What we will miss about Texas day 6: ARTS & CULTURE

For the last three years, Burke and I have soaked in the Arts & Cultural opportunities available in North Texas. We’ve fallen in love with everything from priceless paintings to BIG TEX, the mascot for the world famous Texas State Fair. As frequent fliers of the Dallas Museum of Art, we’ve spent time with Monet, Picasso and Chagall. Burke’s DMA favorite is the majestic scene “The Icebergs” by Frederick Edwin Church and I love Rothko’s "Orange, Red and Red". In Fort Worth, at the Kimball Art Museum, we raced through a Caravaggio exhibit and were mesmerized by how he captured light and personal expression. Across the street, at the Modern Art Museum, we marveled at the outdoor stainless steel instillation titled "Conjoined" by Roxy Paine, loved "No. 6" by Ad Reinhardt and continue to talk about "Ladder for Booker T. Washington" by Martin Puryer. In October of 2012, we toured the African American Museum and were inspired by a series of Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College. We will never forget the inspiring installation by Ruben Miranda outside the Meadows Museum on SMU campus. The crepe myrtle trees, endless fields of tulips and seasonal pumpkin houses at the Dallas Arboretum provided slice of perfectly manicured nature and helped us track the changing seasons. You could easily swim in the blue and white tiles at the Blanton Art Museum on the campus of UT Austin created by Teresita Fernandez. While visiting The Crow Collection of Asian Art, we watched Tibetan Buddhist Monks create a breathtaking mandala with tiny grains of colorful sand. Last May, for my birthday, Burke took me to Vetro Glass blowing studio in Grapevine, Texas and we watched master artisan create beer steins out of glowing balls of molten glass. After visiting the Old Red museum we learned that Dallas is the birthplace to Frito’s, slurpees and the blues. We have driven through the grassy knoll and looked through the historic window in the Texas School Book Depository. And to top is all off we experienced the magic, and I do mean magic, of the Dr. Pepper Museum located in the booming metropolis of Waco Texas—I’ve got the souvenir cup to prove it. Embracing the Arts and Cultural offerings in Dallas has not only consumed many Saturday afternoon’s but it has expanded our ability to engage with the creative process. I think we see the world and ourselves a bit differently now and consider many of these museums as our forever-favorite places.