Amy and I headed to Sandwich, NH to checkout the Museum of the Outdoors (MOO) last Saturday after the Tamworth Farmers’ Market. Moo is a real cool idea. ‘Nature-themed’ art is presented along side trails winding through the forest and along the shoreline of Squam Lake. The whole event takes place at Camp Hale, a summer camp built for Boston Youth.
MOO was for a single day only 12:00pm – 3:00pm, presenting just a short window of time to see all the curiosities. We made it just under the cutoff. There were 30+ installations to view. Some more complex than others, but all thought provoking.
There were spots along the trail that encourage mindfulness. The outdoor museum provided a really unique positive vibe when you closed your eyes and stilled your mind. It was almost like being in a park, but the forest made the jovial people noise seem distant.
One such ‘mindfullness’ exhibit challenged you to think of someone who wasn’t there. We were to imagine they were standing next to us. I thought of my grandparents from Montana who have long since passed and it was a beautiful experience in a forest atmosphere. This mental image alone was a gift worth the trip to MOO.
Eric Milligan from the NH Mushroom Company was there with his mushroom art. He makes cool glass mushroom sculptures and mushroom prints using alcohol based paint. We saw some interested dyed fabrics from Shani McLane. There was an artist who made paintings which included layered fabric for creating different textures. Check out this cool owl she made.
Another artist took up the owl theme and made a series of what looked like two-story bird houses.
In the end, I had two favorite exhibits. The ‘cows in the corn’ was superb, but the thespians who were there performing a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream stole the show. I didn’t expect Shakespeare would be at my visit to the Museum of the Outdoors, but it was a most welcome find. Kudos to the actors for handing out printed cards with sonnets to us spectators after their performance. It was a classy touch.
In the end, we really enjoyed the Museum of the Outdoors experience. It’s just a shame it was so brief.