The new Quadracci Pavilion is a 142,000-square-foot addition to the original 1957 building designed by Eero Saarinen and a 1975 extension by David Kahler. Even though shopping at Bead & Button is a full-day adventure, try to at least drive by the Museum to look at it from the outside. It's wonderful! I'm sure you can get exact directions on-line, but you can get there by going east on 795 and then heading north at the end.It's east of downtown Milwaukee on the lake at the south end of the park. Or, go up in December when you go to the Studio Crawl which is always listed in the December newsletter.

The following information about the Milwaukee Museum is exerpted from an article by Joyce Lovelace in American Craft Magazine February/March 2002.

"A visual and technical tour de force that defies easy description-its flamboyant use of fins, cables and moving parts suggests a giant bird or sailboat-the pavilion is the first U.S. building by the avant-garde Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who has said he conceived it with 'sensitivity to the culture of (the Lake Michigan site)-the boats, the sails, the always-changing landscape.' A wing-like sunscreen made of 72 steel louvers sits atop the structure, and is raised and lowered to control temperature and light in the 90-foot-high, glass-encased reception hall below. Within are exhibition gallleries, conversation and education facilities and visitor amenities. A 250-foot-long cabled pedestrian bridge links the museum, literally and symbolically, to downtown."

Lizzadro Museum shows a 60-minute video "Splendid Stones" every Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. It "explores the mystery and mystique of diamonds, pearls, emeralds and rubies. The personal experience of gem traders, miners and gem cultivators is revealed." For more information go to www.lizzadromuseum.org, or call 630-833-1616.

For more information call 262-636-9177 or check out www.wustum.org