Woodson Art Museum & Birds In Art 2009

Boy where does the time go? I can't believe how fast last week went by. Now that bowhunting season has opened again, my free time has become even more limited. So before any more time goes by, I figured I'd better finish telling you about my and Lynne's last day in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Late Saturday afternoon, we drove over to the Woodson Art Museum just to make sure we were able to find it for the next day. It's a beautiful place, smack-dab in the middle of an historic residential neighborhood. We were able to do a quick run-through of the Birds in Art exhibit for the final 15 minutes the museum was open that day. Lots of good stuff there and we couldn't wait for Sunday when we'd have more time to enjoy the exhibit.

Sunday dawned sunny and warm once again. Our plan was to check out of the motel early and head over to the Woodson museum by around 11:00. Lynne had gotten in touch with Julie Z. via Facebook on Saturday night, so we planned to meet her at the museum around noon and spend some time with her before she was scheduled to speak at 1:00.

(Don't forget -- you can click on any of these pictures to enlarge them!)

The Woodson Art Museum is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens with lots of trees and even some wildlife. I spotted this cute little red squirrel having a snack.

The gardens also contained a variety of beautiful bronze sculptures. I'm sure most of you have probably seen that e-mail that contains pictures of horses a woman in California makes with driftwood? That's exactly what this horse sculpture looked like. We weren't supposed to touch the sculptures, but this one got the best of me.......I had to tap it with my finger to confirm that it really was bronze and not driftwood.
I liked this sculpture of a pair of wolves.

This fountain of a little child holding ducklings was pretty cute. If you look close at the base the child's standing on, you will see there are ducks there too.

I loved this towering sculpture of cranes. You can't tell from this picture but it was probably about 15 feet tall.

Close to the museum entrance was this sculpture of wood ducks. It reminded Lynne and me of some of the wood ducks we had seen during our Birders Who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outing a few weeks ago.

My favorite was this sculpture of wild turkeys. If I was rich, I would like a sculpture like this in my front yard!

Here's Lynne and me with Julie. What a warm welcome she gave us. It was fun to have a few minutes of her time as she gave us the "artist's tour" of the Birds in Art exhibit. It was really neat to hear some of the stories about her artist friends and their work. Julie's original art works were on display too, so she also shared some stories about her own art with us. We really enjoyed hearing her speak and seeing all her wonderful pictures. It's one thing to see and read the stories on her blog, but hearing her speak in person was really cool. She even gave us special recognition for coming to see her, knowing full well that Chet Baker would not be in attendance!

You can read Julie's blog posts about the Birds in Art 2009 exhibit at this link.


The museum didn't allow cameras into the exhibit hall, but we were able to purchase a beautifully printed catalog of all the artwork displayed in this year's exhibit. Because I'm no artist and can barely draw a stick man, I have a true admiration of artistic talent--especially my favorite theme, birds and wildlife. In closing, I want to share a few of my favorite pieces from the 2009 Birds in Art exhibit.

Duel

by

This is a bronze sculpture! I loved it especially since I once saw a pair of ring-necked pheasants fighting like this on the edge of a soybean field.

Late January Afternoon

by

Even though Cindy created this painting from turkeys spotted in her New Hampshire backyard, I've enjoyed seeing this same scene with real turkeys during a southeastern Minnesota winter.

Sowing Seeds

by

You're going to think I'm nuts, but I've let some of these thistle plants grow in my backyard for goldfinches and butterflies (the flowers are a favorite nectar source of tiger swallowtail butterflies). This scene looked so real I almost expected to see the goldfinch fly right out of it!

The Red, Red Robin
by

I first saw this large block of wood and when I walked around to the front, realized it depicted a corner of a gravestone with a robin perched on top--all carved of wood!

Mountain High

by

These beautiful mountain bluebirds are carved from basswood and the juniper branch they're perched on is made of metal. This was the most amazing sculpture I've ever seen and the detail was unbelievable.


After working in an art gallery for several years, I acquired a much greater appreciation for art. During that time I was fortunate enough to meet Thomas Kinkade and see some of his original works of art. Limited edition prints are wonderful and my house is full of them, but there's really nothing like seeing an original work of art up close.

The 2009 Birds in Art Exhibit will be touring the United States until January of 2011. Shown below is a listing of future dates and venues for this exhibit. If you see that the exhibit is coming anywhere near you, I urge you to take some time and go see it.....I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Saturday Adventures in Wausau

Saturday dawned clear and after making our own waffles at the motel's breakfast bar, Lynne and I were ready to hit the parks around Wausau for some birding adventures. Earlier last week I visited the Travel Wisconson website and printed out some birding information for the Wausau area. It's nice that they have put all that information on-line; it's a great resource for anyone traveling to Wisconsin!

Our first stop was Bluegill Bay, a really nice park right close to town. There were nice walking trails through mixed deciduous and evergreen woods. We saw lots of Cedar Waxwings, a couple of Eastern Phoebes, and some vireos that we weren't able to positively ID (but we were leaning towards Yellow Throated). I heard these Red Breasted Nuthatches long before I saw one. This is the first of these I've seen so far this year. I hope they show up at my feeders again this winter because I think they're such charming little birds!

As the name implied, there was a bay with bluegills in the park. We did see a few of the fish, but were much more excited by the herons we saw. There were several Green Herons present and they weren't at all shy.

There were also Great Blue Herons everywhere we looked! I was thrilled to see this one on the walking path (scratching its chin!)

I tried sneaking up on it, but this bird wasn't nearly as tolerant as the green herons, and took off the other direction when I got within about 30 yards.

Of course, the usual flock of mallards was hanging around, but I did remark to Lynne that it seemed strange we didn't see any Giant Canada Geese here (or anywhere else for that matter!)

And the action wasn't all in the trees or water. I spotted this little leopard frog while I was checking out some flowers at the edge of the river bank. Isn't their camouflage great? I would never have seen this little guy except that he hopped out of my way as I walked across the grass.

Most of the grass was mowed away from the paths, but at the edge of some evergreens, we found this blooming Orange Hawkweed bravely trying to establish itself. You can see how close it came to getting dug out too!

Right next to the parking lot I found these cute little pink flowers, but I can't remember for sure what they are. I've narrowed it down to 2 possibilities: something in the purslane family or one of the wild pinks. If anyone has a positive ID, be sure to leave a comment. Thanks!

Our next stop was Rib Mountain State Park, one of the highest elevations in Wisconsin. From this lookout point, we had a good view of the City of Wausau and we were even able to pick out the Super 8 we were staying at.

At the top of Rib Mountain, I had the chance to climb the 60-foot observation tower (and no, I wasn't able to get to the top without stopping to catch my breath!)

Check out these views! I thought the outside railing was a tad too low, so I stayed close to the interior of the top platform for these shots.

Lynne chose to enjoy the view from the ground and we played "camera duel" as I made my way back down. Hi Lynne!!

For any of you who have been lucky enough to meet Lynne in person, you know how friendly she is. And it's not just humans who are charmed by her.......

Lynne & Max

The granite boulder formations in this park were amazing!

I was fascinated with all the plants and ferns that were able to establish themselves and grow in the cracks of these rocks. (This picture has become the newest desktop wallpaper on my home computer!)

And even though it was close to 80 degrees in the middle of September, signs of fall were everywhere we looked.

Thanks for sharing our Saturday adventures in Wausau, Wisconsin. My next post will feature our visit to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and the "Birds In Art" exhibit, where we got to spend a bit of time with Julie Zickefoose and hear her speak in person!