CENTER FOR CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Atlanta, Georgia

 52 Places to Go: Week 43

Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, Georgia

In February 2017, on a trip to Atlanta, Georgia, I visited the Center for Civil and Human Rights.

Mural in the lobby at the entrance to the museum

Located at the end of Centennial Mall on the edge of downtown Atlanta, the museum has three floors of exhibits–The American Civil Rights Movement (second/plaza floor), Human Rights (third floor), and special exhibits on the ground floor.

I entered the museum from the plaza and proceeded from there to the American Civil Rights exhibits, through a gauntlet of photos from the years of segregation.

Entrance to exhibits chronicling the American Civil Rights Movement

The left side of this passageway depicts all-white schools, churches, parties, social events and sports under a neon sign “White”. On the opposite wall, under a neon “Colored” sign, is a collage of parallel events from the “colored” world.

Aerial photo of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963, and Leaders' Itinerary

At the other end of the entrance hall are a series of rooms packed with photos, quotations, videos, interactive exhibits chronicling Jim Crow laws, the battle for school desegregation, voting rights, freedom riders, the march on Washington for jobs and freedom, and much more. 

You can sit on a stool, like those at the lunch counters where sit-ins took place, and put on earphones that allow you to experience vicariously the epithets and abuse heaped on the sit-in participants. The Civil Rights exhibit ends with the assassination of Martin Luther King.

The stairway to the third floor of the museum, a replica of the Lorraine Motel where he was killed, leads to exhibits focusing on human rights worldwide.

In contrast with the dark rooms of the second floor, the upper floor of the museum are filled with light from the tall glass windows. Large panels and interactive exhibits invite the participation of viewers.

Justice We Shall Pursue (2010-2013), Quilt donated by the Peach State Stitchers

A beautiful quilt titled "Justice We Shall Pursue" depicting a tree of life surrounded by quotes and colorful patches representing 42 countries of the world hangs in one of the galleries on the third floor. "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." This quote, in the center of the quilt, attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, reflects the hope that people will keep working to make the world a better place.

On the lower level of the museum is a gallery for special exhibits, currently showing a selection of the Martin Luther King papers in the Morehouse College collection. These include papers and his transcript from his student years, notes and syllabi from courses he taught, favorite books, and more. (Photographs were not permitted.)

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is dedicated to the achievements of both the civil rights movement in the United States and the broader worldwide human rights movement. Located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the museum opened to the public on June 23, 2014.

For more information about visiting the Center for Civil and Human Rights, click HERE.

This post was first published at The Intrepid Tourist on 2/20/17.

All text and photographs copyright Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist.

IMMERSIVE VAN GOGH: LOS ANGELES

52 Places to Go: Week 42

Last week, Art and I went to the Los Angeles installation of the Immersive Van Gogh show--a distinctly Hollywood experience, dazzling, fascinating, and nothing like viewing Van Gogh’s art in a museum, where the art stays firmly in place on the walls. At the theater/gallery for the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit on Sunset Boulevard, light projections of Van Gogh’s art swirled around us–on the four walls of the room, reflected in mirrors, on the floor, and on us, all to the beat of surround sound music–while we sat inside our designated socially distanced circles, masks on. It was like being inside a giant kaleidoscope.

The show, which repeats about every 45 minutes, roughly follows the course of Van Gogh’s life, from his early paintings like The Potato Eaters, to his final super productive phase, including Starry Night. We sat through the show twice–the first time just in awe and absorbing the experience, the second time admiring again, taking more pictures, and changing our position in the room to see the art from a different angle.

The show invites viewers to step into Van Gogh’s paintings and become part of the scene–to sit at the table with the potato eaters, to join a street scene in Arles, to look the artist in the eye in his self-portraits, to fly with crows over a wheat field in Southern France.

In one sequence, we join the artist’s process as the pieces of furniture in his bedroom are drawn, colored, and placed in the room. And because the paintings are magnified on such a huge scale, one can see and appreciate every brush stroke.

Everyone who is familiar with Van Gogh’s art will recognize the images on the walls–irises, sunflowers, windmills, an absinthe drinker, stars in the sky–as they morph seamlessly from one scene to the next. It was hard to stop taking photos. And yet, the photos capture mere transient moments in the exhibit because the images are constantly moving. (We also took some short videos, but even those are only an approximation of the actual experience.)

Immersive Van Gogh is an elaborate production. It was designed and conceived by Massimiliano Siccardi, with soundtrack by Luca Longobardi, who both pioneered immersive digital art experiences in France. The show has been seen in Paris, Toronto, and has been or will be shown in twenty American cities. (Click on the Choose Your City button on the website to find out when it will be near you.)

In the room just outside the exhibit, a short summary of Van Gogh’s life is presented–The Seasons of Vincent Van Gogh: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall–with critical facts and dates (born 1853, died 1890.) There is also a sculpture created from the hundreds of letters that Van Gogh wrote. When you leave the show, you exit through the gift shop, where you can purchase all sorts of Van Gogh themed items including books about his life. But the main draw is the exhibit itself, unlike any other art show I’ve ever attended.

Immersive Van Gogh is a good Covid outing--everyone wears masks and keeps their social distance. Tickets are for timed entry, limiting the number of people inside at one time. Our tickets were for 10:00 on a Sunday morning. We did not have to stand in line to get in, but when we came out, there was a long line of people waiting. There are different levels of tickets. Ours included seat cushions (especially useful for sitting on the floor) and when we exited, we exchanged our cushions for a free poster of Van Gogh to take home. 

Before you enter the exhibit, you can take a selfie in front of this enlarged portrait of Vincent Van Gogh.

MILL CITY MUSEUM: Minneapolis, Minnesota

 52 Places to Go: Week 41

View from deck on top floor of the Mill City Museum, Minnespolis, MN

Even though I grew up in Minneapolis, I never appreciated how much the flour milling industry contributed to the growth of the city until my visit to the Mill City Museum. Built into the ruins of what was once the world’s largest flour mill, the Mill City Museum is located on the historic Mississippi Riverfront. When I visited with my family in July 2015, my grandson proclaimed it to be the best museum he’d ever been to. Why? I asked. Because of all the interactive exhibits.

A series of graduated screens demonstrates how the finest flour sifts to the bottom

At the entrance to the museum, you are invited to turn the crank of a small rolling machine that crushes the wheat into flour. Then you shake a set of sifting screens to see how the finest flour comes out at the end. Other hands-on exhibits include a room with models where visitors (mostly kids) can experiment with dam building and water flow, a kitchen where we sampled some delicious bread made with Gold Medal flour, and videos of historic TV and radio ads for General Mills products such as Bisquick and Malt-O-Meal. In other exhibits, we learned about the invention of Wheaties and Bisquick, the history of Betty Crocker, and the early years of the Minneapolis milling industry.

Betty Crocker was invented in 1921 to personalize answers to customer letters

For the Flour Tower tour, we sat on bleachers in a room-size elevator that stopped at floors of the former mill. We saw milling equipment, videos of the mill in action, heard comments by former mill workers, and learned about the mill from the guide. At the top, we exited to a balcony with a panoramic view of St. Anthony Falls, the iconic Stone Arch bridge, and the east bank of the Mississippi. We returned to ground level in an outside glass elevator. We finished our visit (after lunch in the museum café) with the movie Minneapolis in 19 Minutes Flat, a humorous and informative look at the growth and development of the city, narrated and acted by Minneapolis radio personality Kevin Kling.

Stone Arch bridge over the Mississippi and St. Anthony Falls, power source for the mills

The Mill City Museum, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society, is inside what was once the "A" Mill of the Washburn Crosby Milling Company, which, after merging with 26 other milling companies, became General Mills in 1928. When I was growing up, I attended Washburn High School in South Minneapolis. Our sports teams were the Millers. I listened to the WCCO radio and television (owned and named after the Washburn Crosby Company); I watched the Lone Ranger and Rocky and Bullwinkle on television (sponsored by General Mills); I ate Wheaties and Cheerios for breakfast; and I learned to cook with the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. In more ways than I previously realized, my life was impacted by the flour milling industry in Minneapolis.

Growing up, my family always had a (much smaller!) box of Bisquick handy for making biscuits, pancakes and waffles.

Currently, the Mill City Museum is closed. Mill City Museum reopens November 4, 2021! 

This article was first published 7/27/15

All text and photographs copyright Caroline Arnold

RAINY BUT SPECTACULAR ICELAND: Guest Post by Owen Floody

52 Places to Go: Week 41

Sigöldugljufur waterfall gorge, Iceland

With many thanks to Owen Floody for another exceptional contribution to The Intrepid Tourist.

Just back from our re-entry into international travel.  Perhaps this itself deserves some comment.  Our travel preparations did include some tasks and requirements (most notably Covid tests shortly before departure and return) reflecting the new pandemic or (optimistically) post-pandemic world.  But the trip itself was as smooth and efficient as could be, culminating in a return to Newark that was at least 30 min ahead of schedule.  In part, these achievements must reflect the relatively small number of international travelers these days.  But they also suggest effective organization and work by United Airlines and Iceland’s travel officials. 

Not coincidentally, our trip took us to one of the safest places in the Covid world, Iceland. More specifically, the trip took the form of a 6-day Autumn Highlands photo-tour of Iceland, led by Haukur Snorrason, of Iceland Photo Tours.  This was my third photo-tour with Haukur and won’t be my last.  He is good company and a great guide, able to present you with one amazing sight after another, even in the most challenging weather.  He also is a skilled professional photographer, able to convey tips for the improvement of your efforts without ever being overbearing, or even overtly instructional.

Marina area of Reykjavik

We stayed briefly in the marina area of Reykjavik (Icelandair Marina Hotel) and enjoyed this location, which we explored early on our one full day in town.  Soon thereafter, we connected with Haukur and the four other members of our group to begin our photo-tour.  This jumped around a bit, reflecting generally very rainy weather and Haukur’s efforts to avoid, or at least minimize, our exposure to the raindrops. 

Fjallsár and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoons

The tour included much of Iceland’s southern coast and some familiar sights, including the Fjallsár and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoons and Reynisfjara Beach at sunrise.  But the most impressive and rewarding parts of the tour were the stretches through the highlands, an inland area that was largely new to me.  It is impossible to do this area justice in a few words and pictures, but I will try to convey a taste by describing a few of the highlights.

Reynisfjara Beach at sunrise

One focus of our attention in the highlands was the Veidivötn (Fishing Lakes) area.  This is a small area packed with beautiful crater lakes (about 50 of them in an area of approximately 36 square miles) that attract fishermen going after the resident brown trout and Artic char.   

Veidivötn (Fishing Lakes) area

Also memorable were the many streams, rivers, canyons, and waterfalls that litter this and other parts of Iceland such as sunrise over the beautiful Sigöldugljufur waterfall gorge and the Leirá River, cutting through a lava field as it bears runoff from the Mýrdalsjökull Icecap.

Leirá River

Nevertheless, despite this beauty, I found the most eye-popping sights to be those in the black sand “desert” surrounding the Maelifall Volcano.   

Black sand “desert” surrounding the Maelifall Volcano

This is a landscape that just can’t exist, and yet there it is, courtesy of Iceland’s unusually high levels of volcanic and glacial activity.  A bonus for us, given the rain that followed us throughout our trip, was that these conditions may have made the desert even more dramatic and attractive than usual, with blacker-than-usual sand, greener-than-usual vegetation, and an even greater-than-usual contrast between the two.

Maelifall Volcano

Obviously, I enjoyed and recommend this trip, along with all of Iceland Photo Tours’ other offerings.  Wonderland tends to elicit such reactions.  But I do need to throw some caveats in here.  I hope that some readers will consider travel to Iceland as a result of having read this column and viewed these images.  And some of the sites we visited would be easy to find and access in one’s own rental car.  However, this would not be the case for many of the sites we most enjoyed.  For example, it struck me that much of the black sand desert that we toured required frequent crossings of significant streams that could not be negotiated safely by a standard SUV or other car.  I am sure that there are ways of getting into this area that would not require a photo-tour, but I think that some local knowledge and expertise would be highly advisable.  Rest assured that the scenery to be visited is well worth the trouble!  Happy travels.

To read Owen's post about his trip to Iceland in May 2013, click HERE.