Ode to the Cleveland Museum of Art: I

My connection with CMA goes back to childhood: first my mother taking me to the museum, then  trips by bus with Jackie, my best friend in high school, and then attending AP Art History at the museum as a senior in high school—one of the best classes I have ever taken, anywhere, and one which to this day informs how I see the world.

Since moving back to Cleveland in 2001 with my family we have been members of CMA. All our children have taken art courses at the museum. My oldest son's portfolio for his application to Cleveland Institute of Art, where he is now a student, was composed of many pieces he had created in CMA courses.

The first thing I do when I go to the museum is drag my kids to see the weekly flower arrangement. Several times I have asked a museum official, "Who does these amazing arrangements?" 

And the response is always, "Womens Council."

"Yes, but who is their florist?" I would then ask, convinced that there was some great artist, a master-florist tucked away in a dusty shop somewhere, most likely Little Italy, who had held this commission from the Womens Council for the past 50 years.

I finally understood that women from the council actually do the arranging!

This revelation was followed by the happy happenstance of catching a women's council member red-handed in the act of arranging, and questioning her on the spot about this mysterious council. Fortunately she generously answered all my questions. When I learned the variety of activities in which the Council participates, I immediately became interested in joining, and this same woman has graciously offered to sponsor my membership. A week later I had lunch with her and a friend of hers who would be the one to second my membership. It was a great lunch with wonderful food and conversation and I feel like I have landed among future friends. 

The most exciting thing about being a prospective new member of this council is the orientation I would participate in next year: 4 full days spent at the museum learning everything from the guard's rotation, through the storage and archival facilities, to gallery lectures with each of the curators. I will finally be able to continue the love affair with the museum that I began as an AP art history student back in the day.

Original Entrance