Cedarhurst

Mt. Vernon's local art museum, called Cedarhurst, has been undergoing renovations for nearly two years now, and on Saturday it had its grand re-opening celebration. I've passed it by many times on my way through town, and thought visiting it would be a nice break on Saturday afternoon.

The grounds surrounding the museum are filled with various sculptures of various kinds. Out back, we even found several floating in the pond.

Since the election is just a few days away, I think every single local politician was out for this very public, high-profile, local event. (Who know the office of county coroner could be so hotly contested?)

This is bad to say, but I have to admit, I didn't have high expectations for the museum, which is why I had never gone before. I'm not a big fan of "folk art", and sometimes smaller museums cater to that because they don't have the resources to purchase more noteworthy works. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Although there only a few artists represented whose names I recognized (Hale Woodruff, the acclaimed African American artists, and Mary Cassett, one of the pioneering women in art among them), the caliber of art was impressive. Their opening travelling exhibit was an art collection owned by a (very rich) man in St. Louis, who had collected art by artists from the Midwest, mainly from the early 20th century. Although the style of their paintings echoed that of their contemporaries, (like Monet, etc.) the subject matter was very American. Many of those artists had travelled to Europe and picked up the influences from abroad, then brought them back home. Instead of a pond in Giverny, you might see a barn in Indiana. There was something inspiring about seeing paintings of the kind of things we see around us, here in the Midwest, and knowing that there were talented artists in the heartland of the country.

Ryan and I topped off our day with an outdoor dinner at The Pasta House, since the weather was so warm. (What a great way to start out November, with highs in the 70's!) We finished the day by watching a DVD of Iron Man. (Two thumbs up, if anyone hasn't seen it already!)