Reality Remembered: Center of Southwest Studies Gallery
Walking around the Center of Southwest Studies Art Gallery made me remember the world is actually a real place. Currently the Center of Southwest Studies Gallery features two art exhibits, the Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Colorado’s Renaissance Man exhibit and the Treasures of the Southwest exhibit.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Colorado’s Renaissance Man features artwork that Campbell, a former U.S. senator, collected. As you walk around the exhibit you’ll see the desk, which his son made for him, that sat in his office as well as jewelry that he created. Hanging on some of the walls you’ll also find some of the legislation that he helped pass in his years in Congress. If you walk through the Treasures of the Southwest exhibit you’ll view the marvelous and vibrant colors of several mantas, which are textiles worn as dresses and shirts. The exhibit also features some pottery artwork with incredible details.
When I walked into the Center of the Southwest studies I noticed immediately how disconnected I had become with reality in my day to day life. I spend an inordinate amount of time on my cell phone or laptop just staring into the void of my screen. As I was walking around the exhibits all I wanted to do was just touch everything.
The first thing I did was walk over to one of the massive tapestries that was stretched across one of the walls near the Treasures of the Southwest exhibit. I probably stood within a few inches of it and let it take over my whole vision, and I just marveled at how real and immediate it was. I could see every thread in that tapestry and how it was interwoven with the rest of the tapestry and the details of where it was starting to wear and fray. I wanted to run my fingers across it, to not only see it but feel it. But you’re not supposed to touch artwork, right?
Walking through this exhibit made me realize how consumed I’ve become with the digital world. I can click and scroll or dislike and like but it doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t provide the same experiences.
