Extra Credit: Santa Monica Museum of Art

I never even knew the Santa Monica Museum of Art existed before, so I'm glad this class gave me an opportunity to go discover someplace totally new!  Upon entering the little souvenir shop at the entrance of the museum, I was excited to see Pollen Arts candles for sale, which are handmade by one of my friend's friends.  

Next, I moved into the Isa Melsheimer exhibit, which was interesting because I couldn't really tell what the focus of the exhibit was.  There were these tiny models on the floor in the center of the room, but I didn't know if those were actually part of the exhibit since they seemed a bit out of place compared to the rest of the things on display.  I thought it was really cool what they did with the strings though.

The paintings were pretty small and almost blended into the walls and were positioned in random places, so they didn't seem to be the focus of the exhibit either.  I moved on to the Mickalene Thomas exhibit titled Origin of the Universe.  Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed inside the exhibit, but I did manage to get one stealth shot (but you really need to see them in person to get the full effect of the rhinestones).

 Mickalene Thomas's work was incredibly impressive.  Many of the pieces were like collages of all different mediums: acrylic and oil paints, photographs and rhinestones!  The rhinestones were such a unique touch, and they really added dimension and sparkle to the pieces.  The exhibit was comprised of various interior and exterior landscapes and portraits.  The piece titled Origin of the Universe was actually rather explicit, but I thought the title was quite clever.  Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to SMMoA, and I was especially inspired by Mickalene Thomas's pieces since they were really like nothing I've ever seen before.