Wonder

Remind me never to hit up a museum/gallery on a holiday again. Especially, a newly renovated museum/gallery housing a word-of-mouth popular exhibit that is leaving DC in awe and wonder.

So Dani and I wanted to finally check out the WONDER exhibit at Renwick Gallery (a part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum). We had this quote-on-quote great idea to go on Monday mainly because it was MLK Jr. Day. Here in DC, not many companies observe the holiday (shame on them!) so we thought, hey, it may not be so crazy. Crazy = long ass, wrapped around the block lines.

We were so wrong.

The museum opens up at 10am, right? Well, Dani got there roughly 20 minutes early and still, AND STILL, there was a long ass line forming. And it was bloody cold that day. Wind chill in full effect. Not a game. But it wasn't a game for those in line either cause they wanted to be one of the first group to enter the exhibit. Thankfully, the long ass line moved pretty quickly inside.

Patrick Dougherty, Shindig
The first art work you see when entering the gallery is Shindig. It takes up the whole room.
Patrick used willow osiers and saplings to weave pods into different shapes and sizes.
Since this was the first stop, the room was packed.
It was hard to get good photos of the remaining art work.

Gabriel Dawe, Plexus A1
Just imagine coming face to face with a rainbow.
And the rainbow was made out of embroidery thread snaked from the floor to the ceiling.
It's quite a view.

But inside was crazy, too. Lots and lots of children. We totally forgot schools were closed. Oops. Capturing the amazing pieces of art without anyone around was definitely a task.

Tara Donovan, Untitled
How effin' long did this take Tara to create?!!
My goodness.
I could just imagine her zoned out, a glass of wine on hand, placing one index card on top of the other...
...until it forms into a grand tower.
A tower going in a spiral formation with curves and angles weaving into each other.
And doing so over and over again until there are ten towers.
Talk about patience.

There was a long ass line to the 2nd floor, as well. The tour guide informed us it'll be a 35 minute wait to enter inside to see the rest of the exhibit. If we decide not to stand in line, we could go into the Grand Salon (main lobby/waiting area) to sit, relax, and observe another WONDER art installation.

Janet Echelman, 1.8
This installation is a suspended net hanging from the ceiling.
Janet was inspired by the tsunami waves.
A cool feature is that it changes to different colors under the lights.

We chose to sit, relax, and observe. But just for a little bit because we were hungry. So off to GCDC we went. And, oh boy, it was yummy in my tummy.

I plan to return back to the Renwick Gallery so this post can be updated with the remaining art works (9 in total). There's plenty of time left, too. Some of the pieces are on view until May 2016. Others until July 2016. The only piece that has been acquired by Renwick Gallery is Volume by Leo Villareal. Oh and photos are encouraged! That means cameras of any kind are allowed.