I recently was invited to speak at the Department of Energy in Washington DC. The drive up that morning was supposed to only take a couple of hours, but fortunately I had a warning from a local about the orange line being down. The trip took 4 hours up and 3 hours back. It was not all bad, just a little stress to kick off and end the day.
While in DC, I spent some time on the mall enjoying the new architectural creation, the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. The building was designed by David Adjaye, a Ghanaian British Architect. President Bush, in 2005, endorsed placing this museum on the National Mall, but it took the site selection committee another 13 months to reach the same conclusion. In 2008 a design competition was held for the design of the building which would be 350,000 sf on a 5 acre site. The winning design was to reflect optimism, spirituality, and joy while acknowledging the “dark corners” of the African-American experience. The end result is an inverted step pyramid shape wrapped in a bronze colored architectural scrim. Unfortunately I did not have a ticket to get into this beautiful structure to see the exhibits – maybe next time.
So I ventured up to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. There I found an ice rink and several beautiful sculptures. My favorite being a reminder of what we each need everyday – LOVE.
I then headed to the National Gallery of Art to check out some of my favorite artists. Of course Andy Warhol is on the list.
Piet Mondrian was next on the list.
Pablo Picasso was there too.
Vincent van Gogh was well represented.
The softness of Monet is a favorite as well.
Then there was the whole Italian Renaissance section like this Giovanni Bellini.
Then there is perhaps my favorite artist – Salvador Dali. Here is the Sacrament of the Last Supper he created in 1955.
So over this holiday break if you need to recharge your artistic spirit, perhaps a trip up to Washington DC is in the cards. It certainly was a beautiful day while I was there (thanks Mary!).
