BYU Museum of Art

The sister retreat highlight of today was going with Mom to the BYU Museum of Art. The main attraction right now is Lorenzo Ghiberti's Baptistry doors - "Gilded Paradise" is what the exhibit is called. They are life size doors that have been recast. 

(I blinked in that pic, too bad) It is amazing how these ended up here at BYU - they made casts of them before WWII just in case they got damaged, a BYU Hawaii professor was in Florence Italy and somehow got them, took them to BYU Hawaii and they were kinda forgotten about in storage there until the 2000s. From the flyer they have on the exhibit: 

"Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise (1425-1452) are a masterpiece of the Italian renaissance, depicting Old Testament scenes with breathtaking depth and detail. Created over 27 years for the Florence Baptistry, the doors were so admired that Michelangelo - according to historian Vasari - declared them worthy of paradise itself. Acquired in Florence in 1984 by BYU Hawaii professor Jen Fisher, this plaster cast of the original Doors was brought to BYU‘s Museum of Art in Provo in 2016. Its recent restoration, gilding, and framing honors Ghiberti's enduring artistry and vision." 

So the panels are Biblically chronological from left to right starting at the top: Adam & Eve, Cain and Abel, next row down Noah & Family, Abraham & Isaac, middle panels Jacob & Esau, Joseph & His Brothers, Moses & the Israelites, Joshua & Jericho, bottom panels left David & Goliath, bottom right Solomon & the Queen of Sheba. Mom looking at the panel of Joseph of Egypt and his brothers.

I was thoroughly amazed by all of that, but that wasn't the only display! There's more to see! Jerusha admiring what was my favorite wall -

I loved loved loved all the landscapes and mountains and ocean art, wow. 

Mom and I amazed at Norman Rockwell's "Lift Up Thine Eyes" ... 

...and man, that was in 1957! People all looking down and that was before everyone had smart phones! The idea behind that painting goes along perfectly with the lesson I'm doing on Sunday - "Look to God and Live". I looked afterwards in the museum shop to see if they had a print of that that I could buy and use for my lesson, but they didn't. So I prob took a hundred pictures so I can go back and look at the works and read the artist statements again. So in addition to Gilded Paradise, they also had: 

• Staff selections from the permanent collection (on display through December 2026) 
• "Crossing the Divide: American Art from the Permanent Collection (on display Sept 2024-Sept 2029) 
• "Earthbound and Heavenward: The Sacred Art of Discipleship"

Two other exhibits were "The Way of the Cross" by David Habben - I liked the idea but was not visually impressed with his stuff, so I skipped that, I browsed Mimi Chen Ting's exhibit "Make Movement Visible" it was ok, but that was near the end when I found that area and everyone else was done, so I headed up to meet them all under the rainbow. They liked that part.

This morning Corey and I went and picked up my mom, and then he drove us to the Airbnb before we went to the museum and he went to pick up our bikes. We dropped off our bikes for some work on Monday before going to Green River. Since I came out here yesterday morning in Corey's car, I had to either go pick up the bikes - or - drive the car back to him so he could. I thought I could go get them on our way to the museum, but to do that I first needed a bike lock (so they wouldn't get stolen while we were at BYU at the museum) so either way I had to go home. When I got there, the kids were all working hard. Natalie and Owen cleaning all the camping sand out of the car from our spring break trip.

Luckily there weren't any soccer games today (spring break) so that worked out nicely. I found Corey and checked in with him and he decided he'd go get the bikes. We left and picked up my mom, back to Airbnb, and everyone was ready to go - Amy drove to the museum. Mom sat shotgun and we all got to be the kids in the back!

After the museum we took mom back home and visited there for a bit more. 

Patrice switched out their framed cards on the wall.

Then on the drive back to South Jordan, we went out to eat at Dolly's, Neil's treat (such a nice brother).

Back at the house, we did our favorite things exchange. I got a 5 year journal from Steph and lemon yogurt covered almonds from costco, yum. We munched on treats while we played Rummikub. Steph won the first round, then we did it "Scrabble" style for the second round. I had one tile left at the end of that round and they helped me win that one. Around 10:30 Corey arrived and I needed to head home. He took this group pic for us.

It's 1 am now, I have dough for 4 bread for tomorrow, I'm going to teach RS, I also need to wake up early to change the RS board. Things seem to have gone ok here while I was gone for the past 40 hours. This morning I got an early morning text from Corey (3:30 am) that he had a horrible night. He texted Abi and me that he hasn't had asthma this bad for years and he needs to do everything he can to fix it. Thus, Abi needs to find another home for her guinea pig. She had brought Jerry into the basement cause she said it was too cold outside. It was probably mostly from Katharine climbing into bed with him. I'm  betting she had been with Jerry and had stuff on her clothes. I started laundry as soon as I got home to wash our sheets. In those wee hours of the morning Corey could also hear Peter coughing. He wants a sterile bedroom (no kids ever). 6:20 am text to Abi to put Jerry up for adoption. Corey was trying to avoid an ER visit (he and I still don't have insurance, doh!)