Three weeks ago I took the train from Fayetteville, NC to Omaha, NE, then took a car to Rapid City, SD. I had two seven hour layovers in Washington DC and one four hour layover in Chicago, so I used my time to visit some area museums and galleries.
Washington DC
On my first layover in Washington DC, I visited the National Gallery of Art and attended two tours, one on the choices artists make and what they mean, and one on 19th century painting. I saw my favorite Monet painting there! -->Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875. <-- The tour regarding artist choice was not as fruitful as I had hoped, but I thoroughly enjoyed the tour through 19th century painting. The National Gallery has a lovely collection of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, as well as Modern Art. While visiting the East Building, I ran into Modern artists such as Matisse, Picasso, and Mondrian, as well as Ernst Kirchner (I enjoyed his brushwork and color), Sol LeWitt, Jasper Johns, and Alexander Calder.
On my second layover in Washington DC, I went to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which was a bit on the dry side. I might have been tired since it was the last leg of my journey, but it didn't hold many gems for me other than its large collection of folk art and WPA paintings. I was enchanted by the WPA paintings for their slice-of-American-life imagery, heavy, sensuous forms, and wonderful use of color. The folk art had quite a bit of religious imagery which surprised me, but lent a new perspective on imagery from Revelations and the Crucifixion, as well as the Throne of God.
Chicago
On my first layover in Chicago, I had a chance to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. They had a significant exhibition of Alexander Calder's work, which was a delight, and a large retrospective exhibition of the work of Doris Salcedo, whose work I had never seen before. She creates sculptures and installations addressing the feeling of loss due to violence. Her work was highly symbolic and abstract, and a great catalyst for thinking about my own beliefs about art and the use of personal symbols.
Rapid City
While in Rapid City, I created a small mural in their Art Alley, which is an alleyway that is open to taggers and street artists to use as their personal canvas. Justin and I painted a bunny giving a peace sign and a giant panda saying I love you in sign language. I signed it with my instagram handle and got a follower! She took a picture of the work and created her own version of it with emojis! So cool! :)
I also visited the Dahl Arts Center in downtown Rapid City. They featured an exhibition that had the creme de la creme of South Dakota artists. There was some incredible variety among the works there. I was impressed and I got some great inspiration for painting and printmaking. An artist separate from the South Dakota artists exhibition that they featured was poster artist Jay Ryan (thebirdmachine.com). His imagery, colors, and printing process were also inspirational. Imma hafta go look up some videos on YouTube and see if there are any videos on his processes.
It was a wonderful trip that was artistically and spiritually refreshing. Not only did I get to see Justin, but I also got to see some wonderful artwork to inspire and reflect upon as I start to seriously create my own work for my MFA.