Day 5: Wednesday, June 28, 2017 (continued)
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA)
When we planned our trip we weren't sure if we would want to spend one or two days exploring the art world in this northwestern corner of Massachusetts. Modern art resides at the Mass MoCA in North Adams and classical art can be found at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. They are practically next door to one another. Certainly both can be seen in one day, even when traveling by bicycle. But not if you are likely to immerse yourselves in an art museum, which we sometimes do.
While writing this I was curious to see if there is a statistic on how many miles you might cover while seeing everything the Mass MoCA has to offer. My search took me to Trip Advisor where, although I didn't find an answer to my question, I did find many rave reviews. And this one, giving the museum just a single star:
Waste of time and money. Perhaps it's me, but I just don't get it... Way too far out there, glad my wife liked it though. Guys, here's a tip - let the wife go and you can wait at Bright Ideas Brewery located on the premises. No admission charge and the beer and food are excellent!
I hit the jackpot when I married someone who is not only a tremendous bicycling companion but also doesn't allow himself to be lumped into that all-inclusive "Guys" category. About an hour into the morning, I said, "I don't think we're going to make it to the Clark Art Institute today," and Rob readily agreed. We didn't even stop long enough to explore any of the cafes on the campus, just had a quick lunch at the outdoor patio, eating food we'd brought with us from our panniers. Then we stepped into the building that houses Sol LeWitt's Restrospective.
A lot of contemporary art, and especially large art installations, challenges you to think about the world from a unique perspective, or to confront social injustice head on. It can be exhausting. But Sol LeWitt's art was just fun, the perfect antidote to the thought-provoking art of the morning. Wall after wall of enormous abstract paintings took up the entire buiding,
When we entered the exhibit we caught a young man giving a lecture about the artist and his work. He said that LeWitt didn't actually paint the works currently on display. What the artist did was give the specifications for a piece and it was up to the museum to create it according to its own interpretation. There were several videos throughout the gallery showing the creation of some of LeWitt's works. Here's an example of a simple one: "Wall Drawing 381: A square divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts, one gray, one yellow, one red and one blue, drawn with color and India ink washes."
Here are the directions to another piece:
Here are a couple more.
Just like seeing pictures of a place like Glacier National Park in no way prepares you for the awesomeness of the actual scenery, these pictures cannot possibly show you how incredible Sol LeWitt's art is in real life. So get yourself to the Mass MoCA. You have until 2033 to see this fabulous exhibit. But the glaciers in Glacier National Park may have all melted by then so take a vacation to Glacier first, then come here.
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA)
When we planned our trip we weren't sure if we would want to spend one or two days exploring the art world in this northwestern corner of Massachusetts. Modern art resides at the Mass MoCA in North Adams and classical art can be found at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. They are practically next door to one another. Certainly both can be seen in one day, even when traveling by bicycle. But not if you are likely to immerse yourselves in an art museum, which we sometimes do.
While writing this I was curious to see if there is a statistic on how many miles you might cover while seeing everything the Mass MoCA has to offer. My search took me to Trip Advisor where, although I didn't find an answer to my question, I did find many rave reviews. And this one, giving the museum just a single star:
Waste of time and money. Perhaps it's me, but I just don't get it... Way too far out there, glad my wife liked it though. Guys, here's a tip - let the wife go and you can wait at Bright Ideas Brewery located on the premises. No admission charge and the beer and food are excellent!
I hit the jackpot when I married someone who is not only a tremendous bicycling companion but also doesn't allow himself to be lumped into that all-inclusive "Guys" category. About an hour into the morning, I said, "I don't think we're going to make it to the Clark Art Institute today," and Rob readily agreed. We didn't even stop long enough to explore any of the cafes on the campus, just had a quick lunch at the outdoor patio, eating food we'd brought with us from our panniers. Then we stepped into the building that houses Sol LeWitt's Restrospective.
A lot of contemporary art, and especially large art installations, challenges you to think about the world from a unique perspective, or to confront social injustice head on. It can be exhausting. But Sol LeWitt's art was just fun, the perfect antidote to the thought-provoking art of the morning. Wall after wall of enormous abstract paintings took up the entire buiding,
When we entered the exhibit we caught a young man giving a lecture about the artist and his work. He said that LeWitt didn't actually paint the works currently on display. What the artist did was give the specifications for a piece and it was up to the museum to create it according to its own interpretation. There were several videos throughout the gallery showing the creation of some of LeWitt's works. Here's an example of a simple one: "Wall Drawing 381: A square divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts, one gray, one yellow, one red and one blue, drawn with color and India ink washes."
Here are the directions to another piece:
And the finished product:
 |
| Wall Drawing 1260 "Scribble: Square without a square." This one looked so 3D it popped out of the picture. |
 |
| Wall Drawing 51 "All architectural points connected by straight lines." You could try this at home. |
 |
| I had to walk up to this one to make sure it was actually a two-dimensional painting. It is. |
When Rob emerged from the restroom, I said, "Rob, there's a campground nearby. How about we stay there and then go out to dinner?" The little bit of North Adams we saw on our way to the museum looked like there might be some good dining possibilities.
"Sure." Rob has never been known to turn down a dinner out.
But we weren't warned about the hill we had to climb to get to the campground. This was reminiscent of Brattleboro. We climbed a steep hill to the campground, only to ride back into town and then have to climb the hill again. This was getting to be a pattern.
The campground was on a lake and seemed nice enough but we didn't take the time to explore it. We paid $20 for a tent site in the low-income district, way back in the woods, no electricity and not even a view of the water. We set up our tent, cleaned up, and rode back into town - downhill - to search out dinner.
The streets of North Adams were surprisingly quiet, no restaurants spilling over with hungry tourists waiting for a table. In fact, we had trouble finding any restaurants at all. After asking random people on the streets for a recommendation we settled on a restaurant called, simply, Public. Rob had fish and chips. I don't remember what I ate but I do know that we both enjoyed our meals as well as the good beer selection and casual atmosphere.
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