The View

On Wednesday, I showed you a picture of the Amon Carter Museum, and mentioned that it was at the top of the hill. It is not a steep hill, but a gradual hill leading up from the nearby Trinity River.

Standing on the steps of the museum, you can see that you have a nice view of the skyline of downtown, which is less than two miles away. There is an interesting sculpture across the lawn.

The sculptures are titled Upright Motives #2 and #7. Although I count three? Anyway, they are by Henry Moore (1898-1986), who hailed from England and was apparently the  most important sculptor of the twentieth century.

Another Tall Fence

This is another wall, or high fence, that I pass on my morning walk.

 It is separating a large mansion from the golf course. I don't know a lot about stone, but I think some folks would call this a limestone fence, while in Texas I have heard it referred to as Austin Stone, since many of these type of stones are quarried in Austin, Texas.

Linking to:  Good Fences

Another Museum

So far, in the last few days, I have featured two of the museums in the Cultural District of Ft. Worth, Texas. Actually, we have five, all within walking distance of each other. The first of these museums sits at the top of the hill...and this one, like the Kimbell, has free admission.

The Amon Carter has a wonderful selection of American art, especially western art. You will find a large collection of Frederic Remington's and Charles Russell's.

Amon Carter (1879-1955), did so much for Ft Worth, including leaving millions of dollars in his foundation ear marked for this museum.

I could go on and on about this newspaper editor, oilman , who was the director of American Airways, started the first radio station here, and was chairman of Texas Technological Collage that later became TCU. Let's just say, too put it mildly, he lived and breathed Fort Worth. He loved it almost as much as he hated our neighbor Dallas. It was reported that when he had to go there, for a business meeting, he took as sack lunch so that he didn't have to leave any money in Dallas. I highly suggest you don't miss the Amon Carter Museum on your visit to Ft. Worth

This is the museum where I recently toured the one hundred piece visiting Folk Art Exhibit from The American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

At The Back Door

At the back door of the Kimbell....which most people use to enter, since it is near the parking, is the three ton whimsical monster like sculpture titled Woman Addressing the Public.

It is the work of Joan Miro' (1893-1983), from Spain. Joan, who incidentally was a man ( I was thrown by the name), completed this work late in life at the age of 87.

 While I think it is impressive, I feel that it is much more typical of the art of the neighboring museum, The Modern.

Our Culture District part ll

Yesterdays entry told you about the Modern Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas. Moving on up the block, or hill is my very favorite museum, where we have a membership.

The Kimbell Museum, owned by the Kimbell Foundation was the vision of Kay and Velma Kimbell. The museum, certainly new in most people's eyes, was opened in 1972 displaying the Kimbell families large collection of art. Entrance to the permanent collection, which has grown to 350 works, is free to the public.

The award winning design of the building was the work of Russian born architect Louis I. Kahn. Kahn who became a naturalized American citizen in 1914, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania . He was for a time, professor of Architecture at Yale University, where he also  designed their library. His masterpiece, The Kimbell is widely recognized as one of the most significant works of Architecture of recent times.

So, how do you expand this building that also needs house traveling exhibits? Plans were drawn up for wings going off in two directions, but remembering, that the now deceased Louis Kahn, advised that any expansion be a separate building. They hired world renowned Italian born architect Renzo Piano to do just that.(opening in 2013). I'll stop now, since I know a lot of you have other blogs to read....Just wanted to say that Piano in collaboration Richard Rogers, also designed the Pompidou Centre. Paris.Oh, if you didn't dine at the Modern, eat here....I love their casual dining room serving delicious food.

Our Cultural District

One of the reasons we chose the lot where our new house was built, is that there are so many things within walking distance. Shops, restaurants, galleries and Ft. Worth's famed Cultural District, where we visited   yesterday. Although we drove.. Shame on us, because it was  a beautiful day.

If you drive a couple of miles west of downtown, the first  museum you come to, in The Cultural District, is The Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth. It was chartered in 1892 (oldest museum in Texas), but went through several name changes and locations. The current structure was designed by Japanese Architect Tado Ando, and opened in 2002. It houses five long pavilions, displaying world renowned art. Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko to name a few.

Sitting out in front is a 65 ft rusted metal sculpture by Richard Serra, titled The Vortex. Folks like to walk inside it and listen to your voice being echoed.
Funny story here. Tom and I were very new in town, and heard that a finalist in the Van Cliburn Competition would be giving a free piano concert at the foot of the sculpture....They said  to bring your lawn chair and enjoy...which we did. There was a friendly lady sitting next to us, that we struck up a conversation with (actually Tom did). They were chatting away when the program started and someone said "I would like our mayor to say a few words". That is when the nice lady said "excuse me"....and you guessed it ...took the microphone. I can tell you folks she is one nice lady, our Mayor Betsey Price, and very approachable; :)

I know this is getting wordy,. but I did want to tell you that they have a movie theater inside where they show documentaries and limited release films,

and also a beautiful restaurant jutting out over a reflecting pond .They serve a delicious reasonably priced lunch; brunch on Sat. and Sun,. and dinner two nights a week.

Don't miss The Modern when you come to Ft. Worth, Texas

Cooking

I promise this is not going to turn into a food blog, but I wanted to share a fun and delicious (if I do say so myself), recipe that I tried last night. There is something about Fall, and cooler weather, that makes me want to cook a hearty meal.

So, I made these Spicy Italian Sausage Spaghetti Squash Boats. Now that's a mouthful!. I don't know if you have ever cooked spaghetti squash, if not you may want to give it a try. Once the squash is cooked ( in the oven), you run a fork through the center, and the strands come out looking a lot like spaghetti.
The recipe actually called for turkey sausage, but I used spicy Italian sausage. I did add some sliced fresh mushrooms, when I was caramelizing the onions.I also halved the recipe. If you are interested in the recipe click: HERE