We drove into Albany and parked very near the Empire State Plaza. Interestingly, the whole Empire State Plaza tries to hide much of the parking and shopping underground so that, aboveground, one primarily encounters the plain concrete plaza with reflecting pools and various planted trees.
From the plaza arise various skyscrapers characterized by vertical vent-like divisions that extend the full height and make them look kind of like the back ends of really tall air conditioners. Most of the skyscrapers are anchored at one end with huge rectangular tablets of white stone, clad in large square tiles. The tablets, about one-third the width of the skyscrapers, extend several stories above the skyscrapers’ roofs themselves and make me think of very very large elevator shafts. Some of the skyscrapers are actually on legs [actually just narrower parts of the buildings] so that one can walk through a one- or two-story arch underneath them. The arches underneath give the massive buildings an unusual, startling sense of lightness.
We went into the concourse under the plaza and looked at some of the public art installations while waiting for the New York State Museum to open. Then we hung around outside the doors to the museum, which, being under an archway, exposed us to a wind tunnel of damp, cold early spring air. We finally escaped inside a little before 9:30 AM and took some pictures in and around a lifesize [meaning 75% the size of a real car] Barbie car with us and our dolls.
The exhibit about Barbie dolls was okay. I didn’t learn anything from it that I didn’t already know, and the accompanying text mostly just praised Mattel as an innovative toy company and Barbie as an influential fashion icon. I particularly liked the display cases showing human-size fashions next to doll-size fashions inspired by them. I also noted that most of the dolls came from a collector’s private collection because Mattel did not have archives of past drafts and products during its first years. With so much to look at, I mostly just absorbed the sights of the displays, though I did take a picture of Ebru, a Black Barbie doll, sitting on the case of the first Black Barbie doll, who came out in like 1980 or something.
I much preferred the exhibit entitled “Hats of the Great Migration,” though it was more accurately an exhibition of fancy hats worn by powerful and influential Black church women in the Albany area in the latter half of the twentieth century. The single display case [I wish the exhibit had been more extensive] showed maybe twenty-five hats, each corresponding to a picture of the owner. A short description of the owner’s church-related activism often included a quote by the person or by a family member. I was especially pleased that several hats belonged to women who were still alive and carrying on the tradition of showing of their power, autonomy, fashion, and individuality through their Sunday best clothes.
