I am not an artist. I do not have a significant knowledge of art or its history. So, when we visited the North Carolina Museum of Art, I thought maybe I would just enjoy the “view”. While I certainly enjoyed the exhibits for their beauty, I was enlightened by the stories they told.
The museum displays a wide variety of paintings, sculptures and other pieces of art. I was especially drawn to the paintings. In the galleries, paintings adorn the walls everywhere. The paintings come from regions all over our world and from time periods throughout our history. The subjects are as wide-ranging as your imagination. The artists are of every description.
Galleries of Windows
As I strolled through the large galleries, I imagined I was in a room full of windows. Each painting representing the view of the artist looking out their own window to the world. Each image created from the perspective of that individual. Inspired by their own emotions, experiences, hopes and dreams. Each had the lighting, texture and shapes that came from the artist’s eye, mind and soul. I looked at each with my own eyes; then looking closer, I tried to see what the artist might have seen and the story they were trying to tell me and others who might stand before it. Without leaving my home state, I got another look at the diversity that exists in our world. I was invited to make a connection with artists I will never meet. This was yet another “field trip” adding to my understanding.
Fruit by Any Other Name
A still life of fruit showed how the French artist had seen that display. I realized that hundreds of other artists might have seen that same arrangement and presented it in a hundred different ways. Had I the talent, I am confident my rendering would have been unique, too. The same went for the pictures of ships on the sea, soldiers in battles, beautiful women sitting for portraits. We look through our own windows. We see the same things; yet our experience, emotions and dreams cause us to react and respond to them differently. Still, all our paintings are masterpieces in the eye of the beholder.
I wonder if we all were able to gather with the artists in one of those galleries. If each was invited to explain their painting and the view from their window. I wonder if we all listened. Perhaps we could learn to appreciate their views. Perhaps we could even learn to adjust our own. I wonder if we might not see what we hold in common. Might those paintings arouse the same emotions, hopes and dreams? I wonder, do we focus on differences only because we are unwilling to open our own windows wide and look closer? I wonder if an art galley is a place to stimulate acceptance.
Telling All Our History
On that afternoon, one exhibit opened my eyes even more 
than the others. It was a collection of quilts handmade in the 1800s by women enslaved in our country. I was amazed at the beauty and intricacy of the work atop these quilts. I tried to imagine how women with limited resources were able to make such beautiful pieces. I was humbled by their skill and astounded by how women who lived under such oppression were able to express themselves with apparent imagination and hope.
This is another window all Americans should look through. Those quilts and the stories of their artists are a part of our history that should be shared. If we are to fully understand each other today, it seems we should share all our history. As the song so prophetically tells us, “old friends are much better than the new ones, ‘cause they can see where you are, but they know where you’ve been.” Understanding history offers us a path “to making old friends” and “knowing where they have been.”
Two hours in a museum. What did I experience? More than just a “walk in the park.” It made me wonder. I like to wonder. This time I wondered about the artists, the stories they were telling, how our views of the world are different, yet how they are so much alike. I wondered how much we can learn if we take the time to just look out each other’s windows.
Preserving the Arts
I recognized again that we need to preserve the arts in our country. In the movie, Mr. Holland’s Opus, a music teacher is confronted with budget cuts for the arts in favor of teaching basic reading and writing in his high school. He makes the thought provoking argument that if we don’t teach students about the arts, soon they will have nothing to read and write about. The arts tell us stories, they preserve our history, they stir our emotions, they color our world. Film maker Ken Burns declared, “the arts have nothing to do with defending this country, they just make it worth defending.”
I believe we must advocate for the arts in our schools and in our communities. They enrich the lives of all of us. They allow us to express ourselves. They help us make connection. Maybe we should start by taking our kids to an art museum. Maybe find a library book about art and look at the pictures with our children. Summer is a good time for both. Encourage your children to look through the windows of artists from around the world and from different times. Maybe, like me, they will experience something new. Have the courage to learn along with them. Encourage them to wonder. Encourage them to ask questions. Take a field trip and open their eyes.
