Angelina M. Lopez

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Contemporary Romance Author, Hyperromantic

Angelina M. Lopez 2/18/16 Angelina M. Lopez 2/18/16

WONDER at Hyper-sized Art at Renwick Gallery

WONDER honors this historic building, the first in the country to be built exclusively as an art museum, with room-filling pieces created specifically for the Renwick by nine contemporary artists.

Renwick Gallery -- a newly renovated Smithsonian art gallery across the street from the White House -- has opened its beautifully restored rooms to a WONDER of an exhibit.

WONDER honors this historic building, the first in the country to be built exclusively as an art museum, with room-filling pieces created specifically for the Renwick by nine contemporary artists.

The gigantic art -- a rainbow made of thread, a pieced-together cast of a 150-year-old tree, a gorgeous wallpaper made of bugs and Bryce Canyon-like hoodoos made of paper, tape and toothpicks -- invite the viewer to peer closer, to see the tiny bits and figure out how it works. Some of the work asks you to interact with it; others -- like the rainbow and the bug wallpaper -- require the poor security guards to work overtime to keep the crowds back from it. It's a wonderful exhibit for children and my husband -- you know, the people who aren't huge fans of art museums. And, because we're spoiled rotten here in D.C., it's also free!

I could keep typing, but why. Click on the pictures to take your own virtual tour of the Renwick Gallery, then come soon to see the real thing. The second floor, with its amazing bug wallpaper and deconstructed tree, will close May 8. The first floor closes July 10.

Tara Donovan, "Untitled", 2014

Gabriel Dawe, "Plexus A1", 2015

Patrick Dougherty, "Shindig", 2015

Janet Echelman, "1.8", 2015

John Grade, "Middle Fork", 2015

Maya Lin, "Folding the Chesapeake", 2015

Chakaia Booker, "ANONYMOUS DONOR", 2015

Jennifer Angus, "In the Midnight Garden", 2015

Renwick Gallery

Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20006

Open Daily, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m., free admission

Explore other amazing D.C. art museums:

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Angelina M. Lopez 1/8/15 Angelina M. Lopez 1/8/15

Visit Baltimore Museum of Art's New American Wing

With the new opening of the American Wing after a two-year facelift, and the re-opening of the original entrance to this beautiful Classical Revival building (the entrance was closed in 1982 because it was not handicap accessible), I now have lots of motivation to visit.

I am ashamed to say that I have never visited the Baltimore Museum of Art. Reading about it for this blog makes me even more ashamed. It has:

700 works by Henri Matisse
free admission
paintings by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh

But with the new opening of the American Wing after a two-year facelift, and the re-opening of the original entrance to this beautiful Classical Revival building (the entrance was closed in 1982 because it was not handicap accessible), I now have lots of motivation to visit. According to their website "state-of-the-art lighting, new herringbone wood floors, and a new palette of colors for the walls and ceilings," have enhanced the American Wing. A display I'm excited to see:

"...[A] stunning, light-infused gallery featuring outstanding examples of Louis Comfort Tiffany's decorative works and those of his colleagues and competitors. See vibrant stained-glass windows, towering columns adorned with mosaics, an elaborate mantelpiece, and stunning, silver objects."

Oooooh. Can't wait.

Baltimore Museum of Art

10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD

Hours: Wednesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Monday–Tuesday, Closed

Admission: Free

For more info: http://www.artbma.org/

Angelina M. Lopez 7/8/14 Angelina M. Lopez 7/8/14

A Stroll Through the Hirshhorn Museum

We in the DMV are spoiled rotten. Why? Because we can wander down to the National Mall and take a gander at the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the United States, the Declaration of Independence, Dorothy's ruby slippers. For free. The Hirshhorn Museum has always been a favorite museum at the Mall because of its contemporary art, its outdoor sculpture garden and its general lack of crowds. It feels like the museum you can breathe in.

This is the first time I've said this in this blog, but it won't be the last: We in the DMV are spoiled rotten. Why? Because, should we have the urge, we can wander down to the National Mall and take a gander at ... I don't know ... the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the United States, the Declaration of Independence, Dorothy's ruby slippers. For free.

On a recent Saturday, I did just that: Drove down to the Mall, found a two-hour parking spot on 7th St. SW, and took a slow walk through the second floor of the circular Hirshhorn Museum, through the "Speculative Forms" exhibit. The Hirshhorn has always been a favorite museum at the Mall because of its contemporary art, its outdoor sculpture garden and its general lack of crowds. It feels like the museum you can breathe in.

Reading the placard of the "Speculative Forms" exhibit, I was completely confused about the objective: "The exhibition highlights the importance of installation and the viewer's eye and body in relation to the object." And then I saw this:

The exhibit is about the interaction between a sculpture, the space that it's exhibited in and the way the viewer views it. This metal sculpture, "6-68" by David Lee Brown, reflects the light and arc of the Hirshhorn hallway. And I could only see that by standing at a certain perspective.

The Hirshhorn Museum made me smarter. In about an hour's time. For free. See, I told you we were spoiled rotten.

Speculative Forms at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

At the corner of 7th Street and Independence Ave. SW, Washington D.C.

In-Between Tip: Avoid the overpriced and unimpressive Smithsonian museum cafes and enjoy a quick, interesting bite al fresco at the many food trucks that gather on 7th Street SW. During the weekdays, you will find them south of Independence Ave at 7th and D Streets SW. On the weekends, the trucks line 7th on the Mall.

Angelina M. Lopez 6/24/14 Angelina M. Lopez 6/24/14

Hillwood Estate: A Day With the Most Glamorous Woman

Stepping onto the grounds of the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Northwest D.C., is like being invited to take your time checking out the glittering jewels, gleaming furniture, sparkling objets d’art and beautiful gardens of the wealthiest and most glamorous woman you’ll ever know.

And it is a true invitation.

Marjorie Merriweather Post. From Hillwood Museum

Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post Cereal Company and one of the founders of General Foods, bought the home in 1955 intending it to be a museum for the 18th-century French and Russian imperial decorative arts that she collected. She wanted my girlfriend Paige and me to covet the 18th-century French dinnerware in the light-and-flower-filled breakfast nook. She wanted us to take a long walk through the hillside gardens, laughing just a shade too loud for such an elegant place.

She wanted us to absolutely drool over her Cartier jewels, currently displayed in the exhibit “Cartier: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Dazzling Gems,” in the Adirondack Building, one of the charming buildings hidden among the forested walks.

Marjorie Merriweather Post began collecting 18th-century French furniture and art to decorate her home. When she accompanied her third husband to the Soviet Union, where he served as ambassador, Marjorie became entranced with Russian imperial art and began to truly refine her collector’s eye. The first piece she purchased from Cartier years before her trip was prophetic - the amethyst Fabergé box connected her love of Carier, Russian imperial art and Fabergé, of which she would go on to collect 90 pieces.

In Between Tip: We'd tried the café at Hillwood Estate in the past, and hadn't thought much of it. It has apparently improved, because there was a 40-minute wait at lunch time. Get reservations!

Cartier exhibit in the Adirondack Building

In the small Adirondack Building is a green emerald once worn by Mexico’s Maximillian I and smuggled out of the country by his wife, an Indian pendant brooch with a 250-carat emerald, and a diamond clasp meant to be worn with the diamonds dripping down Marjorie’s back.

There’s also a story.

During the Great Depression, Marjorie Merriweather Post put her diamonds and emeralds in a safety deposit box. With the money she saved on insurance, she opened the Marjorie Merriweather Hutton Canteen, a soup kitchen in New York. She made sure the canteen had flowers on the table and blue-checked tablecloths, because she believed everyone deserved a little elegance.