Open your eyes, yo!

The I.T.E. residency program is SOOO much more than holing oneself up in the studio making things. Instead, it's about being exposed to new things, places and people. We've been very fortunate to have been exposed to all of these things. These photos were taken at the many museums I've visited during this residency.

The photo below was taken at the National Gallery in DC. The sculptures are by Brancusi. Beautiful and elegant.

This photo was taken at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Beth and I took the Megabus to NYC one day to go museum hopping. We went to the MOMA and the Museum of Art and Design. What a great day it was. (Beth is the bee's knees.) The sculpture is by Cy Twombly, who is my favorite artist. I LOVE his paintings.
This photo was taken at Winterthur during our amazing tour of the Dominy shop. Mr. Charles Hummel, Curator Emeritas, spent 6 generous hours with us sharing all sorts of facts and stories about Winterthur and their collection. Winterthur blew me away. It is literally an encyclopedia of decorative arts in "the flesh". Oh my god. Insane. This object is used on the spring pole lathe of the Dominy family. I took the photo because I think it's beautiful.
Here is Beth, Dan and Noah all looking heroic as they stand before the beautiful facade of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We had a couple of visits to the PMA, where we toured the furniture conservation area, the storage vaults of the craft collection and also toured Mt. Pleasant. Each experience was very informative, interesting and enriching. Thank you: Chris Storb, Elisabeth Agro and Jen Zwilling.
One of our most recent visits was to Wharton Esherick studio/home in Paoli, PA. Here is a photo of his home, which was truly a superior work of art. Every last detail and thingamajig was made by Esherick himself. Thank you to Paul Eisenhauer for a most information and enjoyable tour.
So, as you see, we have had wonderful opportunities to see, touch, experience so many amazing works of art and collections. We have met amazing people and have reaped the rewards of their generosity and sharing nature. Our studio work is much more rich and informed by having open eyes and minds to see the history, possibility, lineage, promise, inspiration... that each of these visits presents us. We're pretty darned lucky, if you ask me.