Denver, Day 2 - Art, Art, Art, and a little bit of Boulder

As far as I'm concerned, it's a crying shame to visit a major city and not make time for its art museum. Unfortunately, I didn't come to this realization until my senior year in high school, when my theater class took a field trip to see a traveling Impressionist exhibit in Houston; I walked away from that experience humbled and in awe of art's power - and thirsty for more. My semester in London was punctuated by frequent visits to the National Gallery and the Tate, and it was crowned by experiences in the Louvre and in various art museums in Italy and across Europe. My more recent museum experiences have been much closer to home, but often no less rewarding.

Fox Games

Today was the day we dedicated to the Denver Art Museum. P also wanted to visit Boulder, but I made him take me to the museum first so we'd have plenty of time before it closed. I had naively assumed that we could take it all in over the course of a day...

Adding to the "tapestry" in the African section

It was wonderful. And as is the case in the best museum experiences, I walked away with an entirely new appreciation for art I'd never before enjoyed (or known to exist). This time, I was struck by the African and Oceanic art - beautifully carved masks, canoe paddles and prows, combs, figurines, cloth made from tree bark, and sculpture made from trash. (We even got to try our hand at this last form ourselves!)

I'm also always a sucker for western American art - something wonderful about a Remington or a "Charlie" Russell, isn't there? (Our tour guide kept calling him Charlie - as if they used to be poker buddies or something; it was endearing...) 

Native American girl
we ran into.
Cute, huh?

Two of the DAM's statues in this section caught my attention; both involved the figures of mothers - one the pioneer and the other prehistoric, each displaying a startling ferocity. The prehistoric mother has just defended her children against a bear cub, a ferocious act by any standard. The pioneer, on the other hand, exhibits ferocity simply through the determination in her gaze ahead, as she cradles her child and bravely rides onward towards a dangerous but hope-filled frontier. 

Sarah was impressed by the
collection, too.

Another "mother" sculpture in the DAM is a more recent addition, commissioned for a recent exhibit on mud. It is of a Storyteller, a prominent figure in the Native American culture of this area, and she supports several generations as she passes her stories down to them. Beautiful, don't you think?

Stone Age in America

Pioneer Mother

Mud Woman Rolls On

Okay, well, I suppose that's enough art for today. Thanks for humoring me...

As for Boulder, we did eventually make it in time to drive around, see the campus, and browse a few shops. Typical tourist stuff, so too boring to relate here - especially after the extended lecture on the visual arts. Tomorrow: the Capitol! And an afternoon and evening without P...