Chazen Art Museum

 A few families from our homeschooling group went on a field trip to the Chazen Art Museum. They have a special exhibit entitled "Life, Love, and Marriage in the Renaissance" Link HERE 

 We were there early because parking is always an issue.  But we got there almost an hour early. Yes, that tells you about parking on the UW campus area.  I did not, however have any parking issues because I didn't drive my gigundo 15 passenger van but the smaller car. If you have 6'9" clearance of less you are good to go. If not, you want to do your homework early and figure out where to park and how long it will take you to walk to the museum. Again, such is parking on the UW campus.... at least for large families!

 Since we were early we paid a visit Our Lord at St. Paul's campus chapel. 

 A quick start of a chess game, if there is a chess board in the vicinity, my children are likely to find it.

 We continued to walk around a bit enjoying the scenery

 The children mentioned that the P family took their photo in front of this building on this Bucky Badger so they wanted to as well.  Sun was in the wrong place.

 So we had to take it from the back side. But I figured Eowyn would enjoy the huge boooks.

 The water is particularly high this year due to some rather intense rains and flooding.

 Just a few snaps as we waited inside.

 Our tour begins.  We had a great tour guide. She first took us up to the Ancient exhibit.

 No idea what this is suppose to be but thought it comical. It's like one big photo bomb

This is part of the permanent collection of Renaissance art. It was very fascinating to see various decades/centuries of art styles, the peak of beauty and detail seems to be the Renaissance era.

 As times got more "modern" art turned from religious to... food (belly) or the earthy.

 Under this "table" was a dark man bent as if he is carrying it. Can you find his head?!

 The Baroque era seemed to lack the depth of art, though still much beauty.

 A view on the bridge between the old and new museum.  I was not previously aware of how large the museum of art is.  We hardly saw even a fraction of it.

 Hand blown glass in the Venetian style, it was used as a noise barrier originally. Doesn't seem like it would be much of a sound proofing but I guess on some level it is.

 This Bunny was almost freakish the way it would "look" at you. 

 Picasso part 1, drawing

 PIcasso part 2 - cut out in paper

Picasso part 3 - cut out in metal

Methinks Picasso had issues, no? 

 This was one ugly piece of art but perhaps is appropriate for the messy time in the Church today. Sin abounds but thankfully the Church is not about the sinners but saving the sinners by Christ Himself, about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, about Grace, about our Eternal Reward in Heaven.  We can be surrounded by messy but still be at peace with God.

 This was a really neat painting. These are all birds of Wisconsin. Seriously, I think every single bird was represented. It was very interesting.

 I don't know, just plain weird.

 Now for the exhibit we came for. The background history and moving through the eras of art brought this even more alive. Or at least our docent did a great job leading up to this.

 Ceremonial armor (vs the armor used for battle). 

 Decorative shield with family crests in the middle

 During the Renaissance era, marriage was about uniting 2 families.  These marriage chests depicted the family crests on each end. In this case they have cupid in the middle helping unite families with a peaceful background.  There was an attempt made to unite families as one marries into a family. 

 In the chests would be special gifts, or the dowry, like dishes, or statues that show wealth

 or in this case a pair of shoes... yes, this is a pair of shoes and those are the heels. Seriously.

 Tapestries which also held meanings.  The Pomegranate was a sign of life, the thistles indicated that a family was religious (think Crown of Thorns).  So much meaning

 Many pieces of art that were previously on a marriage chest.  Each story has meaning for the family in some way.

 They had a table where we could make our own crest with various symbols (using stampers)

 Afterwards we had a picnic lunch (some of us ate from the UW Campus "carts") and then helped ourselves to a Babcock Hall ice cream. YUM

In the event you'd like to do this, you can bring your lunches right into the museum and they will have a locking cart for your group. Great idea! 

Lunch carts.