Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen is one of my favorite artists of all time. Two years ago, while living in southern Vermont, a friend took me on a day trip to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). (It's strangely situated in the middle of Nowhere, Massachusetts but it is worth every minute of the long journey.) I saw this stunning creature there.


I have been obsessed ever since. The graceful, skeletal forms, monochromatic palette, simple and melodious engineering - they take my breath away.

Because there is so much out there on Jansen and his work, I'm going to link to a fellow blogger who compiled a pretty concise and comprehensive list of images and videos.

I want a strandbeest for a pet.

Tomorrow, another of my favorite artists . . .

Louise Bourgeois at the Hirshhorn

On Saturday, we took a warm excursion to Union Station, the Hirshhorn, and the movies: Union Station was grand and graceful (and worth the trip despite the retail stores and the atrocious breakfast we had at a restaurant there), the movie was underwhelming . . . but the Hirshhorn, ahhh . . . the Hirshhorn is now in my top five "favorite places in DC" list.

Louise Bourgeois is being exhibited at present.

I was overwhelmed by the emotional power of her installations - there is simply no way to do them justice in writing or pictures. If her work comes to a museum near you, you simply must go and commune with her work in person.

Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine - Look for it on youtube.com. Embedding not permitted.