That's Our Excuse

One of many delights in having a parade of summer guests is that Bill and I take more time off to do fun things in our own back yard. You have to be a good host, right? Currently, there are no cobwebs on the canoes, the bocce balls are right by the door, and we're still laughing over a hand of Uno that took more than an hour to play. And yesterday we finally got to see the current exhibits at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau.

After a short stop to watch a young friend play in a soccer tournament in Wausau, we took my parents to Iron 2010: New Work by American Blacksmiths and Axe Lore . The piece above by Paul Cheney was Bill's favorite from Iron. Mine was a vessel from Susan Madasci.

For my parents, I think the highlight of the museum visit was the sculpture garden. We saw the current installation, Steven Siegel's Let's Fan Out. It was created in May from 24,000 pounds of staked and staked repurposed paper.

This site-specific work celebrates Wausau's logging and paper industry roots. This link will take you to a day-by-day photo diary of the construction process.

It was a special treat to see in the "about the installation" document that Matt Foss was a project assistant. Matt is the grandson of Sievers owners Ann and Butch Young. We're hoping to see his handprints on an exhibit at the Packer Hall of Fame in Green Bay soon.

And we'll definitely be back in Wausau -- with or without company -- for two upcoming shows at the Woodson. Birds In Art runs September 10 - November 13. Then Boxes and Their Makers: Contemporary Woodworkers opens November 19.