Editor Pick
Amarillo Museum of Art
Amarillo doesn’t bring to mind world class museums, Renaissance masters, or elaborate artistic galas, but in order to bring culture to the city the Amarillo Museum of Art, AMoA, was created. By no means is the gallery impressive. Housed in the northeast corner of the Amarillo College Washington Street Campus, the exhibit covers three floors, which include both a permanent collection as well as a rotating exhibit.
Fist the basics; the admission is free, which is a good thing because it really wouldn’t be worth the price to get in if there was a fee. Its hours are Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm, Thursday from 10am-9pm, and Saturday-Sunday 1pm-5pm. The building itself is located on 2200 S. Van Buren. One suggestion that is to go during the evening hours; during class time parking is horrendous to find.
Once in the museum a sleepy guard offered me guide explaining the current exhibit and left me to explore on my own. Being a lover of art, especially for photography the photos held the most interest for me. Mostly contemporary photos that look like anything that could be found produced by any college student there was one artist that stood out. Russell Lee of the Farm Security Administration gave a unique look at life as a farmer during the 1930’s. Maybe it was my trip down Route 66 that sparked my interest in his work, but he was able to capture raw glimpse into the average Joe’s life in the 30’s that left me wanting more. The rest of the permanent exhibit includes other paintings and drawings, a few by Georgia O’Keeffe (always beautiful, but nothing notable).
The rotating exhibit that I saw was ‘Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place.’ Not to get into get too much into my politics regarding art, but this was an over glorified, pretentious hoopla hopelessly trying to pass itself off as art. Now I enjoy modern art and count those such as Warhol and Picasso and love Dadaism, but this was bad. To me good art requires technique, skills, and a point of view; all of which this lacked. The exhibit was nothing more then oversized sculptures whose only goal was to take up the most room possible.
Looking at the museums website it seems that most of it’s exhibits are along these lines; D-list art that isn’t impressive; however this isn’t to say that they don’t have decent art sometimes. One exhibit, by Jasper Johns, did find its way to the AMoA. Overall the museum can be missed, but if you are looking to fill an hour or two then stop by to browse the current exhibit.
From journal The Yellow Rose of Texas