The Henry Art Gallery

This last week I went to the Ann Hamilton exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery (at the University of Washington). Hamilton has become one of my favorite living artists. She does not soothe my soul, but she does deepen it.

This particular exhibit, the common sense, explores the boundaries between life and death, cataloging and knowing, playing and feeling, children's stories and life, cosy afternoons and blankets, light and air. After seeing/experiencing this exhibit I'm a bit in awe yet bewildered. I need to go back. I want to go back. There was too much. There was enough that I began to ask new questions and wonder about life, collecting, reading, saying, proclaiming, precision of language, images, the evoking of the soul, weariness at the end of a long term....

One of the themes was that of collecting. I love that you can take quotes and images away (well, only one image, but lots of quotes). People have submitted quotes to be used, and those are scattered around the gallery. One can wander and collect for hours, if one is so inclined as I am.

My grandmother was a collector of quotes and poems and puzzles. She had a little book with her favorite quotes in it (well, a collection of notebooks). I used these books as I organized and planned her funeral when I was in my late 20's. Until this exhibit, I had forgotten her books. Her love of quirky and moralistic verse, of fanciful images of heaven, of awful puns. I am her granddaughter in so many ways. My visit to Ann Hamilton's wide ranging and evocative exhibit made me miss her in ways that I didn't know I should miss her. Her inner life was hidden away in her books. I realize now that my scavenging through her collections of "common sense" was immature. I didn't know what she was offering to me. I wonder where those books have gone...

Before I end, I should say a few things. Students get in free, so go. Even if you are not a student, it is not that expensive, so go. I'm going to go at least once a month until it closes in April... I always appreciate company...

AND make it all the way downstairs. It is worth the walk...........