Monday, July 24, 2006

Avampato!



"Hey, y'all! Watch me juggle!" Okay, so Jon's not really juggling, but it is cool that I caught a ball in mid-flight, on the left. I meant to do that. Really.

I have to admit, I let my family membership to the Clay Center/ Avampato Discovery Museum expire, and I really wish I hadn't. Living in Spencer, I didn't think I would go there enough to merit getting the pass, but we've been there a few times this summer, and would probably go there more often if we had the pass. So, I think I might renew it soon.

I'm just thrilled that we have the Clay Center. Yeah, it's expensive, and blah, blah, blah, but I think it's definitely worth it to have a nice museum/concert hall/planetarium/science center right here in the city to take the kids to. We've been to many museums just like this one in other cities and have paid higher prices to get in, so I personally think it's a bargain. It's especially nice when the kids are working on homework about soil erosion for science class and one of them says, "hey, I remember this from the Clay Center!"

I do miss the view from Sunrise, though. I remember sneaking out to the big portico on the back of the museum with my boyfriend after my high school prom, just to watch the city lights come alive. I wish Sunrise was still something public that people could visit. It would make a killer gallery for local art!

4 comments:

Charlie Tee said...

Sunrise was one of the first places that I went to when I moved to Charleston in the 70's. I still have very fond memories of that place.It seems a shame that Charleston (and the valley for that matter...)doesn't have a true cultural standpoint that they operate from.
In New York, just like here, sports is a big thing, but they take the whole cultural thing just as equally important.
Hey we can't all be great at sports, there needs to be artists, and poets and musicians etc.I think that all of us in the arts need to support each other much better than we do, and we need to stop looking down our noses at each other, because we're cancelling each other out, and that can't be good.

Charleston Catholic / Clay Center Project said...

Yeah, I know what you mean. Here in Charleston, it's almost like sports and the arts are seen as kind of mutually-exclusive -- in order to have one, people think you have to give up the other. Any strides we make in the arts usually come with whining about what we don't have for sports. Well, at least we've made progress in both areas recently. I think Charleston is ripe for an arts Renaissance, so hopefully it will happen and people will start to see that it's all good for the city. :)

Charleston Catholic / Clay Center Project said...

That is such a neat idea! I would love to see something like that, even if it wasn't in the old Sunrise mansion. Charleston has such a wealth of artistic energy and it would be great to have a way to get together with other artists to share ideas.

Anonymous said...

I still need to check out the Clay the next time I'm in town.