Paris: Photo Tour

 The Red Balloon recently visited the iconic city of Paris.

Here's a photo tour to enjoy!

Adieu!

WNDR Museum Boston

"Wisdom begins in Wonder." ~ Socrates

A new museum has moved into Boston's downtown crossing: WNDR! The museum lives up to its title, which is pronounced "wonder," leaving all who enter left to wonder, wonder how downtown has been without such an establishment for so long when it is an epicenter and hub of art in Boston.

The Red Balloon had the opportunity to sit down with General Manager Giancarlo Natale for an interview. When asked how WNDR came to fruition, Giancarlo stated that the museum actually began as a pop-up by founder Brad Keywell in Chicago. The windy city was the site of the first brick and mortar WNDR. The museum has now grown to three locations: Chicago, San Diego, and Boston. The Boston location just opened in February of 2024.

WNDR Boston is run by 95 employees and Giancarlo reports that many employees are local art students. All employees of WNDR are called ambassadors as they are promoting and supporting the arts and wonder. 

As for how the museum selects the art within its walls, Giancarlo credits WNDR's creative team who select everything that you will see within the museum. WNDR is always adjusting and what Giancarlo sees as unique to WNDR is that what you see one day at WNDR will not necessarily be there on your next visit as the museum is ever-evolving and exhibits do not have any strict timeline. When asked what the museum title WNDR means Giancarlo recalls when he first visited iconic Fenway Park with his father as a child to see a ballgame. He remembers the sense of wonder that he felt. He believes that the museum's goal is to transform guests, ignite a fire, and sense of wonder within patrons.      

Walking through the museum it is clear that WNDR is an immersive experience. The multi-sensory exhibits allow you to hear, see, and even taste, yes that's right taste in order to fully experience all that is WNDR. It is clear that art and technology are interacting within many of the exhibits within the walls of WNDR. Among The Red Balloon's favorite exhibit was the AI generator in which you get one of many opportunities to be the artist. See below the art that The Red Balloon created!

See the WNDR for yourself in Boston's downtown crossing. 

WNDR Boston's website: https://wndrmuseum.com/location/boston/

See above: Artwork from The Red Balloon

Provincetown: Photo Tour

The Red Balloon takes on Provincetown. Below take a photo tour of the art, monument, and history on the tip of Cape Cod. The best part: you don't have to leave your front door for this tour!

 Follow along and take a trip abroad as The Red Balloon takes over Europe: coming soon!

Salem: Sights & Sounds

Get ready for a special edition of Sights and Sounds. Today we look at the city of Salem. Best known for it's connection to the Salem Witch Trials, the city has quite a bit to offer in terms of culture, art, and more.

Here's a look at some highlights from The Red Balloon's recent travels in the city of Salem.

First, we start with the Salem Witch Museum, established in 1692. Any visit to Salem is not complete with a trip to this place.

Next, the Peabody Essex Museum offers an array of art including the Yin Yu Tang Ancestral Home, pictured below.

The House of Seven Gables is not to be missed. The secret stairway is one that a visitor who had not been to the house in nearly 50 years still remembered while taking another tour of the house. 

Artwork is in the center of the city.

A replica of the schooner Fame from the War of 1812 is another must see while in the city.

Happy Travels!

MFA Boston

On January 18th, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston will be hosting an open house which means admission is free. Here's a look at some photos from the museum:

The photo is from the Annual Persian New Year Festival that take place at the museum in March.

Above, one of the sculptures from Spanish realist Antonio Lopez Garcia. Fun face: both sculptures at the museum were modeled after his grandchildren.

The Garden of the Heart of Heaven reopened in April of 2015.

A photo from outside the Garden of the Heart of Heaven.

Sights & Sounds: Part Cinco

The fifth installment in The Red Balloon's Sight & Sounds series.

First, if you haven't seen the Museum of Natural History at Harvard there's no better time than the present.

Not only is the museum filled with a gigantic array of artifacts that you will not find anywhere else but it has some pretty impressively LARGE collections (see one above) which spans an entire wall.

Below, there is an actual skin of a zebra which someone tried to bring with them through Logan Airport (and you thought you had a long wait in line during your last trip to the airport, imagine being behind that individual!)

Admission to the Museum of Natural History includes admission to the Peabody Museum which contains more collections so be sure to stop be there as well. The photo below is from the Peabody's Annual Day of the Dead Celebration.

Happy Travels!

Pompeii

Pompeii...Pompeii...Pompeii...where to begin?
Some things are just not very good and yet you find yourself watching them anyway. The same could be said for the film Pompeii.

I am officially going to begin using the phrase, "That film was a real Pompeii" to describe films that are basically...well...I think the phrase speaks for itself. The film actually made me of a museum exhibit of the ruins of Pompeii, which was very different from the film. The exhibit had a great deal of depth and character and was...well...interesting to look at.

There were several different aspects of Pompeii included in the museum exhibit including artifacts, such as plates, tools, jewelry, and coins that were used to purchase items in the marketplace. There were so many artifacts that it was easy to recreate in your mind what life back in Pompeii must have been like. I almost wish the film had started with the artifacts and gone back to the days of Pompeii. Perhaps that would have added another element to the film, a bit of depth that just wasn't present in the movie. Maybe archiologists could have been digging up and exploring ruins and had found a few artifacts and then there could have been a flashback where we see the artifacts as they were used at that time by a family in Pompeii. But, alas, the film really fell far short of expectation. The script was really rather tedious and boring at its best and most brillant moments.

Back at the museum, there were many, many artifacts. By far the most fascinating of all the remnants were the actual people themselves, some of whom were hugging and found to be embracing one another. Below, I've included one photo that I captured of a dog. He had been found in the ruins, chained to a fence. Of course the image of him is one not easily forgotten, unlike the film.