Art in the US HeARTland

In many respects, the last activities of our trip were a perfect bookend to our initial activities on the trip. We began by visiting an art museum and attending a law-school tour, and we ended it the same way. Our first stop on the art leg of this adventure was the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art

We were immediately met with a tremendous 55-foot Dale Chihuly piece in the entryway of the museum.

It was tempting to jump directly into the Chihuly exhibit, but we restrained ourselves and, instead, saved Chihuly for last.

We enjoyed looking through their permanent collection, which had some of our favorite artists on display. Cinthia especially enjoyed the works by Moran, whom she learned about on this trip. By the end of the trip, it seemed to be second nature for her to recognize a Moran on sight!

In fact, it was a great chance to see many of the artists we had seen on the trip or had reinforced on the trip.

The much-awaited Chihuly exhibit did not disappoint. LEAP Ambassadors have had the privilege to see Chihuly in numerous capacities, each of which are uniquely beautiful. This was the first time, at least in our case, to have seen his pieces in a gallery with lighting designed to complement his works.

This allowed for the glass to shine in ways you couldn’t fathom. My favorite work, “Orange Baskets” won me over with the casted reflection of the light hitting the glass…

…which made a warm, wave-like image on the wall behind it.

Cinthia’s favorite, “Putti Installation”, had beautiful angelic figures made of glass atop a transparent, hollow vase. It was a first for us to see these detailed figures in his work, composed with his signature medium, and it was both eye-catching and exciting!

But in a larger sense, we had the opportunity to view and learn the scope of Chihuly’s work. This included some paintings…

…more chandeliers, and other styles, including his famous Persian ceiling.

But even as we left the Museum, we had one more art-related stop in Oklahoma City. The City has done a wonderful job revitalizing its downtown, and this includes a river walk adorned with art. One stop we had to make was to see the City’s statue of Sisyphus, a must-do since one of Olivia’s favorite books is Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus.”

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art

Unbeknownst to Cinthia or me, OU students don’t have to go off campus to see fantastic art–they have an art museum of their own! In fact, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art was one Cinthia’s favorite museums of the entire trip. This University museum had works of art from renowned artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Degas…

…Van Gogh…

… Pisarro….

…O’Keeffe…

…John Steuart Curry…

….and Monet, the latter of which is a favorite of LEAP Ambassador Jessica Cuevas. They even had a copy from the 1800’s of Giorgio Vasari’s “Works of Vasari: The Lives III”, the first known art history book, in their ‘Treasures of Tuscany’ special exhibit!

We also saw more of key “LEAP” artists, such as Luis Jimenez…

…and Allan Houser.

Amidst all of the southwestern and prairie themed art, the Andy Warhol almost looked out of place–except, of course, it was of John Wayne!

After a trip of learning of various artists and their signature pieces, recognizing their work in museums was beginning to feel like running into an old friend. However, I almost didn’t recognize one of my go-to artists, James Surls!”–whose “Big Standing Bird” was different than what I had seen previously.

We didn’t have any firm expectations coming into the museum, but it was a very favorable surprise!