Mar 27 - Field trip to Houston

My last semester of school, I decided to take a painting class, just for fun, and ended up having several of my good friends in there too.  We learned the basics of acryllics and oil paints (pictures of work will be posted later).  Right after spring break we went on a class field trip to Houston to visit several art museums.

We visited the Menil, a small but famous museum of John and Dominique de Menil's personal collection of classical antiquities, Byzantine and Medieval paintings, art from Africa and Pacific Islands, and modern and contemporary art.  Also a neat side note, the building was designed by architect Loius Kahn, who I had the 'pleasure' of studying for an entire semester my junior year. ... though I will admit, the building does have some pretty ingenious designs for the roof and natural lighting.

Next, we went to the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, a part-museum, part work of art itself, built to house restored fresco paintings from a 13th-century chapel in Cyprus and also to give a modern interpretation of the spirit of the chapel itself.

Then, we got to go to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, a massive museum full of a variety of art collections including: art from all over Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Indonesia; classical antiquities; impressionist and post-impressionist paintings; modern and contemporary art; and so much more.

 

Last, the museum is next to the Cullen Sculpture Gardens, where we ended our field trip.

Before leaving Houston, my friends and I got to stop at the Texas Art Supply, a "real" art store (as everyone puts it, in comparison College Station's Hobby Lobby as the only art store in town), to stock up on supplies, and then my friends were determined to stop by this new place called Crave that only sells cupcakes.  ... um, ok, whatever.  ... well, getting lost in Houston and over an hour later, we finally found the place ... and while I will admit it was probably the best cupcake I've ever eaten, I don't know if it was quite worth the $3.50 + tax, or the two hours extra in Houston traffic.  (and I'm sorry to say, while I had my camera and took pictures of the art and museums, I didn't seem to take any pictures of people... :/ oops.  I guess I should work on that one.)