New Year’s Eve Field Trip

I took a trip downtown for the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, wanting to hang out with Evan and see what he thought of some of the cooler things downtown. We hit the Glenbow Museum, Calgary Tower, and Banker’s Hall. Photos and more after the jump…

I took a trip downtown for the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, wanting to hang out with Evan and see what he thought of some of the cooler things downtown. We hit the Glenbow Museum, Calgary Tower, and Banker’s Hall. Photos and more after the jump…


First up was lunch, of course, and then we headed to the Glenbow Museum to check it out. I was totally expecting it to be a running tour, trying to keep him interested. But, he totally surprised me – he loved the whole museum! He kept wanting to see more. We went through the Petra exhibit – the first North American stop on the tour of artifacts from the Jordanian lost city of Petra. That was pretty cool. I was snapping photos the whole way, not realizing that exhibit has a photo ban. Oops. They were pretty cool about it though, which was nice. There was also a craft station, where we got to make all kinds of things, like a mosaic (inspired by the stone/tile mosaics of Petra), and a copper wire figure (also inspired by the exhibit). What a great way to pull kids into the exhibit.
Petra 4

Then, we went though the Niitsitapiisinni Blackfoot exhibit. Evan loved the tipi, and kept referring to the manniquins inside it as “the girls” (he was confused by the long hair, I assume). He also was very interested in the stuffed/mounted buffalo (which was pretty impressive).
Tipi

Next up was the West African “Symbols” exhibit, which was very well done. We watched the traditional dance (via very old video) for a couple of minutes – as long as attention span would allow 🙂 then moved through to the Glenbow Museum School. That’s a nice touch. A classroom set up for kids and families to do interactive stuff like make crafts. We made a mockup of a celebratory hat for New Year’s Eve, using stamps and stencils.
African artifacts exhibit

A few more exhibits, and we made our way back downstairs, heading to the Calgary Tower. 600+ feet up the elevator, and Evan makes a beeline to the glass-floor observation platform. Yikes. But… he doesn’t even pause. Doesn’t even test to see if there’s an invisible floor there. He sees other people standing on it, and that’s good enough for him. He’s pointing out cars and buildings and trains through the floor. Then, I think it sunk in that he was floating over 600 feet above the ground, and he’d had enough of that 🙂
I can see my house!

Quick spin through Banker’s Hall for a Jugo Juice (it was too cold out to hike to Atomic, we wanted to wuss out and stay within the +15 system), and onto the train home. Great day. We’ll be doing that again real soon.

SFMOMA is Podcasting!

SFMOMA PodcastsI just got an email from Peter Samis, the lead Pachyderm wrangler at SFMOMA (complete with signature Tilley). SFMOMA just launched their podcasting program. They’re providing a feed with a variety of content providing information about the exhibits at the museum.

And, here’s the kicker. They’re taking it all the way. Instead of charging a fee for providing this service, they’re providing a discount on museum admission to people who take advantage of the podcasts! Talk about an awesome way to give people an incentive to come to the museum. The best of both worlds – they can take advantage of the podcast without stepping foot into the museum, but if they’re in the area, they get a break for coming in and seeing the collections in person. That’s great!

Good work, Peter (and Tim, and Tana, and all of the elves…) It’s pretty cool to see what you came up with after the initial brainstorming we had over “four cheese pizza” in San Francisco this summer 😉

SFMOMA PodcastsI just got an email from Peter Samis, the lead Pachyderm wrangler at SFMOMA (complete with signature Tilley). SFMOMA just launched their podcasting program. They’re providing a feed with a variety of content providing information about the exhibits at the museum.

And, here’s the kicker. They’re taking it all the way. Instead of charging a fee for providing this service, they’re providing a discount on museum admission to people who take advantage of the podcasts! Talk about an awesome way to give people an incentive to come to the museum. The best of both worlds – they can take advantage of the podcast without stepping foot into the museum, but if they’re in the area, they get a break for coming in and seeing the collections in person. That’s great!

Good work, Peter (and Tim, and Tana, and all of the elves…) It’s pretty cool to see what you came up with after the initial brainstorming we had over “four cheese pizza” in San Francisco this summer 😉

Pachyderm Year 2 Wrapup Day 1

Update: I made a Flickr Album for photos from this trip.

Had a really good first day of meetings. We had a quick lunch on the 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt, overlooking the awesome skyline of San Francisco. Then we got into the recap of the last 2 years, and touched base.

Then, we packed into a bunch of cars, and headed over to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. What a cool museum! We headed straight for the Education Tower, with a spectacular view of The City – from an angle I’d never seen before.

We then proceeded with a tour through the Education Tower offices, and got a brief introduction to their education resources collection. Wow. They’ve put together a series of excellent binders for K-12 (well, 4-9 now, K-12 in January) art education. And they’re providing it free to any teacher. This is some high end stuff, so if you are looking to integrate art into your classroom, give them a shout!

View from De Young Museum TowerDe Young Museum Tower Observation DeckDe Young Museum Tower ExteriorDe Young Museum Torsion

After the tour, we were unleashed into the galleries. We spent most of our time in The Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art – very interesting pieces. And the collection wasn’t just dropped into the gallery – it feels like the rooms were designed completely around and for the collection, providing an immersive and compelling experience.

De Young Museum gallery 2De Young Museum gallery 7

As we moved through to the next gallery, the fire alarm sounded. Emergency doors slid down over every doorway and window. Metal rollers. I was expecting Halon gas to fill the gallery to protect the art, but apparently it was a false alarm. Thankfully so, since the security staff simply herded us into a group on the second floor and left us there with no apparent way to get out. We eventually were led downstairs and out of the building…

We ended the evening at Maya (2nd and Harrison) with a private dining room for the rowdy pachyderms. Some really good food (of course), and fun conversation with the folks on the project. We were also introduced to the new Pachyderm mascots – the iPachyderm. It plugs into an audio source (iPod, computer, whatever) and bops along dancing and barking and blinking and sitting and beeping and wagging and…
Pachydermers @ MayaiPachyderm

Update: I made a Flickr Album for photos from this trip.

Had a really good first day of meetings. We had a quick lunch on the 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt, overlooking the awesome skyline of San Francisco. Then we got into the recap of the last 2 years, and touched base.

Then, we packed into a bunch of cars, and headed over to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. What a cool museum! We headed straight for the Education Tower, with a spectacular view of The City – from an angle I’d never seen before.

We then proceeded with a tour through the Education Tower offices, and got a brief introduction to their education resources collection. Wow. They’ve put together a series of excellent binders for K-12 (well, 4-9 now, K-12 in January) art education. And they’re providing it free to any teacher. This is some high end stuff, so if you are looking to integrate art into your classroom, give them a shout!

View from De Young Museum TowerDe Young Museum Tower Observation DeckDe Young Museum Tower ExteriorDe Young Museum Torsion

After the tour, we were unleashed into the galleries. We spent most of our time in The Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art – very interesting pieces. And the collection wasn’t just dropped into the gallery – it feels like the rooms were designed completely around and for the collection, providing an immersive and compelling experience.

De Young Museum gallery 2De Young Museum gallery 7

As we moved through to the next gallery, the fire alarm sounded. Emergency doors slid down over every doorway and window. Metal rollers. I was expecting Halon gas to fill the gallery to protect the art, but apparently it was a false alarm. Thankfully so, since the security staff simply herded us into a group on the second floor and left us there with no apparent way to get out. We eventually were led downstairs and out of the building…

We ended the evening at Maya (2nd and Harrison) with a private dining room for the rowdy pachyderms. Some really good food (of course), and fun conversation with the folks on the project. We were also introduced to the new Pachyderm mascots – the iPachyderm. It plugs into an audio source (iPod, computer, whatever) and bops along dancing and barking and blinking and sitting and beeping and wagging and…
Pachydermers @ MayaiPachyderm