Renwick Gallery

After a couple of years under construction, the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum opened its doors with the amazing “WONDER” exhibition – a collection of incredible installations that you have to see to believe. We used this as an opportunity to kick off our Taylor Family Adventures 2016 and spent a wonderful afternoon wandering around the museum.

The tall, looming spires you see were created using thousands of index cards. Yes, that’s right. Index cards. So, if you’ve been looking to do some exam prep and cannot seem to find them, they all ended up here in Washington, DC.

I messed around while editing this pic just to see the contrasting contours and be mesmerized by the beauty in its simplicity and intricacy. Stunning, right?

If you can’t really tell that they are index cards, here’s a close up shot. Or two.

My favorite exhibit at the museum.

Beautiful, right? What if I told you this was created by using thousands of strands of polyester sewing thread? It takes it to a whole other level for me.

Monumental structures resembling birds’ nests were constructed by using tree saplings and just following its natural bends. They were quite cozy, actually!

One of my favorite spaces at the museum – a place where Chihuly just owns it with that blown glass chandelier.

Thousands of little green marbles flow to mimic the Chesapeake River and creates an amazing movement in this room.

If you are a fan of wallpaper, then you might like this one. How about a wallpaper of geometric designs made with shiny, shimmery bugs? Yeah.

Of all the installations at the gallery, Gracie was most intrigued by the ELEVATOR! That’s right. Every time it opened and closed, her eyes lit up! So, we spent several minutes just hanging out outside the elevator and waiting for it to open and close.

Hundreds of thousands (five hundred thousand, to be exact) of little pieces of reclaimed wood from a hemlock tree came together to create this incredible structure!