The idea of fun and exciting to learn was what I first
thought I would be greeted by upon entering MOMA’s MODERN ART HISTORY course
this past summer. Within no time at all, the magnitude of this little online
summer course defined itself.
First was the list of class mates… international gallery
owners, national museum curators to historians, then there was the chief of India
Unesco fellow, to a Sotheby’s Institute Graduate and Auction House Employee, to
a NYC Freudian Psychiatrist, to another impressive person to another.
The
registrar’s list made me feel honored to be invited to such a worldly,
educated, accomplished group of bohemian educated spirits. That name dropping
list alone took a while to come down from that high!
Next it was time to dive into the class work… how hard
could that be… 7 outlined pages of learning per week for 10 weeks…. Artist
after artist the lives became revealed, historical details, friendship and
rivalries where laid out where these artists lives’ timelines crossed and over
lapped.
Where the story started slightly
slow before the Modern Art Movement, it expanded with such intensity that at
times it was impossible to stop watching the videos and reading the materials. Lack of time became an issue. I found myself staying
up till midnight and later watching, learning and absorbing.
The magnitude of my comprehension did not occur till near
the end. All the segments and angles and corner and turns… all started winding
into one master piece itself. For the already profound debt of knowledge I had
about Modern Art History… I started to get it a little bit more, a little
clearer and just a little different. Pieces and angle I had not known showed themselves.
It will take much more time than 10 weeks of being
immersed in outstanding learning and given private art tours by MOMA
researchers, curators and historians, I believe the profound intensity of information
will need to be reviewed and re-reviewed by myself for some time to saturate all
the open spaces and crevices that have left space to fill in the soul of this
learning process.
If all my prior knowledge had been torn squares of fabric
most complete and deep, organized and sorted, memorized and recorded… my MOMA MODERN ART HISTORY COURSE will be
my hand sewn and embroidered, stitched with
authentic antique threads, QUILT OF REVELATIONS. I will forever refer back in my mind to the priceless
and unique, one of a kind quilt, I have completed in this simple little course I
have so cherished!
