"This is the church"*

Magnet #916 - Rodin's The Cathedral

A friend and I went to visit the North Carolina Museum of Art, which opened its new wing earlier this year, moving its collection from the old bricks/mortar building into a shiny new glass and steel one, with a huge open (ish) plan.

It's a small museum, and as my friend says, we get spoiled by London, Paris, New York and even DC. Even so, it's still a good museum, with notable names such as Botticelli, Rembrandt, Monet, Copley, and a myriad others.

There were several pieces that I really liked, but the two things I loved - the Rodin collection. I could probably just sit and look at these pieces all day, really - apparently, they have the largest Rodin repository in the southeast. I believe it. We were surrounded by them.

This one was a pair of clasped hands, in the shape of a Cathedral arch. You have to walk around it to get the sense of the arch and how strong the hands are. It's really fabulous.

The other piece I loved was a random piece called Landscape in Ecuador, done by Mignot, the assistant to Fredric Church, whose work Andes in Ecuador I just saw last week! And down the street no less! It's awesome when that stuff comes together for the bigger picture.

Oh! Here's something I've never done. We went to the museum, and then did a little mini-hike over the museum park grounds, where they had art scattered throughout the paths and trails. It was pretty remote, and though we could hear cars, and we had a paved path for much of it, it was still a hike through nature.

Though, ya'll know, I am no fan of the outdoors. In mean, being in the woods always makes me hella nervous, just because you never know what can happen, and hello, who hasn't seen that movie a dozen and a half times. And it's always the openings in half a dozen procedurals - innocent hikers in the woods stumble over a dead body, scream, and seconds later after the opening titles, the police tape's up and the silent police lights are going, with cops milling around with pads in hands, interviewing the innocent hikers.

And, it dawns on me that one puts a lot of trust in one's companion when they go into the woods with them...though, I suppose if he didn't kill me when I was his account executive for five years, then I was definitely safe in the woods with him. Hahahah.


*"...Here's the steeple. Open it up, and here's the people." C'mon. Tell me ya'll haven't done that one.