By Susan O'Rourke

As a child my father carted me around from art museum to art museum in every city we visited, whether it was to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. or to the Metropolitan in New York City, we attended them all in order to please my father and his love for art. However, at a youngage I never fully understood the meaning behind the art within the museums and was constantly asking the question, “They call that art?” My father enrolled me in a summer art program held at my local art museum, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY. My attitude about art suddenly changed and it became a fun activity, as we were learning about virtually everything about art and all the interesting things it had to offer.

This is where my love for art began to grow and goingto artmuseums was nowmy idea. Therefore when strolling through Mt.Vernon on a sunny day in Baltimore, I passed many festivals and activities that surrounded me and stumbled upon the Walter’s Museum and figured why not. I have never attended the Walter’s museum all three years

of my college career here in Baltimore, even though admissionis free, and found myselfto be beyond impressed.

Walking into the museum you are greeted by friendly staff and extravagant architecture that immediately draws you in. I grabbed a map and started making my way through the museum. I could of spent the whole day traveling through the museum looking at over the 35,000 pieces of beautiful artwork they have to offer. With various collections throughout the museum the jewelry exhibit really caught my eye as it would most girls. The exhibit represents a collection from an enormous range of periods, with a pair of gold bracelets encrusted with precious stones and multicolored enamel inlay discovered in a tomb in Olbia, in present-day Ukrane, and dating to the 1st century B.C. The permanent collections provide a lot of entertainment for your day at the musuem but the Walters also offers traveling exhibitions with the most recent one on displaying being Exploring the Arts of Ancient America: The John Bourne Collection Gift. It has been on display since February and ending soon on May 20. The museum describes the exhibit to touch “on the performative nature of politics and religion—performance being a key mechanism for strengthening bonds of community and religious belief. The exhibition features the imaginative musical instruments used during these events and emotive portrayals of performers—from kings to commoners.” These certain exhibits are not free to the public as tickets cost ten dollars but with a valid student I.D. you will be able to enjoy the exhibits for the price of six dollars. Even if you don’t get down to this exhibit you better believe that they have planned to bring in better and more exciting exhibitions. The Walter’s museum is a must see in Baltimore for all ages and offers a unique experience you cannot pass up.

By: Chuck von Nordeck

MICA will be holding an interactive art show. It will showcase a wide range of art pieces by artist world wide celebrating language interaction, new media, and aesthetics experiments.

Every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday
from :: 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM

Every Sunday
from :: 12:00 PM - 05:00 PM

The cost is free so if your interested in art I suggest attending one of these shows from now until November 18th