VISITING MUSEUMS: WASHINGTON D.C.

Ever since I was little Washington D.C. has been the home of all museums. I mean it has the best set up a museum lover could ever imagine. Walking distance from a museum all about our navigations through space is a museum filled with skeletons from dinosaurs to frogs which is next to a museum filled with glorious art work. The art museums alone in Washington D.C. are numerous, there is the National Gallery of Art which is broken up into two giant wings, plus there is the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum which are combined and hold so much variety of art work, and we can't forget about the Hirschhorn. Then there are other museums such as the Holocaust Museum, International Spy Museum, the Museum of Women in the Arts, Newseum, and so many more. But before I write about every museum in D.C. lets just stick to the art museums and what exactly you can expect to see.

To start lets go to the National Mall to see the National Gallery of Art (West building and East building). In the West building you can see more historic works of art such as European paintings and sculptures ranging from the 13th to 16th Centuries. There also is a good amount of American art and they always have a few temporary exhibitions going on which are very interesting. Then in the East building you would find a large amount of Contemporary and Modern works along with their Film series they almost always have running in their auditorium. If you know whether you'd enjoy a more contemporary feel then head to the East building but if you'd rather see some historical art then go to the West building.
 

National Gallery of Art West Building

National Gallery of Art East Building

Next on the National Mall is the Hirschhorn museum of art. This museum is the round building and it is smaller than the other museums but it does hold a great collection of art. While I was visiting they only had two temporary exhibitions going because of renovation. But both of which were fantastic. It's easy to get lost within the art but nice to flow right around the Hirschhorn (because it's a circle) so you almost forget to worry about seeing everything because you kinda have to walk through each room to get to the next. They had a large variety of mediums in there as well from video, drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography. I personally loved the Destruction and Gravity's Edge Exhibitions. I loved so many pieces from both. Which I can get into in another post.

Hirschhorn Museum

Next on the list is the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum. This combined museum is awesome. I love portraiture so this is my favorite museum of all time. You can find anything from Nam June Paik pieces, to Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. Plus portraits of people ranging from the Presidents to Eminem and LL Cool J. It's hard for me to actually write about how amazing this museum is and how ranged the art work is within it. One section of the museum is American landscapes and gorgeous marble sculptures and another is a collection of over 100 TVs stacked all screaming at you to watch this amazing billboard of images and Eric Fischl paintings. It all depends upon preference and what you want to get out of a museum but I will always love the collection they have at the National Portrait Gallery. Sometimes their special exhibitions can be amazing and blow your mind, other times they can be strictly historical and you learn more about the person in the portrait than the art of the piece, which is okay too. 

American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Interior Courtyard

If anyone has any questions about specifics about the museums or want to know more about something within the galleries, leave a comment!

Citations:
West Building Image: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Washington_DC/Things_To_Do-Washington_DC-National_Gallery_of_Art-BR-1.html
East Building Image: http://www.viewpictures.co.uk/Details.aspx?ID=107181&TypeID=1
Hirschhorn Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirshhorn_Museum_and_Sculpture_Garden
American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Portrait_Gallery_%28United_States%29

VISITING MUSEUMS: BALTIMORE

If you are from Maryland, or Baltimore itself, then you know of some of the great museums this city has to offer. As an outsider here are some things that I learned while visiting:

-The Baltimore Museum of Art. go there. It may be under renovation currently, but it's plans are big for when they reopen the entire building. But even though it is under renovation, it's still a great museum. It's not overwhelming even though they offer a lot (Contemporary, German Expressionism, Impressionism, European Painting and Sculptures, Modern, and Antioch Mosaics) Their Contemporary Wing includes very amazing artists from a collection of Andy Warhols (that will blow you away) to new artists like Jonathan Latiano who really knows how to fill a space with Installation art. My favorite was one of my idols: Robert Longo. They have two lithographs of his Men in Cities drawings (I may have cried...). Anyways, they have a cool exhibition on Sterling Ruby too which is worth looking into. Like I said it's not overwhelming, the collections are amazing and you can definitely take your time walking around and really see everything and not feel like you're missing out. 

Contemporary Wing of Baltimore Museum of Art

-The Walters Art Museum. I found this museum to be very similar to the Metropolitan Museum in New York minus the Contemporary Art and Photographs. It has a great amount of history shoved into one four story building. They offer a lot of really different stuff there such as a Chamber of Wonders and Armor as well as a Sculpture Court and of course Medieval Art, Renaissance and Baroque Art, Asian Art, Ancient Worlds (Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Egyptian, and Near Eastern), and 19th Century Art. I was quite impressed with their collection for all of these sections. It's definitely a large museum and even though each area might not be large, there is still a ton to take it. It holds the interest of everyone (unless you only like Contemporary and Modern works).

-American Visionary Art Museum. Now this museum is kinda off the beaten trail but it is really interesting and has a very different spin on art. This museum currently has a Singularity Exhibition going on with many different opinions of what Singularity is. Which is great, because you get to almost step into the artists shoes and figure out what it means to them and what exactly they are trying to portray. The diversity of materials and styles is amazing, you can go from wood sculptures to ballpoint pen drawings, to installation within a few minutes and still be in the same exhibition. It's all very offbeat artwork and really shows how these people are more interested on their work as a project to learn something instead of being an artist and showing your work. They also have an entire building to Kinetic pieces, which move and are cars or floats or on bikes. Really neat stuff, people are so creative. 

Visionary Art Museum Entrance

That's all of the museums I was able to go to but I'm sure Baltimore has a ton more to offer. I know they have an amazing Science Center right near Inner Harbor as well as the awesome Aquarium. Overall the city is very nice and clean, you really feel like you can walk all around it.

Citations:
Baltimore Museum of Art Image: http://bmoreart.com/2012/09/from-september-urbanite-new-bma.html
Walters Art Museum Image: http://blogs.ischool.utexas.edu/newmedia/category/early/cabinets/
Visionary Art Museum Image: http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/maryland/baltimore/american-visionary-art-museum

HOW TO VISIT AN ART MUSEUM

A lot of time artists go to museums for inspiration. Other times people may go just to practice sketching. Tourists seem to be running around trying to see everything and only really slow down for the "main stream" artists. Some slowly read every bit of information and stand in front of pieces for a long time pretending to examine them. But what is the best way to get the most out of your trip to a museum?

I've found that since most museums have so much hung at one time it's best to plan out your trip ahead of time. On almost every museum website you can find a map of the museum with the current galleries as well as special exhibits.

If you are going to be inspired by things you don't know then I suggest walking through the museum and stopping when you're intrigued. This way you aren't bumbling around an entire museum looking at every little piece. Don't skip any sections because you may find inspiration in something you never expected.

If you're going to practice sketching be aware of the layout of the museum so that you leave yourself enough room around you. Also it's important for this to know which artist you are going to copy ahead of time (unless you just want random inspiration sketches) so you know where to go to make the most out of your time. I find this helpful because you can plan out which artist you want to learn from (because techniques change quite a lot from artist to artist).

If you're a tourist, you've probably planned out a good portion of what you want to see or get out of the trip to the museum so make sure to note where all of the famous pieces are located throughout the museum. This is pretty simple because museums never really hide any "main stream" art and all museums employees will know where the pieces are. Just be prepared for crowds.

If you're there to learn, read up ahead of time. Know what it is you're going to see before you do so that when you see the piece you can really see it and get the most out of it because you can right away apply what you read instead of reading about it and trying to see it all at once.

Overall, make sure to bring a sketchbook to sketch and write things down. Also don't bring a huge backpack because it will probably have to be put in with coat check. Just be aware you are in a public place and you aren't the only one who is there to appreciate what is there. Everyone wants to get the most out of their trips to museums so be courteous (don't say things like "a 5 year old could do that") and soak in as much as you can.