The Alcazar Garden behind the Museum is full of snapdragons right now. I walked out there about ten days ago, and discovered some dazzling red ones right next to the walk. After checking for bees, I smelled a blossom, and returned to childhood summers spent in Central Illinois at my Grandmother’s house. The predominant flowers in her garden...
My first child was born on May 5. We lived in Evanston, Illinois, and for the first six years of his life we celebrated his birthday on May 5, and for four of those years we also celebrated his brother’s birthday on May 2. The first week of May had become a special week in our house. When the boys were 6 and 4, we moved to San Diego...
Everything’s up to date in Tijuana, a city that maintains respect for its past, lives in the present and pushes itself into the future. Last Friday was Early Evening @ Mingei, and we encountered the tradition and innovation of our neighboring city firsthand. The party was called “Looking South / Mirando al Sur,” and from Tijuana...
We should be used to the twenty-first century by now. After all, it’s been 12 years since the adventure that was Y2K. Yet, somehow the twentieth century keeps reappearing in the Museum, particularly in its Mid-century Modern guise. It never stays too long, and we always welcome its return. Each new visit brings another aspect of...
My female cousins are busy finding things to get rid of — especially the pictures and objects that belong in our family. Both are younger than I, but neither has children. I do, and have recently become the recipient of their clearings-out. I now possess my great aunt’s photograph album, a group of christening dresses, one of...
Three Fridays ago, my friend Joyce Corbett and I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to see California Design, 1930-1965: “Living in a Modern Way,” another of the Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. It had...
At five pm last Thursday a group from the Museum boarded a bus and drove across the border to attend the opening reception for THE BEAUTY OF USE at Tijuana’s magnificent Centro Cultural (CECUT). The exhibition was to open to the public the next day. This was the culmination of more...
Spring sprang upon me unexpectedly. It’s been so rainy and cold that I was settled in for a few more weeks of winter, but last Tuesday I was greeted at the Museum’s front door with “Happy First Day of Spring and Happy Nowruz.” That was when I realized that it was indeed spring, and that the gray and cold were only March in its lion phase....
Books are just about my favorite things. I’d rank my family and close friends above them, but that’s about it. I like them for their content, their feel, their covers and their shapes. I like them oversized and undersized. I like odd-looking books. I found one that was slanted once. It was called The Slant Book. I love pop-up books and...
Mounted on the wall of the elevator shaft facing the Nakashima Table is an eleventh century Nepalese Buddha. For several years, he resided in what was then familiarly called Asian Alley, that long, narrow gallery with glass cases on one side where today the Finnish tools and chairs are on display. It used to have as its centerpiece...
- 1 of 5
- ››
Meet Martha E.
“Every time we get a new exhibition, there’s so much to learn,” says Martha Ehringer, who is known around Mingei as Martha E. Hooked on the Museum after her first visit many years ago, Martha became a volunteer and eventually a staff member. She now describes herself as the Museum’s chief cheerleader.
Blog Archive
Tra La
Posted: May 11, 2012 | 0 comments
My My, It's May
Posted: May 7, 2012 | 0 comments
A Big Party for Five Sense(s)
Posted: May 2, 2012 | 0 comments
Farewell, Twentieth Century—Again
Posted: April 20, 2012 | 0 comments
Hands Off
Posted: April 13, 2012 | 0 comments
