Red-Breasted Merganser Pair, date unknown, A. Elmer Crowell, East Harwich, MA The story of how the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art got started is really cool, actually, and started with two brothers, who began carving in their childhood in the early 1900s. Flying Canvasback Pair, 1963, Lem Ward, Crisfield, MD Lemuel T. Ward (1897–1984) and […]
art museum
American Visionary Art Museum Revisited
Bluebird of Happiness, Dick Brown. The American Visionary Art Museum is an unusual art museum. There are no Picassos, no Monets, no Chagalls to be found within its walls, but don’t let that stop you. Black Icarus, Andrew Logan. Instead, you’ll find art made by “every day folk” but these artists didn’t go to school […]
Why the Walters Art Museum Is Best Visited in Sneakers
On the Desert, Jean-Leon Gerome, before 1867 The Walters Art Museum — usually just referred to as “The Walters” — is a public art museum in Baltimore founded and opened in 1934. Its collections were gathered in the mid-1800s and include masterworks of ancient Egypt, Greek sculpture and Roman sarcophagi, medieval ivories, illuminated manuscripts, Renaissance […]
Shenandoah Valley 24-in-24 Challenge
There is so much to see and do in the Shenandoah Valley! The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians (excluding Massanutten Mountain), to the north by the Potomac River and to the south by the James River. Within its […]
How Kids Can Science at the Maryland Science Center!
I kinda wished I was a kid again. Or had young kids again (my kids are all grown). Because the Maryland Science Center is all about kids and science and teaching kids things by simply making it fun to explore ideas and concepts. Yes, I visited the Maryland Science Center as an adult. And without […]
Holiday Lights at Annmarie Sculpture Garden
Just one month of every year the Annmarie Sculpture Garden transforms into a Garden of Lights. As you stroll the quarter-mile, wheel-chair accessible (and stroller accessible) walk, you get to discover a cool light show… wild animals… a magical ocean… wintery wonderlands… aliens… and dragons. In addition, some of the sculptures are incorporated into the […]
Largest Collection of Matisse Paintings at the Baltimore Museum of Art
Interior with Dog, Henri Matisse, 1934, oil on canvas There’s a hidden gem in Baltimore that we either take for granted or tend to overlook: the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA). With more than 95,000 works of art, the BMA has a massive collection. Madonna Adoring the Child with Five Angels, Sandro Botticelli and Studio, […]
Allentown Art Museum
Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing 793A, first installation 1996, India ink and ink color wash. If you enjoy art — or are trying to instill a love of art in your kids — then regional art museums are the way to go. William Glackens, Portrait of Kay Lavelle, @1914, oil on canvas The Allentown Art Museum […]
Westmoreland American Art Museum
I love going to art museums, but I especially love going to small, cozy art museums, such as the Westmoreland American Art Museum, located in Greensburg, PA. Jake (Prodigal Son), 2018, Paige Tibbe, oil on board. The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is a delightful art museum devoted to American art, with a particular concentration […]
National Gallery of Art East Wing
Edward Hopper, “Cape Cod Evening,” 1939, oil on canvas Art museums are different things to different people: must-see obligations for some, art education for others, places of reverie and contemplation for others. For me, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art is a place to visit some old friends — the first modern […]
Exploring Laurel Highlands
With historic forts, outdoor activities such as hiking or white water rafting, historic homes by one of America’s foremost architects, art museums and the Flight 93 Memorial, there is much to do for kids and adults alike in the Laurel Highlands region of Pennsylvania. Whether you dart over there for a daytrip, plan a long […]
Southern Alleghenies Art Museum – Ligonier Valley
This is one of those daytrip surprises I often end up writing about! I was on my way from one daytrip destination — Fort Ligonier — and on my way to another destination (Nemacolin Woodlands Resort), when I passed by this log house. Then I noticed the sculpture in the garden, and happened to see […]
Boal Mansion and Columbus Chapel
What’s an authentic medieval European chapel doing in the middle of Pennsylvania? You’ll have to daytrip to the Boal Mansion, in Boalsburg, to find out! The Boal Estate has been the Boal family home for more than 200 years. During a tour, you learn the story of America as seen through eight generations of one […]
Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts
n late November, I started a series of posts about Lehigh Valley, PA. This is the second installment of this series. To see others in this series, click on the label “Lehigh Valley” below this post. In Bethlehem, PA, there’s a unique museum, inspired by a unique woman who was born just as the Civil War […]
An Afternoon at the Museum
Big cities don’t have a monopoly on art and culture, and modest Hagerstown can attest to that, with its Museum of Fine Arts. What began as an initial gift from the founders has grown into an extraordinary permanent collection that includes over 7,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and other works of art representing a variety […]