What a lazy, lovely week we've had with Carl home. Thank you Carl's work for deciding that all non-essential staff did not need to be in the office between Christmas Eve and today! We had a couple of lovely outings, including a visit to Australia's newest national institution, the National Portrait Gallery, which opened in December.
We parked adjacent to the National Gallery of Australia and sauntered through the Sculpture Garden on our way to the marvellous new gallery. I was quite taken with the heads in the pond!
Romily and Tristan checked out the sculptures on the other side of the gangway.
Then we spotted this lovely chrome sculpture. Romily didn't know what to make of it, so Carl showed her that if you knocked on it, a sonorous clanging sound was produced, adding depth to the reflective properties of this rather large work.
She was a bit shy, hanging back and letting Daddy do it!
A lovely eucalypt-lined walkway down to the lake (and I do realise I've used 'lovely' three times in this post already!)
And finally we made it to the front entrance:
It's a beautiful piece of architecture - especially the use of Australian timber throughout.
Unfortunately I can't show you any of the artworks, as no photography is allowed. But if you want to check it out, here's the
website. There are works by masters old and new, and portraits in many different media, including video installations. It's great to see so much more of the collection on display than was available in its previous location in Old Parliament House.
Hopefully I'll get the chance to go back without kids one day - Rom was very well behaved, but a 3yo can only take so many paintings and photographs of people she doesn't know! I don't know why they don't include a special interpretive area for kids so that they can get a better understanding of what art is all about. It's definitely not a kid-friendly venue. If our country truly wants to nurture the artists of the future, it's about time the government funded some better children's programs. Nuff said!
Carl's back to work tomorrow, more's the pity. So it's back to our normal routine folks. Stay tuned for sporadic crafting news!
Thank goodness we went to Floriade the weekend before last! We had the most perfect weather and the flowers were looking beautiful. Since our visit we've had the dust storm, strong winds, heavy rain and freezing temps! I don't think the flowers would be faring too well with all that crazy weather.
Fortunately, we'd already had our visit to Black Mountain a few days earlier, or the view wouldn't have been like this!
What a lazy, lovely week we've had with Carl home. Thank you Carl's work for deciding that all non-essential staff did not need to be in the office between Christmas Eve and today! We had a couple of lovely outings, including a visit to Australia's newest national institution, the National Portrait Gallery, which opened in December.
And finally we made it to the front entrance:
It's a beautiful piece of architecture - especially the use of Australian timber throughout.
Unfortunately I can't show you any of the artworks, as no photography is allowed. But if you want to check it out, here's the website. There are works by masters old and new, and portraits in many different media, including video installations. It's great to see so much more of the collection on display than was available in its previous location in Old Parliament House.