92. Go to a museum by myself

Tonight I went to the Charlotte Mint Museum of Art. By myself. Everyone should do this. There's just something about being alone in a museum. It really is lovely. I was disappointed in the fine art though. They had a few small rooms of paintings. Not that this is saying much, but I didn't recognize any of the artists. I think it was mostly Neoclassicism...not my thing. I didn't expect to see a Monet or Mary Cassatt. But I did expect to see a more widely array of "ism"s...Cubism, Romanticism, Impressionism. I guess I'll have to go to the Art Museum in Raleigh. I didn't even take any pictures of the paintings.

But, here are some pictures I did take:

And what's more classy:

Dresses from 2006

                

1960s dress

It's sad to me that we've gone away from the magical conservatism of the 1960s. Clothes and shoes from that era are really so cute.



There was a ton of pottery...which is one of my favorite forms of art. It was amazing how many different pieces there were. Everything from the strange:

Pair of Poodles, 1849-1858

And this:

English tobacco jar, 1740

To the down right scary:

Don Craig of Rutherford County, 1996

Also by Don Craig:

This is just creepy. Would anyone really want this in their house?!

To the delicate:

Doccia, Italian, 18th century

And my personal favorite:

Wedgwood Jasper, c. 1775-1880

Also another favorite:

Kyle Carpenter, Asheville, 2008

It's interesting to me that you can find beautiful and intricately detailed pieces like this:

Japanese, 1920

Up close - which doesn't do the detail justice at all

And then find pieces that look like they came from Ikea:

Northern Song Dynasty, Chinese, 960-1127

And this:

Jacon Cole, North Carolina, c. 1938-1943

Here are some other pieces that caught my eye:

Daniel O'Connell pitcher, late 1800s

                              Really? Someone would really want to pour their drink from this? Ew.

Wheildon, 18th century

    I wish this came out better...it really was stunning. I think I stood there for about 5 minutes looking at it.

Tang Dynasty, Chinese, 618-907

       This was really amazing. And it was very small. It looked like wood and is one of my favorites.

Goodbye Mint Museum. I will see you again in September when I take my daughter.