Museum-A-Day #5: The Weisman Museum

Museum-A-Day #5: The Weisman Museum 


I sure love my Mom. Before Mother's Day I had the great opportunity to visit the Weisman Museum with her for  my "Museum-A-Days" for Minnesota Museum Month (which I don't do absolutely every single day but have several more posts I still need to complete. I also know I will do this project much longer then a month lol!)

My Mom lives along the Mississippi River with a great view of the Weisman from her condo. She has recently undergone three consecutive knee replacement surgeries. During her long recovery she watched the progress of the new Frank Gehry Expansion.  She would tell me how much she wanted to go visit the museum and it seemed that her quality of life had diminished and the museums became a symbol of her hard quest for attaining strength and better health.  She wanted her life back and going to the museum symbolized that.

Finally, after three years came the day she was able to go.  It was like a new day had come. Mom was full of strength and energy. She wanted me to park along the road so she could walk to the museum. However, I insisted on parking in the ramp in the closest space next to the elevator.  I wanted to take care of her but she showed me all day she didn't need it. I was so impressed with how strong she was and how good her knee was doing. It was as if the museum itself was giving her her power or a new life.

I considered the museum was a point of refection, desire and motivation. Strengthening this point by a museum visit became an opportunity for a symbiotic healing relationship. My Mom got stronger as she enjoyed the museum visit and we were able to carry the memory of this day beyond the life of the museum experience. This is the architecture of renewal. The collection of 19th-20th American and new works offers a fresh perspective and demands reexamining what defines "good quality of life."  My Mom symbolically and physically was connected to this museum's renovation as part of her personal healing process.  I've heard that art heals the soul...I am sure that is true. I am most happy that art also seemed to help heal my Mom's knees!!