Round Museum

When you wander through the Chicago Art Institute there are many things to see. Founded in 1879, it is one of the oldest art museums in America and has a permanent collection of more than 300,000 works of art. There's a chance you might stumble across Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, a Picasso or two, Georges Seurat's "La Grand Jatte" or even Grant Wood's "American Gothic". So why are you looking at the ceiling?

07.06.20

A red door door means "welcome" and it also represents protection from evil. So, someone's knockin' at the door. Somebody's ringing the bell. Someone's peeking in the mail slot. Somebody doesn't look well. Want to open the door and let 'em in?

07.05.20

As America marks another Independence Day in 2020, the bombs bursting in air from this Round fireworks canister carry additional weight and resonance. Our vigilance for the rights, equity, and respect of all people of color must be paired with our resolve for substantive change and growth where we have failed. We can't afford to look backward at traditions without making positive changes to impact our future.

07.04.20

Floating there in the morning light, a Round lily pad creates some shade for the fish pond. A home for dragonflies and a nursery for beetle eggs, what it's really waiting for is a frog.

07.03.20

Any trip to New Orleans is bound to include plenty of music, drink, revelry, Creole cuisine, maybe a little voodoo. The Voodoo Museum was founded in 1972 by local artist Charles Massicot Gandolfo, and showcases a variety of objects including antique voodoo dolls, talismans, taxidermied animals, and the kneeling bench of the famed Voodoo priestess Maria Laveau. In New Orleans voodoo, the snake is not evil, but a representation of Li Grande Zombi, the major serpent spirit of voodoo worship and a link to ancient intuitive knowledge.

With the coronavirus crisis affecting everything, it seems like baseball may never get started, so here's an apt visual metaphor for our existence these days. Feeling locked down. Can't move. Hygiene occasionally approaching dirt ball status.

07.01.20

June 30th is the Fourth Roundiversary of the official Round Museum opening back in 2016! Launched with 80 "objects" in four themed galleries, the collection has grown steadily every day since with 13 galleries and more than 1,400 Du Jours of just about every color, size and... well... you know what shape. We've been lucky enough to have more than 70 different contributors share their Round treasures and stories –– thanks so much to each of you! But, who's counting?

06.30.20

A little water, a Round iron can, some oxygen plus plenty of time equals oxidation forming a rusty ring on your wood deck. With air and water forming a weak carbonic acid, iron will start to dissolve and actually combine with oxygen at the atomic level. But now what? A little lemon juice, some baking soda, a stiff nylon scrub brush plus plenty of elbow grease equals a sore arm later today.

06.29.20

Hiking along the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin, you can see the unique variety of nature laid before you with peaceful forests, open prairies, and rocky terrain carved by ancient glaciers more than 12,000 years ago. With more than a thousand miles to explore, don't be surprised if you run across a 410 million year-old dolomite, a quartzite from 1.6 billion years ago, or a bumble bee harvesting pollen from a bright pink allium right this very second.

06.28.20

It's time for summer corn, so hit up your local farmer's market for some fresh tender ears. Better yet, get out to a cornfield and pick your own. It is the foundation crop of modern American agriculture and a central part of indigenous civilizations of the Americas for thousands of years before that. So gather your cobs. Shuck 'em. Silk 'em. Boil 'em. Butter 'em. Eat 'em. Any questions?

06.27.20