Off I Go!

 

Akron is known as Rubber City. Back in the late 1800's, Benjamin Franklin Goodrich (also known as B.F. Goodrich) moved his rubber company here. Firestone, Goodyear and others soon followed and Rubber City was born. But, that is not why I'm here.

Paul Stankard is an internationally acclaimed glass artist and is largely credited with changing the status of glass paperweights from that of “craft” to that of “fine art”. He does incredible work, specializing in flamework. Flamework is a glassworking technique that uses a flame to heat glass rods and then manipulating them into various shapes and forms. It is different from glassblowing where you blow into a blowpipe and create hollow forms. I am a huge Stankard fan. The Akron Art Museum has the largest public collection of Stankard glass therefore I am here. They only had 34 pieces displayed but what a treat it was.

The flowers are all glass incased in glass. The amount of detail is unbelievable.  Also, notice if there are root systems in the work, you might see somethiing special there.  

I turned the corner and saw this.  Scared me.  

Gentleman Walking A Tightrope by Yinki Shonibare

Tell Me by Sasha Gordon
I just liked this

Cummings Center for the History of Psychology is educational and also a lot of fun. The exhibits that talk about early forms of treatment for mental illness (strait jackets, lobotomies, asylum development)along with the home movies of Freud were interesting. There was an exhibit called Psychology Takes Flight where they showed a WWII training movie narrated by Ronald Reagan about the process to become a pilot, navigator or bombardier. There were many interactive exhibits where you could test your memory, your reflexes and ability to multi-task. A WWI aptitude test told me whether or not I should be a cashier or a sales clerk.

Upstairs there was a room dedicated to the David Campbell Postcard Collection. This is a collection of 350,000 postcards. I again bow to people who have a passion, which some may deem an obsession, as people to admire. They were all in boxes or binders but I found my attention span did not allow me to linger and give the attention that these binders probably deserved.

This is just one wall in the room. Many, Many binders.

Speaking of passion, the Lee L. Forman Collection of Bags is located in this museum. It was a very limited display given that the collection contains 12,000 pieces of fine and decorative art.

12,000 bags and these 11 were the total that was displayed.

I spent two nights, all by my lonesome, in a church parking lot.  It was wet and very, very quiet. 

Note: Again, if you leave comments (and you know how I love them), please tell me who you are.  

Note #2: I left Miko home for this particular trip.  She is getting a little old (well, we both are) and I thought she would be happier soaking up the sun back home.