Art students spend four days touring galleries in New Mexico
It is not every day that students at the College of Eastern Utah get to travel to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico to learn about art. This year the art department took about thirty students to New Mexico on October 7 to spend four days gaining a greater knowledge and appreciation of different art styles.
The first day was spent in downtown Santa Fe where there are more than one hundred different museums, but CEU students toured the Georgia O’Keefe Museum were they admired paintings from artists such as Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, John Marin, and Georgia O’Keeffe herself.
This archived article was written by: Kelsie Knudsen
It is not every day that students at the College of Eastern Utah get to travel to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico to learn about art. This year the art department took about thirty students to New Mexico on October 7 to spend four days gaining a greater knowledge and appreciation of different art styles.
The first day was spent in downtown Santa Fe where there are more than one hundred different museums, but CEU students toured the Georgia O’Keefe Museum were they admired paintings from artists such as Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, John Marin, and Georgia O’Keeffe herself.
The second day was spent at the Shidoni Institute which is famous for it’s wax method of bronze casting. While there they learned the ten steps to creating a bronze sculpture. The students had the opportunity to watch the final process of bronze casting. This process is known as the patina/caring for a bronze sculpture, patination is the process of applying hot chemicals to the surface of the bronze, which will oxidize with the metal and change its color. The patination process also enhances the ability of the sculpture to sustain the elements once it is laced out of doors. Then the Bronze sculptures are waxed after the patina has been added. After this process the sculptures are sent to museums all over the world.
The following day they traveled to the city of Taos. Where they visited the oldest church in the city, which has been turned into an exhibit to admire the beautiful architecture, sculptures, and stained glass. Following the church they went to the Taos Plaza where they toured many different museums. The Native Americans that live in the city sell handcrafted jewelry and other various items.
They also visited the Blue Rain Museum where they learned about the Navajo culture of the four sacred mountains and the traditions of Navajo rug weaving. Much of the art that was in this museum was explained to the viewers by the curator of the museum. In this particular culture much of the art is inspired by childhood memories.
The final day of their trip was spent at the Flee Market, walking around looking at many interesting crafts made by many different cultures. All in all the trip was very successful. Lavonda Talk, an art major and participant said. “It was a great learning experience. It was nice to see art from a different point of view. It was very relaxing to get away from the busy school life. The trip was educational, but still a lot of fun.”
