Friday, June 1, 2012

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

During its opening weekend, I made the short journey from my house to Bentonville, Arkansas to experience the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the brain child of Alice Walton (Sam's daughter). From what I had read up to that point, Alice had made it her goal to bring art to Arkansas from American born and American transplant artists. Her quest was a labor of love for sure, so I needed to see it. I printed off the Google Maps directions, loaded up my wife and daughter, and meandered to our neighbor state. The Google Maps directions led us right to a walking trail. It was a big walking trail, but if I had used it as a driving path for the truck, I would have surely been arrested. Navigating what seemed like a residential area for ten minutes, we finally found the entrance to the museum grounds. The drive in was what you might expect from a museum, manicured lawn and trees. It wasn't awe inspiring, but it was nice. My ho-hum attitude toward the experience was short lived however. When the museum rose into view, I couldn't have been more impressed. Set in a small wooded valley, a huge modern structure of wood, glass, copper and concrete seemed to be perfectly at home there in the forest. From the picture below, you can see that the museum's designer, Moshe Safdie, was trying to be as modern as possible without completely disregarding the surrounding terrain. The beautiful copper roof gives a hint of something natural and elemental, while the glass walls reflect the oak and maple trees that swaddle the grounds. Already I know I will be back to this place many times and I haven't even been inside yet.
From the parking garage, we take an elevator to an open air courtyard complete with an art piece in the center. The gift shop is to the right, but I'm not interested in that right now. I want to go left and see some priceless American Art. The ladies at the front desk were very helpful, quickly pointing out which direction various styles of art were located. We opted to begin at the beginning, so we made our way to the Colonial wing. We herded into a small group of people that was being asked to wait by a gallery guard. When he was satisfied with the number of patrons present, he gave a speech that was short and sweet. It was basically No touching, No drinking, No eating, No gum, and No running. Essentially he was saying, "act like you're in a museum, doofus" without calling everyone a doofus.
The Colonial part of the museum was heavy on portraiture. The painting of George Washington in full uniform by Charles Willson Peale was certainly a highlight, but that was one of dozens of paintings of aristocrats, Native Americans, and the great landscapes and seascapes of the Eastern Seaboard.
The museum was further divided into 19th century art, modern art (1900-1980's), and an ever-changing contemporary art gallery. There were hundreds of works in the whole collection; oil, acrylic, pencil, pastel, sculpture, light, video, and textile.
This museum would have been totally fulfilling if the exhibits were all that Crystal Bridges had to offer. However, the small additional things made it a true "Art Is Life" experience. The cafe, the learning library, the reflecting pool, the knowledgeable employees on hand, and the walking trails through the surrounding estate made this a unique and memorable visit. We're planning an evening trip to the museum so we can sit in the cafe and watch them light up the reflecting pool. The employees we talked to said it would be worth the effort to come back again. I hope you take the time to go enjoy this American Art collection as much as we did. To make the best better, Alice has made the museum completely free to enter and park. So that's one more reason to go.


See more reviews at www.talkingsimian.com

http://crystalbridges.org/


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