Round Museum

While there are many naturally round forms in this world, a pine cone wreath is not one of them. It would be fun if the Christmas pine tree spit out cone rings that are ready to hang. But, of course it’s not grown, it’s made. With a little frosty white paint, some wire and berries, you’ll be displaying some creative winter décor in no time.

12.23.20
WREATH WEEK

Sunflowers. Tiny gourds and berries. A blaze of orange leaves. Christmas is coming here real soon, but around these parts, autumn hasn't yet released its hold on this doorway.

12.21.20
WREATH WEEK

Euell Gibbons was an outdoorsman, naturalist author and wild food eater in the 1970’s, known for asking such things as "Ever eat a pine tree?" But would Euell eat a wreath? An early health food advocate and avid forager in his day, he had stalked quite a few weeds, stinging nettle and cattails for his dinner plate, so he probably would give a wreath a go. Might taste like wild hickory nuts.

12.20.20
WREATH WEEK

Who will be knocking at the door tonight? Inside the beautiful ringed wreath of flowers, a disembodied hand knocker awaits some ghostly arrivals. Scrooge will soon be entertaining four guests, but doesn’t know it yet. Will they bring bittersweet memories from the past? Frivolity of holiday parties at present? Or darkness yet to come? Welcoming redemption is like the light of morning’s horizon.

12.19.20
WREATH WEEK

From fields and meadows to this plain wooden door, wildflowers and wild grasses bring a beautiful, elegant swirl of sunshine gold and deep burgundy dried petals, lacy stems and leaves. It could be a crown for a woodland nymph. Is she here? Ferns woven into her hair? Napping on a bed of moss?

12.18.20
WREATH WEEK

Since the early 1900s in Philadelphia, the 348-acre Franklin D. Roosevelt Park has been a recreational oasis for many. The Path Walkers. The Ball Throwers, Hitters and Kickers. The Picnickers. The American Swedish Historical Museum-Goers. The Bird Watchers. The Halfpipe Skaters. Over by Meadow Lake, the Water Gazer might take a quiet moment of contemplation within the eight Doric columns of the Gazebo. But look around carefully, Round Seeker! You don't want to miss the striking sky-blue Guastavino tiles lining the dome above.

12.17.20

If you stare long enough at this molecular menagerie of Rounds you'll start seeing things. It's like a three dimensional M.C. Escher illusion -- are the radiating spheres moving away or coming toward you? Growing or shrinking or both at once? If you get close, you'll see hundreds of reflections staring back at you. Keep staring.

12.16.20

The Pratt & Whitney Hornet series occupies a significant place in the development of reliable and powerful engines for both commercial and military operators. This R-1860-B Hornet was manufactured for the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1932. The engine is most closely associated with the Sikorsky S-40 and S-41B flying boats. Subsequently, Pratt & Whitney engines powered nearly every flying boat built by Sikorsky.

12.15.20

Is it one of those days? You know, where it just feels like you're all alone in a dark, empty warehouse stuck head first inside a neon sun hanging on the wall? Yeah... me too. It's Monday.

12.14.20

In the "wheat-germy, hippie-ish environs" of Portland, Oregon, you are bound to find a bicycle rider or fifty at any intersection. In the city frequently lampooned for its hipster culture, ubiquitous coffee shops, and never too many piercings, a bike-centric monument at its busiest bicycling intersection is a good thing. At the corner of North Williams and Cook, sculptor Ivan McLean brings forth the "Gear Sphere", a six-foot diameter globe made from 1,300 chainrings and rear cassettes gleefully rusting away amongst the plantings.

12.13.20