Austin Campbell, an RA in Futrall Hall, organized a field trip to go visit the Crystal Bridges for Futrall and Holcombe residents. Li Sun shared her experience with us. Enjoy!

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At the entrance of the museum

Whenever I visit a different place, museums are always the must-go-places ranking top on my list. To me, a museum is the condensation of knowledge that the artists, past and present, have passed on to us from generation to generation by way of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance. Among the most interesting and quickest ways of learning a different culture is simply immersing yourself in a sea of masterpieces which together help unfold a panorama of history, culture and arts of that place. For that purpose, I, along with many other international students, went to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Group of Bears & Group of Friends

My friends and I started our trip from the Crystal Bridges Trail. It is noteworthy that the outside landscape of the museum is as much as a part of the experience of Crystal Bridges as the art inside. The trail features a beautiful and serene walk through Compton Gardens. Along the winding trail, there are some sculptures of artistic interest, for example, Group of Bears, a bronze sculpture created by Paul Manship which features three bears with different poses, and Shore Lunch, another bronze sculpture by Dan Ostermiller that depicts a bear hunting fish. The subject of both works is a bear, a wild animal at large and a creature in the nature. I felt that those artists presented their works in an attempt to let viewers take away the idea that arts and nature are both vital to the human spirit and they should be accessible to all, which is also the overall philosophy of Crystal Bridges Museum.

Guide in front of Enassamishhinjijweian

After walking through the trail, we came into the “Wonder World”, one of the museum’s collections. It brings together thirty-three contemporary works by established, mid-career, and emerging artists and those works illustrate the themes of perception, representation, illusion, nature, and history.

Personally, one piece of work that impressed me the most was Enassamishhinjijweian,an oil painting by Tom Uttech. In the painting, mists lie heavily and the sun sets roseate on the lonely swamps; locks of various species of birds, nocturnal and diurnal, flying in the same direction; one contemplative bear sitting motionlessly with his back to us in the midst of the landscape – the bear was staring into the distance.

Enassamishhinjijweian

While sitting on a bench in front of the painting, I couldn’t figure out what that artist was trying to convey until the guide asked me a simple question “Where are you from?” I told him that I was from Beijing, China and then he continued with another question “How long will it take you to get out of the city and approach the natural environment in Beijing?” I thought about that for a while and said “Four hours’ drive.” Of course, allowing for the gnawing traffic jam in such a big city as Beijing. At this point, I couldn’t help thinking that with urbanization and industrialization progressing on, we have gone to great lengths to flock into metropolises in pursuit of more opportunities that we thought those big cities promised us. However, the lamentable result is that we have become so accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the cities that we have left no room and time for the enjoyment of nature, the very inhabitancy we human beings are dwelling in. Our minds are stuffed with all the trifles which we boasted as significant things, however. I was sitting there in front of this huge painting, contemplating just as that lonely bear, and wondering if he was digesting the same thing as I was.

Sun Li looking into the sphere to enjoy "After The Last Supper"

Apart from the contemporary arts, the museum has another collection of works that can be dated back into colonial era. “Celebrating the American Spirit”is the inaugural presentation of the Museum’s collection. It holds more than 400 works by American great artists, and provides us with a great understanding of American art and history.  This historic and significant art pieces teach us about America’s history through artists’ perspectives.

A museum is, to some extent, a story-teller. The collections of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art told us an unfolding story of the United States from as early as colonial period to the present day through the masterpieces of American arts.