I left for a walkabout on Saturday, something I do occasionally when I need to stretch my legs and reacquaint myself with the city. I also desperately needed to bathe myself in some beauty, given my frustrations with the news events of the week, so that was part of my motivation, too.
Hitting the trail midday, I strolled along part of Stony Run, then gradually worked my way onto the Hopkins campus. Since the wind was strong and chilly, I stopped into the Baltimore Museum of Art for a warm-up and a quick art fix.
I love the grandeur of the “new” main entrance staircase. Passing through the doors into the high-vaulted ceiling lobby, I immediately spied a live model surrounded by stools, drawing boards, paper and pencils. I’ve always thought, “Oh, that would be so fun to sign up for a drawing session in a museum”
And voila! There it was before me, and free for all. So I chose my angle, sat down on a stool with my drawing supplies and got busy.
An hour later, when the model stood up to take a break, I broke concentration, too, having been steeped in that intense quiet energy that comes from uninterrupted concentration when you allow yourself to gaze upon something deeply — getting lost in the texture, contour, light and shadows. I noticed immediately that my tension and frustration from the 24-hour news cycle had been replaced with the relaxed sensation that comes from losing oneself in creating.
In a new mindset, I wandered in and out of the galleries. One of my favorite stops is the Cone Sisters Wing filled with wall after wall of sumptuously colored works by Cezanne and Matisse. And then, to sit among the artifacts in Claribel and Etta’s recreated apartments — those accidental art-collecting, way-ahead-of-their-time Jewish Baltimoreans.
Sometimes just 15 minutes in there is enough to restore my faith in humanity.
Content to leave, I circled through the glass-enclosed courtyard, but stopped to admire the intricate shadow detail of a colossal arched window superimposed onto a wall of ancient mosaic. The shape shifted in and out of focus, echoing the movement of the clouds passing by. I turned and wandered back out into the cold sunshine.
The Verdict: Yes! I found drawing sessions offered at the Walters Art Gallery on the second Thursday of each month. You don’t have to “know” how to draw, you only need to look closely and engage with making marks on the page. Really. A museum educator moderates the sessions, and it’s free to members!
Melissa Gerr is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and media producer, bon vivant, raconteur and student of life.
Educators, ethicists and Jewish leaders are debating the question as content mills slop on.
An appeal to New York's Jewish Museum for help cites President Trump’s record of demolition as a real estate developer and history of preservation failures.
Dara Bunjon talks with Joe Lertch and Mark Robinson, co-founders of The Wine Matrix and co-authors of "The Art of Spice & Wine Pairing."
With just five ingredients (plus apples), this apple cake from Elite Jakob is as easy as it is delicious.