On July 14, 2013, I went up to Colby College Museum of Art for the grand re-opening day celebration and tour. And I was floored. Really. The floor is totally amazing. Beautiful, beautiful wood, stained a rich deep tone that emphasizes the grain. But of course, I'm sure the Lunders and the Alfonds didn't intend for this all to be a wood-floor showcase.
Moving on to the museum and the art - wow. Actually, more like WOW. I am majorly impressed. I entered cautiously, half skeptically. It's been talked up a lot and I wasn't sure how much was credible assessment and how much was emotional wishful thinking. Well, by the time I made it through about 35% of the expanded place, I was sold. I had MOMA and Met flashbacks. I was running into names and works giving me 1990s UofA art-major flashbacks. I was being stunned again and again by paintings full of dramatic light and sculptures of uncanny sensitivity to form, texture, and motion.
This was a quick pass-through visit on probably one of the museum's most crowded days. I got a sweeping panorama of greatness. It served to impress upon me that I need to come up often. It's clearly now a place where one could spend 1-2 full days viewing and learning. The photos I've posted below are only a portion of what's to be seen. I realize now that I completely forgot to take pictures of some galleries because I was conversing with people I knew, or heartily congratulating Sharon Corwin and Patricia King (director and asst. director) on the magnificence of this fruit of their labors. It was cool to see how genuinely excited Sharon was to see so many people in the museum.
If I follow through with my intentions, I will come to the museum regularly, almost as a meditation, to just stare at some of my favorites for much longer than most people look at paintings. I've always felt guilty at how quickly I may move on, and saddened by how quickly others may. Some works I've seen, both here and elsewhere, don't deliver their full effect until you've stood there long enough for the colors to begin to oscillate, or your peripheral vision to give up reporting, leaving you absorbed in your focus.
In a nutshell, the reviews and the hype appear true and accurate to me.
Moving on to the museum and the art - wow. Actually, more like WOW. I am majorly impressed. I entered cautiously, half skeptically. It's been talked up a lot and I wasn't sure how much was credible assessment and how much was emotional wishful thinking. Well, by the time I made it through about 35% of the expanded place, I was sold. I had MOMA and Met flashbacks. I was running into names and works giving me 1990s UofA art-major flashbacks. I was being stunned again and again by paintings full of dramatic light and sculptures of uncanny sensitivity to form, texture, and motion.
This was a quick pass-through visit on probably one of the museum's most crowded days. I got a sweeping panorama of greatness. It served to impress upon me that I need to come up often. It's clearly now a place where one could spend 1-2 full days viewing and learning. The photos I've posted below are only a portion of what's to be seen. I realize now that I completely forgot to take pictures of some galleries because I was conversing with people I knew, or heartily congratulating Sharon Corwin and Patricia King (director and asst. director) on the magnificence of this fruit of their labors. It was cool to see how genuinely excited Sharon was to see so many people in the museum.
If I follow through with my intentions, I will come to the museum regularly, almost as a meditation, to just stare at some of my favorites for much longer than most people look at paintings. I've always felt guilty at how quickly I may move on, and saddened by how quickly others may. Some works I've seen, both here and elsewhere, don't deliver their full effect until you've stood there long enough for the colors to begin to oscillate, or your peripheral vision to give up reporting, leaving you absorbed in your focus.
In a nutshell, the reviews and the hype appear true and accurate to me.
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