Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts – Springfield Massachusetts

There were two art museums within the pavilion but we’d gotten to the museums rather late and basically had to run through what we could. As such we had to only chose one of the two art museums. We chose the one with a Georgia O’Keefe and a Monet, neither of which my travel companion had seen before.

This was such a sweet little art museum. Not too big. Not too stuck on itself. Just the right atmosphere. There were some neat abstract sculptures and paintings I felt like I could have made…. if only I could find some rich people to ̶c̶o̶n̶, er, sell to.. *whistles innocently*

Most of the other pieces were impressive in their own ways. There were lots of European portraits which seemed to be confused as to how children should be composed… with boards for necks? Sure, why not. And one with a wealthy gent leaned back in in a pose I can only describe as “Tinder the 1700’s Version.” There were some poignant African American and black pieces. But with 15 minutes left on the clock until closing we had found neither Georgia O’Keefe (who I struggled to categorize) or Monet. Luckily the impressionists were a few rooms over and there was the usual line-up of Degas and Monet. Degas was predictable. Ballerinas. Monet though…. who knew he painted pink hay bales?! Were they supposed to be pink or did they just age weird?? I have no answers.

We had to ask the desk clerk for O’Keefe. We’d passed by hers it was so unimpressive and entirely not flowered. It was a simple, very flat, depiction of a gray mountain landscape. Underwhelming for sure. I was kind of annoyed by this… both O’Keefe and Monet were… atypical. But my companion was happy, so I was happy for him. Besides, I’d seen so much nightmare fuel to keep me bust it was still worth it. We made a note to maybe come back some day and see the other art museum as well as the Springfield Historical Society’s Museum.

This was a great art museum if you’re just starting out going to art museums. It wasn’t too big or overwhelming but still managed to be interesting. At no point was I stopped in my tracks and crying, which is always a plus with me in art museums! It was a nice entry point for starting to learn about the different art movements.

November 14, 2023 0

Dr Suess Museum – Springfield Massachusetts

After going to The Titanic Museum we discovered that the Dr Suess Museum, which has been recommended by several people over the years, was just across town so we decided to go poke at it. I didn’t really know what to expect. Why were adults telling me, a childless person, to come here?

As it turns out the museum is sitting in a little village of museums. Ticket prices on this day were $25 which seemed excessive until we realized it for admission to all the museums in this pavillion and the one across the street. In all this included the Dr Suess Museum, a science museum, two art museums, and a museum dedicated to the history of Springfield Massachusetts. Well, OK then, let’s go check them out!

The people running the museums were delightfully cheerful and seemed happy to see a couple adults strolling in. This place was VERY child-friendly, obviously. The pavilion was filled with huge Dr Suess inspired sculptures of our most beloved Suess creatures. It was really cute!

Inside the museum we were greeted by a man who told us the first floor was a museum for all ages and upstairs were the more serious exhibits. Of course, we had to go through both! And being as we both have ADD pretty bad this entire place was setting off all our dopamine centers much to our pure joy. The colors were bright, the sculptures we darling, and all the displays down here had some sort of interactive element encouraging children and silly adults alike to press buttons, take selfies, and build whimsical structures. We had the most fun with a series of buttons that just made seemingly random silly noises. OKaaaay, I can see what the draw to this place was. Even though it’s CLEARLY for children it’s goddamn delightful! All ages indeed!

Upstairs we found a more typical museum with artifacts and explanatory plaques. There was a whole room dedicated to showing how the bronze statues out front were created, another that was a replica of Suess’ wonderfully whimsical living room, and even Dr Suess’ baby book and the most ADORABLE pair of tiny children’s boots he was apparently given to wear at some point in his life. My companion was intrigued by the weird blunder bust-like rifle which was owned by Suess’ father and apparently inspired some of his artwork. Thing was massive. Could have taken out an elephant or at least a shoulder with the blowback!

I however was most touched by the original drawings and bizarre but hilarious little letters he wrote. I found it oddly inspiring. Made me want to get back to my own ridiculous flights of fancy – be they writing, drawing, sculpting, or whatever else I’m into! This place was well worth the visit for any lovers of Suess’ work, people interested in the local history, or just anyone with a sense of childlike wonder. Stay tuned and I will be posting my adventures in some of the other museums in the coming few days.

November 12, 2023 0

Titanic Museum – Springfield Massachusetts

Lately we haven’t really gone anywhere different. There’s been a lot of antique stores, some hikes and cemeteries, but we were looking to shake things up a bit when we found the Titanic Historic Society and Museum in a book of local museums. Something about this peaked my companion’s interest and off we went!

Finding this place was difficult because we did not know that it wasn’t a standalone building, it was a museum within Henry’s jewelry store. And it was one of those things where you just are completely unsure of the whole premise. It looked pretty rough! With old clouded up windows housing a half-dead Christmas cactus and a bunch of seemingly random cheap looking things that seemed unrelated to jewelry. When we walked in, we expected to see jewelry cases and a big open-air area. No. This place seemed mostly filled with greeting cards and… clutter. Visions of Cookie’s danced in our heads, and we wondered if we were about to topple down some serial killer’s rabbit hole.

Quietly we walked to the back where an old woman sat at the counter and we requested a ticket, two rather, to see the Titanic Museum. She seemed absolutely thrilled someone had come by for this excitedly exclaiming, “I should turn on the lights for you then!”

And there in two very stuffed back rooms was the museum which we were very graciously led around and told about. She requested we don’t take any photos (but did allow us to take a few shots of the model Titanic in the jewelry store which was built over the course of a year by a model airplane builder before being tested on the water!) These two back rooms contained a lot of things from the Titanic’s “sister ships” as well as memorabilia from the movie Titanic. There were flags, passports, diagrams, a few photographs, photo albums of other museums and the making of the movie. It did have a few pieces of the Titanic but I guess over the years they’d been donated to other museums. What I found most interesting was the radar machine used to find the Titanic which was here.

She told us about locals on the boat, how her Titanic society had consulted on the film and how her relatives got to have a small scene as extras. She showed us photos of the survivors, including three dogs who were smuggled out of the kennels and kept in their owner’s rooms against policy. Not surprisingly they were all lap dogs owned by what I presume to be wealthy white women. I may be wrong. Call it a hunch. But they were all tiny. Another interesting thing I learned is that one of the reasons we have photos onboard the Titanic is because a priest whose hobby was photography took the liner from England to Ireland and was persuaded not to go back on it as it sailed off across the sea. This also explains why all the photos are of the same areas – none of steerage or the coal room for example.

So despite our initial ambivalence of this museum it was actually pretty interesting, quite affordable, and a very unique experience. However, I wouldn’t suggest it to everyone. It was definitely something I think would be more niche. If the Titanic is your special interest by all means find this place! If you’re not already highly interested in this subject matter it’s probably not for you. It’s definitely not set up for children if that’s what you’re looking for in a museum. Although it did inspire us to put down some of the other Titanic museums on our bucket list though they’re not in New England. The one in Branson Missouri for instance you have to enter through a giant fake iceberg! Because OF COURSE that’s the way they’d set that up. It’s Branson! The most mind-fucky town I ever had the pleasure of driving through – a family friendly gambling town where old movie sets go to become a super garish string of tourist traps. The Titanic fits right in! Still… they recreated the master staircase to the T. And that could be fun… perhaps on some future venture when we break out of New England again…

November 11, 2023 0