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MC Escher

Friday we went to the NC Art Museum to see the MC Escher exhibit. Our tickets included the exhibit for the journal of Leonardo da Vinci, but you had to go through a security checkpoint and certain items (including cell phones) were placed in a ziplock and held at the checkpoint to be picked up when you exited. Bobby didn't want to empty his wheelchair pouch (he's had a bad experience with that - mainly the Wake County courthouse security team confiscating his adapted fork because "it could be a weapon".  Those things aren't easy to replace!) and as I mainly wanted to see Escher's works and knew we wouldn't be able to read the journal anyway AND was getting more than a little tired of the crowd and my feet were tired, we left after the Escher exhibit.

And for me, it was worth it. I learned quite a few new things about the artist, and I really enjoyed seeing the changes in his artwork throughout  his life. I don't think Bobby was a huge fan afterwards, though he did seem to enjoy looking at the pieces. Some of his work reminded me of my childhood when we'd stretch out upside down on the couch or stairs, and I'd ponder what it would be like if our house was upside down. My sister said it would never work because no one would want to step up and over (the space above the door) to get into the next room. But it reminded me of our visit to the battleship in Mobile, and I knew the doors to the ships required you to step through the opening instead of walking through like we do at home. So it's not that far of a stretch of the imagination to think of that.

I also appreciated his quotes from Scripture in his earlier works, as well as his willingness to leave his adopted country of Italy out of concern for his sons before WWII. Leaving a place you love is never easy, even when it's for the right reasons.

I didn't grow up exposed to art. When I was studying graphic design at Wake Tech, one of the classes we took included a lot of art history lessons. My teacher was horrified to find out that I had never heard of Escher. I didn't bother to tell her I was ignorant of almost every artist we studied. But I liked what we read and saw of his work enough that his is one of the few names I remember from that semester. If you like puzzles or quirky things that are well done, he's an artist worth researching.

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