Response 4

Visiting an Art Gallery

I've always had a fascination for art. People are fascinated in different aspects of it, but they are all still a form of art: music, literature, dance, painting, etc. People can also have different definitions of art, but mine is that art is a beautiful expression of imagination and creativity. Artists base their art on either something imaginary, like either something magical or something more abstract, or something more personal. Take a look at Years of Zero by Seng Ty, or Townie by Andre Dubus III, or even Fresh off the Boat by Eddie Huang. These people all took their personal life stories, and wrote a book about it. I would personally recommend all of these books. I read both Fresh off the Boat and Years of Zero, and I am currently reading Townie, and I like it a lot so far. 

Personally, I enjoy all forms of art. I enjoy all genres of music (usually people lean towards a particular genre, like rap, hip-hop, or R&B, but I do listen to a variety of music, not just one genre). I enjoy reading a lot (I lean towards fiction, like A Song of Ice and Fire, which is what Game of Thrones is based off of) but I do branch off towards nonfiction work, like Townie or Years of Zero. I enjoy dancing (I don't dance because I can't, but I occasionally enjoy watching people dance). But what I love most is to draw. I got interested a long time ago from seeing Ralph McQuarrie's old concept art, that years later, would be a basis for Star Wars. I would just look at his work, and you could see the inspiration George Lucas grabbed, and he still credits Ralph for it, more than five years after his death. I don't plan on using my drawings as a basis for this big motion picture, but one can dream.

With this in mind, I actually wanted to see a local art gallery. I remembered that when our class went to visit the Lowell National Park Visitor Center almost two months ago, literally across from it was the Brush Art Gallery. I was curious to know what kind of art they had in stock, so I looked on their website to see what they had. You could probably guess that they had paintings, considering it's called the Brush Art Gallery. But they also had photos, jewelry, ceramics, quilts, and other stuff on display. And I looked at their hours of business: this time of the year, they are open Tuesdays-Saturdays (not Mondays) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 12:00 noon to 4 p.m. So I went on Tuesday, November 7th, because that was the only day I had that period of time free.

Like I said, it was literally right where our class met up when we visited the Visitor Center, so I just had to remember where it was. The only problem was that I am still not that familiar with Lowell, so I didn't actually remember the directions, so I just decided to look up the directions. I live in University Suites, so the Visitor Center was only a few minutes away by walking, so by the time I got to the train tracks, that's when I knew where it was, and was a little disappointed with myself because it was so close, yet I couldn't remember the way there.

So when I got there, there was a small sign on the ground pointing to the gallery, as if I couldn't already see the giant "A Brush With History" sign above the place. So I walk in, and instead of one of those security monitor that beeps when you walk through it like at convenience stores, or wind chimes, they have a bell right over your head that the door hits. It was really loud, and I didn't see it, so it startled me when it rang.

I remember seeing their main exhibit on their website. From September 30th to November 11th, they have a dedicated exhibit, partnering with Ironstone Farm to present the "Honoring Our Veterans" exhibit, which includes 4 paintings dedicated to our veterans. They had the paintings out in front, I could barely see them through the window, but the one I could see clearest was the one on the website, My Boots by Steve Medeiros, which is an oil painting painted on a wooden canvas.

I looked around to see all kinds of paintings, but considering it was the main exhibit, the paintings honoring our veterans really caught my attention most. What I learned about their partner, Ironstone Farm, is that they provide therapy horses, similarly to how they provide therapy dogs for small children with disabilities, but for both children and adults. They partnered with Brush to give veterans the chance to tell their story through art, and these paintings on the exhibit are their stories.

Even besides the veterans exhibit, I still thought this was really cool. Pretty much every piece in the gallery is a submission from either one of their artists' pieces or one of their associate artists' pieces. Clearly, they are also very open to submissions from the public, like the paintings in the veterans exhibit. Their next upcoming exhibit is their annual members exhibition, which I can only assume that it can consist from the public and they publicly present them. Hypothetically, I could paint something, and I could submit it and have it presented in the gallery. I won't because I don't have the materials to paint with, but I'd consider it if I did.