We spent five days in Provo, Utah. Beverly attended a conference, and I looked around.
This was my first visit to Utah. Monday and Friday were mostly travel days (by way of Minneapolis and Detroit), so I spent Tuesday exploring Provo. I drove to Salt Lake City on Wednesday, and then to Arches State Park on Thursday.
I’ll start with Provo. We visited BYU’s Museum. AI told me it’s the largest university museum in the country. I don’t know about that, but it’s a nice one. I did notice the lighting on some of the oil paintings need attention – standing or sitting directly in front of the paintings exposes the viewer to bright reflections off the oil paint. I am surprised at this.
One of my favorites is the Gilded Paradise exhibit – the recasts of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s baptistery doors.
It took Ghiberti 27 years to make this. I don’t know how long it took to recreate this casting, but they made 3D scans and some prints, including one of the sculptor. He put his likeness in the door.
The depth of field achieved in some of these panels is astonishing. I’m glad I got to see it in person.
Provo seems to wake up between 10 AM and 11 AM, and shuts down pretty early. I walked Central avenue, and here are interesting things I found.
The Heindselman’s yarn shop claims to be the country’s oldest such shop. I find it hard to believe that the oldest shop isn’t on the east coast. Yet the proprietor was very nice, and explained that the tiny gas meter door outside of the shop doubles as a tiny art exchange. While there wasn’t much tiny art with which to exchange, the lighting of the space was excellent. Well done.
The Cat’s Cradle Antiques Shop was my biggest surprise. It was filled with rare, valuable wonders, including original art by outsider artists like Howard Finster. If I had a great deal of disposable income, I’d dispose a great deal of it in this shop.
There are several Army Surplus shops, and we visited Uncle Sam’s.
I once met a man who explained to me that there are three kinds of freaks in this world:
- Karate Freaks
- Car Freaks
- Army Freaks
Uncle Sam’s is the latter’s dream come true. And, being something of a bag whore, I found it to be a satisfying seller of bags. I chose this one:
I really enjoyed hiking around town and in the mountains. It was hot work, but that river provided some freezing relief. Here are some final photos for this post.
