The Butler Institute of American Art

  So we went to this museum in Youngstown on Wednesday (August 17th) while we were staying in Ohio. It was pretty interesting to see all the different types of art that has been made, and helps me learn a little more about myself to focus on what grabs my attention and what I continued to walk past (no offense to those artists, we just have different taste). That museum was free for us that day.

  I really wanted to get this picture of Jessica before we went in. One kid on her back, one in the stroller, and one holding her hand. I posted it on Facebook and Instagram with the caption: Super Mom, Jessica!! So inspiring to see her doing so much on her own (while her husband, Jonathan, is working) and rarely asking for help. She told me that she chose to have her kids, so she should be the one to take care of them. #rolemodel #CatholicMom #noexcuses  She would still like to have a fourth kid sometime later in life. Perhaps next year or so.

  This guard was very convincing. He's not real. At first when I walked in, I thought he was kind of a lazy creep for just sitting there when they had another guard (a real person) dressed the same and walking around. That guy made sure we didn't get too close to the art or touch anything. Aunt Paula even started walking up to the fake guard to ask him a question, then suddenly started laughing when she realized he was a piece of art too. They had three other fake people (unknown famous athletes) around the museum, but those were more obvious about being art. Jordyn seemed to think the fake girl was real because she had hair that blew slightly when the air conditioning was on. I took pictures of those for Michael as sculpting references. It was still a little creepy though because I kept waiting for them to come to life when I zoomed in on them.

  We had fun watching all the marbles loop around and fall every which way.

   The mirror wall was a big hit.

  If I ever decided to go back to only picking one picture to post per blog (I doubt that will happen again), I would have picked this one to shine. ^^

 In this area there were many frames that looked empty until you stood in front of them at a certain angle. For the baby on the left, Jessica said if you stood a little more to the right, you could tell that the baby was a girl and had pierced ears. 

 This two way mirror thing made the faces look merged when they were aligned properly. The light on either side would switch, resulting in which person's face was more prominent. 

 James in the room of men. In the picture below I tried to add my own artistic flare by standing in a way where two other drawings could be seen in the reflection of this man's suit. See them? ;)

 One portion of the museum was on the second floor of a church. We had to walk across a glass hallway to get to that side. It had three exhibits. Bird statues, large paper mache dolls with period timed dresses, and these carousel horses through the ages.

  ^^ & the most beautiful part of the museum. This piece is wonderful and kind and cannot be duplicated. It is sweet and loving and perfect. I'll call this one "Cute Face". ;)