Title: November 3, 2016 – Seattle, Day V: EMP, OSP, SAM
Hike Info : Description : Background
Hike Info:
Type: Walking
Distance: 6.03 miles
Start Time: 2:59 (9:45am at EMP)
End Time: 7:48
End Time: 7:48
Travel Time: 4:49
Elevation Rise: 478'
GPS Tracks| Places We Went To | Our List Of Places to Go |
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We decided to get a bit earlier start
today, and we did. But before we got out of the hotel, we needed to
have our normal breakfast. I have a large breakfast as I think we
will be out for much of the day with the schedule we are thinking of.
EMP
(Experience Music Project) Museum (It is now called the Museum of
Pop Culture-MoPop):
- We get to the EMP Museum before 10. EMP is shorthand for Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum. We get in close to when the doors open. We meet a lady from Modesto who is working the counter. Then it is upstairs to visit what they have on Jimi Hendrix. Interesting, but short. Then we see the set up for Nirvana and Kurt Cobain-I was not really interested.
Wizard of Oz Guard 
Bug Vision Movie Now we start hitting some interesting stuff. They have a large display of Fantasy and Horror. I listen to an interview with George RR Martin. I know that Steven is interested in him-maybe I will borrow one of his books and see if his writing is as interesting as his speaking. Sherri even seems mildly interested. There is a test of what kind of character you would be. Me: Unlikely Hero while Sherri is the Wise Wizard. It figures.- The Horror section is interesting because it traces the roots of the genre and how it developed. They show clips of films like Psycho and the Little Shop of Horror. Along with many other films showing the development of horror. They also have 13 points of types of horror. But this was not a source of great interest for us.
- But leading out of horror is the SciFi part of the museum. This gets my interest! Some on Star Wars, but much more on earlier movies as well and more contemporary. They said that the outfits are part of the original set. There is even a plasma pack from Ghostbusters. Movies like Dune, Alien, and, of course, Star Wars and Star Trek. Maybe Sherri will get interested in things like this.
Star Trek's Enterprise 
Original Set of Star Trek But the best is yet to come. There is a whole section designated to Star Trek. It is an additional $5 ticket, but it is worth it. Original sets and costumes, with explanations. For someone who grew up loving the original series with Spock and Kirk and the rest. This exhibit gives the opportunity to relive those memories. But it is not just the original show, but the subsequent series and movies which are on display. Clips of shows and movies are running continuously. We spent a major portion of our time here.
We Have Joined The Borg 
One more set
of displays attract our attention: wearable art. I did not see any
duct tape dresses, but there was a plastic tie outfit. These are
just strange outfits which I am sure someone designed in
seriousness.
It is around 2pm, and after spending
so much time at the EMP, we head back to the hotel room, a short
distance away. There we rest for a little while and eat the left
overs from Buca from Tuesday night. As it is getting close to three,
we decide we will not do the full expedition which we thought we
would hit today, but for sure hit the Olympic Sculpture Park and the
Seattle Art Museum.
Did I say this is the first sunny day
we have had in Seattle? Not that that has stopped us. So we strolled
down to the Olympic
Sculpture Park, which is part of the Seattle
Art Museum. The first impression is the best: it is clean, green,
peaceful and graceful. Many people are out to enjoy this combination
and the sun. As such, it would be a very good park. The art is of the
“Do Not Touch” variety, even though there is one which appears to
be more park bench which I came close to sitting on. But now we are
wondering about the art and as we wander through the park, there is
much to wonder about.
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| Top of Olympic Sculpture Park |
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| Space Needle |
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| View from OSP's path |
First, let me say a bit about the
layout. There is a single compressed granite path through the park.
It has three legs which starts up on Western Ave and ends by a path
which goes along the waterfront. There are three legs which include
crossings over railroad tracks and roads. All of the crossings appear
to be part of the park as they are cross tops so it gives a seamless
appearance to the park. As we were looking at one of the pieces a
woman comes up to us and introduces herself as someone who lives in
the high rise above the park. She gives us some background concerning
the area. The ground we stand on was one of the more polluted areas
of the country, a brown field, until the park was created by the
Shirley's. We confessed that many of the exhibits are beyond our
comprehension-she said that is what most people think as well. After
talking with us, she continues on her walk and we ours. Some of the
exhibits we looked at are (the descriptions come from a pamphlet
from the Seattle Art Museum):
- Two Plane Vertical Horizontal Variation III (1973), George Rickey Rickey, one of the pioneers who brought motion to abstract sculpture builds on the innovations of American peers Alexander Calder and David Smith. Mixing subtle lyricism with industrial materials, his Two Plane Vertical Horizontal Variation III, is a mature example of the artist's kinetic sculpture. I do not see a ll of this, more of two metal boxes attached to a pole. I wonder if on a windy day if any of it moves. In which case, I think it would be cute to have in my backyard, but nothing to really think about.
Richard Serra, Wake. For Serra, spaces is a substance as tangible as sculpture. The towering, curved steel forms were achieved with computer imaging and a machine that once made nuclear submarines. Wake is composed of five identical modules, each with paired S-shapes-gently curved serpentines of convex and concave sections suggesting tidal waves or profiles of battleships. This is the piece which we spent the most time looking at. There was something about it which suggested gracefulness and power.
Alexander
Calder, Eagle.
American sculpture Calder studied mechanical engineering
before studying art. The Eagle reveals the artist's distinctive
combination of pragmatism and poetry. Architectural in its
construction and scale, it displays its curving wings, assertive
stance and pointy beak in a form that is weightless, colorful and
abstract. I am not sure about
the weightlessness of the form, but when I first saw it I was
thinking it is a bunch of girders painted orange. But as we were
walking along, there was a scene where the Space Needle was a
backdrop for it and it seemed to fit the environment.- Roy McMakin, Untitled, or known locally as the Bench. Untitled is a playful group of three seating elements, creating a witty dialogue amongst unlikely surfaces on which to sit: an awkward concrete bench, a weather resistant form based upon a banker's box, and a generic lawn-chair in bronze. These sculpture objects capture McMakin's sense of visual play and physical humor, in which things are not what they appear to be. There is truth in that last statement. The lady we talked to said when she looked out her window one night and saw the box, she called it in because she thought it was a bomb. On the other hand, when the lady came up, I was contemplating if the bench was a park bench or a piece of art.
Louise
Bourgeois, Father
and Son.
Louise Bourgeois created Father and Son specifically for
the Olympic Sculpture Park. As the fountain's water rises and falls,
father and son each in turn, are engulfed in water and separated.
It's an impossible and poignant situation, as the two face each
other with arms outstretched, striving to overcome the divide.
This is one of the more pleasing to the eye pieces in the park. But
when you read the description, you wonder about the pleasantness of
it.
Jaume Plensa, Echo. One of
the world's foremost sculptors, Plensa modeled Echo on the 9-year
old daughter if a restaurant owner near the artist's studio in
Barcelona. The sculpture's title references Echo, the mountain nymph
from Greek Mythology, who offend the goddess Hera. To punish Echo.
Hera deprived the nymph of speech, except for the ability to repeat
the last words of another. In this monumental sculpture, over 46
feet tall, Echo listens with her eyes closed or in a state of
meditation. She faces Puget Sound in the direction of Mount Olympus,
visible from land and water. We
first saw the back side of this statue. While interesting, it seemed
to be mostly a while column with some irregularities. So we chalked
it up to the rest of the art which we did not understand. But then
we rounded the cornor and got onto the Alaskan Way bike-way and
suddenly it became clear-there is a face on this column. What is
this face? What does it mean. Then read the description and
understood the mythology it was representing. Now the question is,
why here? What is Plensa trying to say?
Seattle
Art Museum (SAM). Since we are along the water
front, we decide to walk down it further. Pretty nice views. We pass
by the Echo piece before hitting the dock area. The boats are there.
The question which we ask ourselves, is that Mt Rainier to the south?
Whatever it is, it is big. This is an enjoyable walk. When we come
close to Pike Market, we head up a set of stairs-we are getting our
workout today. Then we head south on 1st Street for a
block or two and there is the SAM.
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| Sunset from SAM |
Next up on our list, and we were thinking this would be the last one is the
Today is free day-the first Thursday
of each month. Also they have an add-on exhibit of the works of the
fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. Neither of us are interested, so
we do not pay for that exhibit. This building is huge and
spacious-definitely not crammed full of stuff. There is a heavy
emphasis on the art of the the natives of the region. But the
overwhelming items on display would be of more modern form. As such,
all of this does not interest me. But I tag a long and try to make
sense of what I am seeing-but I am not successful. We go through a
whole slew of exhibits, but only a few catch my consciousness.
Strangely, it is pretty tiring for me. I sit down every chance I get;
Sherri seems to have more energy than I do.
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| Looking for Piroshky Piroshky |
But after awhile, we are ready to
leave. We step out into the evening air. Do we want to go on to
someplace else? By now we are hungry. So the decision is lets find a
place to eat. We try going past Piroshky Piroshky, but it is closed.
Cafe Belltown does not seem to be too appealing to us. But there was
some pizza places which we have walked by. So we will try one of
them.
We come to LaVita e Bella Pizzeria
and look in. Does not seem to be too busy. Is that good? Or does that
mean that we should stay away? We go in and are greeted by staff
with a heavy Italian accent (I do notice that much of the staff is
Hispanic though). We get seat at a window where we can lookout at 2nd
Street. The menu looks good-I have stromboli; Sherri is having their
special. When they come, much to our delight, they taste real good.
Mine is just what I was craving. Sherri is well past satisfied. One
of those delights of the day.
Now it is time to get back to the
hotel and pack for tomorrow.
Background
My trip
advisor ratings and comments:
- EMP Museum. 4.5 stars. We spent 4 hours in this museum. You can view this as a hodgepodge of collections or as a wide vatiety of interest with enough to keep you occupied for hours. With emphasis on music which came out of Seattle (Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana being the principle examples) and on Science Fiction, you had better be interested in these two areas to get your money's worth. If you are, then there is “bonus” related areas to hold onto you long: Fantasy and Horror. Then there is an added price attraction of Star Trek memorabilia which is good to wander through. My assessment is it was well worth going to, but would I want to come back many times?
- Olympic Sculpture Park. 3.5 stars. The park itself is a joy to walk in, particularly if it is sunny like the afternoon we were in it. It is clean, inviting and refreshing. The problem which I had was the sculptures. Most of them I did not “get it” and certainly did not appreciate them. A few did cause me to ponder such as the Wake or Echo. The father and Son fountain was interesting to see. So by all means visit the park and enjoy. Seattle needs to be congratulated for having this park, even if I cannot appreciate the art in it.
- Seattle Art Museum. 3 stars. Please do not take the three stars as a quality of SAM, but more of my enjoyment of it. This museum is heavy into modern art and it is not for me. The museum, is spacious and well lite. If it was of art I am interested in, it would be a four or five star rating.
- LaVita e Bella Pizzeria. 4.5 stars. This restaurant was amazing. The food was great and the service outstanding. The price was reasonable for the quality of the food. (Sherri's Review)
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