On March 28th I visited the Renwick Art Gallery in DC. I had heard from many people and saw on social media that the museum was extremely interesting and cool.
The Renwick Gallery was recently closed and renovated. There now are nine exhibits, a few of which are a little odd, but still wonderfully crafted. When walking into the building my first impression was a little iffy. The first thing you see is a staircase only partially covered with carpet.
A person at the door tells you to head to the right to enter the first exhibit. You enter a room full of pods made of tree branches. Patrick Dougherty, the artist and creator of the exhibit, wove together willow branches to create mini homes so to speak.
The next exhibit is a stunning portrayal of a rainbow. I felt like a little kid who wanted to touch everything, it was very beautiful. Walking into the next room, you come upon big piles of something unrecognizable. Not until you go up close or read the sign do you realize they are all made of index cards.
Next comes the stairs. If you look above, there are a ton of twinkling lights. They look like thousands of strands of water constantly falling.
By far the most beautiful and my favorite exhibit, is the room directly after the stairs.
You enter a room filled with lights and color, but then you look at the ceiling and realize there is a huge net hanging. There is a carpet on the floor where many people lay down and watch the colors change.
The next few rooms have a line going into them. Once you get through the line, you come to a life size replica of a 150 year old Hemlock tree. The model is made of thousands of pieces of cedar wood.
The following room is filled with little green marbles. They stretch out all along the room, over the walls, and some of the ceiling. Reading the description, the artist made a replica of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. It is beautiful in its own way.
Continuing on, the room after is a maze wof old tires. They look shredded, and ripped apart. I felt that this was not a very exciting exhibit.
As you walk into the last room, all you see is pink walls, and little things on the wall. Taking a closer look, I realized that the things on the wall, were tons of little insects. They were in patterns all around the room. In the center there was a cabinet with lots of little drawers, inside each one was a little scene with real bugs!
The current update on the museum is filled with stunning large-scale three dimensional exhibits. The pieces are inventive, beautiful, experiential, and accessible to visitors of all ages!
