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| Artist Roland Lee at the Portland Art Museum |
My volunteer work with the Zion Natural History Association and the Zion National Park Foundation took me to Portland Oregon this week for the annual APPL conference. While there I was able to slip away and visit some of the art sites including the Portland Art Museum. The public transportation makes it easy to get around, and the city is very friendly, so it was relatively easy to find our way to the Art Museum. They have a large collection covering many subjects and genres, with a current display of very contemporary works spanning the past century. Each trip to a museum causes me to think and re-think about what constitues fine art. While I can accept and appreciate that all art deals with human emotions, I must say that to create art that displays the worst of human behavior and flaunts the baseness of humanity is a waste of talent. Reality gives us enough of that. Most of the big museums provide their share of art pieces that are very disturbing, and the Portland was no exception. But thankfully much of the art was uplifting, especially the fine impressionist paintings — and the display space was wonderful. In any case I always appreciate the many donors, docents, curators, volunteers, and patrons that provide places for us to enjoy art, and make our own choices.
