A Quick Trip to the St. Louis Art Museum
My husband wanted bbq and I wanted to go see Joan Mitchell’s work (next up the retrospective in Baltimore…) so we headed out to St. Louis to do both.
Rocking socks + sandals because it’s supposed to be 75 there.
We headed out to the museum (which was free by the way!) and had ourselves an excellent day touring their expansive collections.
Novemeber / December / January - Gerhard Richter
I got stuck in the modern and contemporary art wing (no surprise there) with most of the day being spent in front of Joan Mitchell’s Ici.
It’s like seeing a favorite band, or actor. I can’t look directly at it at first. Seeing work I’ve loved since being a baby artist is such a monumental feeling. The actual paint strokes, the texture from the brush, her signature… it’s just an amazing experience.
But I’ve got the show with Rostrum 312 in Chicago this weekend, so we made it a quick trip.
Art, bbq, beer, home!
Fieldtrip: Fredrick Meijer Gardens
The Fredrick Meijer Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids Michigan is a sight.
I was on a solo trip to Grand Rapids Michigan that weekend (about 2 hours away from Ann Arbor) so on the way back I thought I'd swing by the gardens for a little sightseeing and sketching.
SO. MUCH. has changed since the last time I was here (late 90s) and being a working artist now, I experienced what did remember in a totally different way.
Walking around the grounds is like an artifact hunt. While some of the sculptures are easy to spot from the highway, some are tucked deep within the foliage and it almost feels like some secret to stumble upon. It is a DELIGHT.
After walking around for a few hours I decided to find a quiet spot to do a little sketching. While it was very crowded that day, there are so many little paved alcoves leading to more sculptures I was able to find a bench to myself without much trouble.
I chose Ai Weiwei's Irontree (2013) as my subject and began with a few gestural contour drawings in my sketchbook. I was initially drawn to the treatment of the bark, to the rough texture in the surface and the lines that ran across each branch section, but as I worked I found myself more interested in the way the branches joined together and the shadows created.
After the sketch I was dry, I headed back into the park for more exploration, then to the cafe for a quick lunch.
AND THERE WAS A PLANT WALL.
On leaving I was greeted by a sight from one of my personal favorite artists, Michele Oka Doner; Beneath the Leafy Crown (2009)
She also created the floor in the Miami airport - which I have spent YEARS admiring.
Icing on a very beautiful cake.
If you find yourself in the area DEFINITELY make a trip over, there's so much to see and so many beautiful paths to walk (not to mention an entire Japanese garden and greenhouse!) and there's more planned for the coming years too.
<3
Fieldtrip: University of Michigan Museum of Art
There is a special type of calm I experience in an art museum. The smell of old paint, the hushed tones of passer-bys, knowing I'm surrounded by old, masterful work, the gentle tapping of footsteps on marble floors... it all produces a silent awe within me. While I love to explore museums in a group and hear what each individual gets out of the work, I also truly enjoy going by myself and just basking in the experience.
I had a few spare hours this afternoon and the temperature was absolutely perfect for a walk, so I headed over to the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
First off, it's an incredible building. (As referenced by how many graduates were getting their photos taken in and around the building!) The art is a smattering of different geographical and historical collections; European, American, African, Asian, Contemporary, Design, rotating exhibits... it's a wonderful assortment of powerful work.
I unfortunately only arrived about an hour before closing, so I did a speedwalk through the museum and I know I missed a few rooms. I plan to return next week for a more in-depth visit.
Rauschenberg - aquatint print
Tracey Emin
Joan Mitchell
Helen Frankenthaler
I could have spent days here and I'm so grateful to have such a fantastic museum so close. My plan is to come back and sit on the bench below the Frankenthaler for a few hours and just think... and then get to the rooms I missed today <3
Do you have a favorite museum in your city? Whats your favorite part about it?
A Day at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum
I was fortunate to have a bit of a break mid-week and I took my chance to go see the Transported Man exhibit at Michigan State’s Broad Museum. I’ve only been to the museum on one other occasion since it’s opening in 2012 (and that visit was just a quick stopover before attending a graduation) so I was looking forward to spending a bit more exploring the museum.
The building was designed by Zaha Hadid and it is a serious sight to behold. Part of me is glad I graduated before this was built - I would have spent far too much time taking pictures of the angles and just staring at it. Probably one of my favorite buildings in existence.
But I didn't go to ogle the building (this time!) so I headed inside. The Transported Man exhibit was just incredible. So much so, that I didn’t take nearly the amount of as many pictures as I usually do - I was just too busy exploring the facets of the show. If you are in the area, seriously, go see it. I'm not even going to post the majority of the photos I took - it's something to be experienced in person.
I had planned to spend a bit of time at the end of the afternoon working a new project there in the cafe, but ended up taking a bit too long exploring museum. I was only able to get a bit of brainstorming done before heading out to dinner with a few local friends, but it was really nice to be in there and decompress for a bit.
Sitting there with my coconut-milk latte, sketchbook open to the page where I began brainstorming for a really exciting opportunity (can't share the deets yet -- soon!!!!), I tried to put myself back in those scuffed pumas I wore religiously, nearly 10 years ago.
I remembered the long walks from my apartment to the art building, the late nights spent in the ceramics studio, the sliding bookshelves at the library and how many papers I wrote nestled away in the silence of the upper floors with that computer that by today's standards is ANCIENT. I recalled the faces of friends and faculty, and felt the years of wonderful memories slowly returning.
But I also remembered the crushing anxiety. The heart-stopping worry of graduating and not being able to find a job (this is was 2008), and that assuming I could find employment, hoping for something even remotely related to my degree might be too far-fetched. I considered staying in school, finding an MFA program right away - but ultimately decided after graduation that I was ready to not be a student for a bit. And Florida was calling my name.
I will always look back on my time at MSU with extreme fondness and a great sense of thankfulness for my professors and mentors. Working on the start of this project, in the sanctity of this building was a very soul-cleansing moment for me. Everything turned out ok, everything was worth the hard work.
Awash in gratitude, I was late for dinner :)
Tuesday at the Perez Art Museum Miami
I decided to pop down the Perez Art Museum Miami this afternoon. It had been awhile since I been in (new exhibits, etc) and, I needed a quiet spot to work on my upcoming article for the inaugural issue of the MakersMovement Artzine, due out in January.
With my twofold goal in mind, I spent the first part of my visit exploring the new exhibit(s) and chatting with a few of the guards that I recognized from previous days at the museum.
The current rotating exhibit, Poetics of Relation consists of multiple international artists, tackling ideas of disapora, migration and colonialism and how the ebb and flow of peoples (willing and unwilling) affect culture, history and the landscape of the effected countries.
It was impossible not to be moved by the work presented. Most notably (imho) by the HUGE, text-based sculptural work by Xaviera Simmons, The Lushness Of, written in the three languages of Miami; english, spanish and creole.
“To confess a fascincation with distant thumerstorms even on the ocean in the same way the light of one moment is never the same as the light of the preceeding moment during the first strong wind at dawn....”
Moving through this exhibition was a journey of discovery. Just past the wall, lay Ledelle Moe's statuary pieces; Memorial Collapse V.
Like a crumbling temple, or the remnants of some ancient statue long forgotten in the jungle, these large heads allude to the permanence and impermanence of culture, society and civilization. I was also immediately reminded of a certain Sci-fi movie, where the protagonist finds himself on a beach, finding a symbol of his culture toppled, and buried in the sand :) (Guess what movie I'm thinking of???)
After touring the rest of the museum, I took a little lunchbreak on the terrace to work on my article. It was a beautiful day, at the tail end of some of reaaaaaally hot and muggy weather, so it was fantastic just to be able to be outside a bit.
I've still got a good bit to go on the Zine article, but am super excited to have a solid start. I can't wait until it's available for purchase - I'll definitely include a link for anyone curious!
Until then <3