Monday, July 1, 2013

Nelson Atkins Art Gallery Cloister

I've been researching our road trip and trying to decide what to see in each of our stops and it just came to me the other day that I must take my children and my husband to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
I lived in Grandview, Missouri, a suberb of KC, from 1981- 86. Some of my most vivid memories of living there include spending time at this museum. I took art classes there in the summer in real artist's studios and it was in this room that I fell in love with architecture.

The cloister.
 
There is an etherial light in this little room that has stuck in my mind for over 30 years. This space was like nothing I had ever seen or felt when I first came here as a child. It was peaceful, it was beautiful, it was pure architecture and pure art. I fell in love immediately. When I read From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, this was the museum and the room that I imagined that I would run away too.
I still think about this place, but I think I just now realized that this is where I learned to love beautiful buildings. Kansas City if full of art and architecture. The museum itself (minus the modern addition) is gorgeous. I was there for the restoration of Union Station and remember on special occasions heading to the Plaza to eat at a fancy restaurant, usually during Christmas to see the Plaza lights.
I have to share these things with my family. That is what roadtrips are about. I don't think this room will have the same affect on my children, but maybe they will see something that will inspire them.


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