Friday, May 27, 2011

Tuesday - Afternoon - Museums at Balboa Park

On Tuesday I visited Balboa Park to tour the Mingei International Museum and the San Diego Museum of Art.  I had to take a trolley and a bus to get there, but I made it.

I was really looking forward to the Mingei museum since they mentioned Shoji Hamada on the website, but there was no functional pottery there.  The only exhibits were a Native American art exhibit on the first floor and African American quilts and Japanese waving cats on the second floor.  While these were interesting, they were not what I expected to find.

After leaving the Mingei Museum, I went next door to the SDMA and was surprised to discover that it was San Diego residents day.  Residents get in for free once a month and because of the crowds there is no photography or sketching allowed.  The woman at the front desk was very nice and after I whined about it she said, "You can take pictures until you get caught.", with a smile.  I did get a shot of the only Shoji Hamada piece on display.  It was a nice tea bowl, but it was one of only about a dozen pieces of pottery in the whole museum.  I guess I am spoiled by living in NC with such an emphasis on pottery.

Most of the exhibits were paintings from the last two centuries with a lot of dark, moody landscapes, portraits of eighteenth and nineteenth century people, and some Chinese landscapes.  I did notice a couple of Monets which were considerably brighter than most of the work exhibited, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.

On the way back I got back on the outgoing bus by mistake and rode it to the end of the line.  The bus driver and I had a great conversation about 70's bands during his ten-minute break and then I rode that bus all the way back to the City College stop.  There I caught the Orange Line trolley back to the Gaslamp Quarter.

After walking back to the hotel I started getting ready to go the Gaslamp Quarter for supper.







The only Shoji Hamada piece.



There large land snails were everywhere in the landscape.











"Delicious Tamales"

... and it was.

City College trolley stop.












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2 comments:

Linda Starr said...

You are hitting all the good place, have fun.

jbf said...

Thanks!