Day 2: MIA no MFA

Nothing says retirement like the Museum of Fine Arts.  The MFA is packed on a Tuesday morning with three types of people:  retired women taking drawing classes in the Roman arts collection, junior high school students on a field trip staring blank eyed at their teacher in the Japanese drawing room, and college level art students hiding in corners drawing something.  If you peak over their shoulder it's sometimes hard to tell what that something is.  This is by no means a jab at their talent, in fact their images are quite good - just not at all what they seem to be focused on.  Really, I just think the MFA is a safe space to be creative and express for these folks.  A place to day dream and fancy about one day looking at your own piece of art on the wall.

My favorite rooms were not what I expected them to be.  I'm not a love the impressionists kind of gal.  I'm typically a modern and photography person.  I also like to stroll along in the big salons and revel in the dwarfing affect that fifteen foot canvasses of the baby Jesus have on me.  Today as I strolled along I fell in love with two special exhibits:  The Japanese home exhibit and the Indian bed curtains in England exhibit.  Other favorites items were: the large statue of Shiva in the Indian Gallery, the French bed in the French salon, and the Greek warrior gear (of which I learned that the Persian war lasted 20 years).  I think my love of furniture and space may be a sign that I need to be an interior decorator. I also came across several real columns, which were big, fat and decorative and could / did hold weight in present / antiquity.  I wanted to hug them.  I decided not to for what I hope is obvious reasons.

I did get somewhat lost in the exhibits forgetting about myself and really just being present with the objects.  What are these things?  How do they relate to one another?  Who commissioned this?  Who curated this exhibit?  Do I believe in this interpretation?  How well do the pieces communicate with one another?  Is information accessible to the general public but also still challenging to the not so general public?  All these questions popped in and out of my mind - but in the end I really just enjoyed being there and took in many things just as they were.  Kind of like my trips to the Goodwill, where I stand in front of the bric-a-brac and observe:  most times things are just a jumble, but sometimes something awesome really speaks to me.

Tomorrow is the JFK museum.  I can't wait.