Ms Alice Walton of Walmart fame and fortune has created an especially nice art museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. She states she wishes to provide a world class art museum to the folks in and around the midwest to enjoy American Art from the early days of the country to the present. The core of the Crystal Bridges mission is to bring people, art and nature together and this is done with architecture as stunning as the artwork contained within.
In a ravine surrounded by native Ozark forest, the Museum’s muscular gray concrete walls rise up from the bedrock, banded in rough cedar and curved to echo the shape of the hillside. The roofs of the Museum’s bridges, covered in deep brown copper, rise like mounds of earth across the still ponds. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the structures are meant to provide views of the surrounding landscape and play up the interaction between architecture, art, and nature.
Guests are encouraged to explore the architecture of Crystal Bridges, as well as that of Frank Lloyd Wright’s classic Usonian house on the Museum grounds. We took a guided tour focused on the architecture of the Usonian home.
This museum is a treasure and should be on the list of all to see and enjoy.
More info can be found at their website: Crystalbridges.org
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| The south lobby of Crystal Bridges houses a wonderful model of the grounds and pathway to the Frank Lloyd house located on the grounds |
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| There is an interpretive pavilion which gives the background of the FLW designed home |
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| The Interpretive Pavilion |
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| A beautiful example of a dry stack wall |
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| Quite the succinct reply |
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| Interesting group of textures |
Five centuries of selected artwork is on display. I've included images of some that I found especially interesting
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| These example of art was done with threads of various sizes and colors |
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| Certainly looks real! |
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| This is a closeup of a story written in text. The spacing of the text gives shape to the artwork when viewed from a distance. |
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| My favorite painting of the entire collection. The rendition of a woman clad in a black dress in front of a black background was striking. The brushwork on close inspection was very bold. |
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| Stainless steel tree at the entrance |
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| Crystal artwork dresses |
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| Several examples of children painted on palettes in which the finger hole of the palette became a mouth were on display |
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There are three miles of trails throughout the museum grounds with various pieces of art on display along the trails
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| This is an example of sculpture found along the trails |
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| Amazing what can be done with white sheet metal |
