Sunday Museum Visit

 There's a small museum in our neighborhood dedicated to the Overbecks - Fritz and Hermine. They had a home just a few blocks from here that is still occupied by family. That's nice. 

Back in the way late part of the 19th century, she was his student, some years younger than he. They fell in love, they painted, she had kids, he died way too soon and she raised the children. Unbeknownst to the kids, she continued to paint and the children discovered a trove of her work after she died. The museum opened in 1990, showcasing the work of both of these artists. It's a lovely and quiet place to visit. And to keep things interesting, there are other exhibits all year long.

The venue is a historical building, once used to make corrugated boxes for the men who worked the ships heading out from our harbor. 

The new exhibit is Material Girls V from a group of women artists in Bremen who work with various materials. The curator tried to match themes of the new exhibit to paintings from their collection. 

This piece is probably my favorite - various materials in various shades of green, displayed together. A simple hanging but almost a painting.

This was NOT my favorite. A bunch of bottles, labelled with date and time, filled with water from different sources all around Europe (I guess - I only checked a few bottles). Why? How is this art? If I took all the jars of sand we have collected from beaches we have visited and put them in some random pattern on the floor, is that art, too? Asking for a friend.... They were matched with paintings of the seashore.

This artist did another piece, water in a shallow depression with a strategically placed light above it. You couldn't touch it, but if you blew on the water, you could see the movement in the shadows below.  Cool. Is that art? They were matched as well with seascapes.

One painter in the group worked exclusively with color and texture. It reminded us both a bit of Rothko, a bit of Albers, a bit of Morris Louis. Her work was paired with simple landscapes with few dominant colors. 

Another took colors and shapes and repeated them in many variations. This was one that incorporated almost all of them. 

Bottom line - we enjoyed our little outing, appreciated the impetus to discuss art. The next day, we even made some accidental art of our own.  

Modern, don't you think? We have named it 'Francis Bacon" after the British artist who does provocative work. 

What is it?? Bacon, the results of roasted bacon on parchment paper. Some time after breakfast, I saw this on the upper counter, clearly there on purpose, but I briefly thought, This is trash! And then it occurred to me that Werner would not have placed it there, trimmed, if he wanted to trash it. Thank goodness I saved it!! Art is where you find it.