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Visit to the Brooklyn Museum

I very much enjoyed the group visit to the Brooklyn Museum. Personally my favorite part of this trip was the fact that we were able to travel the museum in groups which really gave me a whole new experience. The idea of exploring the exhibits together was something completely different to me. Usually any museum experience in a group was a guided tour where everyone had to listen to the tour guide speak, this on the other hand was different. We as a relatively small group were collectively able to decide which exhibits we were going to see. Not only that but the conversations we were able to have really helped all of us gain insight from each other. For example one group member might have been able to notice something that the rest of us did not.

There were many pieces in the museum that stood out to me and I really enjoyed. One of the first was done by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes titled “Will she Rise Again” My initial impressions was of a women surrounded by darkness, but after taking a closer look I realized that in the darkness there were figures. This made me think that maybe the creator or artist was trying to portray the fact that we are surrounded by darkness but give off light and good. Personally my favorite piece in the entire museum had to be the charcoal drawings. Me and my entire group thought that all these works were actually large print pictures, until one student had told that they were actually made of charcoal. This amazed us all, because the paintings looked so lifelike and I believed that only a camera was able to capture something like that. Finally one of the most unique displays was the room setups, which we realized after a while was closed but somehow we had managed to accidentally get in. This floor to me gave a creepy feeling. Looking into some of these rooms through the glass gave me a feeling of being in a different time period. Personally I enjoyed the museum trip very much, the pieces were interesting and the group setting allowed us to explore more of what we wanted.  – Nicholas Pilacinski

NAWA NAWA

Museums aren’t usually my thing, let alone specific exhibits. NAWA, or the National Association of Women Artists, hosted a small exhibit on the 4th floor of a building on Lafayette St near NYU, and it showcases women artists without the bourgeois nature of donations or large fees. The gallery was small, quaint; you could spot all the art in minutes if you were rushing.

I decided to take my time with the gallery, though I was exhausted from classes and the long commute from Staten Island. The location was tough for me at first, due to the secluded nature of the building. It also highlights how art doesn’t have to be found in the Met or the Guggenheim; it attempts to diversify a long-standing approach to the art exhibition, by letting anybody, free of charge, admire the sculptures, paintings, and knickknacks.

At first, I entered the unit, and it looked more vast than it actually was(this made sense because the building floors are very small). I was met with the logo of NAWA, as well as the lady on the left that greeted me. There was a sign-in sheet. She offered me a tour(which would have been quick or tedious, depending on the artist) but I refused, as I was partially in a rush to eat or to go home entirely.

 

I’m not a frequent museum goer, but something about the gallery just didn’t click. I didn’t feel like the gallery was doing its work, nor that the art had a lot of meaning behind it. I tried my hardest to ascertain some sort of interpretation, but the paintings that had that effect on me were a dime a dozen.

One of the few paintings or sculptures I connected with was a painting that contained a very realistic oil/pastel picture of a street in a city; it doesn’t really have significant meaning for me, but I am particularly interested in how realistic, yet vivid and bright the picture looks without it being a photograph.

 

 

Overall, the lady at the counter was very welcoming and even gave me suggestions for other exhibits. She had her own art displayed, a sculpture using a car gear and some metal strips, all with the goal of creating motion in stasis.

 

I didn’t really interact with the rest of the art; I have a strong affinity for bodily-kinesthetic learning, but art always prohibits touching (sensibly), so I do not enjoy it as much. NAWA was interesting because of its initial prospect of emphasis on women; while I do not judge the gallery for the prices, I could never wrap my head around the art market and did not see the worth. Maybe someone else’s hobby, but not mine.

 

 

CB