GETTY SUCCULENTS

It was an unseasonably warm Los Angeles day in early March, at least compared to the chill rainy week since I had arrived. Phèdre and I cruised aimlessly in the tour van, our day off full of possibilities as long as they were free and outdoors. We settled on the Getty Center after deliberating on a $15 parking fee that would cut into our budget for beer and tacos later that night.

Phèdre - my longtime pals Lee Paradise and Apey Oh - had visited the eccentric hilltop museum before. From the parking lot, we boarded a three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain funicular that transported us up to the campus designed by architect George Meier. We were dropped off at a plaza and strolled through a photography exhibit together before wandering off on our own exploratory meditations.

Emerging into a sprawling courtyard, I headed towards a twisting garden path and found myself drawn through the large central garden designed by Robert Irwin, filled with an incredible assortment of succulents. 

I could spot a separate garden of cactus jutting out from the side of one of the buildings, and it took some investigating to find the way. They were contained within an incredible coned pedestal with a south facing view. I had no idea that most cactus are classified as succulents, simply defined as having thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. As the plants and I soaked in the same California sun, I gazed towards the hazy horizon and ruminated on this strange temple of human achievement in visual splendour. 

Henri Fabergé

WATERVLIET SHAKER COMMUNITY

Many years ago, while exploring American highways, I stumbled on a Shaker heritage site that sparked my interest in the organization.  Shakers, also known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, are an offshoot sect of the Quakers, and are famous for their gender equality, communal and celibate lifestyle, and spare yet beautiful architecture and furniture design. While touring the grounds, I was taken with the immaculate interiors, demonstrations of baking and handicrafts by museum interpreters, and the "living farm" atmosphere created by gardens and livestock.

Last fall, when I took a trip to Pennsylvania, I detoured to visit another Shaker site: the Watervliet Shaker Community Historic Site near Albany. I was hoping to once again step back into the gracefully austere lifestyle of the Shakers, but instead, my visit left me depressed at the state of the place.

Watervliet is America's first Shaker settlement, established in 1776, with the movement's most famous founder, Mother Ann Lee, resting in their graveyard.  The site is unfortunately derelict and has only one building open to the public.  Although I appreciated the industry of the Christmas craft fair being held in this building, the goods on offer were out of step with this Shaker maxim:

Don't make something unless it is both made necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don't hesitate to make it beautiful.

Watervliet has an illustrious history as the source of inventions such as flat brooms and vacuum-sealed cans. They also originated the packaged seed industry. At its peak in 1850, the community supported 230 of the 6,000 Shakers across the US, living almost entirely self sufficiently and producing goods for sale across the country.

I appreciate that funding issues can prevent restoration and that just the fact that the site still stands is impressive, considering the adjacent airport and the encroachment of Albany.  I was also there in the off-season and it seems that the The Shaker Heritage Society is making a valiant effort with educational outreach, virtual tours on their website and summer agricultural demonstrations. However, it will take a strong leader to sweep away the caution tape and reverse the effects of time's decay on this once-prosperous community.  Perhaps Mother Ann has rested long enough.

ARKEN

The Arken Museum of Modern Art sits adjacent to a man-made beach just south of Copenhagen. Designed by Søren Robert Lund, the industrial structure is designed to echo its surroundings by looking like a giant beached ship.  The doors opened to visitors in 1996 with the vision that "a visit at Arken should add a new perspective to the visitor's life, making the individual wiser about himself and therefore life."  With permanent installations devoted to Damien Hirst, Anselm Reyle and Ai Weiwei, the Arken strives to explore themes surrounding our place in the modern world as well as the very definition of art. 

The most fun and interactive exhibition of the Arken was The Model by Palle Nielsen.  First mounted in 1968 at the Moderna Museum in Stolkholm, Nielsen created an environment for children to both play in and develop through painting and building.  Considered well ahead of its time, The Model allowed children to interact on their own terms in the hallowed museum halls.  Suitable for children 3-12, the child I had in tow was perhaps a bit young for the experience, but still looked charming in the foam pool.