What's Up: Nebraska City, Manhattan Short Film Festival

 I woke up at 4 am and laid in bed until 5.  Then I decided to get up.  I have a slight headache and my eyes are burning a little.  The temperature on the homescreens of my phone and laptop says 63 degrees outside.  It is 77 degrees in the room.  I got dressed and read my e-mail and a chapter from my current book.  I'm not hungry. 

 Now I'm tired and a contemplating going back to bed.  It is Wednesday, the middle of the week and early October.  Surprisingly not many leaves have turned yet even though the peak Autumn day is usually around the 15th.  The poor trees get so confused with the atypical weather patterns.  I filled out an automated appeal letter written to Joe Biden from the Sierra Club asking for him to support the replacement of city trucks with environmentally friendly trucks, not running on fossil fuels.  I don't know what our congressman think of receiving automated letters the sender merely has to click send to send.  I did include a personalized comment as they suggested.  After filling out the appeal for electric city vehicles ten more opportunities to send letters of appeal popped up.  I deleted the e-mail.

I think I have recovered from my trip to Nebraska City, taken with a tour group from Des Moines.  It was a day trip and we left at 6:30 am and returned by 7:30 pm, packed with sites to visit, a hearty lunch, in-route activities.  Since I was bussing to and from the meeting site at Walmart I caught the 5 am bus to Walmart and the 8:15 pm bus from Walmart back home.  It was a long day.  The Nebraska City tour took place exactly one week ago, last Wednesday.

Yesterday, I visited the Des Moines Art Center which I have not visited for awhile.  Tuesday appears to be "school day" and there were tons of children touring the museum.  The museum ambiance has changed a bit.  The pictures are not arranged quite so harmoniously.  Before, the pictures within a single room were arranged quite thoughtfully and the whole arrangement seemed to create a single harmonious effect making the room seem like a piece of art in itself.  

Yesterday, the museum seemed more typical of most museums, rooms of assorted paintings, the themes and colors, and rhythms created by adjacent paintings clashing at times.  Still, I enjoyed the visit immensely.  I felt the first room you enter is intended to wow you with the seriousness of the collection.  Big, famous names, almost all French painters lets you know this museum has acquired some major masterpieces.  I loved the French still-lifes and landscapes.  There were only three American painters, one Mary Cassat who evidently spent much time in France, and one painting with a french title, and then a single abstract by an American artist.  What?!?   The one abstract American painting seemed incongruent with all the lovely French still-lifes and landscapes.

I spent an hour total looking at artwork which is longer than I have done in the past.  The last couple of times I ran into the art center to spend about a half hour looking at a few select works often in a single room and then left because all I wanted was a little boost in my day.  The first three galleries I browsed had traditional paintings--happy so many of the works have become familiar to me, like old friends.  These rooms were bustling with people so I passed quickly through them.  The Pei building was devoid of sculptures and the Meredith Gallery was closed due to setting up a new exhibit.

After the first three galleries, I went to the Meier Building.   The Meier section of the Art Center never ceases to astound me.   I could see picture after picture of great photographs if I decided to take out my camera phone-- views of artwork from below and above, and appearances as you turn corners, or look through an opening in a wall--spacious, high ceilings, alcoves,  There was a sense of discovery in the Meier building, and more radical and intense messages from the art.    

The hour went surprisingly fast and I then went to find my seat at the Manhattan Short Film Festival.  We watched 10 fifteen minutes films and then voted on the best film and best actor.  A few years back it seems like we voted on a lot more categories.  It was a bit cold in the auditorium.  There was a 7 minute intermission between the 5th and 6th film.  A couple of the films stood out for me so voting for the best was easy this year.

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