AT&T Stadium

When we arrived at the AT&T Stadium for the 12:00 art tour, they had these huge side doors open.  This big crane was lifting a Ford vehicle to one of the upper tiers to be put on display.

This picture shows a better view of the crane and the automobile.

This view is looking down to the stadium field.  The night before, the stadium had hosted a soccer game and real turf had been laid out for the game.  So the next morning the turf had to be rolled up and the dirt had to be swept up as well. That tiny little blue machine that looks like a Zamboni is not cleaning ice but vacuuming up the dirt.  Phil, our tour guide, told us that the turf is used that one time then after being rolled up, it is donated to a charity...think Habitat for Humanity!

70,000 people had attended the soccer game the night before, but you could not have known it as the stadium was clean, all the trash had been dumped out and the stadium looked like it was ready to host another event.  Phil said cleaning crews normally  work all night to ensure the stadium is clean and ready the next morning  for tours and other activities

Looking out the second tier window, we saw this tent structure set up.  There is where standy-by attendees wait to be called.  It has large screen TV's plus tables, chairs and a bar.  So as one is waiting for tickets, drinks and fun can be had and the action is not missed!

This shot is of one of the concession areas.

These are the clocks installed throughout the stadium.  Looks just like the face of a watch.

Interesting lighting fixtures at one of the concession areas.

What a way to watch a game!!

AT&T Stadium Art Tour

AT&T STADIUM

Dear Readers, The Travelling Toe has been AFK (away from keyboard) as the Easter Bunny was just as bad as Santa Clause, because he left another case of bronchitis along with the chocolate Easter egg...he was so mean.

Anyway, before the Easter holiday, The Travelling Toe and 3 Dear Friends decided to do a tour of the enormous AT&T Stadium in Arlington. It is not only known as being the home stadium of the NFL football team, the Cowboys, but also hosts concerts such as Kenny Chesney, who will be appearing there on May 19th.  Additionally, other athletic events are scheduled at the stadium such as soccer games and monster truck rallies!

But we chose to do a different type of tour.  Rather than the standard stadium tour, we did the art tour.  AT&T Stadium utilizes art work to enhance the function and spirit of the stadium.  

Our tour guide was Phil Whitfield and he was extremely knowledgeable about all the 
artwork installations and the artists as well.  Mr. and Mrs. Jones hand picked Phil to work with the artists and assist them with the art installations. As there are numerous works of art integrated throughout the stadium, only a few favorites will be highlighted in this post.

The tour began with a installation by Jim Campbell, who is also an electrical engineer. He used individual hanging LED lights to format digital imagery.  As you gaze at the lights, footage from several football plays can be seen running through the light field.

As we walked around we found a beautiful red and white striped wall above one of the concession stands.  It is titled "Two Minds" and is by Terry Haggerty.  It gives the illusion of a waving flag or banner.

Daniel Buren created a wall titled, "Unexpected Variable Configurations: A Work In Situ".  He used yellow tiles with interjections of white tiles with black stripes throughout the wall.  The question is, "Is it a wall or is it an art installation?"  That is a question each guest has to decide for themselves!

One of our favorite pieces of art work was by Franz Ackermann.   The colors he used were bright and vibrant.  The gigantic murals take up several pieces of wall space with the escalator bisecting it.  The title of the art work is "Coming Home and (Meet Me) At the 
Waterfall".   

Another bright pop of color is "Blue Field Explosions" by Gary Simmons.  Phil shared with us that when Gary was on site for the installation, he was hooked up to a piece of equipment which  lifted him up to the wall.  He took white chalk and began creating the "pop art" style image on the blue background.

Olafur Eliasson, created mobiles titled "Moving stars takes time".  It has a beautiful, almost space themed look about it.

Jim Isermann, installed a large abstract wall relief that is made up all white tiles.  But as one stares at the white tiles you begin to see the undulating movement to the wall.

Another favorite was by Matthew Ritchie, "Line of Play".  It was installed on two opposite side walls plus on the ceiling.  It is mixed medium with aluminum, vinyl and paint.  Can you imagine a coach drawing X"s and O's?  And even though the day was cloudy, was able to get a shot of the ceiling piece reflected on the shiny floor.

ceiling

reflection of the ceiling piece
onto the black shiny floor

Outside is large polished stainless steel disc that is 35 feet in diameter.  The sculpture, "Sky Mirror" was constructed by Anish Kapoor.  The disc sits in a black marble pond of flowing water.  It is so fastancing to watch the Texas sky reflected in the disc.  If you think you have heard the artist's  name before, he is well known for sculpting the "Chicago Bean".  

There are many other pieces of art work to discover at the Stadium.  We had a wonderful time with Phil.  He was so kind to us and shared fun stories about interacting with the artists during the installation of their art works.  Plus he explained how the plan for the art work was to be ingrained within the overall stadium experience.

we may be on the short side but Phil is certainly
way much taller than all of us

The price of the tour is a bit pricey ($26.00)...well, they do have to pay the light bill,  but we saw a lot of interesting things along the way.  It was a  fun adventure.

A separate post will have a few pictures of the inside stadium.

Dwight D Eisenhower Birthplace Tour

DWIGHT D EISENHOWER
GENERAL/PRESIDENT

The Travelling Toe and Dear Friend took off on the highways and byways of the Metroplex to travel north almost to the Red River. The reason for our day trip was to tour the boyhood home of President Dwight Eisenhower. Oh yes, everyone thinks his home was in Kansas but he was actually born in the small town of Denison, Texas.  

This sign welcomes visitors to the historic site.

Redbud tree in full bloom

Welcome Center

This is the welcome center where you purchase tour tickets plus buy a few souvenirs and see some other memorabilia.

Across the street from the Welcome Center is a very important place for The Travelling Toe. It houses very nice restrooms!!  After a road journey this provided welcome relief.  (chuckle)

As we walked up the street to the house, we stopped and paused to admire this impressive statue of Eisenhower.  This is a postcard picture above and  below is the one The Travelling Toe took.  (the postcard is better)

Our tour guide, Maxine, was energic, interesting and very knowledgeable about the President, his family and the house.

Maxine
our tour guide

This photo of the house is a postcard.

Below are photos of the interior of the house, however the furniture is not original of course but is to that period of time.

 small bedroom where
Dwight was born

   

parlor

 

kitchen with wood burning
stove

photo
David and Ida

His father David, was a very hard worker and saved money to attend college.  There he met the lovely Ida. 

Ida had been orphaned at the age of 12 and lived on the grace and favor of her extended family.  She worked hard for her kept but aspired to attend school.  Through perseverance, she graduated from high school  When she turned 21, she moved to Kansas where her brother and his family lived, so she could attend college. But she also meet the love of her life, David, at college.  

David's family were farmers in Kansas but he wanted to be a businessman not a framer so he sold his acreage and started a General Store.  However the business went bankrupt and David was now broke, married with 2 young babies and needed a job.  His family used their connections and were able to get him a job working for the Katy Railroad.  Only thing was that the job was at the railyard in Denison Texas.  So David, Ida and the 2 babies travelled to Texas  They moved into a simple frame house next to the railyards.  He earned about $40.00 a month.The young family struggled financially but the family back in Kansas were doing well with their dairy farm.  David completed a correspondence course in refrigeration, which allowed him to return to Kansas to run the dairy's cold storage barn. Dwight was nearly 18 months old when his family returned  to Kansas.

With his parents setting an example that education was important, Dwight and his brothers all attended college. Dwight applied to West Point and passed all the exams but 2 other applicants were ahead of him.  However one of the students failed his physical and Dwight was accepted into West Point. 

As history unfolded during the dark days of the 1940's, the town of Denison became very proud of it's famous citizen.  The small frame house was purchased by the city of Denison in 1946.

One of the neighbor ladies, Jennie Jackson,  wrote to then General Eisenhower and told him about the house where he was born and how she had cared for him during his time in Dension.  Ike returned to Dension that same year to much acclaim.  He and Sam Rayburn arrived at the local air base then along with other dignities, and Ms.Jackson, were treated to a Texas sized breakfast!  That was what Ike asked for!

In 1958, the little frame house became a State Park. In 2016, it was placed on the US National Register of Historic Places and also became a Texas State Historic Site.

Isn't this a great quote???


If you live in the Fort Worth, Dallas area, this is fun day trip, plus Denison has several other fun sites to visit, shops in the downtown area and some good places to eat!

"Luna Gale" presented by Circle Theatre

LUNA GALE
play program

Circle Theatre latest play is titled "Luna Gale", with a sub-title of Family Fragile. The play was  written by Rebecca Gilman in 2014.  Dear Friend and The Travelling Toe attended the Saturday afternoon performance.  

Rebecca Gilman
playwright

A synopsis of the plot from Circle Theatre's web page is as follows:

Sometimes the right decision isn’t clear, and the clear decision isn’t right. Caroline, a veteran social worker, swears to protect baby Luna Gale, but her mission may be motivated by a hidden agenda. Produced in association with Theatre TCU, Rebecca Gilman’s captivating and suspenseful play forces us to ask: does the end always justify the means?

There were times the play was a tad funny, but some scenes were heart-breaking leaving one with nagging doubt as to whether the decision about the young child's life would come about in order to achieve a happy conclusion. It was a tad of a surprise at the end!

 We have seen several actors in this play in other productions around the Fort Worth area and they always give amazing performances - and this play is no exception!

Lisa Fairchild

                                              Caroline - case worker

Krista Scott

                                             Cindy - grandmother

Ashlee Waldbauer

                                              Karlie - Luna's mother

Rachel Poole

                                              Lourdes - foster child

Ken Orman

                                              Cliff - case worker supervisor

Quinn Moran

                                              Peter - Luna's father

Jakie Cabe

                                             Pastor Jay

Circle Theatre

"Finding Neverland" presented by the Performing Arts Fort Worth

FINDING NEVERLAND
play program

The touring show, "Finding Neverland", recently made a stop at Bass Hall here in Fort Worth. The Travelling Toe and Dear Friend attended the Sunday matinee production.

This play is based on the movie of 2004, that tells the story of J.M.Barrie and how he concieved his most beloved work "Peter Pan".

FINDING NEVERLAND
movie poster

What a fun and sweet musical!  And yes the whole audience clapped to keep Tinkerbelle alive!!  So she is set to perform yet again. Oh, The Travelling Toe must mention that the cast included a very cute fluffy dog who was the real "star" of the cast!!

Just one more note in that a familiar face was noticed in one of the lead roles. Playing the character of Charles Forman/Captain Hook, would be John Davidson.  Only those of a certain age might remember him for his various performances, television shows, etc.  Wow, was he ever good in this musical...he can still sing mighty fine!!

John Davidson

If "Finding Neverland" comes your way Dear Readers, it is a fun and enchanted way to fly with Peter and never ever have to grow up!!

Bass Hall