Tuesday November 23rd

Today we went to the Walker Art Center to tour the museum and then went to the Bell Museum of Natural History to draw some animals. My favorite part of the Walker Art Center was the Yves Klein exhibition. I recently visited the museum this fall and the Klein exhibition was closed for cleaning or some sort of work on the installation so I was unable to walk through so I was very happy to see the exhibition. The best part was the textures of Klein's canvases and interesting materials he used in order to establish the base and then rub pigments into the surfaces. I saw on his materials list Klein Blue pigment, sponges, plaster, wood, canvas, elements such as rain and wind. One piece was a vat of raw pigment laying in the center of the room. It was intriguing to see the infamous patented pigment we have studied in three dimensional design and sculpture up close in person.

At the Bell Museum of Natural History the most interesting thing that struck me was the array of stuffed animals on display. I get creeped out by birds so I stuck to the lower level where there were animals that walk on all fours like deer, moose, elk, bears, beavers, muskrats etc. One animal in particular stuck out to me as being something I'd like to draw and that was a beaver standing on the top of a ridge who looked like he was directing all the other beavers on what work they should be doing. He reminded me of the life sized Mr. and Mrs. Beaver from the BBC Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe so I drew him for most of our time at the Museum.

This is my drawing from the Bell museum of a Mr. Beaver