I Was Wandering

I finally made it over to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to check out the Rodin Exhibit this weekend. I've always been a huge fan and have been lucky enough to see his work all over the world. Last summer I made a new discovery and visited the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia for the first time. I highly suggest checking it out if you find yourself in the City of Brotherly Love with an hour to wander.

I love wandering. It's actually what brought me to the museum on Sunday. I needed to clear my mind a bit. Luckily, the exhibit allowed photography, so I also got to practice the one art form I'm actually good at. I've always been so in awe of those that can paint, sculpt or draw. I, decidedly, cannot do any of the three, so I thank God every day someone invented a camera. It gives me the chance to create the art I see in my mind, but can't make with my hands.

Art is emotion. It's nuance, it's lightening. But it also takes a great deal of preparation. The larger exhibits, like this one of Rodin's work, afford us the chance to learn more about the artist's processes, their methods. Pieces sometimes took years to finish, which always seems to surprise people if you happen to overhear their conversations.

I started thinking a lot about that. Let's say a particularly upsetting thing that happened in your life inspired you to want to sculpt something. For Rodin and others, that initial emotional moment first rendered itself in a sketch. Then lots of sketches. What shall it be made of? For a painter, when will the light be right? Is the best art something we create on the spot that pours out of us from some inner place of inspiration, or the end result of a somewhat methodical plan to make sure the final product is perfect?

That day as I was leaving the museum, a late-day strawberry light crept across the grounds. If I'd been there 10 seconds earlier or later it wouldn't have looked the same. I clicked the shutter when I felt inspired, but I wouldn't have been there to shoot it if I hadn't wanted to create something.

Food, or art, for thought.....