Jon says it’s “my museum”. But it’s really the Williams College Museum of Art. Although I have kind of adopted it.
It’s definitely the most accessible museum I know of.
When Jon and I go to the movies in Williamstown Massachusetts, we often stop in at the Williams College Museum of Art. We don’t stay long, usually we only have time to visit one of two galleries. It’s like an art hit. A quick shot that’s just enough to get my creative juices flowing.
It’s on the same block as the Cinema and has a good mix of art that spans centuries and the exhibits changes often. It always has a contemporary art exhibit, has a great permanent collection, is never crowded and is free (I usually leave a donation).
With Jon in Brooklyn, I knew if I stayed home all day, I’d end up doing chores around the house. And I didn’t want to. So I went to visit “my museum”.
When I was in art school I always felt a lot of pressure going to museums and galleries. I felt like I had to know about everything I saw or at least have something intelligent to say about it. It made looking at art a tense and pressured experience for me.
It took me years to leave those feelings behind. To be able to admit, even to myself, that I didn’t know what a piece of art was about or that I hadn’t heard of an artist that was obviously well-known. Or to admit to being moved by a piece of art, even if I couldn’t explain why.
Now I go into museums and galleries like an innocent. Opened up and curious. Willing to look at a piece of art I like for as along as I want and able to walk past a piece of art that doesn’t speak to me.
I don’t like to talk a lot when I’m in a museum. I mostly like to look and absorb the art in whatever way it wants to come in. So going to a museum alone seems very natural to me.
Although I did see a couple of exhibits today that I want to show Jon the next time we go to the movies.
