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Oct. 6th, 2011 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cblj_backupI suspect it was over seventy degrees, but I went to the Art Institute anyway.
I specifically scheduled myself without many Adventures this week, because I knew I'd be settling in, but I've been trying to get to the museum to see the Golden Spider Silk Textile forever, and it's only here through November. The Art Institute is open late on Thursdays, so that's generally when I go.
The textile is the only one of its kind in the world, woven entirely with thread spun from the silk of the female Golden Orb spider, a Madagascar arachnid about the size of an adult human's palm. What you see in that image is a very narrow swatch from it. What you also are seeing there is undyed thread -- the silk from the Golden Orb spider is naturally a brilliant, almost iridescent yellow colour and in person it's quite stunning.
It's magnificent by any standard; I spent a while studying it up close and the weaving itself, without any other context, is flawless. But then you look at the tassle-work on the ends and you can see how delicate and soft the silk itself is. Spider silk-weaving has only been done once before, in the 19th century, and the textile is the result of five years of work and about half a million dollars (you can read more about the process here).
I also got to see a print show called Belligerent Encounters. It's a small sister show to Windows On The War, the major exhibit at the Art Institute right now, which is a display of Soviet anti-German propaganda posters created in the wake of the German invasion during World War II. There are some very beautiful prints in Belligerent Encounters, but the west hall of the gallery focuses on artists depicting the brutality of war (warning, that's a pretty graphic etching), and it's extremely sobering. The combination of beauty, clever design, and disturbing subject matter creates a real sense of cognitive dissonance.
One of the most striking images, for me, was a lithograph entitled 1915, done by Albin Egger-Lienz, an Austrian artist, in the early part of the 20th century.
Anyway, that was this week's Adventure. They'll be fewer until November, because anything I do until November basically can't cost me any money, but my calendar for November is excitingly full...
I specifically scheduled myself without many Adventures this week, because I knew I'd be settling in, but I've been trying to get to the museum to see the Golden Spider Silk Textile forever, and it's only here through November. The Art Institute is open late on Thursdays, so that's generally when I go.
The textile is the only one of its kind in the world, woven entirely with thread spun from the silk of the female Golden Orb spider, a Madagascar arachnid about the size of an adult human's palm. What you see in that image is a very narrow swatch from it. What you also are seeing there is undyed thread -- the silk from the Golden Orb spider is naturally a brilliant, almost iridescent yellow colour and in person it's quite stunning.
It's magnificent by any standard; I spent a while studying it up close and the weaving itself, without any other context, is flawless. But then you look at the tassle-work on the ends and you can see how delicate and soft the silk itself is. Spider silk-weaving has only been done once before, in the 19th century, and the textile is the result of five years of work and about half a million dollars (you can read more about the process here).
I also got to see a print show called Belligerent Encounters. It's a small sister show to Windows On The War, the major exhibit at the Art Institute right now, which is a display of Soviet anti-German propaganda posters created in the wake of the German invasion during World War II. There are some very beautiful prints in Belligerent Encounters, but the west hall of the gallery focuses on artists depicting the brutality of war (warning, that's a pretty graphic etching), and it's extremely sobering. The combination of beauty, clever design, and disturbing subject matter creates a real sense of cognitive dissonance.
One of the most striking images, for me, was a lithograph entitled 1915, done by Albin Egger-Lienz, an Austrian artist, in the early part of the 20th century.
Anyway, that was this week's Adventure. They'll be fewer until November, because anything I do until November basically can't cost me any money, but my calendar for November is excitingly full...
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Date: 2011-10-06 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 12:10 am (UTC)Hope settling in is going well!
~Kris
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Date: 2011-10-07 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 05:34 am (UTC)http://www.openhousechicago.org/page.aspx?pid=2345
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Date: 2011-10-07 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-08 07:02 pm (UTC)I tried to figure out where it lived and where it was traveling but no luck. Sigh!! I'll just have to wait.
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Date: 2011-10-08 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-08 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 11:39 pm (UTC)