Museum Visit: Sioux City Art Center, May 2022

 

I may have casually mentioned in a previous blog post that I have discovered a passion for LEGO bricks as an adult.  So, when I heard there was a LEGO exhibit coming to the Sioux City Art Center (a mere hour and a half drive one way from home) I was determined to see it as soon as possible. I packed my girls up for the day and we went on a Saturday art gallery adventure!

This was my first time visiting the Sioux City Art Center. They have three levels you can access via the largest spiral staircase I’ve ever seen (or if you’re like me and you have a stroller in tow, there’s also an elevator.) Because I had a two- and four-year-old with me, within the first 30 minutes of our arrival we had been to the restroom three times. It’s a nice facility, not much for art in there though.

Would’ve hit my 10,000 steps if not for the elevator!

The “Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO Bricks” touring exhibition consists of 20 real-life, iconic skyscrapers from countries across the world – shrunken down to 1/200^th size and built out of little plastic LEGO bricks. The master builder behind the exhibit? Ryan McNaught, of Australia. He and his team spent over 2,400 hours and used over 500,000 bricks to build the structures in the exhibit.

I think the word “impressive” sums it up nicely.

My favorite, standing at 125” tall, is the Tokyo Skytree. It took 191 hours to build, and consists of over 19,000 bricks! What caught my eye right off the bat was the number of diagonal pieces on the exoskeleton of the building. McNaught designed the structure using hinges to give the building the crisscross look.

“Truth or Consequences” by Meghan Flynn, egg tempera on watercolor paper

On one of our short trips between bathroom breaks, we made our way through the Briar Cliff Review exhibition. It features artwork by regional artists who were featured in The Briar Cliff Review, the annual award-winning literature and art journal produced by Briar Cliff University.

I was blown away by this piece – which is NOT, as I initially thought, a beautiful photograph but is in fact a beautiful PAINTING. It was painted with egg tempera and a massive amount of attention to detail on watercolor paper. I could have spent hours just admiring this piece by Meghan Flynn.

“Scarlet Tango” by Jacqueline Kluver, acrylic on canvas

I’m not usually one to lean towards abstract art – I really struggle in creating it, I’ve found that I need to be making something. That said, I love this red geometric piece by Jacqueline Kluver. It caught my attention and held it. There’s so much energy in it, despite a lack of quick brush strokes! It has its own dark “frame” around the edge, with small pops of green, blue, gold, and white throughout.

“There are Places on the Map that Don’t Exist” by Bart Vargas, keyboard keys, plastic bottles, foam, cardboard, paint, adhesive, hardware

It wasn’t a part of the Briar Cliff exhibit, but how cool is this piece by Bart Vargas? While I’d love to see the skeleton inside, the end result is just stunning! From across the gallery, I had thought it was another piece made of LEGOs, and was elated to discover upon approach that the exterior of the globe is composed of individual computer keyboard keys in varying shades of white, tan, gray, and black – with a few special accents like the red “PANIC” key at the north pole. The texture on this suspended sculpture are fantastic, adding such a depth to the surface. It almost feels like the oceans have waves, and the continents have mountain ridges and valleys.

“Emerging Brights” by Jeanette Beck, acrylic paint on canvas

Another abstract piece that really caught my eye is this lovely painting by Jeanette Beck. Although “Emerging Brights” is only a medium sized acrylic painting, it instills a peaceful calm with its gentle gradient in violet, orange, and blue. The textures are subtle and require closer inspection, and the light yellow splatters are a pleasant addition.

“Friday Night, 1993” by Mark Barone, oil paint on panel

Just before we left the gallery, this piece caught my eye. If ever there was a piece that described a mood, this is it! Painted in oils by Mark Barone, “Friday Night, 1993” could easily be turned into a fine art meme portraying the realities of married life!

My husband and stepsons aren’t artists (although Connor has been drawing some anime style fanart lately that is really great) so they only occasionally oblige me in my desire for family trips to art galleries. My girls, however, are still young and impressionable (and have to go where I take them anyway) and this was an EXCELLENT introduction to the world of fine art museums for them. It helped that we read a kid’s book about visiting an art museum on repeat the week before our trip.