Unmasked

 

ARTFUL: Thursday afternoon, we took a field trip to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) with Annabelle's art class.

While the museum is full of lovely art to look at, for this visit we were focused on the African art galleries, as the class is reading a book called "The African Mask."

SAM has a sizable collection of African masks. The students studied them, did some sketches and presented information about the artifacts.

 Annabelle gave a quick talk about this Nigerian mask. Here's what she had to say. ...

"This is a mask depicting Iyoba Idia. "Iyoba" means "Mother of the Oba"- the Oba being the king at the time. This mask was commissioned along with 3 others just like it by Idia's son, Oba Esigie. Esigie led the kingdom during the 16th century, and it was considered to be a very prosperous time for the kingdom. The masks were used in an annual ceremony to the Oba's mother, and they were passed down from generation to generation. Sadly, this practice ended in 1897 when the British military invaded and stole all 4 masks from the Oba's bedroom."

The masks we saw were all so different. I kind of fancied this one, thinking it looked a bit steampunk. To me, the middle part of it looks kind of like gears.

In a chamber off the African masks exhibit was a special "Lessons from the Institute of Empathy" installation. I loved this colorful mask, found there.

Another thing that caught our eye while at the museum were large posters with a Native American take on a Star Wars Stormtrooper. Very cool!

We couldn't stop at SAM without visiting Elvis. I've always loved this Warhol work.

Why the blank canvas next to the Elvii? This sign explains.

40-plus years on, and I'm still feeling the "absence and loss" of Elvis.

Obligatory photo of Hammering Man outside of SAM.

He wasn't the only one hammering. A big new building is going in across the street, just to SAM's south.

 We noticed some welders way up high, and stopped to watch their sparks fly.

Speaking of watching, below is a bonus shot from the baseball game last Sunday. I was trying to view the crowd through the lens of the glasses of a gentleman in front of me. Kind of an interesting perspective.