pretty pink in sarasota

for most of last week, i was in sunny sarasota, florida for the annual meeting of the art librarians society southeast regional chapter. this year, it was a joint venture between the ringling museum of art and the ringling college of art and design. yes, this is the mr. ringling that you think of when you think of the circus. his name was john. um, he was a true turn-of-the-century businessman and he had money from the circus, from real estate, from oil ventures--you name it. but he was also a patron of the arts and, along with his wife mabel, they built a big ass mansion down on some swamp land, relocated the headquarters of the circus, and started a museum and a museum school. that school is now rcad, mentioned above, and is no longer affiliated with the museum. but here is john and mabel's venitian-inspired mansion, ca d'zan, which just came through a huge renovation and preservation project. we got a private tour of the mansion and also of the museum's new special exhibition of egyptian artifacts. john and mabel collected european masters, of course, but now the museum (in another building) has added a brand new wing to handle traveling exhibitions.

not part of the same complex, but next door is charles ringling's mansion. this is the brother of circus fame. his house is now a part of the new college of florida and this building has classrooms in it!

but i can't imagine classes with a view like this...

we also got tours of the brand new library at the museum, tours of the ringling college of art's campus, had great sessions on art law, and had wonderful chances to network and meet other art library professionals in the region. it was a good conference, but exhausting to be gone for almost 4 days. but, i also had fantastic ethnic food! i miss that in savannah. i had lovely peruvian and spanish food. and for all the old fogeys in sarasota, they sure like to have a good time. the town is quite lively and i would go back--just for the museum and the food alone. speaking of, check out this m&m gelato :)

but for me, the real highlight of the trip was a visit to the circus museum, at the same complex as the ringling mansion and museum of art. wow, what childhood memories of going to the ringling bros. & barnum & bailey circus! my favorite thing in the museum was this cannon--and check out the picture of the people being shot out of it!

wow!