Is it Art?

First off, I feel I have severely neglected this blog because I've been spending so much time on my scrapbooking stuff. But I'm learning a lot; I even set up my own non-blog-based website to sell from (with a whopping 3 sales totaling $11.25 - go me!) And Photoshop has become my new best friend. However, there are other things going on in our lives that you may - or may not - be interested in... which is why I'm posting twice today.

On Saturday we were all hyped up to go to the City Market - a farmer's market right in the middle of downtown that's open year-round. However, despite the fact that they're open every weekend rain or shine, when we woke up to rain, we didn't think it would be a whole lot of fun to trek around in it with Ethan... This made me very sad... :( I have been working pretty regularly - at least 3 days a week - but I'm still getting a little stir-crazy and was really looking forward to a day out of the house...with my family.... So, what's the next best thing? The art museum, of course!

Alec and I have been talking about going ever since we moved here (it will be a year ago this week) and have still never made it... So we went. It was pretty cool... Of course it's huge and we only spent about 2 hours, so there will definitely be another trip. Here are some pictures from the day:

I've always been one of those people who joke around about what makes something art... but I've got to tell you, when I walked into the Minimalist Display and saw this... it truly took the cake! In it's sad defense, though... close up, there is actually an evenly spaced grid of squares in every "shade" of black imaginable... you just have to look really close and squint a bit to see it...

What Alec and I both loved about this piece was the incredible detail the artist used to make it so life-like...

Check out how that glass and aluminum shines!

A boat Alec liked...

My favorite thing about seeing art in person is looking at the brush strokes. I remember the first time this happened. I was 16, and my family was at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was the first exhibit we went to - 3 or 4 Monets just chillin' there right in front of me... I just sat and stared - not more than 5 or 6 inches away from the canvas - for at least 5 minutes. I was pretty amazed that something so beautiful and painted so long ago still held remnants of its creator.. What a feeling! (On a side note - I learned yesterday that one of the "goals" of minimalist art is to take away all traces of the human artist. No brush strokes, there. No emotion. Although I think the lack of emotion is an enitrely new emotion in and of itself.. so there, crazies!)

Alec wanted a picture of us by the horse.... I don't ask, I just do... usually...
(The headphones were for the audio tour - some of the pieces had little recordings about the artist or the time period. One of Alec's professors did all the recordings for that.)