The main focus of the route I chose to take out to Cali was Bentonville. I saw a piece about Crystal Bridges https://crystalbridges.org/ and just had to come here! The other ‘driver’ of coming here is, there is a 21c Hotel here too, so, at least two reasons to come here!
I arrived on a rainy Thursday. Here are some shots from inside the hotel, which has its own art gallery:
I have my raincoat here so I went for a little walk just to get my bearings. Stopped at a food truck and got myself a soft taco. It was good!!!
Here is the original site of the first “Walmart” – it is now part of the Walmart Museum.
Town Square. Yesterday, when it was sunny, it was packed with people!
View of downtown while I was waiting for my taco
Little local water park. Yesterday when it was sunny it was packed with kids!
Artwork in Compton Gardens
But then it started raining harder, and I knew it would be sunny the next day so I decided that was enough for the day.
Came back to the hotel and decided to stop in at the bar for a glass of wine. Ended up meeting Matt, who was here from Walla Walla WA to manage an installation at The Momentary. He was at the Momentary earlier in the day and saw Meg Ryan there who apparently is shooting a movie here. Who knew?
Anyway, we had a nice convo. I ended up ordering food from the restaurant in the Hotel – The Hive – and had it delivered to my room. After I ate I went outside to ‘do’ some bubbles. Two teenage boys walked by and said “That’s sick!!” Ha ha! And I realized that a sculpture at the water park actually had LED lights in it that move up and down. Cool!
Next day I walked over to Crystal Bridges. There are bike / walking trails all around town so it was a nice pleasant walk over there. Here are a ton of photos:
I’ve seen spiders by this artist all over the place – Bilbao Spain, Michigan, and now Arkansas!
This piece is by Yayoi Kusama – if you go look at my posts from my trip to LA you’ll see the Infinity Room that she did. I love her work!
There is a Frank Lloyd Wright house on the museum property. It was moved from Princeton NJ to here. I did a tour but no photos allowed inside (you can look online though):
Cantilevered carport
Finished up the tour and hit the main museum
When I arrived at the museum I went to the ‘check in’ desk to get a ticket for the FLW house and the guy there gave me a free pass to the Dirty South exhibit too! It would’ve cost $12. That was really nice!! Here are photos from that:
This suit was made by Nick Cave. I’ve seen other artistic suits he’s made – particularly one at the 21c in Lexington (you can go look at that post). I didn’t realize it til now thought but he performs in the suits too!
Just for perspective this table is probably 8 feet tall not including the glass cabinet on top.
Flower suit once worn by Ceelo Greene
Then time to walk back towards the hotel for a little break
This penguin is from the 21c Hotel – I guess he was doing some social media stuff!
I didn’t realize it at first but this car is covered in coins!
Took a little break and then walked over to The Momentary – it’s in an old Kraft Cheese factory!
Got a snack and a smoothie at the Onyx cafe there. Your stuff comes out on a conveyor belt! Fun!
Decided to get food for dinner from the food truck again. Here’s one more shot from town:
UPDATE! There is a HUGE Farmer’s Market in town on Saturday mornings. Live music. Fresh produce. Crafts. Beautiful flowers. WOW!
But, today I’m headed to Oklahoma City for two nights, also staying at 21c. Talk soon!