I went back to North Carolina to visit some family and attend a yoga teacher training course at Duke Integrative Medicine. I went to the North Carolina Museum of Art with my mom and sister to see how their permanent collection looks in the new building.
I’ve been visiting NCMA since high school. When I was a design student at NC State University, I used to go to the art museum to sketch and relax. Back in those days I was always drawn to the Byzantine religious paintings. This time I was more interested in abstraction.
This Frank Stella piece looks a lot better in the new building than it did in its previous home.
I notice now, looking back at the works I chose to photograph, that I was really drawn to geometric curves this time. I wonder if it has to do with experiencing the work in a different, brighter, more contemporary building. It really did seem like the modern and contemporary art fit better in the new space. The older, more historical works actually seemed more out-of-place than I remember them when they were exhibited in the other building.
The interior of the new building is great—it's open, bright, inviting. I wish the exterior was as nice. I was disappointed that the exterior of the building doesn’t seem to incorporate the environment or context of the location very well, not to mention the fact that it kind-of looks like a cheap metal shed. Situated next to the old building, the two seem to fight with each other, visually and experientially. Perhaps museum administrators have future plans to bring the two buildings into a more cohesive, holistic kind of visitor experience. I hope so!
