Art in the Ozarks

from Lexi Eddings...

Yesterday, the DH and I loaded up the camper and headed for Blowing Spring Park in Bella Vista, AR. It's a lovely part of the world, heavily treed hills and rollicking streams. Think we've arrived before the mosquito season begins in earnest. And it's near Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, which we visited today. 

I promised you pictures so this blog is going to be more of a "plog" than usual. I didn't know what to expect when we first arrived. I'd heard the architecture was as much art as the collection it houses, but I sure wasn't anticipating seeing a gigantic spider first thing!

Then I noticed the title of the piece--"Maman." That's French for "mother." Wow. Someone's got mommy issues, I thought. Then I read the artist's explanation:

Ok, I decided. Perspective is everything. I made a judgment based on my own fear of anything with more than four legs. Trust art to make me rethink my assumptions and try new ideas on for size!

This blown glass piece by Seattle artist Chihuly is in the process of being installed, It's only about half reassembled. Can you imagine the packing that went into sending this piece across country? The hundreds of boxes holding the individual shards and how many hours it will take to put them back together? 

Surprisingly enough, I was allowed to take photos inside this museum as long as I turned the flash off on my camera. I didn't know that in time to take pics of the Georgia O'Keefe paintings or the portrait of George Washington with such a pained expression on his face my own teeth hurt, but I was able to capture my favorite of the day: The Reader by Mary Cassatt. She looks so cozy, and so engaged in what she's reading, all snoodled up with pillows and not a care in the world! 

This was my DH's favorite piece. He says he can almost smell the sea air and feel the salt spray! 

Outside the museum, there is a lovely, mostly level asphalt path leading to a number of art pieces set up in the forest! 

These colorful glass globes were floating in a lagoon. Chihuly says they were a big challenge to create because while a sphere is the easiest form for a glass artist to create, it's not so easy on this scale. 

 

What's American art without the quintessential American hero--a cowboy?

And you can't very well go to Arkansas without running into a razorback! 

I'm going to leave you with a snippet from my DH's journal about his take on one of the pieces we saw: 

"One of the Modern Art exhibits that I was fascinated by is in this picture.  I've always been fascinated by perception, and how experience or bias changes the way people see a situation, or how it affects their "world view" as Francis Schaeffer puts it.  

This piece gives a visual representation of that concept.

The way the glass changes the line of the architecture, affecting how we see that straight line.  The color changes light affecting our perception of the water, and the view.  This is a perfect example of how our background and or the way we think changes how we see the physical and emotional world around us.  I need to remember this when trying to deal with other people, and trying to understand why they don't see things the way I see them. 

Amen to that. 

PS. This amazing museum was built by the Walton family--the folks behind Walmart. It is free to the public and so worth the trip! What a beautiful and generous use of wealth! Really makes me want to support my local Walmart store next time I need something.