| Sunday at the Art Institute |
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 Sunday at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
was so much fun! My earlier blog entry talked about the context for my
appearance, and the fact that my daughter was going to accompany me. I
mentioned that the signing was in conjunction with the museum's Art in
Bloom extravaganza. Well, before I start talking about my own
activities that day, let me tell you more about the marvelous Art in
Bloom event itself. The MIA, like many other museums around the country, hosts an annual event that pairs flower arrangements with items from the museum collection. And not just paintings. There were floral arrangements throughout the building, created to illustrate or imitate works as diverse as a guitar, an Art Nouveau lamp, and a car built in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s! If you live where you can go see one of these exhibits, take my advice and don't miss it. On this, the final day of the four-day Art in Bloom event, the place was packed with visitors. My daughter and I got to the museum early and had some professional photos taken in front of Lucretia, which should be really great for the website. Then we spent more than an hour wandering through the galleries in utter amazement at the beauty and sheer artistry of the floral contributions. And if you're wondering, yes, we spent a lot of time making our usual decisions about what we would take from each room when we began our life of crime. Then it was time to get started with a real business of the day. I was scheduled to sign at 2:00. I arrived 15 minutes early to get everything arranged, only to face a circle of sweet and hopeful people, each clutching one or two of my books, who quickly formed themselves into a line. Many mentioned they had been attracted by this Star Tribune newspaper article from Saturday: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/1 8489404.html I started signing immediately, and the line simply kept going without a break for 20 solid minutes. Business remained brisk until we left at about 3:15. I had great fun chatting with a number of adults, but my best time was spent with the young people who had come to get my book. I'm discovering I really like my readers! One highlight of the day was when Carmen, a girl of probably 11 or 12 and the daughter of the museum's director of external affairs, came in to have me sign the copy I'd given her mom. Carmen told me she'd already read the book once and she loved it so much she was going to start reading it the second time that afternoon! It's so fun to get this positive feedback from the kid readers themselves. Several buyers said they'd heard about the book from people who had already read it, some of whom were young readers. So the buzz seems to be good. To my great regret, it did not occur to me until the event was almost over to remind the young people buying the book to go up and see the Lucretia painting. When I did start mentioning this, I was amazed to find how few actually remembered having seen the work. Unfortunately, the Art Institute does not have a poster available of that particular painting. I'm going to have to find some vendor who can send me a large reproduction I can show those who attend events where I appear. Kari and Lucas may be the young sleuths in my book, but Lucretia is the real star! |
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