Epic Trip Out West, Day Ten: Transcendence

Melanie has been determined, since my arrival, that I should get the chance to hang out with my peers, rather than just the L. family, and she took action today by calling up a young man from their church, named Naaman. I had met him briefly last Sunday, but knew nothing except that he was artistic and quiet. Melanie called him to ask if he’d be willing to take me to a few sights, and within half an hour he called back with a whole list of things he thought I might like. “Art museums” was one of the options, and I jumped at the chance.

About three hours later, he dropped by the house and we were off to visit Springville’s and Brigham Young University’s art museums. There are few things more delightful than walking through a museum with an artist, and when we had paintings to discuss I found that he was a great conversationalist. We discussed the lighting, the color, the poignancy, the detail of each piece. We debated the merits (or lack thereof, I said) of minimalism, he gave me an interesting lecture on various kinds of etching and printing techniques, and when he used terms like en plein air, I actually knew what he was talking about.

BYU was hosting a gallery of Carl Bloch paintings from the 1800s, and Naaman and I got in immediately with free standby tickets. Bloch’s work echoed everything I love about fine art: classic composition, deep emotion, mind-blowing attention to detail, marvelous expressions, and a dramatic use of light inspired by Rembrandt and the other Dutch reformists. His depiction of Christ in Gethsemane, huge and vivid in color, left me standing in awe for a good half hour. I could admire the textures, the folds of the robes, the way he painted the skin— but mostly, I felt that I had walked into an intimate moment in the life of my Savior, and was blessed to witness this moment, wrought in paint to preach the gospel for as long as the canvas held out.

~Lisa Shafter

Money spent today: $9.02 (supper at The Malt Shop after hanging out in the museums for four hours)

Leeway so far: $60.34