Chihuly, Chinese Imperial Garden Mansion and the Thunderbirds at the Lakefront

On our recent trip to Milwaukee we were lucky to be visiting the same day as the Thunderbirds were doing an airshow over the lakefront in downtown Milwaukee.  There was so much going on.  Several wedding parties were roaming about outside for photo opportunities and they were setting up for a wedding ceremony in the entry hall at the Milwaukee Art Museum too. 

It was a warm day, but the breeze was very pleasant, so we sat on a bench by Lake Michigan and enjoyed several planes in the air show.  Then we went into the museum to see the special exhibit on the Chinese treasures from the Qianlong Garden mansion.  Sadly no photographs were allowed, but I was able to purchase plenty of resources to take back to my art classroom.  I'll share those in a later post.

from Wikipedia 
This painting on silk was restored and was part of the exhibit.  It is rich in detail and very much influenced by western art.  The faces on several of the family portraits was impressive. 

 

I love gazing at the chandelier style glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly.  This time I had my cameral along and took several amazing photos.  I could stare at this all day and still be amazed. 

I wonder how we might be able to replicate this type of a sculpture in our school?  We have several stair landings that have a lot of window space and a hanging sculpture might just be the thing we need to add excitement to our building.

Balloons and paper mache?  Perhaps we could insert some shrink art pieces that would catch the light so nicely and better replicate the glass???  So much to think about...