Did'ja Know?

My second semester of graduate school started a week ago and, so far, so good. With my schedule this semester I will be able to spend a majority of my weekends in Memphis which is awesome. I like being home. After all, I'm a homebody. I like to hang out with my husband, cook in my kitchen, and walk my dogs.

This weekend Peter's parents came to visit. On Saturday, we took advantage of a couple of the Shelby County attractions offering free admission to Tennessee residents because of Tennessee's gubernatorial inauguration. We started with a tour of Sun Studio. Despite living in Memphis for five years, Peter had never made his way to the studio on Union. The tour was led by a creatively tattooed, music history buff. It took me back to Dr. Mark Hosler's History of American Music course {which I took after loving History of Country Music}.  

After Sun Studio, we made our way to the National Ornamental Metal Museum. Until we went, the Metal Museum was basically Memphis lore; I'd heard about it, but never seen it, and certainly never visited. When I saw that admission was free, I knew that it was time to verify the existence of the museum. The museum is situated on the Mississippi River next to an abandoned hospital. The campus features a few galleries, a library, an outdoor sculpture garden, as well as metalworking facilities.  While metal is not my favorite art medium, I thoroughly enjoyed Arline Fisch's Creatures of the Deep. Fisch, a respected jewelry artist, created this deep sea exhibit with crocheted metal. It was mesmerizing. I actually wish the exhibit was larger!

Given more time, we probably would have made our way to a few more museums. But, I got hungry. And I suppose we can act like tourists anytime we care to.