Mass MoCA

 I'm starting to feel very cultured this vacation, as I have now ventured to three different art museums this week alone. I will say this much for the Massachusetts/New England area you will not want for a lack of art or artistic expression.  Yesterday, I went to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in the small town of North Adams about a 30 minute drive from our resort.

The museum itself is located in an old 19th century Mill building lending to its overall character, size and scale. I do have to say that because of this the museum was a bit of a maze and I found I was frequently asking for directions. The featured/special exhibition was titled "Oh, Canada" and displayed the works of several different Canadian artists. I'm not going to lie, some of it I loved, some of it I hated, and the common complaint most of us have about modern and contemporary art, a lot of it went over my head. I loved artists who did more fiber art and stayed away from the ones that did visual/videos. To the left is another one of my favorites. It is this cool looking spaceship made out of old children's toys and trinkets. I cannot even begin to describe all the little intricate things in and around this piece.

Within the museum's permanent collection is the work Sol LeWitt, who I am assuming is from this area or once lived here because I saw another one of his installations today at the Williams College Museum of Art. LeWitt's work is composed of several large "wall" drawings and paintings which quite literally take up the entire wall. The museum breaks up his career by floor going from early work to later as you travel up the staircases. In my humble and not so critical opinion, his early work was the most impressive. In several of the installations on this floor, LeWitt left the work unfinished so you could read and see his artitstic process when executing a design. It is unbelievable of formulaic and intricate some of his designs are when the finish product looks quite simple. Some of his instructions seemed more like problems a geometry teacher would assign for homework rather than a large scale art installation.




Also, as a side note for if or when you visit. I was brave and tried lunch at the cafe located within the museum. It was surprisingly phenomenal. One of the better meals I have tried while we have been in the area. It was a simple black bean burrito with corn chips but all together delicious and full of flavor. Def. grab something to eat while your there enjoying the museum.