Natura Obscura and the Cabinet of Curiosities

My husband and I, and our daughter and granddaughter, recently attended an intriguing temporary exhibit inside the Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA) in Englewood, Colorado, called “Natura Obscura” which covers approximately 5,000 square feet of the Englewood museum. MOA designed and produced it with Prismajic, a Denver group that creates immersive environments.  (All photos and photo collages will enlarge if clicked on)

Natura Obscura means "Hidden Nature." The exhibit was years in the making, created by over thirty artists.  Natura Obscura is a surrealist walk through the forest, that combines art, sculpture, and the latest in virtual, augmented, and digital technologies. 

Before entering the exhibit we were asked to download a special app. Once inside we could activate the app over carved wooden symbols to read more information about the exhibit and in some areas "see" more features that were hidden otherwise.

We were also given small blacklight flashlights to use, which illuminated many of the structures inside and revealed quotes about nature.

One of the interactive features was a hall of mirrors and sound that changed colors and graphics and also had different moving images on screens that were activated as we walked by.

In another room, we were able to swing under a sky filled with clouds, birds and owls "flying" overhead as a thunderstorm approached.

If one took the time to walk slowly through the Natura Obscura exhibit, really look around and use the blacklight flashlight and app then the experience was magical.  It required the use of our imagination and senses. The more we explored, the more we discovered.  It was our first time participating in an interactive art exhibit and we really enjoyed it!

A permanent exhibit in the Museum of Outdoor Art, called  "A Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities" was also included in the Natura Obscura admission price. Originally developed in 2010 by Lonnie Hanzon, MOA’s Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities is a whimsical immersive exhibition showcasing the talents of various artists in a collaborative installation revealing unique stories, ephemera, and radiant displays.  

 I have always been fascinated by the Victorian era habit of saving and displaying natural specimens, fossils, artifacts, and oddities, and I have my own cabinet of curiosities on Pinterest, so I was very intrigued to see what would be included in this exhibit!

Again, in this exhibit, the more we looked around the more we saw...

...and there was so much to see!

There were many detailed exhibits, many of them fairy tale oriented...

...like this collection for Cinderella...

...or this one for Little Red Riding Hood.

One of our favorites displays was of Alice in Wonderland

At the bottom of the cabinet was a little door--the size of a shrunken Alice who drank the magic fluid in the story. When my granddaughter opened the door and peeked in she saw a small garden scene and another door into Wonderland!   It was the perfect detail to surprise and enchant a young child!

Click to enlarge this photo collage to read about the interesting history behind this antique clock in the exhibit

All in all, it was a fun afternoon exploring both Obscura Natura and The Cabinet of Impossibilities and Curiosities!

Here is some information if you are in the Denver area and want to see the exhibit:

Location:

Museum of Outdoor Arts

(INDOOR Museum location)

Englewood Civic Center Building, 2nd Floor

1000 Englewood Parkway #2-230

Englewood, CO 80110

Open January 11 – and now extended to September 29th, 2019

Monday- Closed

Tuesday-Wednesday: 10am to 6pm

Thursday: 10am to 9pm

Friday-Saturday: 10am to 10pm

Sunday: 10am to 5pm

*The event will close promptly at the posted close time. Please allow yourself enough time to enjoy the installation.

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The 110th Denver National Western Stock Show Parade!

Hello! I'm glad to be back on my blog.  I am recovering well from eye surgery and appreciated all your well wishes and prayers. I was happy to be able to attend the 110th annual Denver National Western Stock Show Parade on Thursday, January 7th.  This annual event is the "kick-off" to the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, held at the National Western Center in Denver, Colorado. (All photos in this post will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on)

The parade begins every year with a herd of Texas long-horned cattle being driven down 17th Street, from Union Station towards a turn off a block before the Brown Palace Hotel. It is a sight to see!

The cattle are well controlled by cowboys and cowgirls, as they walk by almost close enough to touch!  If you'd like to see a short video I took of the longhorns in the parade you can click here to watch it on my blog's Facebook page

This cowboy was ready to lasso any cattle that tried to getaway!

Click to enlarge to see the special guests and dignitaries in the parade.  The parade Grand Marshall was Rich Karlis, a football placekicker who played 9 years for the Denver Broncos.

There were many rodeo representatives and rodeo stars in the parade--this is just a small portion of them.

 The Westernaires were well represented.

The Westernaires are a nonprofit organization in Jefferson County, comprised of over 1,000 youth ages 9 to 19 that learn responsibility, self-respect, and leadership through horsemanship.

Is there anything that evokes the west more than cowboys on horseback?

Also included were the hard-working tractors of Colorado farmers and ranchers.

The Grizzly Rose country bar, nightclub and dance hall had a band on their float.

 The Grizzly Rose "Mountain Man" led his dogs and two burros in the parade.

Colorado State University is one of the sponsors of the parade. They offered a fundraiser barbecue buffet lunch, held at the Wells Fargo building prior to the parade, that my husband and I also enjoyed--coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans and pulled pork sandwich, with cookies for dessert.

Another large group of Westernaire youth

Westernaires has provided training in western riding, precision drills, and horse care for the past 67 years.

Next, was the Jefferson County High School Rodeo Team, which is comprised of around 40 boys and girls from various high schools around Jefferson County, that learn and compete in rodeo skills.

There was a little bit of levity towards the end of the parade when one of the ladies dressed in the ball suit to promote the lottery, slipped on some of the "horse droppings" and fell over. She was quite helpless getting up due to the awkwardness of the suit, but her co-marchers helped her up and she had a good laugh and kept marching as the crowd cheered!

That episode shows why the official end to the parade is the much-needed street sweepers.

After the parade, my husband and I walked over to see the Christmas decorations in the Brown Palace Hotel lobby. Formal tea was being served so I could not take too many photos.  I celebrated a birthday and had tea in the Brown Palace Hotel a few years ago. If you'd like to see that blog post, click here.

The day after the stock show parade the Denver area had another snowfall. This has been a very damp and cold winter so far in the West, due to the El Nino weather system, the USA is experiencing. I looked out my window in the morning to see this group of deer sitting in the snow under my neighbor's large pine tree. They seemed very content to wait out the snow and stay warm this way.  It reminded me of this quote:

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Patience seems like a good word for the New Year for me--I'm patiently healing and patiently enjoying the beauty of winter.  I hope your first days of 2016 have also been good ones!

Draft Horse Show at the National Western Stock Show, Denver, Colorado

Last week I showed you a little about my husband and my visit to the National Western Stock Show that takes place every January in Denver, Colorado, and some scenes from a Pro Rodeo that took place at the show--click here to read that post. This week I'd like to follow up to show you some photos and video from a Draft Horse Show at the stock show that my husband and I attended the same day. It was so exciting to see these large, magnificent horses display their beauty and horsepower!

There are multiple shows during the last weekend of the National Western Stock Show that features draft horses, and the one we attended featured the Feed Team Race, 6 Horse Hitch and Ladies Team.  The show began with a very inspirational rendition of our National Anthem, with the colors being held by men and women sheriffs on horseback.

The Feed Team Race shows the power and strength of both man and beast. Teams of two draft horses or draft mules, along with two men, competed to pick up and haul hay blocks, each weighing close to 50 pounds, from one point of the arena and then re-stack them at another point and then race back to the finish line.  Draft horses were the working horses of yesteryear, and this is a demonstration that shows their powerful strength. Unfortunately, with the rise of modern machinery, the jobs of many draft horses have been eliminated and it was not for horse shows such as this many of these wonderful horses would no longer be breed.

Next up were the 6 Horse Draft Horse Hitch Demonstrations. There were 24 teams of horses in total in the show. The three most common breeds of Draft Horse: the Percheron, Clydesdale and Belgium Draft Horse were all well represented in the show.

Percheron Horses are a breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne River Valley in Northern France, part of the former Perche Province from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray or black in color, Percherons are well muscled and known for their intelligence and willingness to work.

Clydesdale Draft Horses are a breed of draft horse derived from farm horses breed in an area along the River Clyde in Scotland, and named after that region. They were bred from the great Flemish Horse. I think most Americans are familiar with this breed of draft horse from the popular TV beer commercials of a certain brand.

The third most common breed of Draft Horse is the Belgian. Belgian Draft Horses, also known as Belgian Heavy Horse, is a draft horse from the Brabant region of modern Belgium, where it is called Cheval de Trait Belge. It is one of the strongest of the heavy breeds, but also one of the most gentle, and is the most commonly found of all draft horses and prized because they also the best horse to breed to produce draft mules.

It was wonderful to watch the 24 different draft horse teams come out to the arena and circle around and show their beauty, form, and discipline, all the while being judged.




This video, taken by my husband, shows you how the 6 horse hitch teams come out in teams of 6, and parade around the arena as the judges observe them.



In this video that my husband took during the event, shows the final horse team round up of all 24 teams, which filled the entire arena!  As the announcer stated, it gave us all "goosebumps" to see it!

They were all winners in my book but the official results of the show we saw can be viewed on this link.

One of the last events was the Ladies Teams who drove two draft horse hitches.....

...and there was also a Draft Mule demonstration.

There were a few scary moments when this draft mule hitch team, carrying a woman in an antique sled, ran wild and ejected the woman from the sled!  Something frightened the mules leading her hitch and they ran wild around the arena dragging the sled behind them.   It just goes to show that anything can happen during a live show and that controlling the horses and mules can take quite a bit of effort and skill. Happily, the woman appeared OK, but the entire audience held its breath for a few moments!

We really enjoyed attending our first Draft Horse show! It was so interesting to learn so much about the different draft horses that contributed so much to the history of farming and heavy duty work in the past, and that now are magnificent show horses to be cherished and admired.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you can also attend one of the special events during the show you will add to your excitement and have memories that will last a lifetime!