When it Comes to the Next Best Thing, Forget About it

"San Antonio" - Intaglio Print

By artist Andrew Neighbour

I have a friend that just cracks me up. Old-fashioned witticisms with a modern, relevant twist come out of his brain and through his mouth as steady as the flow of a mountain stream. The other day we were talking and he says, "You know they always say when one door closes another one opens, but they never bother to tell you how long the dang hallway is."

We all have those times in our lives when we feel like we're hanging around waiting for the next best thing to come along, or we might be in an especially long, dark hallway with no idea when the door is going to open up.

For instance, I've been practicing frugality in my life lately. I do this from time to time, and it usually seems right. These very brief bouts of trying to control my outgoing cash flow, usually end with a door opening up, letting in the sunbeams which are bouncing off lifting clouds. I feel an ease and comfort, which is not very often preceded by a check, I just have a feeling that things are going to get better. I liken my experiences with frugality to fasting, of which I have little or no experience unless you want to call those brief intervals between 3 square meals a day, a fasting period.

The point is, tightening your belt is a good discipline, but not a way of life. If we think stingily, fearful that our world is coming to an end, then we are not open to the opportunities of life.

I've been an entrepreneur all my life according to my older sister, who says I used to buy and trade horse models at the tender age of 8. If only my mother hadn't thrown my horse collection away, I'd be a millionaire right now, as those retro horses, like appreciating Barbie dolls are more costly now than when they were new.

Collecting has got to be more than just about "appreciating assets," however. Collecting for me is about "appreciating" the intrinsic value of something. And as I've written many times before, collect art that you enjoy, not what the critics tell you is "the next best thing." There's too much waiting in our lives for the "next best thing." Go out and live your life today, I say. Look through our pages, and see what you can find to collect what inspires you.--Ruth Mitchell

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Jasper Cropsey - "The Backwoods of America"

Some critics might say Jasper Cropsey's "The Backwoods of America," part of the Crystal Bridges growing American Art Collection is a symbolic icon for billionaire Alice Walton's passion for the arts.

Designed by world renowned architect Moshe Safdie, and funded by billionaire Alice Walton, the $50 million (that's just the cost of the facility and doesn't include the artworks) Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is scheduled to open in 2009, in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was two years ago this month that the daughter of Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart, made the controversial announcement.

The museum will house a permanent collection of signature works from American artists along with galleries dedicated to regional art and artists including Native American art, but oddly enough, this monumental task is not making everyone happy.

The depth of the museum is indicated in a purchase from Christies America's auction house in New York City in 2004 of Charles Wilson Peale's portrait of George Washington for $6.1 million. This is causing some critics to puff up, believing that the art works are being snatched from their own backyard. No need to worry, collaborating with other institutions will be an important focus of Crystal Bridges, even before the museum opens, and they can also rest easy to know Bentonville does have an airport.

A number of the works from the Crystal Bridges permanent collection are already on loan at various museums throughout the United States including: The Hudson River School masterwork "Kindred Spirits" which was loaned to The National Gallery in Washington, D.C. for public viewing from 2005 - 2007. It is currently on loan to the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition by the same name featuring the works of Asher B. Durand. The same exhibition will also travel to Washington D.C. and San Diego. Thomas Eakins' Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand is currently on loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Jasper Cropsey’s majestic depiction of early American frontier life, "The Backwoods of America," is now featured in the American galleries of The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City, and the most extensive surviving group of Colonial American portraiture, the Levy-Franks family paintings, is currently on loan at The Jewish Museum in New York City. Also, the distinctive painting George Washington (The Constable-Hamilton Portrait) by the American painter Gilbert Stuart is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

While the puffers puff, others admire Walton's passion and dedication to the arts, and recognize the fact Crystal Bridges will be the premier American Art Collection, once it is in place. The collection is headed up by Bob Workman, formerly associated with the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

When completed, the museum complex will encompass approximately 100,000 square feet of gallery, library, meeting, and office space, a 250-seat indoor auditorium, areas for outdoor concerts and public events, gallery rooms suitable for large receptions, as well as sculpture gardens and walking trails. Walton is building this "American Dream" on 100 pristine, wooded acres her family owns in Bentonville.

To find out more about this amazing museum visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art website. --Ruth Mitchell