Feeling: moved by the Medieval...

... I love The Cloisters - a separate collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, way up in northern Manhattan, on the A train at 190th Street. There is something about the serenity of the gardens and the buildings that draws me in - feels so otherworldly. One breathes the air of the monastic life yet is overwhelmed by the color and beauty of the tapestries and sculpture.
I am finding inspiration in the Medieval right now...not so much about the stark dress, yet the composition of colors, the delicate features of the artistry without the flesh of the Renaissance. There is something basic and pure, yet lyrical. So when I draw on this inspiration, its not about Van Eyck-like dresses and velvets with long sleeves and draping vestments (although he is actually more late-Medieval, I just love this painting.) I am layering color, patch-working grasses, tress, and unicorns...imagining the dense throbbing of Gregorian chants. I guess you'll have to wait and see what I come up with...






But an aside: I was probably around 13, the first time I ever visited the Cloisters. I had amazing art teachers in Middle School and they took us everywhere. Even at that age, I felt like an old soul looking for the stone walls and silence of a Medieval cathedral. I was by myself, all knee length hair and adolescent gawkiness and was approached by a man. He complemented me on my beautiful tresses and compared me to a woman in the tapestries and we talked art. It was until much later that I realized that would never be allowed to happen to a pre-teenager today. And that's probably a good thing...