The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Cultured and enlighted in five short hours!

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Cultured and enlighted in five short hours!

Growing up in the dusty town of Mulberry, Fl in the 70"s didn't really offer too many opportunities for cultural enrichment. I do recall taking Spanish while in middle school. Our teacher whose name has long since escaped my memory decided that we needed to be exposed to food from a Spanish speaking country. She arranged a field trip for us that I can remember to this day. We loaded up on a school bus and drove all the way to the east side of Lakeland which was a good 10-12 miles away for a hearty meal.
Now the meal wasn't prearranged so we had to practice our Spanish by ordering the food ourselves. Somehow we managed to stumble through the ordering and soon after we were feasting on Taco's, Burrito's and other exotic foods at Taco Bell! Yes, that's right, Taco Bell. Like I said, there wasn't an overabundance of cultural opportunities for us little Mulberrians!
Fast forward about 5 decades and most of my friends and acquaintances would probably say I'm no more cultured now than I was when I stepped up to that Taco Bell counter and boldly said "Dos Tacos, Por Favor"! However, I've made a considerable effort over the years and probably have exposed myself enough to the fine arts just to be dangerous.
In keeping with this quest, Beth and I enjoyed about five hours at the amazing Art Institute of Chicago. I don't use the word "amazing" lightly. This museum has been around since 1879 and is one of the largest art museums in the US. It houses some of the world's most famous works of art which are viewed by over 1.5 million people per year. On this particular day one of those visitors included me, a guy with the attention span of a squirrel.
http://www.artic.edu
Actually it was an amazing five hours and a place that we could have easily spent more time except our feet & legs said "enough is enough". Staring at and learning about paintings from some of the heavy hitters such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Gauguin, O'Keffe, Wharhol and so many others was great. My favorite.....it's between Grant Wood's American Gothic and Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grand Jatte". One interesting tidbit of information about American Gothic. Wood actually used his dentist as the model for the farmer and the female is not the farmers wife but his daughter and the model was Wood's sister.
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/27992
Then there was the Modern Art section......I don't think I've been enlightened enough to understand that stuff and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
We've seen and done a lot since the Art Institute of Chicago. Those stories will be included in future blogs. It's now Saturday afternoon and the Jimmy Buffett concert is just a few hours away.........more culture and enlightenment on the horizon!