Logo graphic by Mike Hortens Design

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Colorado, pt. 3


Colorado Springs:

Our favorite type of sculpture is kinetic sculpture and we found just the site to visit through Atlas Obscura!  In Colorado Springs we made a “quick click” stop at Starr Kempf’s Kinetic Sculptures:

 
 

Next we headed to the US Air Force Academy to check out some fabulous architecture!   

 

That’s right – the chapel here is absolutely stunning!  It's made of aluminum, glass and steel and features 17 spires.  This is an example of when a picture is worth a thousand words!


Designed to meet the spiritual needs of all the cadets, it contains separate chapels for four major religious faiths: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist plus another room available for use by Muslim and other faiths.  

Protestant
 
Catholic
Jewish & Buddhist

Denver:

Denver has a multitude of sightseeing opportunities!  Here are just the highlights of some of the places we visited.

This museum provides a history of transportation through all types of vehicles! 

1890 Child’s Hearse
1899 Quad Pacing Bicycle
1900 Paddle Bicycle
1925 White – Glacier National Park Bus
1923 Kissell
Amelia Earhart’s “Gold Bug” Speedster
1955 Messerschmitt “Bubble Car”
1957 Dodge Royal Lancer
1960 Gym Dandy Surrey
(children’s toy)
Bumper Car
 


A great opportunity to get outside and enjoy the fresh air!  In addition to wonderful plants and gardens, there are a number of impressive sculpture:

Trust by Kendra Fleischman
 
Starry, Starry Night by Leon Bronstein
Study for the Whistler Muse
by Auguste Rodin
Colorado by Dale Chihuly
 

This is where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains!  A beautiful park, a geological phenomenon and an acoustically perfect amphitheater!  Sadly we were not able to attend a concert. 

 


 

We were welcomed to this museum by this fun sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen!

Big Sweep

One of the exhibits we visited was Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America:
 

Marshmellow sofa by Irving Harper
(George Nelson & Associates)

Tulip chair with portrait of a girl
By Erwine & Estelle Laverne

This sand mandala is one of the most beautiful that I’ve seen:

Hayagriva Mandala by Geshe Thubten Sonam,
Sonam Woser, and Lobsang Lungrig

Molly Brown Museum House:
A symbol of the turn of the 20th century, The Molly Brown House was built with the modern technology of the day, including electricity, indoor plumbing, heat and a telephone!  This house museum provided a peek into the life of Molly Brown!

 
 
 

What a wonderful place to end our visit to Colorado, a summation of all that we have learned (and more) – from the cultures that have shaped Colorado’s past, present and future! Here are a few pictures from 2 of the current exhibitions:

 
 
 
 
 
 


We are headed north now, to Montana – big sky country!