The Diary of Queen Mothy |
The Trip to Philly written @ 12:27 PM on February 23, 2003 What a trip. *What* a trip. These are going to be rather lengthy albeit entertaining entries, so I'm going to divide it up between my trips to Philly and then New York. *** I packed up all my shit last Thursday night and met the Art Mob outside the fine arts center at 6:30 the next morning. I was excited to be going on this trip, of course, but very uneasy due to all the classes I would be missing that week. But, I prepared for this trip for weeks as far as academics go, and I really needed a break to refocus my life. And what better way than to return to hometown #2, Philadelphia! I was so looking forward to returning to familiar territory in the east. I did have plans to meet old friends of mine, Mike and Adam, but those plans fell through when I got my itinerary for the trip. Nevertheless, it was the beginning of a week of sheer bliss. The trip going there was really pleasant. I love seeing that part of America between Cincinnati and the east-- really brings back some memories. I wanted to see hometown #1, Pittsburgh, but we drove too far north for that. In the van, it was about seven or eight of us, and two club members followed the van in their own cars. That was nice, because it allowed for some breathing room, as there were aboutg 17 people in all going on this trip. Even so, my moods were somewhat low. I loved seeing all that land in the sunshine, but my thoughts kepts wandering to the brewing international situation America faces in Iraq, and as one being opposed to the war, it saddened me to think how all this beauty in the landscape could be lost with the war. We arrived in Philly around 6, I think, and we settled into a rather nice Comfort Inn next to the Delaware River, right down the street from the Dave & Busters my family used to frequent while we still lived in New Jersey and the Ben Franklin Bridge. I was so happy to be there, in one of my cities. But it was four of us to a room, with only two beds. To top things off, there was a guy in our party. He volunteered to sleep on the floor for the entire trip. On a side note, Kaitie, Amy, and I spent the entire trip debating if he was gay, bi, or straight. After a week's deliberation we ruled out the third option, but we never reached a solid conclusion. But whatever. I gave all three of them the rundown for Philly. "Rule number one, guys," I said, "the people here don't know what the hell pop is. It's soda. Rule number two, don't be wandering into Camden or South Philly after dark. Rule number three-- cheesesteaks!" And damn, that cheesesteak on the corner of the historic district was one of the best meals of my life. That same night we went to the Philly Art Museum for about an hour or two. My painting professor talked us in for free that night, and Kaitie and I wandered the Impressionists and modern art for a while. God, how I hate modern art. The next morning we went to the Rodin Museum. Rodin was a nineteenth century sculptor who did extremely well in his lifetime. I loved his work. His subjects were filled with such passion and radiated with personality. I loved his "Burghers of Calais" piece, and, in true Sam Reno "massochist" fashion, Rodin's interpretation of the Gates of Hell, which included many versions of his other works as well as original sculptural compositions. The rest of the day was spent, once more, at the Philly Museum. They had a huge exhibition on Degas, but tickets were too expensive for this college student, so I wasn't able to go. I heard that it was wonderful, though. Each showing was selling out. My favorite part of that museum, though, was the Rococo, Neoclassicism, and the arms and armor collections. I took my sketchbook with me and sketched out a lot of the beautiful sculptures. Working in that sketchbook felt like a reawakening for me. I hadn't done serious work in a sketchbook since I was a little girl, but I think I am going to take it up again. Seeing so much art really inspired me and made me fall back in love with what I do. Since I have lost a lot of inspiration and motivation the past year and a half, this trip really put me back on my path and brough me to my feet as far as all things art go. I feel like I got that magic back in my hands again, and I'm ready to put out some real art. Saturday night in began to snow. And, good Lord, it did not stop until we reached New York. Sunday we drove through the blizzard-- which was steadily becoming one of the worst storms in Philly history, worse than the blizzard of '96, which I remember distinctly-- to go to the Barnes Museum. The Barnes Museum is on the west side of town, erected by one Dr. Barnes who had keen taste in art, and is one of the most important bodies of Impressionistic work in the world. Jesus Christ. After viewing this collection, I never want to see another Renoir or a Corbet again. This guy collected hundreds of pieces, had over 100 Renoirs. Most precious, though, was one of two paintings of a nude van Gogh did in his entire lifetime. It wasn't until viewing this painting that I realized I had never seen a nude by van Gogh. Why? Because he simply didn't do any except this one and another. It was truly a remarkable collection of work, and I have always been a fan of the Impressionists. The one drawback, however? They don't let you sketch at the Barnes. This pissed everyone on the trip off, even the professors, who claimed it was a violation of art students' first amendment rights. I was fuming myself because there were some Renoirs and Pissaros I would have loved to sit down and study. You would try to disappear into the galleries and get a few gestural lines in, but they had security cameras all over the place. I got away with a contour line drawing of a bather by Renoir before the security guards tried to chase me out. Bastards. Dr. Barnes had impeccable tastes, but I don't agree with his educational philosophies about how to learn art at all. We didn't get to do very much in Philly because of the blizzard and how bloody cold it had become, so we mostly stuck to the hotel and the immediate surroundings. We saw a lot of the city before the snow became too great. I didn't care to do too much; my mind's eye was swamped with art. I wanted to see more, but I stuck to the hotel lounge and drew the people sitting around and socializing. The next morning, Monday, we rose bright and early and began to pack. The news was just now beginning to call the storm one of the worst in Philly history, and we were wondering if we would make it to New York. We chanced it. It took us hours to get there, however. The entire New Jersey turnpike was completely doused in the blizzard. Visibility was, like, thirty feet. They had armies of snow plows but it wasn't doing much of anything. Around the afternoon, however, we finally made it to New York. That story, much more exciting than the one in Philly, to be posted soon...
A Bit of History ~ And Onward! L'Amour Toujours! - August 08, 2005 |
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