*screetch*

[camwyn]

condotierre? Honey?

The Newark Museum. Got a big chunk of money.

For their Tibetan artist-in-residence to paint a new mural. It's almost done.

I'm going tomorrow. I doubt photos will be permitted, but...

Man, there are days when I love living in New Jersey.

Comments

[mephron]

Impressive.

[camwyn]

Isn't it, though? You should see the consecrated room, the guy who's painting the murals did the walls and ceiling there... the Tibetan collection's pretty impressive in and of itself, but the altar room's just enough to blow you away, and this guy's work is a big part of that. Before last year I never would've guessed that Newark had a museum with stuff like this in it - I think I had assumed that any museums in Newark were of the 'history of the region' variety, which are fine if you want to see how the fourth governor's wife decorated the foyer, but not much otherwise. Then I heard about the Tibetan stuff... it's just not the kind of thing one associates with Newark, of all places.

[sdelmonte]

I've never been to the Newark Museum, but its no. 2 person is a former asst. director of The Jewish Museum, and is one the best people I've ever worked with. The reputation of this museum is sterling, and it manages to occasionally overshadow its glitzier cousins across the river through sheer quality.

[camwyn]

I go a couple of times a year. They're free, with a low suggested donation, and if you go on the weekends parking is cheap. They don't mind if you bring a small folding chair and plunk down in front of the larger bits of art to practice figure drawing (their statue, The Greek Slave, is fantastic for figure work and learning shadows), and the guards are friendly. Plus there's the Tibetan stuff, and frankly the only Tibetan item in the Met that's any more interesting than the collection in Newark is the little bronze statue of Marpa, who looks like a New York City cop in a bathrobe more than a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teacher.