The Baker Art Museum
The Baker Museum is currently undergoing expansion and renovation so the only galleries open are the four within the performance hall that currently house a travelling exhibition entitled Fashioning Art from Paper by Isabelle de Borchgrave.
There are a couple of other art-worthy displays including some statues outside the building as well as figures from an exhibit entitled The Four Seasons by Philip Haas. The building which is currently sharing it space with the Baker Museum normally houses just the Philharmonic Orchestra. The decor of this building is quite nice.
When told that the exhibit was of dresses made from paper we were skeptical but reasoned that it was raining and the options were few. Upon entering the first gallery we were all amazed and delighted by the intricacies and beauty of the creations. The vision of this artist to paint, pleat, crumple and manipulate paper to replicate costumes and fashions boggled. Just check out the photos and you will understand.
The Exhibit was on two floors with two galleries on each floor. First, some overhead shots of the first floor with a Dale Chihuly sculpture -- can't go anywhere without seeing at least one of these...
We visited the second floor first. It took some time to appreciate that these dresses were made out of paper, not cloth.
Some closeups to show the detail of this work, merging painted paper fashioned into clothing.
An entire gallery was devoted to paper renditions of the costumes used in the Ballets Russes.
Several of the larger costumes of dancers suspended over an atrium looking down on the gallery below.
Since these were paper versions of costumes used in Russian theatrical productions, there were spectacularly colored and reflected the many different characters for which they were created.
The Splendor of the Medici
All in all, this exhibit has been the best art exhibit of this year's trip. Even better, this was a surprise!
The settlers followed generations of the native Calusas and Seminoles. They hunted the snowy egrets for their plumes, trapped critters for their hides and furs and fished for mullet.
Ted Smallwood
Some black and white pictures of Ted Smallwood through the years, followed by a color picture of him. I was walking into a room in the store and turned around and was surprised since I found this man sitting in a rocking chair. It turned out it was a pretty amazing rendition of Ted: he died in 1951.
The Building
Glass Jars & Bottles
Take a close look at the contents of some of these products: some of the contents are now banned, and justifiably so.
Newspapers and Other Artifacts Pinned on the Wall
Did I say that this museum may not be up to the American Alliance of Museums Standards and Best Practices?
Edgar Watson, Mass Murderer
Chokoloskee Florida is famous for two people: Ted Smallwood and his store, and Edgar Watson, an outlaw and mass murderer. The second image below is of a New York Times article about Edgar Watson on the appearance of a book by Peter Matthiessen who fictionalized the story in his Watson trilogy (Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man's River, Bone by Bone) and retold in the single volume Shadow Country.