Brasilia: Oscar Niemeyer Buildings (Day 1)

It has been so much fun to visit with Kelly, her family, and to see her home. My Portuguese is doing alright, even though I have forgotten basic words like "tijelo." I especially like speaking Portuguese with Wren and Finn.

Yesterday Kelly took me to see some of the famous buildings and monuments in Brasilia. We drove into the city on the JK Bridge (shown above) and went to the Praça dos Tres Poderes to see the government buildings. We drove past the Congresso Nacional (the double towers), Palácio do Planalto, 

We first went inside the Metropolitan Cathedral (Catedral Metropolitana de Nossa Senhora da Aparecida). I've taught about this structure several times, so it was really special for me to be in the space. Here were a couple of my observations for the cathedral (as well as what I have learned from the online guide):

• I've never noticed the carillon in images of the cathedral. This was designed by Niemeyer and dedicated in 1977. The bells were a gift of the Spanish government. Three of the bells represent the boats of Christopher Columbus and the other bell represents Nossa Senhora do Pilar (who is heavily venerated in Spain).
• You really get a sense that you are underground when you are in the cathedral space. The wall curves up to about 6' tall, and then the windows appear just above (which would be ground level outside)
• The cathedral was very warm and kind of miserable to be inside, with all of the light beating down through the windows. This structure totally fits with modernism: it is glorious to look at, but completely not user-friendly and comfortable.
• There is supposed to be a reflecting pool that surrounds the structure! It was completely drained, like most of the reflecting pools and fountains that I've seen on my trip.

I didn't realize that there was a baptistery that was created later in the cathedral. The elevated ceiling can be seen popping out from above the ground line, like a flying saucer, just next to the cathedral entrance.

After the cathedral we went to the Museo Nacional nearby (another Niemeyer building). The art wasn't that interesting inside, so we headed over to the Espaço Lúcio Costa, an underground plaza, to see a display of the airplane-shape floorvplan of the city. Then we walked across the above-ground plaza to see the Panteão da Patria (Pantheon of the Homeland). This building is dedicated to peace, and the structure is supposed to look like the wings of a dove. 

Panteão da Patria

The inside of the building has a memorial to Tancredo Neves, who was supposed to be sworn in as the first democratically-elected president but was too ill to be sworn in (his vice-president assumed power in his stead) and then died shortly thereafter. The white monument above (with the eternal flame) is dedicated to Tancredo Neves's memory. Inside the Panteão da Patria is also a series of panels that honor the Inconfidência Mineira by João Camara Filho. They are placed opposite a stained glass window by Marianne Peretti; the window is supposed to evoke either the shape of Brazil or a tree.

Os Inconfidentes gathered around to conspire!

Death of Tiradentes

Afterward we looked at the Os Candangos sculptures. Kelly pointed out that the nickname "candangos" originally was a pejorative term meaning "ordinário" or "ruim," since it was used to denote immigrants of African descent who came to Brasilia to help build the capital in a matter of years. The sculpture was built in 1959 by Bruno Giorgi in honor of these workers who helped to build the city. Bruno Giorgi was himself an immigrant (he was extradited to Brazil in the 1930s due to his involvement with the anti-fascist movement).

Os Candangos with the Palacio do Planalto in the background

The sun is bright and hot in Brazil!

Some Current Art Favorites and Thoughts on Jackie Kennedy

I'm cleaning out my desktop while I wait at the airport for a flight. Before I organize these beautiful works of art into oblivion, I want to make sure I highlight them so I can remember:

Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson, "Butterflies," 1891

Mary Cassatt, "Lilacs in Window," 1883

This painting and the lilacs remind me of my mom

Gustave-Leonard de Jonghe, "First Born," 1863

This painting reminds me of when I went to meet my niece Mabel, the first child born to one of my siblings. I would be the lady in the yellow traveling clothes, and V is the mom in white

Tissot, "Reading a Story," c. 1897

Some of the most quiet moments I have with Lucy are when we are reading a story together. This curly-haired blonde girl reminds me of her

Gari Melchers, "The Communicant," c. 1900

  

Evelyn de Morgan, "Night and Sleep," 1878

Evelyn de Morgan, "Clytie," 1878

Whistler, "The Artist in His Studio," 1865-66

 Caillebotte, "Woman at a Dressing Table," c. 1873

Frederick Sandys, "Whitlingham, Norfolk," 1860

I grew to really like Frederick Sandys's art this summer, while giving tours about his paintings "Morgan le Fay" and "Medea"

Charles Robert Leslie, "Queen Victoria in Her Coronation Robes," 1838

Winslow Homer, "Waiting for Dad (Longing)," 1873

The photograph below and the Homer painting above have been saved on my desktop, right next to each other. I've thought lately about how their compositions are similar in some ways, with the straight horizon line of the sea. I guess I'm really drawn to the same aesthetic Something resonates with me in both subjects, too: solitude and playfulness. The photograph particularly reminds me of my mom (with her own short dark hair) and her investment in her kids. I adore this composition, particularly the curve of Caroline's tummy, her round legs, and how she has one foot just peek over the horizon line. 

Mark Shaw Kennedy, "Jackie Swings Caroline in the Shallows of Hyannis Port," 1959

Yesterday, by coincidence, Lucy the book, "Just Being Jackie" by Megan Cardillo. It's a delightful book and I really like the illustrations, too. I've realized how much I truly admire Jackie Kennedy and all that she did, in her pursuit of her career, her dedication to her children, and her desire to preserve historical buildings and monuments (and I already had an inkling of this latter point before, since I am familiar with her involvement in saving Egyptian temples). 

Having worked recently to restore an heirloom dollhouse this past summer, I am now anxious to see what Jackie Kennedy did on a greater scale with her restoration of the White House. I hope to watch "A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy" (the 1962 documentary) soon. I'm saving a clip below as a starter, but I need to track down the whole documentary:

Heirloom Dollhouse Restoration

This past summer has been good for me, especially because I was able to focus my mind on new ideas and get involved in creative projects that are outside of my norm. I also decided to take a break from Instagram in August, and it has been nice to focus on my own thoughts instead of being inundated with the thoughts and activities of others. One of the things that I especially enjoyed doing was restoring an old Victorian-style dollhouse. I loved getting a chance to be creative with my hands and mind, and get to see a tangible manifestation of my work.

This dollhouse belonged to my Aunt Bee; it was given to her when she was a little girl. When we went down to Portland in August (not only to see the Wa-Fol family's new house, but also to see Mount Hood and the Enchanted Forest), Aunt Bee gave us this dollhouse to take home, so it could be enjoyed by Lucy but still stay within the family as an heirloom. Grandpa Theron made this dollhouse for my aunt when she was a little girl; he build the dollhouse in my great-aunt Vera's garage. It was painted bright yellow when my aunt was a little girl, and then later in the 1990s it was painted brown when my C cousins played with it.

I didn't take a picture of the exterior when we got it, but the exterior walls and trim were painted different shades of brown, and the shingles were unpainted. The interior walls had a few pieces of contact paper for wallpaper, and there were a few old pieces of felt for carpet.

Lucy wanted to change the color of the dollhouse, and I obliged. I tried to get her to choose the original yellow color, but she was fixated on a bubble-gum pink color. I was, at the very least, able to convince her to choose something that was more terracotta and have some blue and white accents for contrast. Lucy helped paint some of the exterior, too, which she enjoyed.

Some of the brown trim is visible in this picture, as well as some of the missing trim and broken veranda railing. The doors leading out to this porch also were missing. Aunt Bee still had the railing on hand, and J and I were able to carve new trim pieces.

Almost done! It is still missing part of the the gable trim and screen doors

We worked simultaneously on the exterior and the interior. I carved out a new piece for the gable trim that was missing on the left side, new trim for the Mansart roof circular window and the arched window in the tower. J made a new door with an oval-shaped window to match the front door. We found screen doors with oval-shaped designs for the veranda, and cut them to fit. I even found replacement "glass" for the windows by using the plastic container of a stationery box. Here is the completed exterior:

J helped me cut some of the wallpaper for the trickiest rooms (the downstairs dining area with the staircase, as well as the bathroom with the angled ceiling), but I did a lot of it on my own. Sam and Lucy were content to spend a lot of time playing together, and when they were distracted I would run down to the basement to cut more wallpaper. I got the wallpaper from the scrapbook paper sections of Joann's and Michaels, and even the floors are made with scrapbook paper.

The floor and mirror are the two things which came with the dollhouse, at least when Aunt Bee gave it to us.

Look at the tiny radiator! We got this in a $5 grab bag from the Miniatures and More store in Edmonds. We also bought the bathroom fixtures there too.

 This is a tiny miniature painting of one of Degas' ballerina scenes

This is the art room - the dolls have a tiny easel for painting

These two paintings are of a Cezanne still life and Monet's "Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son"

 The main entry with a peek-a-boo Lucy!

This wallpaper is as close to a William Morris design as I could find!

Lucy has all of her special stones and "gems" in this treasure box. Lucy once imagined that the dolls used it for collateral to make some kind of bargain with their neighbors. The little roundel on the wall is cut from the packaging of one of the dolls of the Strawberry Shortcake series. I had a Strawberry Shortcake in this same design when I was a little girl, and it has been so fun for Lucy to get to play with these same dolls. I'm sure they were re-released recently so that mothers like me (who played with these dolls as a child) could buy them for their own kids.

 The attic! I left this room unpainted, which seemed fitting for an attic. We got the little presents for free from Miniatures and More, and the tiny crocheted rug was a gift to me from Lee Peterson, the pianist of my old choir. The only thing that I haven't been able to find is a ladder in the right dimensions to reach up to the attic. I may need to make one. Ant Bee said that she used to pretend like her dolls were orphans when they were up in the attic. 

Lucy and I have been fun playing with this dollhouse together. I hope she gets to enjoy it for many years to come. Maybe we will be able to share it with another cousin so that this dollhouse continues to stay in the family. Or maybe Lucy will want to keep it, in case one day she has a child of her own.