Morgan Robertson, November 11, 2021
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Starting off day one of our TEXOMA tour, LEAP members Saara Maknojia, Erin Juarez, Yvette Mendoza, and I began our way towards Oklahoma City. We first made an exciting and knowledge-filled stop at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. The museum is located in downtown Fort Worth and fits in well with the surrounding architecture and the aesthetic of the city.
The most captivating piece upon entering the museum was a massive James Surls piece titled Seven-by-Seven.
This was, for all of us, the first time to see a Surls’ piece (outside of SHSU) in person, and it was jaw-dropping! One of the things that made this so exciting is that we had a chance to meet Surls, and he was very gracious, signing some photos of his work we had produced.
Continuing through the foyer was a Daniel Chester French sculpture titled Benediction. This work of art was one of my favorites throughout the museum. French’s work often included winged women; however, he is most popular for the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
The Amon Carter Museum is also home to one of the largest collections of Frederic Remington artworks.
Remington’s western-themed work often depicts a cowboy in action, or wildlife commonly found in the west. When walking through his exhibit you are captivated by the western scenes coming to life at different times of the day.
The featured collection was “Imagined Realism: Scott and Stuart Gentling.” Yvette found her favorite piece in this collection by Scott Gentling titled Viola, Cello since she herself plays the cello. Accordingly, she was able to make a personal connection with the musical form. The collection spanned many different topics from instruments, portraits, and landscapes.
Commissioned for the Amon Carter Museum is the Plexus No. 34 by Gabriel Dawe; this suspended piece created out of thread gives viewers different perspectives from every angle. This quickly became Erin’s favorite piece, as she spent several minutes photographing different angles to see the different colors you see as you move around it.
We were also introduced to Thomas Moran, a landscape artist. Most well-known for his work featuring the national parks, Moran’s pieces seem to transport the viewer into the scenic landscape. We saw pieces he’s painted of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon that were brought to life. Saara found Green River Cliffs to be her favorite because of the incorporation of nature in the art. We enjoyed his work and other works by landscape artists.
My other favorite exhibit in the museum was the Anila Quayyum Agha: A Beautiful Despair.
This exhibit was made from a mix of media, light, and shadows. Also beautiful was Agha’s Liminal Space.
We also saw another successful and renowned female artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, and found her to be easily identifiable with her floral and abstract art.
Interestingly, we saw a work by John Rogers, which is notable because one of our first events as LEAP Ambassadors was to see an exhibit on John Rogers at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
Another of our early events involved seeing a Picasso-Calder exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, so it was particularly nice we got to see a Calder sculpture at Amon Carter.
And, rounding out our knowledge, we were able to see several paintings by Grant Wood and other Regionalist painters.
As the first stop on our trip, we found it to be intriguing as we all got to see new artists and expand our mental collection of art. We are ready to see what Oklahoma has waiting for us on this exciting trip!
Velvet Taco
November 11, 2021, Yvette Mendoza
As the LEAP Ambassadors finished viewing the beautiful artwork at the Amon Carter Museum, we were ready to eat! Before we left Fort Worth to continue our road trip to Oklahoma the only thing on our mind was tacos. Trying out Velvet Taco in downtown Fort Worth was the perfect spot!
The tacos were all unique in their own way, from an assortment of different meats and tortillas garnished with sauce, it made the perfect tacos. Our orders consisted of Chicken tacos that came in three different forms the buffalo chicken, rotisserie chicken, and even a chicken and waffle. We also had a taste of Tennessee with the Nashville hot tofu and the grilled salmon fish taco.
To top everything off, each taco had its own topping that truly complimented it. For our chicken tacos we had either house buffalo sauce, roasted corn pico, queso, napa slaw, or citrus lime crema.
We were left satisfied, and ready to head North to continue our trip!
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