Austin Museum of Art

I had never been to this particular museum before. I had been to their website before we got there, but to be perfectly honest, I had been to many museum's websites, so I couldn't quite remember which art museum this was. When my husband was in college years and years ago, he took an art appreciation class and we went on many field trips to different art museums. Of course we lived near Boston at the time, so we went to the Boston Museum of Art, the Guggenheim in NYC and a couple in Washington DC. It has been that long since I've been to an art museum, so when we reached the Austin Museum of Art (which I primarily picked based on location), I was shocked that it was such a small building nestled within other buildings. Then, I was even more surprised when we entered the building and saw just how small it really was. But, they say that big things come in small packages. I went in with a very open mind. The first thing we found was the children's area so that the kids would have something to do while we milled around the museum. There was an art area, a book area, and then an area where you could design your own chair or couch to make it comfortable to you. I thought this was ironic since the visiting exhibition at the museum was Good Design: Stories from herman miller. In this collection, we saw different designs of chairs, offices, graphic design, and modern furniture. My son spent a good thirty minutes deciding which pillows would go where to make the ultimate comfy chair! There were four case studies that were exhibited in the design collection. Case study #1 was about the design of a good, ergonomic chair. There were some plans to view, videos to watch showing people trying out the mock designs of the chair, and then the final product. This was the only case study that was somewhat interactive in that you could sit out and try out the chair. After sitting in the chair, there was a whiteboard that contained a survey in which you could take part. Case study #2 involved the design of office floorplans. This was especially interesting to me since I had just finished my ideal library floorplan and I understood and appreciated what it took to make everything fit in the space provided. The case study showed how Herman Miller's Action Office changed and improved upon an office with updating to storage, colors, organization and landscape. Case study #3 showed graphic design and how their products were marketed and advertised. This was mostly done through videos telling stories about the many graphic designers that helped out during the process. Finally, case #4 was the design of modern furniture. Furniture took on a new look following the Depression, so this was a showcase of Herman Miller's reinvention of home furniture. Most of these new styles took on a simple yet functional, space-saving designs. I have to admit that I was not a big fan of many of the designs. They were too "modern" for me.
The rest of the museum was occupied with art that appeared to be mostly donated by the artists. There were a few pieces by famous artists, such as Andy Warhol. All of the pieces were what I would consider to have a modern flair and were not necessarily my style. There were a few pieces of glass that I really enjoyed, though. My husband, though, enjoyed the museum thoroughly and commented that he would have spent a lot more time there if we had not been with him!