Shelburne Museum Day 1

We considered visiting the Shelburne Farm today, but since the weather prediction was "iffy", we decided to tackle the Shelburne Museum instead.   It's a whole lot more than a museum!  

Briefly...it was founded by Electra Havemeyer Webb in 1947.  Clearly she had more money than she knew what to do with ;o)  I believe the "museum" covers 40+ acres, houses more than 150,000 items, exhibited in 39 buildings, many of which are historical.  While there are 2 - 3 art galleries, it's more like a "collection of collections".  It just goes on and on and on and after 5 1/2 hours, we ran out of time (and steam).

The grounds are quite lovely and incorporate 22 separate gardens.

The Round Barn from the parking area

Welcome Garden

We started by visiting the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education.  There was a traveling exhibition called "Playing Cowboy: America's Wild West Shows".  There were displays regarding Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Shows, old movies, and bronze statues depicting cowboys and Indians, among other items.  This mural reminded me of Ray Martineau, Dan's dad.  I'm not sure he would be flattered, tho.

There was also a huge wall display showing dried bugs as art and wallpaper, of all things.

Kind of weird and freaky...it was seriously an entire wall!!!  I think this exhibition was called "In the Garden".

There was a nice view of the property from inside this building, which sits up on the hill.

One of the historical structures on the property is the Ticonderoga, a Lake Champlain steamboat.  

More on that in tomorrow's post.

We happened on the Prentis House and the Stencil House just in time for a tour.

The Prentis House

These were both old, historic properties that Mrs. Webb had moved to the grounds.

The Bostwick Garden was located in front of the Prentis House.

Throughout the property there was an exhibition called "Bench Space".  This piece was located outside the Webb Gallery, one of the actual art museums on the property.

"Chaise Gabion" by Celeste Roberge

And this piece, titled "Rocking PacMan" by Louise Lim was inside the gallery.

It's designed to be used by two people and you could actually tip over and fall out if the other person doesn't stop it with their feet.  The gallery staff actually encouraged people to use it.

We visited the Sawmill and the Settler's Barn and House, then the Dorsett House, which was filled with duck decoys.  Interesting but a little overwhelming.  How many decoys can a person look at and appreciate?

On to the Stagecoach Inn, which was filled with folk art sculpture, paintings and more.  Apparently Mrs. Webb started her collection with a cigar shop Indian.  At one time, this weathervane sat on top of the firehouse in Manchester, New Hampshire.  We guestimate it's about 6 feet long and it's the largest one in the Museum's collection.

"Fire Engine" attributed to J.W.Fiske Company (1873-1893)

From there we skipped the Stone Cottage, which was crowded, but visited the Schoolhouse, the Variety Unit which was filled with lots of different things including a collection of glass canes (seems quite impractical), dolls and doll houses and mechanical toys.  One section of this structure is the only building to be original to the property.  

We skipped the Toy Shop because we were running out of time and wanted to see the Hat and Fragrance Textile Gallery before we left.  There is a nice collection of antique quilts, 

along with some beautiful hooked rugs and a traveling show by Crystal Cawley, a Portland, Maine artist that creates some pretty wild stuff with everyday items.  She "works with paper, textiles, collected objects, and re-purposed materials, like library cards or old book pages."

Internet photo

Internet photo

We were about as far from the entrance as you could possibly get, so we hustled our way back before they locked us in for the night.

We only saw about half of the property today, so we'll come back tomorrow before we head home.

We decided to stop at the Tiny Thai Restaurant on our way home.  We got there a little early, thankfully!  It's very popular, probably because they serve a great meal.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)