Dallas Museum of Art
This is my least favorite of architectural museums visited in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Chris and I notice that the building has its merits, but it also has its faults. I think that one of the main faults is its expansiveness. I know that there isn’t much that can be done about this, but the plan seemed confusing and separated. It seemed as though every corner we turned, we were getting ourselves deeper and deeper into the unknown. Maybe this was intended by the separation of the floor levels for each exhibition space. We were very tired of walking around the building by the very end. I noticed that each direction that you took in your path, you were greeted by a termination point. The termination point might be an outdoor courtyard space or a grand staircase leading to another level. This promoted movement throughout the building. You always seemed to have a termination point that led to another one. The visiting exhibition of Ellsworth Kelly was a mediocre encounter. I didn’t really understand or like the contemporary pieces that were being displayed. My understanding is that this artist is one of the most distinguished and influential American artists of our time. I was amazed that the exhibition was designed by the artist himself working from his experiences of the museums spaces when he was commissioned to create a work for the museums sculpture garden in 1982. The sculpture garden was a favorite oasis of mine in the extreme temperature that surrounded downtown. This heavily shaded exterior with cascading water features was a calm relaxing and cool place to be. Maybe the difference in temperature was created by the micro climates that the water could have brought to the space, or maybe it was the presence of a perceived darkness of the shaded trees and the calming sound and look of the water. It was a perceptible experience though.