Art Visit!!

Like most of you, I took a trip down to the Crocker Art Museum...and I actually really enjoyed it! Much more than I expected to. I went at a quiet time of the day after the kids from the elementary schools took their field trips, and it was much more pleasent. (That is me in the picture above with my new friend: Overcooked, Robert Areson, 1973, Terra Cotta/Wood).




A note before I begin: taking this class has given me a great insight into the world of art. Two years ago, I was at the Louvre in Paris, completely baffled by all of the fantastic pieces of art in there (any of you who have been know what I mean...it is really just amazing). I have to say that the museum I visited was 1/20th of the size of the Louvre, without all of the historical pieces and value of the Louvre ( Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is insured for $670 million US dollars), I was able to appreciate the work that I saw in the Crocker more. I looked at probably, 100+ pieces of art, but I was able to really analyze and value each piece and its details. This class has been valueable to my college education, but I will remember the art tools I have learned here forever!

My brother and I visited the museum on a Monday. It was a nice sunny day to be there...we did a little outside observing, then went in, paid, got our brochure and got started. (I thought it was nice that they give a student discount). As soon as you enter this museum, you can see that is very well polished, well kept. The woodwork, staircase and painting on the walls and ceiling are magnificent...has a Victorian theme to it. I liked the furniture in there too.

We decided to start on the second floor. This floor consists of a ballroom (that you first walk into), and two wings called the "Cowell" and "Inderkum" galleries. There was a featured exhibition there, fellow Northern Californian, Edwin Deakin (1838-1923). I loved his paintings! Beautiful pictures of Californian scenery and also European landscape. Unfortunately, the lady at the foyer desk told me absolutely no pictures on this floor. I had two favorite paintings of his that I really liked: there was one of Notre Dame Cathedral in France, and the other was a picture of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. Beautiful! To show you an example of his work, I was able to pull this picture to the right up off of Google Images. It is called Palace of Fine Arts and the Lagoon, San Francisco. Its a little blurry...but you kinda get the idea of his style.

Our next trip was upstairs to the second floor. I liked the variation in the art in these galleries. This floor, we were allowed to take some pictures on. The "Ose" gallery was interesting; it had the sculptures and three-dimensional artwork. There was a huge, mirror, multiple-angle looking piece...I can't really describe it, that you could walk into. A glass ladder with pieces of blasted glass on it of all different shapes and colors; I stared at this for 10 minutes and couldn't quite figure out what it meant. There was this Victorian looking...cake thing? It stood about 3 or 4 feet high and had all sorts of stuff, pearls, mirrors, lace, from the 1800's all glued together in the shape of a cake. And, of course, my friend Overcooked was here too!

The next gallery we entered was probably my favorite. Called the "Tsakopolus" gallery, this is where all of the colorful, exotic pieces were. The five pictures that I have above and below this purple paragraph were the ones I liked the best. That picture of the elderly man in the top left was spectacular. It was the size of the entire wall, probably 20ft x 20ft, just massive. I liked the painting in the middle because it was pretty and sparkly, two young Asian girls under a tree. The one that I am displaying was the most colorful of all (very appropriate for the city that it's in!) the Golden Gate Bridge.

Below to the left is one I couldn't really figure out but liked anyway, that big orange block. It's amazing how people see that as art. The painting to the lower right was my favorite in the whole gallery. I love Native American artwork even more than I love Reniassance artwork. This painting was very well done and had a lot of meaning. I am not Native American myself, but I can certainly appreciate the message.


The piece is Browning of America, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, 2000, Oil/Mixed Media on Canvas. It is a painting of the United States through Indians' eyes. There is the geographical outline of the country, with Indian people and animals in their environment like wild dog and buffalo. Then to the right it lists in very light print "Invaders of the East:" Anglos, Saxons, Celts, Visigots, Frisans, Iberians, Druids, etc. The way that I interpret this is, Native Americans were originally here: this is their land. We, those of the East and West, have taken from them their own soil. The Brown smear looking streaks I think are the blood shed of the Native American people, and the tears from loss of the land and culture. Truly a beautiful piece of art...this painting really captivated me.



























Altogether, a great, great visit. I don't think there was anything I didn't like. Well, I guess the museum staff could have been more friendly, but that's about it. I would have liked to see more. But I was very happy with my visit; definately worth the trip down there. Viewing the art in person is so much better than seeing it in a book. It comes to life when you can see it in its full size and texture. You can really see more of the detail that the artist puts in, every inch of every piece is carefully thought out and constructed, whether it be a painting, a scultpture, a work of clay of aluminum (I saw a few of those!)


More than anything, you can see the piece just as the artist made it. When we look at art on the computer or in our text, there is much lost in translation. We can see that it is a beatiful piece of work, but cannot fully grasp its depth and complexity as we can when it is there in front of us. When we see it in "real life," we are looking at it exactly as the artist sees it; we see it from his or her point of view. When we see the piece in its most radiant view, we can fully appreciate its worth.


My trip to Crocker Museum was better than I thought: I was pleasantly surprised. I will now make an effort to stop in art museum's in major cities, because now I can really appreciate them.