I'm eating some pumpkin pie and

This past weekend in the Hudson Valley was probably one of the best weekends I've had in too long. Setting aside the stress of school work and getting off the grid as much as I was technologically capable of was really wonderful. I was able to reflect why I am doing this art thing and it was refreshing to get out of the bubble that Rochester and a university setting can sometimes be. We really got to see a whole spectrum of styles and eras in art, and it was inspiring to see a slice of so many different directions that you can take off with your work. It was a reminder that the sky is the limit and your mentality/head can just be a trap. Some of the artists / artworks that particularly grabbed my attention are :

George Inness - sunrise in the woods

Sir Lawrence alma-tadema - the women of amphissa

John Murray - lake nainital

Aaron Johnson - socks and acrylic 

Paolo mieli - a rose garden (this was actually a book !)

Maya Lin

Andy Goldsworthy (love him)

Forrest Myers

Sol LeWitt

There were a whole bunch others that I didn't write down, specifically because I got so caught up on taking in as much inspiration and information as possible and was stunned for approximately all of the time I spent in all of the exhibits. (No secrets here, I am a sucker for art museums).

One of the exhibits I did take pictures of was "The Octagon Room" by Mark Dion. I didn't particularly fancy the room itself, but the room reminded me of my recent interest in collections and preservation processes of natural substances. There were tons of collections in this room, and I loved all the different kinds I saw. It reminded me a lot of my own collections that I have tucked away in my closet back here at home (which I have been digging through with loads of enlightenment. So much weird)! 

There wasn't a single museum I didn't enjoy. I wish we could have had a couple more days to spend among all of the museums, but cheers to us for doing so much in so little. It was an invigorating experience and reminded me how much there is out there in the world to see. I'm chock full of inspiration and cannot wait to go back to all these museums in our second senior trip that we obviously have to plan (aka we need like 3 days to cover all of Storm King). 

I'll be meditating on all this new mental material for quite a while. 

Looking forward to getting back to the Roc with a few new pieces of work...

-Bella