One of the joys of urban life is being able to move through its collections of art and architecture. In Washington for a few days, I was able to catch a few of the new exhibits at the National Gallery...small French paintings on one floor of the East Wing and photography in the West Wing. Walking through the vast public spaces of the museum is always a treat...as much for the paintings on the wall and the sculptures on the floor as for catching the manner in which people interact with the art, how they become part of the exhibit themselves, how they add color and light and movement to the art, blurring the lines between themselves and the objects.
Earlier this year, I made a trip (pilgrimage?) to Chaco Canyon, the site of extensive Anasazi ruins in northwest New Mexico. The isolated canyon contains the largest collection of Pueblo sites north of Mexico...sites that were used up until the mid 1100's when drought caused the massive migration out of the region toward the Rio Grand valley.
The same creative impulse to communicate through forms and shapes is found on the canyon walls and in the now-deserted plazas. They communicate a sense of place beyond the place itself. The images chiseled into the canyon walls, the doorways opening onto doorways, the design of rock walls all indicate a universality in the human desire to move us beyond our day to day existence.
