Trip to Hunter Museum

I remember the first time I went to an art museum.  I was a sophomore in high school, and we went on a field trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  I felt like I was in another world, so many beautiful things on display from paintings to sculptures to furniture.  I loved everything about it.

I have visited many art galleries over the years, and Kathryn would tell you that the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga is one of her favorite places.  So I was very happy to be able to share this special place with my students this week.

It’s a beautiful setting.  The mansion is amazing and houses the oldest works of art.  The main building holds permanent exhibits of modern and contemporary art.  Finally, the new wing, which is very abstract in its design, contains the traveling exhibits.  During our visit they were hosting “String Theory” which was chamber music played in the atrium by different local groups and university students.  It was lovely!

Hunter Museum has a wonderful permanent collection including famous artists like James Whistler, Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, Thomas Hart Benton, and Mary Cassatt.  If you went you would definitely see one or two things that you would recognize.

On our visit one of the temporary exhibits was a collection of photographs by Dorothea Lange.  She photographed images people during the depression.   They are iconic images of the suffering and hardships common people were suffering during this era.  One of my students said, “No one’s smiling.”  Very simplistic but so true.  My favorite photo showed an elderly couple with the subtitle “We is still married up.”

The other temporary exhibit was full of video art.  These presentations were very interesting and so unique.  The one that fascinated the kids the most was an entire wall full of about 100 small images exactly alike…a woman dressed in white on a white chair folding clothes.  It was fascinating.

We finished our tour of the museum and I asked the students to take pictures of their favorite and least favorite works.  They mostly used their phones and sent me a text with their selections.  Not surprisingly, hardly anyone chose the same works for either category.  Here are some of their selections:

Favorites

There are lots of neat glass sculptures.

They were calling this the invisible woman.

Who wouldn't think this is a favorite?

This painting is huge.  More than one student liked this one.

Least favorite

I totally agree!

The rags here represent dead birds, I think.

This one is titled "Two potted plants."  Text message said, "I see no pots."

Text message said, "This one scares me."

More on this trip later.