Some Charlotte architecture they will demolish in the future.

The architecture of Charlotte, North Carolina

I liked photographing the contrasts between buildings.

Come for the mummies, stay for the grave goods

I went to the Mummies of the World exhibit at Discovery Place.  For as long as I can remember, I constantly went to this place whether with my family or with my school.  The use of black walls forces you to look at the exhibits.  They divided up the mummies by geographical location starting with Egypt, then South America, and ending with Europe.  They had background that while unobtrusive, it turned repetitive.  I have went to other exhibits hosted by Discovery Place, and they have this deep fondness for soft soundtracks.  They did this with an exhibit on Dead Sea Scrolls and another on Pompeii.  The section that displayed the bodies used a soundtrack that one hears commonly during very dramatic scenes.  Listening to that music just threw me out of the mood a bit while gazing at the paster bodies of Pompeii and contemplating the tragedy of these trapped people.

While they had mummies, they had lots of grave goods, sarcophagi, and clothing connected to the mummies found.  They had a couple of Sarcophagi in the Egypt section.  Throughout the show, they had displays that showed why and how mummification happened and who and what received this treatment.  Humans and animals both went through this.  Sadly, I found an error in one of the caption boxes.

Creating chandeliers with the Found Object Theory

At Amelie’s in Charlotte’s NoDa district.

Play Around Niki De Saint Phalle

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Across the street from the Bechtler Museum of Art, Charlotte installed a series of sculptures by Niki De Saint Phalle.  One can gaze at them, step on them, and even go inside some of them.  One example comes from the giant Skull sculpture.  After walking around in awe of a traditional symbol of death covered in bright happy colors, one can go inside to sit and reflect.  I mean it because the skull’s interior has thousands of tiny mirrors covering it.  Look up to the skull’s ceiling, and you can see a crescent moon.   By the way, I absolutely adore the skull’s shocked expression.

Other sculpture features a goddess on a pedestal with a mother and child.  Probably the most subdued out of all the sculpture featured.  Furthermore, Phalle renders them in a series of huge circles.  Her work always did celebrate women in their busty and curvy glory.  A regular Fernando Botero.

The other sculptures such as Miles Davis, Hole in One, and a cat sculpture that acted as a chair fell into the realm of the kitsch and the cute.  Out of all, Hole in One probably stands as my least favorite in the group.  Maybe the color scheme and subject she used put me off.

A touch of Egyptomania in my hometown

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I too would give Anubis a kicky pink scarf. 

Lien Hoa Temple in Black and White

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2009-9-12 Yiasou Greek Festival

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Mini-Amateur Report-Visiting the Nascar Hall of Fame

I have never seen this much product placement in a museum next to looking at Pop Art. 

Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

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