I want to apologize for not writing for so long but I think that this is just going to be the life of this blog! So over a month ago now, eeeeeeek!!!!!!!, I went to Chicago. I didn't get the "I want to move here make a life here" feeling but I got the "I would love to come here for business trips," ah hem I am likely going to be a teacher which means that I will probably never go on "business trips" but maybe who knows with the current state of affairs in my life!
My thought to share about my trip that was overwhelmingly pervasive because of many things was how do people perceive each other and what determines what people think of us? Kind of deep I know but here's how it all played out...
1. Visit to the Art Institute. I'm not a huge museum person without a tour because I want to know what I'm looking at. This came about when I went to Europe and everything was stunning and beautiful but I got bored- all of you art enthusiasts don't gasp or judge! because I felt like I was looking at one scantily clad cherubim after another and there are only so many portraits I can pause for. I took an art history course later in the same summer and was totally bummed I was a day late on this one, after that course I understood the intricate details of color palette and stroke technique and why people painted and sculpted and drew the things they did when they did. Back to Chicago, my friend Sarah is from a suburb of Chicago, two of her childhood friends have close ties to the Art Institute, one is a student there and the other was a project manager for the construction of the new wing. I got an art and architecture tour, ah-mazing! The new wing is architecturally clean cut and simple upon first glance but what most don't see is the dramatic detail seamed through the beams, floorboards, walls, and windows. Every seam in the floorboard is directly aligned with every joint, beam, window, door, wall, banister. That detail was what was most thrilling to me though the use of natural light and other elements were equally as admirable. The craftsmanship and precision involved in the construction of that building are unmatched by any on its scale and thousands of people walk through daily with no notice of this aspect of artistry housed in the museum.
This was the kicker that really made me think, in all of our art classes we saw Georgia O'Keefe's flower. The flower print is everywhere, it is what the world knows her as but that is not all of her work. There is so much more that she has produced that is beautiful and worth admiring but all we know her as is this one huge rendition of a bright colored flower.
So my thoughts are how sad that she is so much more than one picture, she is thousands but somehow the world only really knows and/or recognizes her for one look. But is it the way of the world to brand people and things in this way and are we as people guilty of accepting this one view?
Crap that was so Oprah-esque, fitting being that I was in Chicago thinking this. But on a last note, I'm not a hater but I'm not a lover of Chicago pizza...
