Well, we finally did it. We’d been trying for so long that it became a joke, but one thing or another continually interfered. But we finally got to the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester.
Quite a few years ago we had visited, when we lived a lot closer, but there’s always something new… not to mention the fact that what you’ve already seen warrants another look, for there’s always new depths to plumb.
Anyhow, one thing that was new (for us) is the outdoor Centennial Sculpture Park, where we wandered on a sunny summer’s morning while waiting for the doors to open. Now this is not a gathering of familiar features… no “Thinker” waiting for Dobie Gillis to drop by, no mounted general making the pigeons’ day. Most of the pieces here ask the viewer to bring his or her own imagination and interpretation. They also ask the viewer to be a little playful.
One large tree-shadowed space is dedicated to “Creation Myth,” an ensemble of limestone figures riffing on artistic creation. An artist examines her creation, whom she’s almost finished calling forth from the rock. (You can walk between them, and it doesn’t interfere.) A few steps away the artist again gives life to her creation, this time releasing him from the molds in which she’s made him.
Counterpointing these massive stone figures are tiny bronze figures – some mimicking the creative work shown in stone, some with their own agenda – indeed, they’re hiding all through the park.
We also got a charge out of “Two Lines Up Eccentric – Twelve Feet,” a mobile installation in which two long arms continually drift in the breeze. We wondered if they ever struck each other, but as long as we watched, they never did.
Once inside we started out at the several interconnected “Seeing America” galleries. The first and largest showcases early 19th century paintings by Hudson River School painters, for instance, including some of Letchworth, or of the Genesee River Valley. A silver creamer by Paul Revere glints almost in the shadow of a life-size symbolic figure in marble.
In the room of early 20th-century work we were both struck silent by a painting of a foggy day on one of Maine’s rocky beaches. We listened for the creak of an oarlock, the cries of the gulls, and the shwishhhhhhh of receding surf. Next to it I loved a vibrant abstract-cubist work of a small town gas station. Across the room I also loved the large, I’d-call-it-impressionist “Morning on the River” – underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.
We just passed through two more “Seeing America” galleries, one on the late 20th century and one on images of Rochester. We also poked through an invitational biennial exhibit by half a dozen area artists – not really our thing (though I loved the stream installation), but we always want to broaden your horizons.
Since I regularly teach both World Civilizations and the Western Tradition, I made it a point to again investigate a gallery of artwork from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, plus a series of galleries of ancient art – Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman, Asian, Middle Eastern, Greek, and more. In this space we were treated by also being able to overhear rehearsal on the museum’s Baroque pipe organ.
We omitted a whole set of galleries on European art – plus decorative art – plus a Japanese special exhibit – plus more modern sculpture. But we were serene about the whole thing, since we’ve COMMITTED to come back in couple of months when Memorial Art Gallery hosts a traveling exhibition of original art from Little Golden Books. When we make that trip, we’ll catch them on the flip side.
It’s a little bit of a hike, but we’re privileged to have two great world universities in driving distance… Rochester (of which Memorial Art Gallery is a part), and Cornell. It would be a shame if inertia stopped us from taking advantage of both opportunities.