Happy Trails

After 14 years of Museum Trekking, I've decided that this is the right time for my final post. Like most of you, I've refrained from traveling to remain healthy and slow the spread of COVID-19. During this time, many museums have had to shut their doors permanently which has made writing about museums and traveling very difficult.

Once fully vaccinated, I booked a trip requiring air travel for the first time in two years. I decided to do something different and special for my final post and so I put together a little video to say farewell. 

We flew to Las Vegas, Nevada where we rented a funky campervan called "The Flat Foot" from Escape Campervans. Then we drove to Utah and camped at Zion National Park for a couple of days before heading over to Bryce Canyon National Park. After camping in Zion, we drove down to Arizona and camped at Grand Canyon National Park. Most museums were closed except for a few that we went to at the Grand Canyon. However, the National Parks and campsites were busy as most people, including me, are preferring to stay outdoors where it is safer for the time being. It was so nice to get some fresh air and a change of scenery after being hunkered down at home for so long.

Thank you to everyone who has followed me around this wonderful world for the past 14 years. It has been an amazing journey. While this may be my final blog post, I still plan to carry on Museum Trekking and I hope you will too! If you'd like to continue following along on my adventures please find me on Instagram @kimwnolan. 

Happy Trails!

Kim

Genius & Generosity-The Elliott Story

A new exhibit for a new year! During the summer and fall of 2020, I was hired to design, Genius & Generosity-The Elliott Story, a new permanent exhibit for the Elliott Museum located in Stuart, Florida.

I partnered with Paul Orselli Workshop (POW!) and we worked with the museum's Curator, Linda Geary, to design and develop the content for this exhibition.

This exhibit about the museum's namesake, Sterling Elliott, is a tribute to his life as an inventor, social reformer, and the successful business empire which he built with his son, Harmon Elliott.

The exhibit follows Sterling's inventing life from the 1800s to the early 20th century. His invention of the steering knuckle for his quadricycle revolutionized the automobile industry and made him extremely wealthy. 

His improvements to the design of the harness racing sulky resulted in the champion driver, Budd Doble, racing the Elliott sulky to a new world record in 1892. 

Not only did his bicycle inventions make cycling safer, but they improved the lives of women and African Americans. The Sterling Bicycle Company made bicycles designed specifically for women when other bicycle manufacturers believed women should not be allowed to ride bicycles. Elliott used his role as President of the League of American Wheelmen to fight and gain the right for African Americans to compete in cycling races. This lead Marshall Taylor to become the first African American World champion cyclist in 1899.

The Elliott Addressing Machine Company came about when Sterling purchased The Bicycling World magazine and became editor of LAW Good Roads magazine. Sterling's invention of the addressing machine was a brilliant solution to the time-consuming problem of addressing the magazines to each subscriber by hand.

Together, Sterling and Harmon Elliott filed over 200 patents for their inventions. The Elliott Museum was built by Harmon Elliott in 1961 in memory of his father. Harmon donated the museum and its collections to the non-profit Historical Society of Martin County which operates both the Elliott Museum and the House of Refuge.

The pandemic posed some unique challenges for us with materials being in short supply as well as personnel. The indefatigable staff at the Elliott Museum rolled up their sleeves to help finish the exhibit. Even the museum's Financial Manager, Vikki Tobiasz, and Special Events Coordinator, Deb Banta, pitched in to help with the installation. I'm very proud of what we all managed to accomplish despite some of the obstacles we faced. 

The Elliott Museum is located at 825 NE Ocean Blvd in Stuart, Florida. It's open to the public 7 days a week from 10 am until 5 pm. The 50,000 sq. ft. building offers plenty of space to safely social distance while enjoying the exhibits. We hope you will visit soon and let us know what you think of our new exhibit.

Portfolios-Eclectic Artists and Art at the Elliott

This is the last week to check out the art exhibit at the Elliott Museum.

Portfolios-Eclectic Artists and Art at the Elliott features art in a variety of mediums and styles. 

This invitational exhibit showcases the paintings, photography, jewelry, and sculpture of myself and 13 other local artists.

Located at 825 N.E. Ocean Blvd on Hutchinson Island in Stuart, Florida, the Elliott Museum offers 50,000 sq. feet of socially distanced exhibit enjoyment!

This fabulous exhibit ends on January 3rd, 2021.

 

Mobile Museum!

This past weekend was the 33rd annual ArtsFest in Stuart, Florida. ArtsFest has been named one of the Top 20 Events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society for 5 years in a row. 

"Chopped" Cooking competition

Located in Memorial Park in downtown Stuart, ArtsFest brings artists from all over the country representing the visual, culinary, and performing arts. 

This year was especially exciting because the Corning Museum of Glass brought a 46-foot-long, 50,000-pound Mobile Hot Shop to the festival for a glass blowing demonstration. This brilliant museum on wheels contains a fully-equipped glass studio! 

In one 30-minute presentation, we watched Team Leader, George Kennard create a unique piece of glass art from start to finish.

The studio is equipped with video cameras and two large television screens that allowed us to experience the process from all angles including a view from inside the furnace! 

Here George is working together with Glassblower, Katie Hubbs to sculpt the vessel while Helen Tegeler narrated each step of their process and answered questions from the audience.

 I held my breath during this final moment when they separated the vessel from the blowpipe. As someone notorious for breaking any and all glass objects that I come into contact with, I was utterly mystified by their skill. This stunning piece and all of the others they created throughout the day, were raffled off to some very lucky festival-goers.

This was an incredible and unique experience that was the highlight of this year's Arts Fest. The Mobile Hot Shop travels around the country to events and conferences so I truly hope you'll check it out if they come to your town.

Doolin Cave

Doolin Cave, Co. Clare, Ireland

It was the perfect day to explore a cave. The weather was a typical Irish combination of rain, wind, and fog that made the outside world seem uninhabitable. Rather than sit inside all day waiting for the rain to stop, (it didn't) I decided to seek refuge underground.

The Doolin Cave is located in The Burren, a region of geological interest primarily located in County Clare. The landscape is dominated by limestone karsts with underground drainage systems that form caves. The word Burren or Boireann  in Irish means, "great rock." 

The Poulnabrone dolmen is also located in the Burren.
It is the oldest megalithic monument in Ireland.

The Great Stalactite

Closeup of the Great Stalactite

The main attraction of the Doolin Cave is the Great Stalactite. At 23 feet (7.3 meters) long it is the longest free-hanging stalactite in Europe. It was discovered in 1952 by J.M. Dickenson and Brian Varley. Entry required a long and difficult crawl but now the cave entry has been widened to allow for tourists. 

To get down into the entrance of the cave, visitors have to first go down 120 steps (and up 120 steps to get out again). While the tunnel has been widened, it is still very tight. This cave has everything you could ever want in a cave. It has stalactites, stalagmites, and an underground stream. It's also dark, cold, wet and slippery. Hardhats are provided because hitting your head is inevitable. Once your guide has brought you safely through the tunnel, you will have more steps to navigate to get to the Great Stalactite. If you can't manage steps, walk hunched over, or are afraid of dark tight spaces then this place is not for you.

All the cave tours are guided. Our guide, Gary, was wonderful but I can imagine his knees must be screaming after climbing up and down those steps six times a day. 

There is also a free nature trail on the grounds for visitors to explore. Unfortunately, I did not get to see the nature trail because of the weather. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Visitor Center which also houses a charming little cafe and gift shop. 

Doolin Cave is also a member of the Burren Ecotourism Network which promotes sustainable tourism in the Burren. 

doolincave.ie

Sweet!

This weekend is the opening of Sweet! a food-themed juried art exhibition at the Elliott Museum in Stuart, Florida. See original artwork in all media by Florida artists and enjoy a cake decorating demonstration with samples to eat. 

Moo! - Cow sculpture made from recycled dairy containers by Kim W. Nolan

Come see me and my sculpture at the opening reception this Saturday, September 15th from 2-5 pm. Admission is $5 per person. There will be a cash bar and an awards presentation. The exhibition runs from September 15th-November 4th 2018. All artwork is available for purchase.

 For hours and directions visit elliottmuseum.org. I hope to see you on Saturday!

10 Year Blogiversary!

Happy 10 Year Blogiversary to Museum Trekker! What an amazing trek it has been. It's hard to believe all of the incredible places my readers and I have journeyed to in such a short amount of time.

I don't think it's possible to count up the exact number of places I've traveled to but I would estimate that I've gone to more than one hundred museums, World Heritage sites and historical landmarks in roughly 32 U.S. states and territories and nearly two dozen countries. It's been such an inspiring, fun and exciting experience. Some times have been scary and some times have been sad but it has mostly been a joy and a privilege and it has definitely never been boring. Thank you to all my readers who have traveled along with me all of these years!

Here are some visual highlights (in no particular order) of just some of the amazing places I've visited:

Big Buddha, Phuket, Thailand

Surfers Paradise, Australia

Annapurna, Nepal

The Alamo, San Antonio, TX

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Swazi Cultural Village, Swaziland

Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House, Sydney, Australia

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Montreal Botanical Gardens, Canada

My butterfly sculpture at the Bronx Zoo Butterfly Garden

Kathmandu, Nepal

COSI, Columbus, OH

Dinosaur Ridge, Morrison, CO

Chalong Temple, Phuket, Thailand

My Madagascar sign at the Bronx Zoo

Buffalo Bill Museum, Golden, CO

Nadi, Fiji

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

Ganges River, Varanasi, India

Giants Causeway, Antrim, Ireland

Graceland, Memphis, TN

Greenbay Packers Hall of Fame, Greenbay, Wisconsin

Guinness Museum, Dublin, Ireland

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

Hai Lo Prison, Vietnam

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Hook Lighthouse, Wexford, Ireland

Tongariro River rafting, New Zealand

Iao Valley State Park, Maui, HI

The Henry Ford Museum, Michigan

John F. Kennedy Arboretum, Wexford, Ireland

Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Liberty Bell, Philadelphia, PA

Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, LA

Monkey Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal

Mount Maunganui, New Zealand

Pearl Harbor, Oahu, HI

Pirate Ship, St. Augustine, FL

Pyramid of Teotihuacan, Mexico

Seven Sacred Pools, Hana, Hawaii

Lower East Side Tenement Museum, NYC

Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey

Alcatraz, San Francisco, CA

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Hout Bay, Capetown, South Africa

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Poon Hill Summit (10,531') Himalayas