American Museum in Britain

Today's post is a little different than usual because I'm writing about something other than myself! On Wednesday I went with family to visit the American Museum in Britain; I was given a National Art Pass for Christmas and am trying to utilise it as much as possible - the AMiB is one of their places.

whut

meeee

 The fancy gardens are being worked on at the moment so we didn't get to see a lot of those which was a shame. I did spot this rather lovely Art Deco-ey sculpture thingy though, which is maybe some kind of sundial...?

My favourite parts were the Native American costume, with all its colours and patterns:

And the Room of Many Quilts, especially this Thistle-Disguised-As-A-Pineapple quilt:

is it a thistle? is it a pineapple? you decide

And then I spotted a few hidden gems too such as this skull in a frieze:

Wallpaper that understands and celebrates the glory of corn:

Aaaand a quilted horsey!

There was of course lots more things to see as well but you will have to go and have a look yourself if you want to see any more! The current exhibition about WW1 includes a fascinating display about early plastic / corrective surgery and prosthetics and there's lots of dressing up in period costume to be done throughout the whole place. It is a joy!

My top tip for the AMiB would be that although the onsite cafe does very nice typically American food it is a little bit pricey so if you're on a budget and the weather is good enough you can take your own picnic and sit in their picnic area to eat. 

They also have two great gift shops with fantastic textiley things, gifts, cards, books etc. I tried to resist but I couldn't help buying this Kaffe Fassett ribbon, which I just loved on sight:

That's all for today! It's Dorset Art Weeks for the next three weekends, so you'll probably be hearing more from me soon.