The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

At long last we were assigned one of the large museums in the Twin Cities to visit. This week I was able to enjoy The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. This is a very large museum in south Minneapolis which is free to the public. The only time you will have to pay is if they have a special exhibit on show. Currently they have an exhibit which is showing many different pieces of art from the Louvre in Paris, France. I was able to look through the Louvre exhibit because if you show them a school ID they will let you in for free. I was very excited to see that they had two of my favorite artists on display there. Those two were The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer and Virgin and Child with Saint Anne by Michaelangelo. I was so excited to see these priceless works of art, I know it will be a long time until I am able to experience the Louvre in Paris, so being there was very special to me.

While at the institute I needed to look for many different things. First on the list, I needed to find five different works of art that I really liked, so I will list those off.
1. The Doryphoros is a Roman piece from between 120-50 BC. This is a large statue of a man made of marble. I choose this one because I liked how large and powerful it looked. I could imagine it standing in the middle of a town square looking over all the people who were walking around it.
2. Lan T'ing Su is a very large sculpted piece of jade which is in the shape of mountains with several small villages on it. This is an Asian sculpture made in 1784. There is an ancient poem carved into it which is from the year 353. I like the intricate detail in this sculpture. It is something large, but carved so that it looks very delicate.
3. Elephant Attacking a Feline is a mosaic in earthen colors. This is from Turkey and made during the late 4th -mid 5th century. I liked seeing something that was this detailed from such a long time ago.
4. Dance Blanket is a large dark blue blanket that was used during tribal dances. This is from between 1840-1850 and was made by the Great Lakes/Woodland tribes of Native Americans. On the blanket were very intricate designs in threads that were red, gold, and light blue. I imagined people dancing around a fire while wearing this. Perhaps celebrating a major holiday or a wedding.
5. Sunburst was my favorite. This is a very large blown glass sculpture which looks like the sun. It was made in 1999 by Dale Chihuly and is around 3000 pounds. This was the first thing I saw when I got to the museum. I like how cheery it looks. The day I went was rainy and dreary and it cheered me up just looking at it glowing there.

There were three different exhibits that I looked at while there, besides the Louvre. The first one that I looked at was Dia de los Muertos ofrendas. This is an exhibit where teenagers in Minneapolis and in Mexico made alters to honor the dead in celebration of Day of the Dead. They make the these for family, friends and other people who they feel are important. I was surprised to see one honoring Michael Jackson. I guess if you look up to someone, no matter who they are, they will make an alter to that person. These little alters can be very artistic and really show how a person feels about the one they lost. Many different items are used to make an alter but usually include fruit. I liked looking at these as they were all so different and colorful.

The second exhibit that I walked through was called From Towers to Tea Kettles. This exhibit was showing the works of Michael Graves. He is an architect and a designer from the Midwest who is very well known around the country, but especially the Midwest, for his building designs. However, he has also done some kitchen items for Target stores, most specifically tea kettles. Michael Graves started designing buildings in the 60's. He liked to do traditional buildings, but then add bits of contemporary to it. According to the plaque on the wall at the museum he liked them to look classical with sense and order but to also look fresh and modern. He uses many colors and also adds many columns, portico's and rotundas. The museum had many of his designs on display and also paintings of buildings he has designed. It is fun to look at his work. Something that you could see in the Twin Cities that he has designed is the band shell on Harriet Island. It's not a building, but you can see how he likes to put a twist on something classical.

The last exhibit that I looked at was called Word Art. This was an exhibit done by many different artists. It was each person putting a twist on modern words. They can be very artistic and beautiful. Our language has been around for centuries. The scripting of it can be beautiful. Also, what was interesting about this exhibit was how the words were displayed. It was like a silent voice was speaking and trying to convey a message.

Going to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts was a good experience. The size was intimidating compared to all of the other places I have visited this fall. I really liked that though. They had it organized into different regions of the world. Within those regions were different time periods. I also like that this museum is free. Makes it easier to go back to. The fact that something this big, and so rich in art history is right in my city is amazing. I really felt like I was in a big city in a very famous museum. I'm excited to go and see other large art museums in other cities around the world.