Flashback: April in Syracuse

Along with an incredible night of fun in music with friends (See here), I also had a great afternoon. We'd decided to go early to enjoy our trip. Our destination? A museum, The Emerson! Set in downtown, we found parking and went in.

Various exhibits awaited. First up was one arranged around the five types of painting, something I'd never heard of. From portraits to historical to genre painting, we then moved onto landscape and still life. Much like other visits to what could be called small venues, I totally enjoyed and learned so much. No surprise: art is art, right?

Portrait painting: I can totally bypass all those old white men paintings museums usually start with.* But, there are portraits of people who I can't resist, people who look out and I feel like I see them, really see them. (Maybe that's true of all those I walk right by too, but do I really want to look into them? Answer: no.) 

These portraits were my favorites. The last two might not be portraits, but hey, I'm not an art historian, so I'm doing the best I can. I liked the images and stories I saw there, so here they are.

Historical Paintings: These two were tough to view, just as reading some historical novels can be tough to read. Who wants to know just how awful human beings can be to others? But, art and novels help us to have empathy, to understand not only what was, but how far we have come and how far we still have to go.

Genre Paintings: On a brighter and happier note, there are these. I felt like I was stepping into these two, and wanted to!

Still Life: The one on the right is typical still life but the left? I like how it's been framed.

As for Landscape, I see I have none, unless we count the bike painting. Let's do that. 

The exhibit was wonderful and took up a good bit of my time, but luckily I did go on. In one huge room there was artwork from the floor to the ceiling and on all four walls. Work was being done in the storage area and so they decided to show it all. What an assault on the senses. I took photos of a couple and one in particular. 

The dark one of a man in a room with artwork was of Emerson's first place. I was lucky enough to ask a question to one of the volunteers who then went on and told me so much history of the museum. I loved it! One fact: to this day the building is heated by waste heat from the cooling plant next door. How cool is that?!?

Coming out from there, I took an artistic shot of my own, the artwork and stairway lines, before going downstairs to a room I was happy to have been told about. 

There were works there where a past and present landscape photographs had been superimposed making a new piece of art. Talk about the past meeting the present!

And then, to end, in the basement there was a wonderful sculpture of a porcupine....made with knitting needles. What whimsy!

History, art, fun (and even one of me, if you look closely.) An afternoon at

Emerson Museum

*To better explain what I mean by that, let me quote my google search and AI, which I usually go right past, "Based on your description of "really old dark paintings of religious scenes or hunt scenes," you are likely thinking of works created in the late medieval, Renaissance, and especially the Baroque period."