1992~ Saturday, December 12, Trip to the Art Museum Huntsville, Alabama

At the art museum, they were giving lectures to several small groups of school children.

They were divided into three groups, and each group was told the stories about the art in the area where they were.

I overheard one lady telling about a girl in one of the pictures, how life must have been in the early 1800s. 

As I ventured through different areas of the museum, I came across a painting by John Kutzik called "Man and his toys."

It was a watercolor on paper measuring 21 3/4" x 1/2".

It was my favorite piece. 

Why did I like this piece? Because it represented man and his machine from youth until manhood, or if you please, the man who never grows up.

The picture of the man and his toy contained a small pudgy man wearing a blue suit and a small blue cap, with a ball of twine around his hands and feet.

All around him is a clutter of toys. As you look into the picture, you can see how Kutzik depicted different areas of his life. There were circus clowns, trapeze artists, acrobats, monkeys, kites, small cars, dolls, and wind-up toys.
Then, as he grows older, he has a leg of a woman, a half-dressed woman, tools, and all sorts of gadgets.

The picture features varied shapes and rhythmic patterns, and uses green, red, blue, orange, yellow, and neutral colors.

Kutzik has balance. First, you see the man, and then he leads you deeper into the painting to see all the pieces that represent the clutter of his life.

Each area is a scene, yet it interweaves together.

To me, it represents the man who has not, nor will he ever, grow up.

In the next area of the museum was the Space Works, a synthesis of Science of Art. A room of our future and our past, about space, our final frontier.

These pieces were awe-inspiring to me.

Two huge pieces were 12 X 20 feet, which I enjoyed

One was the Symbiont Manned Autonomous Workstations (MAWS) 1987 by Paul Hudson,

and the other was the New Pioneer Lunar Utility Vehicle LUV 1989 by Paul Hudson, brainstorming or glory days of the open cockpit.

My favorite piece was the Discovery Sunrise Command-Controlled Suit, Pressure, 48 x 96 inches, 1992, by Paul Hudson.

What I liked about this piece was his use of the colors orange and red, which he used to represent sunrise on the moon. The hot colors were not inviting, and even the rocks looked hot.

The clouds swirled as the two astronauts worked to set up satellite communication with Earth.

What I liked least was the silver from London, which was okay, but I am not into silver.

There was a room called Expression and Discovery that held a painting I liked, The Sacred Spring, by Robert Lewis. It was 21 1/4 x 25 1/2 inches, made in 1975.
The painting has a soft yet rustic, outdoor texture.

The colors were muted, and the people were small and distorted. There was a tree that appeared to be growing out from under a rock bank overlooking a spring.

It also gave a shadow covering the small spring.

The picture had depth, yet it held a mystery. 

It was fascinating.

There were a few Japanese Netsuke figures made of ivory and bronze.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netsuke

The trip was exciting, but I had expected more from a city as big as Huntsville.