CRYSTAL BRIDGES

Can you spot us?  Dave and I had just finished lunch and we saw some young folks were taking "selfies" in the heart.  Old fuddy-duddies can do it too!  The heart was suspended above the dining room in a great art museum called Crystal Bridges.

 



Crystal Bridges is Alice Walton's gift to Bentonville and the world.  When you have more money than God, you can afford to gift an art museum!! It is free, except for special exhibitions.  There are 5 truly amazing galleries/buildings.  Two house Early American art, others have contemporary and modern art and one building has special exhibitions.  We were there 10 years ago as it was just opening and only had a few hours to see it all.  Today, we spent the day but needed more.  It is sort of like touring the Smithsonian museums:  too much to take in at once!  Our energy definitely ran out before our eyes took in all of the art!

They have added a performance pavilion since we were here, but it did not have an event this week.  But we were very excited to see that they had added an entire Frank Lloyd Wright House!  It was being flooded in New Jersey and they disassembled it and rebuilt it on the grounds! Poor Frank!   Water is definitely his nemesis in most of his houses!! This was a raised Unisonian,  one of a handful of two-story houses FLW built.  We could not take pictures inside, but it was yet a new wrinkle in viewing his architecture.  The video of them taking it apart, and reassembling it was amazing on its own!





The narration pointed out the cantilevered carport:  completely open so that it would not accumulate stuff.  FLW hated "stuff"

We also visited their special exhibit:  The Dirty South, a celebration of Black Culture in the South.  It was both disturbing and inspiring.  Then we spent the rest of our time in the Contemporary and Modern galleries.  Chihuly had obviously had an installation in the museum in the last 10 years!!  And one last thing.  We checked the weather before we set off and I did put my leopard sweatshirt in my suitcase at the last minute, but Weather Underground did NOT prepare us for the cold, wind, and actual snow flurries this morning.  Dallas is supposed to be near 90 degrees.  That sounded hot, but now it sounds wonderful!!







Let Them Be Children


Shrouded Figure in the Dirty South Exhibit


We've had a nap, and Dave found a brewery with "excellent reviews"... so we were off again!  Social Connections was really great.  We definitely tasted several great IPA's (hazy triples), porters, a Saison, and a sour.  We asked where to eat BBQ and they sent us to Wrights, a hole in the wall near the old downtown.  They were closing in 10 minutes and it was a 7-minute drive, but luckily they had some ribs and burnt ends left.  We got take out and brought it back to the hotel.  We would never have found it without the folks at the brewery.  They had their menu on a chalkboard and signs written (very neatly!) on cardboard.  It was VERY GOOD.  After we got our food, we drove through the old town and saw the original Walton's 5 and Dime.  It is now a museum (and we were secretly glad it was closed!!  Enough museums today!)

Tomorrow is a travel day to Dallas, so it is doubtful I'll post until after we meet our friends there.







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