Sightseeing in the Mindfields
The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 14: Lone Dog's Winter Count
March 15, 2023
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The s piralling symbols on an old bison skin recorded the history of a Nakota band. Lone Dog kept the Winter count from about 1800 until 1870, relying on Yanktonais Nakota elders' memories of their youth, when the Plains were dark with bison, as well as the chronicler's own experience. Lone Dog and his people lived again for me in that coil of figu...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 13: Meeting the Mastodon
February 22, 2023
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Not all roads in Bentonville led to Crystal Bridges. In preparation for our car trip, HL had read a description of The Museum of Native Indian (sic) History. We decided to see it on our last morning in Arkansas. True to the forecast, the rain was torrential. When HL turned the car into a modest residential neighborhood, I wondered if he were lookin...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 12: Honorable Mention
February 09, 2023
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The permanent collection at Crystal Bridges was eclectic in the extreme, and introduced me to works of art that delighted and disturbed me.
David Hockney's 15 Canvas Study of the Grand Canyon dominated a passage between galleries.
At first, I thought that there could not be a more quintessentially American composition than a framed crucifix mad...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 11: Dancing Hearts
February 04, 2023
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Rain cascaded down the glass walls of the museum, the downpour intensifying while we walked through the galleries. Outside, all was blurred. I crave coffee even more than usual when the weather is wet and grey. And we were not averse to sampling the fare in the museum's restaurant, yclept Eleven.
T he setting was far more distinctive than the cuis...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour 10: Interactive Angels and Steep Shoes
February 02, 2023
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Much is touted as unique, or nonsensically, very unique, and the description seldom is accurate. Several of the works at Crystal Bridges, however, were notable for their originality. One was included in Fashioning America. It was an interactive digital display that allowed museum visitors to vary the costume of a rotating winged figure on a screen.
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 9: From Grit to Glamour
January 24, 2023
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The special exhibition at Crystal Bridges was Fashioning America: From Grit to Glamour. While it was not as spectacular as some exhibits of fashion as art that I have been privileged to see, it was interesting enough to merit the price of the tickets. Many of the garments had been selected to illustrate the notion that this nation is one comprised...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 8: Extended Family
January 18, 2023
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The next day's weather forecast proved accurate, and the sky was laden with charcoal grey clouds. I was grateful to HL for having suggested that we view Crystal Bridges' exterior exhibits on the previous evening. It was already drizzling when we entered the museum. Admission to the permanent collection was free, though we did have to buy tickets to...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 7: Deeper into the Woods
January 10, 2023
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Enhancing the loveliness of our evening at Crystal Bridges were two familiar artists' works. Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Garden, a flotilla of identical chromium spheres, covered the surface of a pond. Kusama has been using reflecting balls to symbolize self-absorption for decades, but I had not seen them massed on water. They glimmered in the dusk, a...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 6: Inside the Fly's Eye
January 03, 2023
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The outdoor exhibitions at Crystal Bridges closed after sunset, officially. I meant to hurry but I could not, my progress along the path arrested by some of the interpretations of Architecture at Home. Five architects had been asked to erect full-size prototypes of affordable dwellings. The results were more ideologically provocative than practical...
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The Cheap Sunglasses Tour, 5: Twilight at Crystal Bridges
December 27, 2022
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HL and I left Hot Springs in search of a gemstone mine that might be open on Sunday afternoon. Arkansas' subsoil yields crystals, opals, and even diamonds. Fortune did not favor our search, as that enigmatic goddess had other treasures to bestow, further down the road. The weather forecast convinced us to proceed to Bentonville rather than spend mo...
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© Star Arts by Tamar