Category — Visual Art

I am not very interested in art museums, so when I found out that we were going to the Brooklyn Museum I wasn’t really that excited. I knew what I was expected to do- look at a painting or sculptor and talk about it for five minutes. All I could think was  ” Five minutes?! I’ll be lucky if I could talk about it for two minutes!” It seemed like an impossible thought to me.

However, when we split into our groups I chose to work with two of my friends from high school- one that goes to Brooklyn and one to City college. I’ve always shared hilarious moments with these two girls so I thought that this museum idea might actually be fun. We went in search of our first piece to talk about and found a carpet. We talked for about 3 minutes until the guard kicked us out and made us delete the recording because we weren’t supposed to be in there. I was a little upset, not because now I had to go and look for more pieces to talk about, but because I really liked the ideas we came up with about the carpet’s design.

While describing the three pieces of art we chose to talk about, I realized that everyone looks at art differently. No one person has the same opinion on what the artist drew. I actually had fun looking at all the art work in the museum and trying to understand the meaning of the works. Even though I didn’t think I would enjoy the museum that much, it ended up being really interesting and I liked looking at art in a new way.

The trip to Brooklyn Museum turned out to be very different from what I expected it to be, which was a boring, slow paced trip where we would have to talk about art and try to find deeper meanings that I didn’t think existed. I thought that was only for stuck up pretentious people, who were ” connoisseurs” of art.

I was totally wrong. After relaxing for a bit, we finally got our groups, recorders and headed into the world of art. TO my surprise all of the pieces were quite intriguing and when we started recording for the first time on a piece in the Egyptian section, my group and I began talking up a a storm. We were making observations and analyzing the pieces like those stuck up people I mentioned earlier. It was actually a little bit of fun getting to express feeling about the pieces while also hearing your friends giving analysis and observations that weren’t anywhere in your mind. So many times I was caught off guard by some of the observations that my peers made, and them by observations I made.

Though I can’t say that this trip was magnificent or anything like that because at the end of the day, I’m just not a big fan of museums so being in there staring at art for so long did become boring. Though I won’t lie, my view of art has undergone a type of metamorphosis and I can see more details in a piece and understand the deeper meanings behind it. Overall it was a good experience but it wasn’t as awesome for me as it was for others.

Learning to see. Learning to recognize what I see, how I see it, and how to articulate and analyze this knowledge. This was my museum night.

Normally when I go to a museum I want to browse through the entire thing. See every object, skim every display case. I’ll stop every now and then at a piece that catches my eye and tugs at the artist in my heart. I have always longed to linger on theses pieces. I’ve always said to myself, “I’m gonna come back here one day and just sit in front of this painting, just look for hours at it.” But I never have.

Usually I go to art museums with my friends. I love going with them but the same thing happens every time: I either lag behind and get separated or I feel like I’m running to keep up instead of enjoying the art. At museum night I finally got to linger, finally felt what it was like to immerse myself into a singular piece of art, even if it wasn’t my favorite piece on Earth, the experience itself was amazing.

And that alone would have been rewarding enough.. The thing that really resonated with me was the social aspect of the night. Analyzing artwork with people was incredible. I can’t even count how many times someone in my group said something that made my jaw drop a little closer to the floor. The intelligence and passion coming from everyone, percolating together, and melding into new knowledge, new understanding, new enlightenment was an awesome thing to experience.

Elizabeth really impressed me. She noticed so many things that I never would have. She asked questions about the most seemingly insignificant things and never stopped. Actually none of us did. After we finished talking about two pieces we said ‘hey let’s do another.’ And even when we completed our third conversation we didn’t stop. Our entire way of looking at art was altered that night. Every piece we went by held our attention and when we found ourselves gathered around the same pieces we talked about them. The night was never about ‘let’s get this done so we can go home,’ it was ‘let’s really do this.’ And we did. And it was amazing.

I went to the Met last Sunday. I’ve always wanted to go there alone but I’ve never had the chance. I woke up Sunday morning and decided ‘today was the day.’ With my sketchbook and my camera I meandered around through the European paintings (took some selfies with Van Goh’s flowers and Monet’s waterlilies and posted them on Instagram) and once I got that out of my system I went to my favorite room in the Met: what I call the Heaven Room. Located in the Middle Eastern Art section it gets less traffic than the larger Egyptian and European wings. With a fountain in the middle of the room, gorgeous hand painted tiles of turquoise, white, and yellow, and lighting that makes you feel like you’re basking in the cool sun, this room transports me. I’ve always wanted to just sit there. Museum Night helped me do just that. Sunday I went to the Met and I sat in Heaven for an hour and a half.

Why did I choose Macaulay, and what has my experience been with art?:

**Sorry for the background.. I don’t know why I decided to record this in a parking garage..