Among the Art

The week after graduation I decided that a day at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) was a must. At first this adventure was turning out to be by myself as my partner , Wynne was in Dorr County for the weekend. Later that week I invited a dear friend Emily to venture with me, as she had never been to the MIA.

So come Sunday morning I was awake dressed and ready to roll and excited at the possibility of learning and jamming my mind full of information. Emily is dropped at my house and we proceed to zoom through Minneapolis traffic to the museum. Once at the museum, our trip led us through a time warp. We started in Asian art, was plopped into the middle of Africa, where "tribal" masks could be seen in action through the MIA's interactive learning kiosks. We drifted across the Mediterranean Sea landing in Pompeii among the Roman and Greek artwork. Once here Emily began to explain her knowledge of Roman and Greek myths. From there we saw Native American apparel only to find ourselves in the midst of modern Asian art. Emily and I instantly asked each other our opinions on modern artwork. Me with my fancy Art History Minor proceeded to say "I am open to it, but I don't like it all"(your normal cliche answer, as not to completely dis any particular style). Emily simply stated that she doesn't understand it. As we curiously looked through this section of the museum, we turned to find a piece titled "Sunset on the Ocean" or something like that. Now, to me this piece looks like a brick shaved down to appeal smooth and curved on the top to have a slight hump. To Emily, the true creative genius of the two of us, proceeds to say, that the "Sunset on the Ocean" looks like an old toaster cover she use to own and then wondered where the cover is now. Instantly the once quiet MIA irrupts with laughter from the two of us! Kackling for almost 2 minutes straight I pull it together, wipe my eyes, take a deep breathe and state, how about moving on to impressionism. I still laugh and every once in a while text Emily about the toaster cover, just to make her day.

As we wind down our tour of the museum, over the intercom a nice voice states that the museum is closing in 10 minutes. We scamper through the entire modern art section of the museum, walk through the courtyard that connects both the old section of the MIA to the new Target Wing and realize how intellectually exhausted we are. The drive to my house was filled with conversation on how starving we both are and wanting to watch 500 Days of Summer. Once home orange chicken and fried rice is served with a side of relaxation and laughs with a wonderful friend.

Our Sunday adventure at the MIA was not just to observe the art and be intellectually stimulated, but to knit together a friendship over good conversation, good food and a simple Sunday adventure!