Toledo Museum of Art

Wednesday 9 October
Today, we traded nature and wildlife for a day of culture, driving into the city to the Toledo Museum of Art, which was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey in 1901, and moved to its current location, a Greek Revival building in 1912. It has since been extended twice, in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1990s A Center for the Visual Arts, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, was constructed across the road, to house the institutions glass collection, and at its centre houses a glass blowing workshop which offers demonstrations several days a week.
We got there soon after its opening time of 11 am, and after a coffee in their cafe, started exploring the European art collection. We broke off at 1pm to have some lunch which was very good, then we walked across the road to the Glass Pavilion to watch a glass blowing demonstration, which was fascinating. I’ve seen them before but always find them so interesting to watch how they transform a blob of molten glass into a work of art, a beautiful vase being today’s creation. One guy was doing most of the work, with a younger guy was doing the commentary and occasionally helping out. It must have lasted almost an hour, which left us with an hour to explore the collection,:then return to the main collection for another hour until they closed. We were then able to see some of the outdoor sculptures before returning to the car and back to the campground.