Category: September 18

My first Macaulay event of freshman year, was indeed interesting. This was my first trip to the Brooklyn Museum, and I was very excited to be sharing it with my fellow Macaulay classmates. The museum was filled with beautiful artwork, and it was in a sense overwhelming to me. Being someone who is in love with ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, the exhibit of Egyptian art was definitely a sight I was not accustomed to seeing. I found myself struggling to comprehend every line and crease. Perhaps my knowledge of Greek/Roman mythology is what made looking at their particular sculptures so simple to me. I was perplexed, looking for answers to the question, “Why?” I felt challenged which to me was both motivating and disheartening all at once. I was determined to find something to understand and make me feel better after the confusion.

Walking around the next exhibit I saw the American flag in black and white, which touched my heart. I am an incredibly patriotic person, so seeing that made me proud to live in this country. It made me reflect on all the beautiful things that I am offered as an American. It made me think of my grandfather, a Navy veteran, and all that he fought for just to make sure that my family had a good life. As I continued walking I looked behind me to see a black and white portrait of former President Barack Obama by Robert Longo, and within an instant, I ran over to it. I smiled and thought back on all he did for the country, missing his administration more and more with each memory. I thought about how much has changed over this past year, hoping that something good will happen and things will change for the better.

The next stop for me was the Sergei Eisenstein exhibit. This was the most impressive thing I saw that night. Walking into the dark room, a feeling of sadness swept over me. I looked straight ahead to see a woman from the 1920s crying, I looked to the left of her and saw a war. I walked around the entire exhibit, putting the story together piece by piece and frame by frame. It was then to my surprise that these were all different films by the same director. The idea that the different films were slowed down and told one unified story was absolutely exquisite. All in all the trip to the Brooklyn Museum was one I will never forget.

My visit to Snug Harbor’s Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art was a unique experience in which I was able to view art ranging from paintings, sculptures, and digital forms of art. What was once a home to sailors has now become a place for young, local artists to display their work of art. The day I visited the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art it was mostly deserted and looked like it needed some renovations. When I first entered Building C I was impressed by its interior which had stained glass that showed boats and lighthouses. There was also a large, open space in the center of the room with a beautiful glass dome ceiling. My favorite part of this exhibit was the focus on Staten Island and un-recognized artists. Most museums are filled with world-famous artists and multiple exhibits that people travel around the world to see. For example, the Brooklyn Museum of Art consists of multiple exhibits that range from Ancient Egyptian Art, American Art, European Art, etc. The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art is similar to the NAWA exhibit in that displays unknown artists’ works of art for others to view and potentially buy. The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art is also different from many other museums in that the price for admission was only five-dollars.

As I was walking around the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art I was surprised to see a former high school tennis competitor and current friend of mine work of art. It was a self-portrait of herself with colors similar to a sunset behind her. Seeing her work of art in this exhibit brought a sense of connection to this exhibit knowing that someone I know displayed their art for everyone else to see. Viewing my friend’s work of art allowed me to closely view the four works of art around hers. To the left was an image of a woman with what seemed to be was green hair and discoloration in her face. Above her self-portrait was a black and white photograph of a gentleman that seemed that it could have been taken from an ordinary camera. To the right was another woman’s face. In this particular painting the right side of the woman’s face was of white color with blue-green hair and the left side of the woman’s face was of brown color with blonde hair.

Although I did not have much time to view the entire exhibit I enjoyed my experience was thrilled to have actually seen a familiar artist’s name within the exhibit. I plan on visiting the exhibit again for its upcoming exhibits of MVMT: Sketches and Staten Island in Movement as well as to view Snug Harbor’s Chinese Scholar’s Garden.