Art in Non-Art Places

Disclaimer: I don’t know most of the details behind the art in this post. If anyone does know the name of the artist, title, really anything about these pieces, please let me know so I can give credit where it’s due!

There are a number of places that we expect to find art. We definitely expect to find artwork in galleries and museums, duh, but where else? How about graffiti on train cars and buildings? Yes, illegal artwork still counts as artwork. There’s also public art sculptures – some towns and cities even make a whole thing of it, like the lighthouses in Storm Lake.

One of my little quirks is checking out the art in non-art places. You know, like the dentist’s office. Not a place you’d go to specifically look at art, but they have it there anyway. My dentist’s office has a bunch of photos of people and animals smiling big toothy grins. Go figure, right? Our hospital has a range of framed prints, from x-rays of flowers to some benign landscape paintings in calming, neutral colors. The artwork in the children’s hospital has framed prints of children’s artwork showing brightly colored rainbows and animals.

...Someone had to design it, I guess.

In the past year, I did a lot of traveling for my job to a number of banks. Midwestern banks, even, which sounds at first like the art equivalent of eating a bunch of saltine crackers with nothing to wash them down with. And me being me, I always tried to take a moment to take a glance at what they had on their walls. The majority of the art was what you would expect bank art to be: framed geometric prints, probably purchased at a big box store, neutral and metallic colors, yadda yadda yadda. Second most common were “artist-enhanced prints” which are prints that a real person added a few select globs of paint to.

If it were up to me, I'd title it "Home".

But every so often I’d come across some real gems, and I don’t mean that sarcastically. Like the one above, which was huge and beautiful! I’d like to point out here that my friend Kelli (host of the Moms Who Create Podcast) is 100% convinced that I hate abstract art, all because I don’t like Jackson Pollock’s artwork (for the record, I still defend it as art.) This piece though, this piece really spoke to me. I had a few minutes to wait that day, so I got up close and personal. It was real art! Not a reproduction, but a real canvas covered in paint by an artist’s hand and brush! Just look at those colors!

Another segue here, but hands down the worst part about looking at the art in non-art places is they don’t label the pieces! I try to make a note of any signatures I can find on the pieces, but more often than not there’s nothing there to go on, and the employees don’t always know the story either. What I wouldn’t give for a little printed card to tell me who, what, when, and why!

Thanks for signing your work legibly, Joanne!

I was pretty excited about finding these because it was an entire series of around a dozen black and white drawings by artist Joanne Burgeson! They are matted and framed, roughly 10”x8” each. The subjects are different historic buildings from the town, beautifully rendered in ink. What a perfect series to have on display in a local business!

I wrote a whole post about why I love tree art.

This piece was a happy surprise in a tiny bathroom, and the first painting I had seen while traveling for work that really made me stop and pay attention while I was out and about. I think the signature says “hagstrand”, but it could be “haqstrand”. I did ask the manager what the story was behind the piece, and she had no idea. I told her if they were ever going to get rid of it, I’d like first dibs. Upon first glance, this piece is a clean design of some trees, right? Absolutely. But when I looked closer, there are so many subtle colors, lines, and textures used.

I'll admit, I don't actually hate it.

And just for fun, let’s also give a special shout-out to the orange wallpaper also living in that tiny bathroom. 😉