Minneapolis Institute of Art, Intro, I.

We do get some interesting perks through our office. Not only can I buy small-batch maple syrup, and volunteer at PBS, but we were notified about some free passes to special exhibits at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (heretofore, MIA).

Having been in the city some time now and also being a city-dweller that prides himself on knowing about said city, I thought it was high-time I check out this place. It's the museum in town that everyone seems to have something good to say. It also happens to be surprisingly close to my house (like less than 10 blocks). And it's a good thing, because the passes that were being handed out at work are only good if you ride to the museum. Perfect-a-mundo.

I ventured out on a recent Saturday right about noon. I wanted to beat the hot & humid heat in my apartment, get some lunch, not spend lots of money, and be close to home (rain was approaching). This fit the bill nicely. I was also very pleasantly surprised by what the MIA had in store for me. I didn't have any expectations going in, but the MIA blew any I could have had out of the water.

What follows is a short, four-part series on the MIA. You'll get the intro here, then a short look at their modern collection (my personal favorites), a bit of their other collections, and then a look at what I'm calling their "Large Art" - these are literally large items I found (and couldn't really miss). Please join me on this short trip.






[what struck me right off the bat is the amount of natural light and outdoor landscaping that has gone into the rather large property. it's a nice place in a kinda weird part of town and I didn't expect that.]


[the reason you can see the outside and all the natural light can come in is something else I didn't expect - three floors. the place is rather large. three floors of exhibits, both permanent and revolving. from almost all the stairways and landings, you see much more interesting viewpoints. i really liked this "height".]


[just one of the large stairway and landing areas]


[you can look up the landings, and down too. some of the larger hanging pieces were great to see from this vantage point.]

Please check back soon for MIA, Part II, the Modern wing.