A Visit to the Renwick Gallery

Last week I spent a wonderful morning exploring the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. Dedicated to the celebration of contemporary craft, the Renwick Gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is located just across the street from the Old Executive Office Building and up the street from the White House.

One of the things I love about the Renwick Gallery is that they encourage visitors to take photographs in the galleries, and to share them. As I explored the museum, I found myself photographing details of pieces rather than the entire creations. I found myself looking for little details of patterns, texture and colors like I’ve been photographing recently in flowers in my studio.

One of the exhibits I saw (and photographed) was Freeland Buck’s Parallax Gap. This wonderful site-specific installation is suspended from the ceiling of the Grand Salon, Just as painter’s use trompe l’oeil effects in their paintings, Buch used them to recreate nine historic ceilings that appear three-dimensional if you are standing in just the right places in the room.

Here are a few of my photos of details from Parallax Gap

 

 

 

 

 

Connections, the second exhibit I saw, features items from the Renwick’s Permanent Collection. Here are a few of my photos of details of items in the Connections exhibit.

Detail of Judith Schaecter’s The Birth  of Eve

Detail of Billie Ruth Suddoth’s Fibonacci 5

Detail of Lino Taliapeitra’s Mandara

 

Detail of Sabrinia Gschwandtner’s Fibers & Civilization

 

 

Details, patterns and textures are some of the things I look at when I look at the world. Leave a note in the comment section and let me know what sorts of things you see when you look at the world.