Art Field Trip

Yesterday was my birthday and I celebrated by taking the day off of work and visiting a few art museums around the Twin Cities. My day started at the University of Minnesota's museum, the Weisman. The building itself is beautiful. They have a piece by one of my favorite artists, Robert Motherwell, along with an enormous Roy Lichtenstein (sp?). But what I really enjoyed about this particular visit was their current installation piece. The artist had set up an old apartment building hallway - including dim lighting, spills on the walls, and even apartment building smells. The objective was to walk up to each of the six doors and lean in your ear to have a listen. If you got close enough, an audio recording would start of what was going on behind the door. Very interesting.

I then headed off to the Minneapolis Institue of Art. They're currently exhibiting some earlier works by Georgia O'Keeffe. Oddly, there weren't very many flower paintings at all. They were much more primitive pieces including her pelvic bone studies and even some abstractions. It was an entirely different O'Keeffe exhibit to me.

Finally, I visited the Walker Art Center. Also a wonderful building. The current showing was the Frida Kahlo exhibit which includes several breathtaking paintings along with a photographic display from her personal album. I knew of Kahlo before, but after seeing her showing, I am extremely intrigued by her work. Her emotions are clearly portrayed in every painting - so vividly, it's easy to pick up on what she's trying to communicate. I found all three museums very refreshing and a great way to spend my birthday.