Dennis Dixon is heading West!: Day Twenty-Two: Elk City, OK - Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art - National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum - Gilcrease Museum - Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

The first stop, after a 2-hour drive, was Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. They have an exquisite collection of pieces, although my personal focus is too narrow to allow proper appreciation of all the "works of art". I saw a Monet, a Pissarro (I only like the ones with bright colors), a couple of Bierstadts, a beautiful Moran oil of Venice, a nice section on Maynard Dixon (no relation), and a Switzerland landscape by William Stanley Haseltine. My two favorites, however, are by William Henry Holmes and Earl Carpenter:

William Henry Holmes, "Grand Canyon", no date

Earl Carpenter, "North Rim Grand Canyon AZ - Bright Angel Point above Roaring Springs Canyon", 1990 - both an oil and a letter illustration!

Then it was back up the road to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. A very impressive facility dedicated to "everything cowboy" and western. They did not allow photography in their art area, but I was able to sneak in a quick shot of a very large Bierstadt ("Emigrants Crossing the Plains", 1867) along with a very large Alfred Jacob Miller ("Cavalcade, Indian Grand Parade", 1858) [I have never seen, or known about, Miller paintings this big!]

Unfortunately, the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa also had a "no pictures" policy, which is very unfortunate - the notes I took list 4 large Millers, 1 large Thomas Hill, 1 large Bierstadt, and 2 large Thomas Morans. There are very large paintings by Albert Bierstadt ("Sierra Nevada Morning", 1870) and Thomas Moran ("Shoshone Falls on the Snake River", 1900). Luckily, both images are available on Wikimedia

These two paintings are in a relatively small room (one on each wall), with the Thomas Hill on wall 3, and a Bierstadt and 2 Morans on wall 4 - simply exquisite! Additionally, all the paintings are very clean (in a number of other museums I have seen pieces that [to me] seem to need cleaning - the blues of Moran's Venice sky, and the whites of Bierstadt's waterfalls can, and should, really pop-out!). And the Gilcrease has the best "flow" of any museum I have seen - one room leads appropriately into the next, and you do not have to "circle back" to investigate that space you missed.

On the other hand, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has no restriction on photography (except "no flash", which is customary). I may have gone a little overboard - I took the following photos:

15 of indoor/outdoor spaces
1 indoor video
2 Albert Bierstadt paintings
1 Frederic Edwin Church painting
3 Thomas Cole paintings
1 Jasper Cropsey painting
1 Asher Durand painting
2 Martin Johnson Heade paintings
1 John Kensett painting
2 Thomas Moran paintings
1 Andrew Wyeth painting

So I am going to pick 2 favorites

Thomas Moran, "Green River, Wyoming", 1878

Andrew Wyeth, "Airborne", 1996

And, yes, I was really there!

and here is an example of Arkansas wildlife

Tonight is the tenth Super 8 I have stayed in - they are ubiquitous, and this trip would not be the wonderful success that it is without them. They are right where I need them to be - one-or-two hours from my last museum (which usually close at 5 or 6), and one-or-two hours from my next museum (which usually open at 10). The rooms are perfect - big comfortable bed, hot shower/bath, very good tv (with cable!), doorstops, fridge for my oj, and enough electrical outlets for me to recharge all my toys (2 laptops, 1 radio/nano player, iPhone, 2 iPods, and my camera battery). Having said that, I must give a special shout-out to the Super 8 in Scottsbluff, Nebraska! They added little somethings (welcome goodie bag, four pillows versus 2-or-3, etc) that certainly gives them an extra star! Christian sayings on the hallway walls leads me to believe they are Christian, but "good business sense/take care of the customer/make their experience exceptional" is not/should not be automatically identified as "Christian" ... in this case, it is just a gut-sense. Thank you Super 8 in general, and the one is Scottsbluff in particular

After a long series of 12-hour days, tomorrow should be more relaxing - only two museums, and 311 miles (5 hours driving)

Thursday, Oct. 3
Super 8 Elk City, OK
2 hours -- Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art, Norman, OK
1/2 hour -- National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
1 1/2 hours -- Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK
2 hours -- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
1 3/4 hours -- SUPER 8 PITTSBURG KS, 3108 North Broadway St, Pittsburgh, KS

here is today's playlist:

Grateful Dead - Europe '72 [it's ok first thing in the morning] [when Platt and I went to the 110 Nationals in Bay City, MI in 1974 (which we WON!!), the only music we had in Jack Achellis' yellow jeep was an 8-track of Europe '72 played on a round/globe boom-box - I thought it was GREAT at the start, but after a few hours, it got not-great. Although I like the Dead, I really could not listen to that album for many years.]

Jackson Browne - Lives in the Balance

[the first time I saw Jackson Browne was when Bruce Springsteen opened for him at the Villanova Field House in October, 1973] [and it was the first time I saw Bruce, too]
Bruce Springsteen inducts Jackson Browne into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speech click here

Sorry I don't have any Garth Brooks for going through Oklahoma

Music from the OC: Mix 1