HUHC Students Organize Trip to MOMA

Editor's note: Last Wednesday Emily Meithner and Caryn Johansen asked if HUHC would sponsor a trip to MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum. We agreed to provide trainfare if the trip was advertised to all HUHC students. This post contains Emily's and Caryn's reflections on the trip. W.F.

Emily Meithner:
Since the HUHC trip to the city last Friday was last minute, it was a small
group of us, 7 in all. We only made it to MoMA, but it was fantastic. There
was a special exhibit on Seurat which was great. When I finally saw the
artist I was there to see, Kandinsky, I almost cried! I've been reading all
about him and his work since the beginning of the semester. Seeing his
paintings in books and on-line was nothing compared to seeing them in
person. I stood with my nose up to Panel #4 for about 15 minutes, writing
about it. I'm sure the people behind me hated me, but that's what I love
about MoMA, they won't yell at you for getting close! It was great that
Honors College helped us get into the city, and I hope we can take advantage
of their help again soon!

Caryn Johanson:
I want to start off a description of my trip to the Museum of Modern Art with one very basic idea that you should know: I am not a fan of modern art. In fact, there are times when I down right feel no emotion about it what’s so ever – I look at some lines and shapes and feel…nothing.
I say this is so you will hopefully find it odd when I say that the MOMA is a fantastic museum.
I went to MOMA, not against my will, but out of curiosity and an excuse to go into to city. Being from New Mexico, I will grab any chance I get to go into New York City, and make a few changes of my own (Thank you Dean Frisina!).

Back to the MOMA. As Matt and I wandered about, starting from the fourth floor and working our way down, I encountered the basic off-the-wall, sometimes literally, so-called art that one would expect to see in a modern art museum. However, I was also delighted by the odd appearance of a characteristically charming van Gogh portrait and a spectacular three-paneled Monet water-lily scene. And in a corner that I almost missed, I found Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World,” which haunted me when I first saw it in a book my sophomore year in high school.

There is nothing quite like a museum full of modern art for discussing the nagging and untiring question “What is art?” The question can never really be answered because it is so subjective. But as I sat and looked, indifferently, at the red canvas with orange lines called “Man, Heroic and Sublime,” the wall panel of red with lines, I realized that looking at something I cannot consider art only enhances my appreciation for what I do consider art.

All in all, go to the MOMA, even if you cannot find the meaning of life in rawhide on the wall. It’s is much easier to swallow than the Met, and there is something there for everyone.