On Tuesday Chris and I went to the Tweed Museum of Art in the University of MN, Duluth. In all of the years I went to UMD, I only visited the Tweed once, and I’m fairly sure that was only because a class assignment required it of me. So it was nice to go and take in all of the art.
They are open later on Tuesday nights, and we went during the last two hours they were open, so it was quiet. I enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. My favorite things to look at are the Native American seed bead pieces. The Minneapolis Institute of Art has a number of these as well. Looking at the intricate, detailed pieces, I try to imagine how much time it must have taken to weave or embroider with all of those tiny beads. I admire the craftsmanship.
Even the pieces that are falling apart a bit are amazing to me. To see the broken threads, where the beads have fallen away, and imagine each stitch created as the person stabbed the needle through the leather, makes it all the more real to me.
My favorite discovery was the reading library. The books aren’t to be lent, so you have to read them there. It’s a little room just off of the main room of the museum, and it has a table with about 5 or 6 chairs. I gravitated toward a book about tapestry, and loved the patterns I saw as I flipped through the pages. Next time we go, I’d like to sit in that room, pore over the tapestry book, and make sketches of the patterns. And hey, maybe I’ll turn them into seed bead weavings.
