"Crocker Art Museum Visit"

To fulfill the art visit requirement, I loaded my family into the van and we made our way to Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum. I hadn’t done my research before arriving so I was excited when I found out Grandma Moses’ collection was going to be the main exhibit. Such good timing. I have been to the art museum before and my all time favorite piece is called the Laughing Woman. It is an oil on canvas painting and was done in 1950 by an artist named Rufino Tamayo. I love the bright red background and the craziness of it all fits my mood at any given time.

My favorite Anna Mary Robertson, aka Grandma Moses, painting is called The Old Checkered House. It is an oil painting on masonite. It’s dimensions are 28 ¼ X 35 ¾ inches.

One of the main reasons I enjoy this painting is all the effort that Anna Mary Robertson must have put into painting that old checkered house. If I remember correctly, one of the main reasons why Grandma Moses began painting was because the knitting she enjoyed made her arthritis act up. This woman wasn’t all that young! How difficult it must have been for her to put so much detail into a painting such as that. I enjoy the majority of her art and find it to be happy, charismatic and just plain perfect for the holidays. When I look at her art, it’s as if I can feel the emotions she felt while painting her pieces. She didn’t start painting until well after 70 years of age and in less than 30 years turned over 1500 paintings. This is quite an accomplishment for anyone, but especially for a woman during that era.
As I mentioned before, I have been to art museums before and find them fascinating. I’m one of those people who will always read a book before going to see a movie made from the same book. In this case, I would much rather go see art up close and personal before reading it in a book! Every time you go to a museum, even if it is the same one everything always seems brand new. Every time I look at a painting, I’m able to find something that I didn’t catch before. It’s like a game almost. Even if I stare at it for minutes. If I come back a week later, I can almost guarantee that I’ll catch something that I didn’t see before. (Yes, I do have a life…really, I do.) In real life, art is so much more vivid and ‘real.’ The colors are so much brighter. (or in some cases, so much darker) I love going to see an exhibit or collection of an artist’s work because it gives you a real look into the artist’s persona. Grandma Moses’ art came from a time in her life when she was stuck right in between the Great Depression and World War II. For me, that really tells me a lot about her. I can imagine it was difficult to find much happiness in life during that time. She must have been a woman of tremendous strength with an incredibly positive outlook on life. She lived to be 101 too! Fascinating for that time period, don’t you think?
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my art visit to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento! It was nice having my family come with me. I love introducing my children to things they have never seen before. Our 11 year old and his friend enjoyed the museum more than I did, I think. They discussed different subjects they could paint all the way home and exhausted my husband and I with questions that quite frankly we didn’t have the answers to. For Christmas, my son has asked for a pottery wheel so he can try to make a sculpture similar to the ones he saw at the museum. As soon as they got home, they begged me to get my oil paints out (no, I’m not an artist…not by a long shot) so they could paint masterpieces for themselves. Even our 2 year old and 1 year old had a good time. They loved seeing their reflections in the mirror “house.”
I wish I would have written down details about that particular piece as I would have liked to incorporate it into the write up of my visit. It was a bit chilly, but we still managed to enjoy a picnic lunch right outside the museum. The children ran off enough steam to get them through the car ride on the way back! What a great location for a museum!
I would strongly encourage anyone who wasn’t able to get to the Crocker Art Museum to go one day. It’s free on Sundays between certain hours, although we could only fit a Saturday into our hectic family schedule. Oh, also there is a student discount price…I think it’s only $3. The building itself is a giant piece of art!

It’s gorgeous. The staircases are elegant and the view (when not during construction) is quite pretty. You can see the leaves changing colors through almost any window you look out of. There is an elevator and entrance on the ground floor if you have a stroller full of babies or if you’re unable to climb stairs for any other reason. I’m anxious to see the new wing they are adding on and what magical pieces of art will occupy it! The staff is quite friendly; although there is one security guard who refuses to speak…he’s quite funny. We killed him with kindness.