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| Aspen in May. Leanin Tree Museum of Western Art, Boulder, Colorado. May 2016. |
For May 2016, I visited my sister, "Murphy," at her place in Longmont, Colorado.
Between Longmont and Boulder is the Leanin' Tree production plant and store. It is also home to the
Leanin' Tree Museum and Sculpture Garden of Western Art.
Although the overcast days of
Guatemala followed me to Colorado, it was a spirit-lifting sunny day when I visited Leanin Tree.
I move through museums pretty quickly. If a work doesn't grab my attention, I zoom right by. Which reminds me of when Murphy and I went on a tumultuous road trip to Colorado, years ago, back when we both still lived in Missouri. Murphy and I stopped in Cripple Creek (before there was a casino). We entered the
history museum together. About 20 minutes later, I exited the museum and sat outside on the steps to wait for Murphy to finish her walkabout. I smoked back then, so I had a cigarette while I waited, probably several. I waited and waited and waited for Murphy to come out. After what seemed an eternity, I re-entered the museum to see where the hell she was.
She was still in the first room! Reading each tiny card in front of each tiny exhibit. Holy fuckity-fuck.
Anyway. Back to the present.
There were a number of works at the Leanin' Tree museum that drew me.
Ed Mell's Sonoran Sunbreak. Unfortuately, I'm not able to find a good image of this painting, but here's a piece in a similar style, called
Towering Clouds, Lake Powell:
Jackson Hensley's The Prayer. Again, didn't find a good image for this, but here is another of Mr. Hensley's with a similar style:
Also, I liked works by:
Outdoors
were some fine pieces, which included bears, deer, a snake, and other critters large and small. I felt very taken with
The Beauty of the Harvest, by
Martha Pettigrew. It is a sculpture of a Pueblo woman with a basket of corn. Couldn't seem to take a picture of her that in any way captured her presence.
Here is another visitor's depiction, which I link you to, although I'm not in love with how much the photographer saturated the colors. The photo I have at the top of this post is the tree that is behind this sculpture.
There was also this horse, welded together from recycled metal and objects. The Leanin Tree patriarch commissioned the artist,
Dixie Jewett, to create this piece. Therefore, she was able to ask her benefactor for pieces to include in the horse, pieces that might have special meaning to him.
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| Ironfire by Dixie Jewett, Leanin Tree Museum of Western Art, Boulder. Colorado. May 2016. |
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| Ironfire by Dixie Jewett, Leanin Tree Museum of Western Art, Boulder. Colorado. May 2016. |
Other Western (as in American West) art museums I've been to include:
The Leanin Tree Western Art Museum is free. It's a good day when you can surround yourself, at no charge, in beauty on a balmy, sunny afternoon in May.
