Ostensibly, we went to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts last night to see the Napolean exhibit. For those interested in the symbology of that particular empire or the accoutrements of imperial life, this show is for you. Much as I love our gorgeous museum, I was quickly bored by the show, as was the rest of our party. Artist Emily soon found a more engaging exhibit and by the end of the evening all six of us had dropped jaws.
Contemporary craft lovers with a fascination for conceptual approaches, make your way to the MFA before the strangely named show, Shy Boy, She Devil, and Isis, which to my mind bears no connection with this extraordinary collection of work lent by a California couple, closes. Wood work so fine it makes you gasp, ceramics unlike any you've ever seen, and the glasswork of Christopher Ries kept us there til near closing time.
We spent our final moments with our friends David and Judy--and a French museum visitor just as spellbound as we were--bending, craning our necks, and moving around Ries's work one more time, trying to figure out how a nicely shaped piece of glass (I think it was the one to the left, called After Glow) could cast so many internal designs, flowers, arcs, rays, mandalas, even, without encasing those very objects. I can't stop thinking about Ries's work and I'm guessing you won't be able to either.
