New Britain Modern Art Museum

I the New Britain Modern Art Museum on Thursday May 3rd. It was very easy to find and I has a beatiful building on the outside. I was very amazed that it sat on the same street with a community surrounding it. There very nice house in the area. Any how when I got there the lady at the front desk told me that I couldn't take picture in and on the hall just in the art exhibit rooms and two of the room which I can't recall right now I couldn't take any pictures at all.

The piece that caught my eye was a mural that was on the second floor. It was very beatiful and had a lot of lively colors. The people in the piece looked like they were having alot of fun. The art really capture the essence of the whole piece. This piece what in Color and some section were redone in black and white.

Thomas Hart Benson Murals: The Art of the Life in America

Thomas Hart (1889-1975)

He painted The Art of the Life in America (1932) During the Great Depression
This was his second most complex project of his career.

This reminds me of the old movies call Gone with the Wind...

The British Art Museum

I actually visited the British art Museum on a Saturday April 21st. I just had some technical difficulties with my camera and could download my pictures. I need a new camera now. I just can't figure out what is going on with it. Well let me think You already know about the drive there. But again the day was absolutely beatiful

This museum I didn't really like it because mostly everything I saw was about horses. Nonetheless I did see a few of the art work that did catch my eye. see captions below pictures for why I chose these peaces.

John Martin, 1789-1854

The Deluge

I like this because when I first was it it look like it was just fire. But as I got closer to it I noticed the people and the water. This really caught my attention at first glance. John Martin depicts what the Book of Genesis talks the Great Flood.

Very intriguing an I catching piece. I hope you enjoy it as I did.

Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

Well this pass Saturday Christina G. and I decide to car pool to the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT. The drive went really well. We did not hit a bit of traffic. The only complaint I have about the drive is that it just took way to long to get there. But of course I didn't know where I was going to we were paying very close attention to the directions.

Where do I start. Well when we go to Ridgefield we got on Main Street to find that there was a community event going on and there were many people just walking in the street, standing around and listening to music, there were children everywhere and it just look like they were have a blast. Once we go through all the people came all the big beautiful house. Well my Co-pilot/Co-driver was supposed to be looking for the house numbers so we would know if we were getting close to the museum. Well we got lost because my co-drive was so fascinated with the house I'll share some of the photos that were taken in just a bit. What told us we were lost.. Se picture.... I guess the New York is what gave us the idea that we were lost and need to turn around. Lucky there was a gas station that I was able to turn into and turn around. We of course Christina continued to take pictures of our travels in the city. Finally we made it to the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. When we got there we were greeted by one of the staff members out side and she basically explained the museum to us and told us about the class that they were having for the children on Saturday. She also proceed to tell us, because we told her we were student that they have a strick policy about take picture and to talk to the guy at the front desk because he may let us take a picture or two if we really needed for class. Well once we got through all of the niceties I was a little upset that we had to go through the whole museum and pick on art exhibit to take a picture of.

First things first a brief history on the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum:

This museum was founded in 1964 and placed on Main Street in Ridgefield. What was interesting to me is that they call Main Street "The Historical Main Street". This museum was designed for emerging artist and mid career artist to have an establishment to house their exhibits. The next interesting fact was that Mr. Aldrich opened his business a nonprofit, he liked the idea of the large backyard which could be use for exhibit garden year round. This was one of the country first contemporary art museum.

The site is beautiful I mean I thought it was a house when we first drove by it. The window and the land to me is a site worth seeing. I didn't have a direct picture of the building but see the building picture attached. I got this picture from the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum website. Just beautiful. From the street when just driving by you would think it's just a house because you don't see the tables and things I believe it's because it sits so far from the street and there are stairs you can walk down so you don't see the patio.

The piece I chose to write about was very intriguing to me and I really like just sitting and staring at it. It is by Jim Dingilian, his pieces are of old photos that have been around for a long time and have a worn look to them. What he has done is take an old photo and used a resistive coat and bleach solution and combined them with patterns over the picture. It sounds so easy to do but I know he went through a lot of work just to get them to what he called perfect I thought it was pretty neat because when you glance at it you only really see one thing popping out at you but as you stand and star at them you see all the object and over/underlying pictures. This is a series of photos so the first on is of a Provisional bases Garden Structure,2006. The reason I was drawn to this picture wasy first because its of a bride and groom. I am currently preparing for my wedding and it just reminded me of what my photographer just ask. He want us to give him a list of poses that I would like so lately anything with wedding I see right away. But as I stood there I actually started to see the garden that was in the picture. I was just amazed to see the finished products after reading what the artist use to create this piece.

Next There was what looked to be a lady around the 50's. I can remember watching a lot of movies that was based on the 50's and seeing women with their hair as she is wearing hers. I really liked this one because I love flowers. The flowers popped out at me first. But as I kept staring I saw the women and how he so neatly place a flower in her hair and to me it almost looks like the flower that close to her face can be a fan. I just was tring to see it as a 1950's photo that I might have seen to much. Or did I see exactly what the artist wanted me to see... I don't know. I loved this picture.

The piece to the right is called Verdena 2004. I really could see what the artist was trying to depict here but I do see the people in the background. I would imagine that the back circle overlay I think could be smoke. I don't really know but that is what I thought when I looked at this pictuer. I really wish I could really see what was really going on or what the artist was tring to depict here.

Lastly the picture that was of course caught my eye is below. I say the picture first through all curvy lines. You know it's something about getting marries and what you pay attention to when you are engage. Up until I got enage I could really careless about see someones wedding rings/bands. Now I notice I pay close attention to them. Even photos of dresses I pay very close attention to those. Its seem that when you are preparing for a wedding you pickup this new habit of paying close attention to you surounding, why because it just might be a good place for you to bring the photographer to take your pictures. Or you pay close attention to detail because maybe you want your special day to be different from everyone elses. So you become aware of everything and everyone around you do you are sure to do everything for you day a little differently. It's all brand new to me and so very interesting all at the same time. Really enjoyed this museum, but I really didn't like the fact that we could take pictures. I was glad that the guy at the front desk did alow is to take at least one photo. This was an all together great trip. Now back to my ride with Christina, When we were leaving she was so excited to be able to take more picture I just wanted to share some of them with you. We even got to see the road runner on back of someone's vehicle as we were leaving. Great Trip.

Metropolitan Experience...

On Saturday April 21, 2007 I got up early to make it to the Museum in New York. I had to go and see all the talk about the Metropolitan Museum of art. I got all my direction the night before and was ready to go when I got ready on Saturday. The drive to New York wasn’t too bad. I am just happy it was the traffic that I encountered when going to Yale University art Gallery. Nonetheless it was traffic more of stop and go when I got closer to New York.


When I got to the museum I turned of my flash because I knew that had to be on of the rules that they had since all the other museums I have visited lately had that same rule. See the museum up close and in person reminded me of when I first came to the museum. . Most people setting up shop for the day. I can remember as a child when my school came to the museum we had all the coach buses lined up waiting to drop ups off. Of course back then they could part right in front of the museum. They could only drop us off and then either pick us up or let us know where they would be parking so we can walk as group to that location. The out side of the building is what I remembered the most. To me it had not aged a bit. Okay maybe it was a little different but not much.

Here is a little history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The museum was founded in 1870 by a group of American Citizens. They wanted to create a museum that would bring art and art education to the American people they started their collection of art with three private European collections that included 174 paintings total. The collections continued to grow in the 19th century and as you see today they are still are growing tremendously. This is museum holds a lot of interesting history that would be good to bring the whole family. Spend a day here and open your eyes to a world of history. I was amazed at what my eyes had beheld let alone at what my camera had captured in pictures. I couldn’t stop talking about the museum one I got home.

What intrigue me the most were the art sculpture? There where so many to choose from and I loved them all. They had so much thought and detail put into them and the stories behind them are truly what captured my attention the most. The marble sculpture of Perseus the Head of theMedusa by Antonio Canova.

Antonio Canova was born 1757-1822. He was an italian neoclassical sculptor. He had a big influence on the art in his time. After doing a little research on Perseus I found that was the son of Dane. She was the only child of Acrisus the king of Argo. At this period in time he was undergoing a little stress becasue he was incapable of have a son to have heir to his thone. So he took his daughter who was a virgin and locked her a way in a brazen chamber underground. But little did he know that his daughter would be found with child, because Zenu came to her in the form of Gold and inpreganted her. The story goes on to talk about how Perseus got got the head of the medusa. If you know anything about a medusa they are very scary to me. I mean with one stare they could turn a person in to stone. Wow I would never want to have life in this time. It seems that Dane fell in love with Polydectes and when that happened she decided she wanted to remove her son from the island. So Polydectes had a banquet and all the guest would have to bring a horse so he could get close to the horse tamer So protege didn't have a horse but he did make a promise to get the head of a medusa. Of course he would need help getting the head of the Medusa so Pesesus was on the island just looking for a medusa. To me it almost seemed as though he had give up and was just wandering with nothing much else to do. In the end he endup helping with the capture of the head of the medusa. I thought the story was very interesting and that the scupture itself was very detailed. I guess I alway relate things to the bible. becasue to me all these ancient myths are very close to biblical scriptures. I think I can really relat this to John the baptist head on a charger. I though it was very well depicted in the scupture. I mean there was a lot of detail. if you look closely you see a bird in Persus head. To me that mean that he really had a way with the animals espeicially if he wonder the island for a long time. they were almost like his friends. Then the head of the medusa was very intriguing to me too, because You really see the detail with the for lack of better terms the snakes coming out of his head. I really could even imagine seeing a really person like this or even knowing someone who could turn people into stone. I am just speachless...

Yale University Art Gallery

On Saturday April 21st I visited the Yale University Art Gallery. The drive alone was a task in itself. First we got stuck in traiffic. I mean traffic that was literally still. Not stop and go just stop! Anyway after all the traffic we finally made it to sunny New Haven Yale University Art Gallery. What a beautiful day to go to the museum to. When we entered into the building we were greet by the guard. We saw that there was a sign that said they except donations. So we then proceeded to the front desk to see what we had to do to get a tour of the building. Once we were done there we went to see some of the exhibits on the first floor. The first thing that really caught my eye was a man just lounging in a chair. Check this out I thought it was really cool. When I first glance over at the is person I said to my classmate WOW people really get relaxed at the museum. When we got close to the person we found out really quickly that this was an exhibit. Really neat I really can't believe how the artist captured so much expression in this exhibit. See close up below. He really looks like a real person who is hot tired and really just need to rest his feet from a long walk in the museum. This is how I felt when we left New Haven. Anyhow see close up below.

Okay here is what peaked my interest at the Yale University Art Gallery. Artemisia Prepares to drink the ashes of her husband. Mausolous. Mausolous was the king of Caria. Artemisia is said to have taken her husbands ashes and put them in her daily drinks. that is how much she loved him. They took a vow to love each other until death do them part, I honestly think that Artemisia took it a step further. I see in the bible when it talks about husband and wives. They are to leave mother and father and cleave to one another. They are to become as one body, mind & spirit. I feel that Artemisia took becoming one literally when she drank the ashes of her husband. Artemisia survived her husband by two year. While she was yet alive and drinking her husbands ashes she built at Halicarnassus a monument mausoleum. Halicarnassus is an ancient Greek city on the Southwest coast of Caria.

What caught my eye on this piece was that Artemisia has an inoccent face. She look very yound and her eyes to me seem like they can tell her whole story. To me they artist tried to make her a little lively by adding red blush to make her stand out. I believe that is what really caught my eye. If you notice the background is very dark. Meaning that it gloomy and it talking about death. I am struck by how I can see the colors that represent life or death. I was very intrigued to find that the story had some death in it.

Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art 4/1/07

Yesterday on April 1st I visited the Wadsworth in Hartford, CT

Here is a little History on the Wadsworth that I found very interesting:

The Wadsworth Antheneum is the oldest public art museum here in Connecticut. It is located in what is call the historical downtown Hartford area. It was founded by Daniel Wadsworth in 1842. Since the museum has opened it has a long standing traditions of always being first to acquire pieces from famous artist.

My Visit:

When I got to the museum I had the privilege of trying to find parking. As I walked from my parking space I walked up the side of the building and I never notice how huge this building was. I have live in Hartford my whole life and I can only remember going to this museum all of one time in grade school. As I got in to the museum I saw a man sitting off to my left. I asked him questions and he pointed me to the front desk. When I got to the front desk I simply explain to the lady why I was there and she told me that see had a student come in for the same assignment the day before. She told me that my fee would be $5. so I paid my fee and she handed me a map so that I would know how to get around the museum. Then I proceeded back to the security guard to sign a document so that I could use my camera in the museum as long as it didn't have the flash on. After all of this I then proceed to enter the museum I saw many paintings but none that captured my eye right way. However While I was on the first floor I saw a painting from a distant that really peaked my interest. As you see on you left the painting I selected has so many bright colors that would draw anyone from a distance. This piece of art was created by John Biggers Born Gastonia, North Carolina, 1924 Died Houston Texas, 2001. It is entitled Band of Angels; Weaving the seventh word, 1992-1993. It is on an oil and acrylic canvas. It is part of the Ella Gallup Summer and Mary Catlin Summer collection fund, 1993.16. The paint represents, "everyday life and as spiritual connections to an African heritage." John Biggers.... I thought the picture was very insightful. It showed so much detail as to what the artist was trying to depict. He is showing the African women hard at work. what are they doing? Well they are build a whole new world where they have a new moon, new sun, new stars. I almost think they are making a world free of crime a whole new world without all impurities. I think the water is a symbol of peace. I think it is saying that this new world that is being built is the essence of peace and free will, and happiness. Water is very calming to me so I think this world that they are building will be a calm and it will have solitary atmosphere. The next couple of pieces that caught my eye were in the Religious section of the museum.
The first one was of "The Crucifixion" by Bernard van Orley Flemish, c. 1488-1541 c. 1515-20. This is an oil on panel painting This piece is also apart of The Ella Gallup Summer and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1939.429. Being that it was Sunday and I attend church every Sunday I was very happy to see that they did have a Religious section in the museum. This picture captured my eye because first it is a picture of the crucifixition but secondly the colors. I've seen many picture of this but never with some much thought put into. When looking at this picture the artist really captured the pain and agony of hanging on the cross. He really emphasized on the people who were standing around looking. It made me really think about the crucifixition and everything I have been taught from a child and even what I am being taught now. I felt really drawn to this picture because I really knew a lot about the story. The next picture that I really connected with is below. This picture is legendary, or at least John the Baptist is a well know biblical
story. I actually was able to look at the picture and know right way that this was a picture of Herod the king and Salome with John the Baptist head on a charger. Here is a brief story for this picture. It was King Herod's birthday and Salome the daughter of Herodias was aked to dance for the King. Because Salome dance so well King Herod asked her what did she want. He told her that she could have anything she wanted. Salome didn't know what to ask so she went and asked her mother what should she ask for. Her mother told her to ask for John the Baptist Head on a charger. When Salome told King Herod what she wanted he was very sorry but he had to keep his word so, he told all those who were at the feast to bring John The Baptist Head on a Charge. (St. Matthew 14:1-36) I am very surprised at everything I saw at the museum. Who would have ever thought that I would really find a lot of interesting exhibits at the museum. I can remember when I was a kid we always were so bore at the museum. I mean you might have found at least one exhibit to keep your attention for a while but I know my attention was keep more than a few minutes on yesterday. I really enjoy my visit at this museum. I always thought that the museum was old and not well kept but I found out differently yesterday. I do look forward to visiting my next schedule museum. I am really looking forward to the outcome of this class.

Other exhibits that caught my eye:

Tentative Schedule of Museum Visits

I would like to first apologize for not getting this schedule posted earlier. I am new to this blogger posting stuff so please bare with me. I had Christina talk me through how to get somethings to work for me. Again I am sorry for this being late.

Week 1: Preparation

Week 2: Wadsworth Anthenum Museum of Art - Sunday April 1st

Week 3: Yale Art Gallery - Saturday April 7th

Week 4: Metropolitian and MOMA Saturday April 14th

Week 5: The Bruce Museum Saturday April 21th

Week 6: Florence Griswold Museum Saturday April 28th

Week 7: Museum of Modern Art Saturday May 5th

Week 8: Final Week May 13th

Thanks

This is just a tentative schedule. Dates may change.
Charmaine