Apr

Virtual Traveler— See What You Can See

by Meredith Mullins on April 6, 2020

Yes, you can SEE music. Take a ride in the video below.
© DoodleChaos

At Home with Art and Culture

If you find you’re still in your pajamas at three in the afternoon, or if you have started your own bar crawl by putting a glass of wine in every room of your home, or if you have finished all of Netflix, or you have cleaned every closet … twice, STOP!

It’s time to become a virtual traveler and explore the world’s art and culture in the comfort of your home. The physical doors of arts venues are shuttered during this time of “sheltering in place,” but artistic organizations and artists are rising to the challenge.

Start by SEEING Beethoven’s 5th by Doodle Chaos, where animated line riders show you the beauty of fearless flying, flipping, and falling in rhythm, including the power of pauses between notes.

If video does not display, watch it here.

And keep going—it’s easy! Now, more than ever, the Internet brings the arts to you.

An at-home re-creation of “The Absinthe Drinker” (original on the left)
Can you name the painter?
© Erick Paraiso/John Pichel

Old Masters . . . and New

At this important moment in history, organizations are responding quickly to fill the arts community void by adding creative ideas for arts engagement to their other online opportunities.

To keep your artistic spirit alive and well, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles launched an artistic challenge that has inspired people around the world. Based on a Dutch project (Between Art and Quarantine), the museum asks you recreate an artwork from the Getty collection using whatever you can find in your confined world at home. Take a look at the Getty twitter feed or the Dutch Instagram site.

The J. Paul Getty Museum challenges you to recreate work by the masters
(for example, Van Gogh’s Irises) with things you find at home.
(Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Trust and Cara Jo O’Connell)

In addition, the Getty is providing access to art books, online exhibits, podcasts, and videos. Discover the current exhibits of Michelangelo, the Bauhaus, and Ancient Palmyra.

Virtual Visits to Museums

Although virtual museum tours were around long before the corona crisis (note that Google Arts and Culture has put more than 2,500 museum and gallery collections online), the well-known museums in the U.S. are all offering additional online culture to be enjoyed while observing your “stay-at-home” mandate. Here is a sampling.

New York’s Museum of Modern Art has temporarily closed its doors,
but has expanded its online opportunities.
© iStock/rarrarorro

New York Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art in New York presents a new virtual art experience each week, such as exhibit openings and home movies. Take a look at the schedule, which includes upcoming exhibits of Félix Fénéon, Donald Judd, and Dorothea Lange.

You can also participate in online art projects, such as coloring the tracings of Louise Lawler. Download the drawings here, and then post your finished work on social media with the tag #DrawingwithMoMA.

#DrawingwithMoma
© Meredith Mullins

New York Metropolitan Museum

New York’s Metropolitan Museum offers a range of its publications free online for a limited time, as well as a digital digest that includes videos, articles, concerts, and art-making activities for the whole family.

Washington’s National Gallery of Art: Silent for the moment
© Meredith Mullins

National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

The National Gallery of Art has virtual tours and video introductions to the current exhibits (Degas and the Opera, Raphael, and Early European Open-Air Painting), as well as a tour of the highlights of its collection. The museum also provides lessons and activities for home study for all ages, including special resources for kids.

Time for art projects at home, inspired by the great art museums
© iStock/Pokec

National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.)

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. offers seven online exhibitions. Don’t forget to visit the popular portraits of Michelle Obama, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt, as you virtually tour the “First Ladies Exhibit.”

Jacqueline Kennedy from the National Portrait Gallery “First Ladies” Exhibit
© Estate of Yousuf Karsh

Digital art workshops are also offered free of charge, as are coloring pages of some of the famous portraits in the collection for your own artistic expression.

You’ll find virtual tours, videos, and interviews at many other museums in the U.S., including the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Boston Museum of Fine Arts (featuring Ancient Nubia and Gender Bending Fashion), High Museum of Art (Atlanta), Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago (featuring El Greco), and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The new meditation: coloring. Try your hand at coloring a drawing of Frida Kahlo.
(Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)

Oh I See: The Times Are Changing

In these tumultuous times, seeking solace, connection, and inspiration through arts and culture is a natural path. Unlike the current toilet paper shortage, there will always be more than enough opportunity for the virtual traveler to see the best that the world has to offer in this expanded community of visual arts.

Let the journey begin.

Stay tuned next week at OIC Moments to discover what the virtual traveler might find in the world of music and the performing arts.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 6 Comments

Art of Travel/The World's Art & Design/USA/Worldwide Sites

Mar

Ireland for the Virtual Traveler

by Joyce McGreevy on March 30, 2020

Two Irish terriers by the sea and virtual visitors from across the miles help a writer in Ireland stay connected during a time of necessary social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Dog days at the edge of Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Staying Connected Across the Miles

It’s springtime, the sun has come out of hiding, and I want you to come visit. Oh, I know—these days, you can only be a virtual visitor. But now, more than ever, we need to stay connected across the miles.

Take a moment to imagine: Put on your favorite old sweater, the one with a hole in the elbow. Lace up your mud-spattered walking shoes. Pack only your five senses.

Oh, for good measure, toss in your sense of delight. Because we’re off to explore one of Ireland’s most beautiful places. Along the way, I’ve a story to tell you.

To reach Ballyshane, drive south, passing smaller and smaller towns, until you come to a certain crossroads. Yes, that one. Now, thread along ever-narrowing roads, knowing the coast of East County Cork awaits you.

A pond in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland is accessible to all virtual travelers as technology helps people stay connected across the miles during a time of necessary social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

A place for reflection at Ballyshane.
© Joyce McGreevy

Have the hedgerows begun thrumming with birds? Then you’re nearly there. Watch for breaks in the wild shrubbery that glimmer with hints of the sea. At last, you see old stone gates, the color of ripening apricots.

Down the long drive you go. You’re here.

You’re actually only 30 minutes from a city. But Ballyshane is a world all its own.

Which reminds me, I promised you a story.

I was already in isolation when it happened. Not that anyone called it “self-isolating” Back Then. I’d simply returned to Ireland, a place that’s long felt like home, to house-sit for a man who was traveling.

Given the remote location, it meant “social distancing.” Not that anyone called it that Back Then.

Walks with an Irish terrier in the woods and the company of virtual visitors from across the miles help a traveler self-isolating in Ireland stay connected during a time of necessary social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

A walk feels liberating now.
© Joyce McGreevy

But who could be lonely? I had the companionship of two Irish terriers, and the land, with its 1800s country house, was companionable in its beauty. Beyond the main house were secluded cottages, among the most popular on Airbnb. Yet I’d been generously granted one all to myself.

A cottage in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland welcomes virtual visitors as people stay connected across the miles during a time of social distancing, self-isolation, and virtual travel. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Stone cottage, soft sky.
© Joyce McGreevy

In between the homeowner’s travels, there were elegant yet informal gatherings. Touched to be invited, I met new friends. Because this is Ireland, some of the new friends knew some of my old friends. Even if they hadn’t, I’d never have felt lonely. Because in Ireland, conversation is something one savors along with its now-celebrated cuisine.

Rain clouds over Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland, foreshadow a time when social distancing and self-isolation will become the norm, and virtual travelers will go online to stay connected across the miles. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Storm clouds gather over Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Then it happened.

The “wave” made its way across Europe, and life in Ireland changed utterly. When even the churches closed down, the gravity of the situation sank in.

Suddenly, people around the world were hurrying home or sheltering in place. Word went out: Wherever you happen to be, stay there. Stay safe, don’t travel.

That year, I’d been all over the map. Three months in Italy. Rambles around world cities. Long days in airports, nights in airport hotels. When Earth’s globe suddenly stopped spinning, the roulette wheel of my continuous travels could have landed me anywhere.

To my gratitude, I woke up in Ballyshane.

Come, I’ll show you around.

A garden in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland welcomes all virtual visitors, as loved ones become virtual travelers to stay connected across the miles during a time of social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Gardening feels hopeful now.
© Joyce McGreevy

Here are the gardens: raised beds of rosemary, rhubarb, cardoon, and other organic edibles. The courtyard garden filled with terracotta pots of flowering bulbs. The formal outdoor corridors of box hedge and stone sculpture. The tapestries of tender grasses, daffodils, and bluebells spread under the groves of wind-sculpted trees.

Here come Molly and Rosie, the Irish terriers.

Two Irish terriers in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland help a writer stay grounded during a time of self-isolation, just as virtual visits help friends and family stay connected across the miles despite social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

“Good morning, good morning, sweet girls!”
© Joyce McGreevy

They’ve come to take us for a walk. We’ll rove across land that fans out along the coast, then clamber down tufted hillsides where the butter-bright gorse frames the silvery canvas of the sea.

Nature’s varied flora help people self-isolating in Ireland stay grounded, and offer virtual travelers a way to stay connected across the miles, during a time of worldwide social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Nature’s quilt at Ballyshane, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

We can trot along to the rocky seashore, the girls’ paws picking up the pace the closer we get to the briny scent. Or move stealthily across a field of tall grass, our least step alerting the little birds who forage there. We can watch as they rise in sudden, fluttery clouds.

Speaking of birds, come see the chickens.

Chickens to be fed, fresh eggs to wash, and sharing one’s daily routine with virtual visitors from across the miles helps a traveler self-isolating in Ireland stay grounded during a time of worldwide social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy).

“Hello, ladies. Any eggs this morning?”
© Joyce McGreevy

Ah, there’s my favorite. If you’re feeling down, her bandy-legged gait will make you grin—she seems to wear feathery bloomers and pedal a penny-farthing bicycle.

All day long, there’s satisfying work to do. At evening, it’s quiet. Time to settle in by the fireplace, to log on, contact friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues around the world.

Daffodils at sunset in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland, suggest how images shared online are helping virtual visitors stay connected across the miles through virtual travel despite worldwide self-isolation and social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

No filter needed: Sunsets at Ballyshane, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

We’re globally, socially distant but imaginatively gathering close together. We talk, laugh, listen, share worries and encouragement. Each virtual visit is an “Oh, I see” moment: In a time of separation and uncertainty, words weave us back together.

It’s late. One more look at the stars, then we’ll say goodnight. But please visit me here in Ireland any time. We are all virtual travelers now, and I’ll visit you, too—in California and Italy; Boston and Istanbul; Seattle and Seoul; New Orleans; New Zealand; wherever you are.

Starlight above an Irish cottage with a satellite dish evokes the way nature and technology support virtual travel, allowing virtual visitors to stay connected across the miles during a time of social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Starlight & satellite: Nature and technology keep us connected.
© Joyce McGreevy

Between us, we’ll piece together the patchwork of our perforated days. Between us, we’ll remake the quilt of our shared human experience, the stories that make us whole. Because now, more than ever, we need to stay connected across the miles.

A coastal view from Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland offers perspective to virtual visitors as people rely on virtual travel to stay connected across the miles during a time of global social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Taking the long view at Ballyshane, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Take a virtual tour of the cottages at Ballyshane here and here.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 14 Comments

Art of Travel/Ireland/Nature Discovery

Mar

A Cultural Heritage of Puzzles

by Meredith Mullins on March 23, 2020

Finding solutions to puzzling times
© iStock/Brightstars

Mental Exercise in These Historic Times

As the daily news proclaims, the world is experiencing something completely unique to recent history . . . and deadly serious. There is no doubt that the corona virus is changing our lives.

We are living the meaning of words and phrases such as pandemic, lockdown, social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine, self-sequestering, confinement, and sheltering in place.

We are seeing government regulations in the news, as well as lists of ways to work remotely or pass the time if we have been asked to stay at home for isolation purposes.

Social distancing at the weekend Paris market
© Meredith Mullins

We read about people in isolation drinking “quarantinis,” exploring new songs by which to wash their hands, and stepping to their windows or balconies to sing together as a neighborhood or to applaud the front-line health care workers.

Those in isolation are challenging the capacity of the internet with streaming services and social media posts and cleaning their closets a la Marie Kondo (although, I think perhaps lots of things will “spark joy” when you are in isolation for weeks).

A good way to pass the time in self-isolation
© DMT

Challenging the Brain

Even before this global pandemic, I had been thinking about our cultural heritage of entertainment with puzzles—jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, crossword puzzles, number puzzles, visual puzzles—across countries and across cultures.

And now that we have more time to ourselves, the subject seems even more relevant.

It has long been said that working with puzzles helps to keep our brains functioning better for longer. Mental exercise for the brain is useful (as is physical exercise).

Can you guess from these puzzle pieces what artwork will be portrayed?
(Keep reading for the answer.)
© DMT

Puzzles can be family/friend/community activities or an individual challenge. What better way to pass those cold winter nights; rainy days; or, at this scary moment in history, the long hours of “sheltering in place.”

Let’s take a moment to pay tribute to the more common puzzle options: the jigsaw, the crossword, and Sudoku, as well as new trending puzzles.

The good old days of the family puzzle party
© DMT

The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Things Together

Jigsaw puzzles have been around since the mid-1700s. Most historians give origin credit to a British cartographer/engraver (John Spilsbury), who mounted maps on wood and then cut around the countries. He is said to have called his work “dissected maps,” used most often for teaching geography.

Fast forward a few centuries to game companies mass producing puzzles, which became particularly popular during the Great Depression in America as an inexpensive entertainment option and a way to feel success (during hard times) when a difficult puzzle was completed. You could even rent a puzzle or check one out of the library.

Still maintaining popularity in the 21^stcentury, puzzles can now be personalized to reflect your own photo, can incorporate 3-D technology, can be presented on computer, and can offer pictorial content limited only by the imagination.

The best news: jigsaw puzzles are cross-cultural. Visual images have no language barriers, and can be enjoyed in countries throughout the world.

The number and size of pieces range from small puzzles with just a few pieces (especially for children), to the largest (more than 50,000 pieces).

And, for those passionate jigsaw fanatics, strategies and approaches abound. After turning all the pieces face up (a good start to begin to get the “big picture”), puzzlers might sort by color, pattern, content, or type of piece (from zero-knob and four-holed pieces to four-knob and zero-holed pieces . . . and everything in between).

Some jigsaw addicts even like having a puzzle delivered in an unmarked plastic bag with no picture—the ultimate challenge.

Here is Ellen DeGeneres’ take on jigsaw puzzles, as she passes her “sheltering in place” time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B90ToZPBL-7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again

If video does not display, watch it here.

Not at a Loss for Words

Crossword puzzles are perhaps the most popular word game in the world. Although word puzzles appeared in the late 18^thcentury in America and Europe, historians credit British journalist Arthur Wynne with a crossword’s first widespread publication in the Sunday edition of the New York World in 1913.

The word FUN was already inserted into the “word-cross” puzzle, perhaps a foreshadowing of the popularity to come. Another vague clue in this first appearance (“What this puzzle is”) was also perhaps a signal of things to come. The four-letter answer was: HARD.

The New York Times, now a renowned publication of one of the most challenging contemporary crosswords, denied the attraction of the early puzzles.

It wasn’t until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that the Times Sunday editor thought the nation needed some distraction. On February 15, 1942, the first Sunday crossword appeared in the NY Times; and, by 1950, the paper ran a daily crossword puzzle.

Even though the Times is known worldwide as the pre-eminent crossword puzzle, there are several viable competitors in publications around the world. And, for a double dose of brain activity, try a crossword puzzle in a new language.

Does the Math Add Up?

Sudoku is the ultimate international puzzle. Its origin can be traced from China to Persia to Europe to America to Japan. It bypasses language barriers, as it is number based. It’s accessible to all . . . it just asks for a logical mind.

Although the “magic square” was present in China more than two thousand years ago, a Swiss mathematician (Leonhard Euler) is credited with the first stirrings of what is now Sudoku. At the time (the late 1700s), it was called Latin Squares. It had letters rather than numbers, but the mathematical process was similar.

In 1979, an American (Howard Garnes) created the number puzzle we know today. It was called Number Place and was published by Dell Puzzle Magazines. He made the puzzle interesting by making a grid of nine 3 x 3 magic squares.

Once it became popular in Japan, in part because the Japanese language is not suited to crossword puzzles, the name Number Place was translated to Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru, meaning “numbers must occur only once.”

When a retired British judge (Wayne Gould) developed a computer program for producing Sudoku puzzles quickly and introduced the game to UK newspapers, the puzzle’s popularity exploded.

Now, Sudoku is everywhere—in newspapers, magazines, puzzle books, grand championships, TV shows, mobile apps, and, of course, on the Internet.

Presents of Mind: Contemporary Puzzle Challenges

There are hundreds more types of puzzles to keep us busy. Rubik’s Cube, Spelling Bee, Jumble, Tiles, Find the Difference (aka Sept erreurs in French), and SET®, to name a few. With the availability of puzzles free on the Internet, these challenges are there for the taking.

In fact, I might have gotten this story written sooner, had I not paused to try my brain at every new kind of puzzle I encountered in my research.

My latest discovery was SET® (found via the New York Times). I have to admit that, now, I’m an addict. I stare at those shapes, patterns, numbers, and colors for hours.

I knew from IQ tests that spatial reasoning was not one of my strengths, so it was no surprise that my brain hurt from going back and forth between the similarities and differences in the forms, patterns, colors, and numbers.

Just like life, you step back, regroup, learn, and develop new strategies. I have already improved after only a few days; and I know, with practice, I will get better.

Oh, I see. That’s really the heart of our cultural heritage.

The added benefit: my brain gets its mental workout—and will hopefully work better for longer. And the time in self-isolation will fly by, with a hope that our cultural tradition of resilience will rise to the challenge.

We know that our OIC readers live around the world. We wish you health and safety during this challenging time.

For more jeux des sept erreurs, visit Turbulus.

For online Sudoku, visit this Sudoku site.

For free crossword puzzles, go to online crosswords or to the New York Times mini crossword.

To play SET®, go to the New York Times site.