Shelter is my guiding word for this year. It is a non-striving word. A shelter offers refuge, provides safety, and embraces calm and quiet.
On a blustery Sunday afternoon in spring, there is no better place to seek shelter than an art museum. We are so lucky here in Louisville to have the Speed Art Museum, a vibrant and at the same time restful place to call our own. I’ve been going there since I was a teenager and always find comfort and creative stimulation, whether it’s enjoying a current exhibit or revisiting classic paintings and sculptures that I hold dear from the museum’s extensive collection.
We all need beauty in our lives. The visual arts are one way to incorporate beauty, whether it’s looking at a still life of flowers (and discovering a perfectly rendered bee or beetle sheltered among the leaves), a winter landscape scene, or getting a glimpse into people’s everyday lives through photography.
One of my favorite spaces at the Speed is the English Room which features the paneled walls from the parlor of Grange, a country house built around 1619. A shelter within a shelter! I love peering closely at the wood carvings of fantastic creatures and gazing into its huge fireplace. And where do those two small doors lead and what might have been kept behind them? What comfort it would have been to relax in front of the fire and read in this room.
Sauntering from there, I wind my way through the array of sculptures found throughout the museum and am amazed at the strength and creativity that it takes to form a three-dimensional piece of art.
When visiting out-of-town museums, although exciting to stroll through the famous ones, I sometimes tend to seek out the quiet of smaller or specialized ones and their collections. A gentler experience than offered by the more famous and enormous ones – London, Paris, Rome – although they have their own charms and it is wonderful to see paintings and sculptures I have only viewed in books or online.
There is a refreshing practice known as visio divina where one uses a piece of art as a focal point for meditation. It is a solitary pleasure. I can take my time and home in on the colors, shapes, and subject matter of a single piece and let my mind wander and wonder. It’s amazing how much emotion art can sometimes evoke and I am often surprised by tears. l welcome the message of the art and the artist providing inspiration and shelter for my creative spirit.
By Lucy M. Pritchett
P.S. You may also find shelter here.
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