Foot in the Door 4, Take 2

This weekend I finally had a chance to go back to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to check out the Foot in the Door 4 exhibit (you may remember my post about my horrible luck on opening night). And not a moment too soon, as Sunday was the last day. Yes, I am a terrible procrastinator in pretty much all things.

As well as my yeti stood out in photos from the MIA's Flickr pool, it actually took me a short while to spot him on the wall. So much art! Soooooooo much art.

From far away:

Closer:

Oh, hai!

I can touch it because it's mine. I have always wanted to touch art on a museum wall. Silly? Yes. But also fun.

It really was great to see something I had created hanging on the wall in our city's finest museum. And while I didn't have much time to peruse the three jam-packed rooms of the exhibit (we arrived a mere 20 minutes before closing time. Yes, yes, I know!), I could tell my yeti was in some really good company. My only beef with the exhibit is that it would've been nice to see the artist's names next to each piece so I could jot them down to look up later. I know I can find them online, and I totally understand why the MIA didn't add info to this exhibit, but it would've been a nice touch. Because really, how many people are actually going to take the time to comb through a database? Especially if they forgot to write down the column numbers (you can see them at the bottom of the first photo above).

All in all, though, I'm really glad I went back (I did seriously consider not going because I'm just that lazy). Thanks again to the MIA for this awesome opportunity! Yeti will come home this week, and I think he'll take up residence in my day job cubicle until he finds a new home. 

 

Disappointing Night at the Museum

As mentioned in my previous post, I submitted a zombie yeti to the Minneapolis Institute of Art's Foot in the Door exhibit. The opening reception was Thursday night, and I was super excited to go, spurred on by sneak peeks the MIA was posting to their Flickr page.

I mean, look: my yeti on a wall! In a museum! With other art! ACK!

image © Minneapolis Institute of Art

I knew it would be busy. I knew parking would be difficult. But I was not fully prepared. It took us nearly an hour to find parking. I was getting salty, but I understood; roughly 5,000 people submitted artwork, and I'm sure they were all just excited as I am to see their art in the city's most respected museum. Not helping was the city's decision to ban parking on the even side of streets for the rest of the winter.

We finally found a spot, hiked the half-mile or so from it to the
museum, picked up our nifty artist ribbons (how cool is that?!), shed
our outerwear, breathed a sigh of relief, and then. . . .

The line circles around the rotunda on two floors before entering the exhibit. Image © Minneapolis Institute of Art

We hit a solid wall of humans. The kind volunteer at the end of the line informed us it'd be an approximately 2-hour wait. Just to get into the gallery. So I would say the exhibit is already an unbelievable success. Hooray for art!

Deciding we didn't have it in us to wait in line, we checked out some of the other galleries before heading home somewhat defeated. I've been hearing really great things about the exhibit and caliber of art on display from friends who did get in on opening night. One friend even heard a woman proclaim that my yeti was her favorite piece. So awesome!

So many people (and so much awesome art!) in a smallish space. image © Minneapolis Institute of Art

The exhibit is up until June, so I have plenty of time to head back and see it when the museum is less crowded. I think I'll bring some friends and some champagne and stage my own reception!