Art Museum

Following the Adoption Conference, we drove across town to an art museum. A trip to an art museum and a paper summing up my experience was the last requirement for my Art Appreciation credit for school. To be honest, at the beginning of the year, I was not AT ALL excited about the art requirement. My preferred art medium is photography, but aside from that, I have no artistic inclinations. I suppose that means I NEEDED the art appreciation course more than most students. J

As I continued in the course, I did find my appreciation for good art growing. I still wasn’t super excited about the idea of spending a beautiful afternoon cooped up in a museum, but again, I enjoyed it more than I expected!



One exercise we did that made the trip more fun was this: we looked at the piece of art first, discussed what was depicted, speculated on where it was from and what it was made of, and how we interpreted it. Then we read the description. It was a fun exercise!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

 

We started off by looking at some Asian, African, and Pacific art pieces. There were lots of beautiful pottery pieces and carved wooden figurines. Most of the pieces reflected pagan folklore.

Upstairs we saw more of the classic European and American art. This beautiful German Madonna and Child figurine was made of silver, and the crown was set with beautiful gemstones.
Photo Credit: Betsy.

This painting by Guercino of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria was my favorite of the day. The deep vivid colors and the lighting are quite attractive, and the expressions speak so much!

 

This one by Paul Cezanne reminds me of the homes on the mountain in Haiti, where we served last summer.



“Weeping Willow” by Monet was a spectacular display of color!

We also saw paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso, and others. There were lots of beautiful marble sculptures and some terra cotta pieces as well.



Outside the museum.
Photo Credit: Betsy.

All in all, I enjoyed our afternoon! I can definitely say I appreciate art a lot more after seeing the details up close.

 

Ok, so this photo is completely out of place, but not entirely! We came home that night to a delicious dinner cooked by Daddy. A friend from work gave him a few pounds of catfish caught from the lake near our house. Daddy fried it up, and boy was it good! I don’t know if I’ll be able to live apart from southern food ever again! J I love Texas!
Photo Credit: Betsy.