today's autumnal equinox, that time twice a year (spring and autumn) when days and nights are equal in length.

Although I have no prepared autumn images or art, here are some from my latest stay-cation, which was at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Museum last month.

If you are new to my blog, or missed my previous post on this museum, you may not be familiar with my self imposed rules.

The self imposed rules:

1. Round trip must be less than or equal to 80 miles.

2. Must be achievable in a single day.

3. No more than $15.00 can be spent (does
NOT include fuel).


I hate to admit this, since the photo is so dark and grainy, but this is my favorite photo from a compositional standpoint. Symmetrical balance was everywhere. And I didn't crop this a millimeter or a single pixel! When I was taking these off my camera, I was so happy. This looks like something I might have taken when I had an incredible SLR (not DSLR). Again, I know it's too dark, especially under the piano legs, but the lighting in that entire museum was difficult to shoot, especially if you have a point and shoot camera that doesn't even have a decent macro setting (like mine). I might as well be taking photos with one of those disposable cameras!


Working my way toward the left hallway, I fell in love with all the rich furniture. When I was collecting antiques, I never went for anything breakable. No glass, no plates, no figurines, no nothing (except rocking horses, which is a whole other story) that could be broken. I'm just not good with breakables. But, if you've ever seen photos of my home, you know I love old quarter-sawn oak. It's hard to break furniture. And most of my accessories are either wood or metal of some kind, too. I was overwhelmed by how close I could get to all these antiques. We were even allowed to walk on the rugs.


It seems I was walking left a lot, because I took the first left off the hallway shown above. To my surprise, I walked into this well lit room that looked like a soda fountain and apothecary shop.



Although some of the photos are dark, you can still see some amazing antiques and collectibles.


Here's another view of these pieces, and one


that is horribly out of focus!


Look at all this wood. Beveled glass mirrors, too.


I even weighed myself on those scales another visitor is standing in front of. Yes, there were others in the museum, but I tried to take photos when no one was around.



I spent a good amount of time trying to capture the beauty of these stained glass windows.


This was as close as I got to their true art deco beauty.


I also spent a lot of time trying to get a decent image of all these tins, but


no matter which direction I turned, it didn't happen. At least I got a good view of this lovely wood, all oak.


I finally made it out of the soda shop and arrived in the room I saw behind the piano in the first photo I showed. All these rooms are interconnected, and I enjoyed the surprises I encountered in each room. I'll show more photos of this lovely museum again soon.

How did I fare? As I related from the first post:

1. Round trip must be less than or equal to 80 miles. Round trip was under five miles.

2. Must be achievable in a single day. I stayed a total of four hours, because the museum was only open from 1-5 on the Saturday I visited. I didn't even have time to visit the gift shop!

3. No more than $15.00 can be spent (does
NOT include fuel). Admission was $4.00 and I had to pay for parking, which was $2.00.

I hope you enjoyed this "leg" of the museum tour. It's such a unique and fun museum, I can't say enough about it. It's probably the best museum in Wichita that I've been to.

8 thoughtful remarks:

Monica said...

Autumn in Central Texas means cool mornings. Not a fan of anything antique.

Halle said...

Love those built-ins and the stained glass windows.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Our days are still comfortable here, but the nights are almost too cool already! I much prefer this time of year to any other.

I don't have a big appreciation for antiques, but I love museums and have been enjoying your photos.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a comfy oak filled home with great collections. What a delightful place. xox

Helen said...

Great trip you took! It is always hard taking photos of exhibits behind glass, so you did well.
BTW the TH half price stuff was from a company I think must be closing down, all their stand stock was reduced... and it was probably still more than you'd pay in the US....

Julia Dunnit said...

Some of that furniture is divine....I know they're recreating the lighting atmospherics too, but I think it wouldn't hurt to put some pieces in a 21st century environment..am sure it would help a lot of people put the beauty of the work and its age and its durability in context. Isn't it amazing that Oak, with a buffing of wax responds and patina ties like that...yet stick it outside and it silvers and ages and looks nothing like its indoor self. Amazing material. Most museums here are free, but that does mean that parking is often a little pricey...six and two threes, huh!!

Unknown said...

Love the wood work. They just don't make things like that any more. Did the floors creek as you walked around?? I love visiting vintage style museums. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed the photos.
Kimie <3

Lisa Graham said...

I totally love this museum. You could walk around for hours and not see everything in it and all the lovely architecture around. It's amazing and I feel blessed to have it in our city. It is sad that so many have never been there. I am starting to feel this way about all the gorgeous old churches downtown too. I think I want to go on a photo-taking hike downtown.

I loved the comment you left for me today on my post last Tuesday. Thank you! We soon shall meet!