SAQA Conference, part 3

My travel companion, Barbara, and I arrived at the convention site on Wednesday, though nothing was going on that day, so that we could go to The Barnes Foundation at 10 AM on Thursday morning. I had heard about the museum, but was totally unprepared for what we would see. There were no pictures allowed so please go to the website to see what I'm talking about.

I have never seen so many paintings by famous painters in any of the many museums I have been to around the word There were Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, and Rousseau, to mention just a few. This enormous collection was amassed by Dr. Barnes and displayed in a huge building connected to his home. Several years ago the whole collection was moved into its current location. One of the unique things about it was the way the paintings are displayed in a symmetrical  manner with interesting small metal objects interspersed  such as decorative hinges, latches, etc. There were many, many rooms and each had its own symmetrical arrangement. You could easily spend a whole day there, but we only had a couple hours.

Another of our adventures was visiting Magic Gardens, a fantastic mosaic warren, that defies description, the exact opposite of the Barnes Foundation. I give you a quote from their website , but also urge you to visit the site.

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (PMG) is a nonprofit visionary art environment and community arts center located in Isaiah Zagar’s largest public artwork.
Spanning half a block on Philadelphia’s famous South Street, the museum includes an immersive outdoor art installation and indoor galleries. Zagar created the space using nontraditional materials such as folk art statues, found objects, bicycle wheels, colorful glass bottles, hand-made tiles, and thousands of glittering mirrors. The site is enveloped in visual anecdotes and personal narratives that refer to Zagar’s life, family, and community, as well as references from the wider world such as influential art history figures and other visionary artists and environments.

PMG has become a unique Philadelphia destination and hosts educational opportunities and diverse public programming to thousands of visitors each year.

Here I did take a lot of pictures, but I'll show you just three.

Barbara in one of the many arches.

The conference was more than just visiting interesting places throughout the city. We also heard inspiring and informative talks, heard stimulating panels and got to meet and greet some wonderful artists. The theme of this year's conference was Inspire.Connect.Engage and that's just what we did. I always come back energized and inspired and I'm already looking forward to next year when we will be in Lincoln, Nebraska.