A few months ago, I went to Raleigh, North Carolina for the first time to attend my niece’s wedding. I didn’t have much time to explore, but like the Virgin Traveler that I am, I had to find something to explore. My daughter, Samantha, came with me and since we both love museums and free things to do, we went to the Gregg Museum of Art & Design at North Carolina State University.
Was It Worth It?
This museum appears small when you first enter, but it is chock-filled with so many great pieces of art. As they say on their website, “drawing from the Gregg Museum’s collections of over 54,000 objects, their selections from the Collections display only a sampling of the many different kinds of pieces in its holdings.”
It was worth the visit. Here are some of my favorite things:
Nothing caught my attention more than this interesting piece. Created by Al Farrow in 1997, the Skull of Santo Guerro was made from real guns, bullets, and human bones (I have no idea how that happened).
The description card next to the art says “The purpose,” (Farrow) has said, “is to get people to think about the complex relationship between war, violence, and religion.” The piece fascinated me. I am not a gun person at all, but the cross and the bullets as art were so well done, albeit one of the weirdest pieces I’ve ever seen.
I know Oscar de la Renta has made some amazing designs, but I can’t say that I think this is one of them. Not my style. However, it is one of more than 3,250 clothing items in the Gregg collection.
This description card said, “In this dress, the illusion of two different patterns is created by carefully tucking and precisely sewing the upper bodice portion of the dress to change the distance between rows of dots to form horizontal lines.” What do you think?
Skull Guitar ca 2020, was made by Freeman Vines, a blues musician, and the only living African American traditional guitar maker. He has used radio parts, parts of other instruments, and wood from a tree where (the description said) a local man was lynched. This guitar reflects his struggles with the spiritual unrest and mental and emotional toll left by racial violence.
What’s great about museums is that you might uncover something you never knew about and encourage you to go look it up or read about someone or something you saw. In this case, I read more about Freeman and watched this YouTube video on him. I found him fascinating.
This next photo is a picture of my daughter, Samantha Brinkley, the photographer, looking at photos of old cameras. (Her collage art store is here if you want to purchase her prints.) There are more of my favorite photos from the museum below this.
Here are other photos I took and this is only a sampling of what this museum had:
The weekend was a success. My niece’s wedding was so much fun. I went to the Crabtree Mall and stayed at the Courtyard Raleigh Crabtree Valley, which was clean and comfortable (we got a special rate for the wedding, so I won’t mention that here).
I do plan on going to North Carolina at some point again for a longer visit! What do you suggest I see when I go?
If You Go
If you go to the Gregg Museum, there is limited parking, and plan accordingly because the museum isn’t open on Sundays and Mondays. Visit here for more information.
