Event 2 - The Bowers Museum

My trip to the Bowers Museum was very enjoyable. I was able to view artwork from all parts of the world and from many different cultures. Although I was not allowed to take many photos, I was able to take away so much knowledge of the background behind many of these masterpieces.

The first stop I made was to the exhibit on the South Pacific Islands. There was everything from ornamental jewelry such as nose rings and large shells necklaces to hand fashioned weapons such as arrows and spears. Though many of these items had practical uses, I would most definitely consider them to be art, given the time and intricacy they must have taken. Many of the displays also explained the cultural practices and ceremonies these items were an important part of.

In another part of the museum, there was a newly set up exhibit on unusual gems of the world. They were absolutely exquisite pieces of jewelry with a large variety of shapes and sizes. My favorite was a type of stone known as morganite, which appeared as a lovely peach pink color. What I immediately thought of was the scientific art of mining these gems and the process it took for it to appear the way I saw it. Though the tie is tenuous, art and science are very much indeed connected here. Without theses scientific processes, there is no way to produce the gems needs to keep the jewelry industry running.

The third exhibit I visited was something called Gems of the Medici. It was by far my favorite because of the history behind it. The Medici family was very prominent in Italian society many centuries ago. Though they were not royal, they had much political influence and were very involved in law making. Over the generations, they accumulated a magnificent collection of artwork from all eras of history which was currently being displayed at the museum. I saw many depictions of Greek mythology, medieval art and sculptural busts of many of the Medicis themselves. At the end of the exhibit, they showed a video of the process of carving one of these sculptures and the various tools that were used; it took very involved time consuming steps to get to the final product.

I would most certainly recommend making a visit to the Bowers Museum, especially if you are an art lover. You can see the subtle hints of science in everything you look at. Many of the masterpieces took precise measurements and simply put, it is unlikely that what we consider art could exist without science.