Untamed Spirits… Cooperstown Bound

On a recent rainy weekend we let our wanderlust direct us and headed to one of our favorite places to visit, Cooperstown, New York. Since it was just a quick trip we centered on the gem of the town (in our opinion) and wandered the Fenimore Art Museum. The next trip will have to include another wonderful centerpiece – The Farmers’ Museum – but for now we fed our souls with the art at the Fenimore, and particularly the Thaw Collection.

The photographs follow our progress through the museum, starting with folk art and ending in the Eugene and Clare Thaw galleries. This collection continues to grow through gifts from the Thaws and others, as you will see by the final images of a more modern acquisition by a Lakota artist. It is an amazing and large group of diverse pieces from around the country including almost 850 objects. To wander the gallery experiencing the masks, clothing and artistry is a meditation. Completing the experience in the Study Room with it’s ‘open cases’ (for storage of the objects not on exhibit) is intriguing. The mind is pulled to the homes of those who created the work… the American Southwest, the Northwest Coast, the Plains… Perhaps not a cure for wanderlust at all!