They say that art is in the eye of the beholder. When you look at a painting what do you see? Do you just see what your eyes show you or do you let your imagination explore the art?
Our class theme today should have been "Your Brain on Art" I had such a visual stimulation that my head actually hurt after we left the San Antonio Museum of Art. I think both sides of my brain were used as i gathered information about the art and tried to analyise the artist process of his/her choice of color, shape, foundation and reason for their creation.
The museum of art is located at 200 W Jones Ave. and if you go on Tuesday afternoon afther 4:00 p.m. you get in at no charge.
We gathered awaiting all our classmates to start our tour. Some of us explored the gift shop. Alex and Brendon actually sang a song to one of the items "Ring my Bell", I thought was very funny seeing that Alex is very quiet in our class.
And with the "ringing of the bell" or Karens voice saying "Walk through the gift shop, walk through it", meaning don't stop and shop. No, she was not only talking to me, but to the whole class. Nevertheless I ran through to avoid the temptation of the Asian section.
Our tour began with a lecture from Karen about the structure of the art museum and the way the art is displayed to have the visitor enjoy it with complementary lighting and casing. We were divided up in teams to explore the following sections and than report back to the class.
Pre-columbian, which referes to the time in the Americas before the sixteenth century- before Christopher Columbus.
Folk Art, which was Alex, Liz and my section is generally produced by people who have little or no academic artistic training and use established techniques and styles of a particular region or culture. My favorite piece in this sections, well there were a couple of them, the masks that are now used in dances, the painting of the "Tree of Life" which was done by a mexican nun, and a wooden shoe box that was painted like a fire truck.
Colonial Art, is represented in reflections of saints, and religous depictions of our Lady of Guadalupe many of times.
Modern Art was introduced in the late 19th century and had a new view on art, that no longer needed a reprensitation of the subject but could be shown realistly with photgraphy.
Our time passed by too fast, is this how it's going to be in Oaxaca not enough time to intake it all or explore it all? That might be why we might as well start planning a second trip there. Art is truely in the eyes of the beholder. We all had a favorite item, all our items were artistic, and unique and as each presentor pointed out the beauty of it's beholder. If you have not visted the SAMA you need to put it on your tour list of San Antonio, you will leave there with a true enrishment of art. You will also have "Art on the Brain" for a while to come. Yes, brain food |
