Springfield, MO ~ Another Day, A Special Artwork

I believe I mentioned how much I love dogwoods; what a gift to arrive in Springfield when they were in bloom. As we explored Springfield on Thursday, there were frequent stops to shoot them. The most beautiful trees were in residential areas. I favor the pink over the white, but barely. 

The Botanical Garden was one of our stops, thankfully! I had never seen Kanzan Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees and had to have an expert identify them from the many photos I shot. Can you imagine how beautiful these were a few days ago before the new leaves unfurled and released the pink blossoms? There were still enough of the tiny carnation-like flowers on the tree to get some photos though.

This Azalea Garden was across the walk from the flowering cherry trees and they were all in bloom too. There were even more colors than the four I'm sharing here.

We took the girls back to the RV and went back into town to visit the Springfield Art Museum...yet another great little museum!

I was intrigued by an exhibit called "From A to Z" that was curated from their permanent collection. There were 26 pieces of artwork, each selected to represent a letter of the alphabet, hung in order. Within those 26 artworks were some great pieces...perhaps I'll do a collage of them someday.

"A" was represented by this painting with its apples.

The final artwork displayed was this one titled "Zeke" to represent the letter "Z."

I think we were both a bit surprised that out of the six current exhibitions, our favorite was the annual Springfield All School Exhibition. There were hundreds of artworks in a large variety of mediums, all of which were created by K - 12 students. We were dazzled by the talent displayed in those works.

But, it was the multi-media artwork shown below that took my breath away. It's as though this high school senior peeked inside Rich's head. There are stars, puzzles, wires, a train and track, dominoes, a light switch, an RV, a small circuit board, and connectors wiring the brain to a book...did I mention wires? Anyone who knows Rich, knows that this is my husband. As though that wasn't enough, the title of this artwork is "zzzzztttt"...which is the sound Rich makes when he's fake zapping me with an imaginary electrical current! Oh my, how I love our life, how I love our great timing, how I love museums, how I love stumbling upon unexpected treasures!

And here he is, MOAO, his head intact and waiting for me in the lobby of the museum when I came out of the gift shop...how I love that man!

Lovin' Life ~~ With Its Endless Surprises!