Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art<\/a> (isn’t it nice that for a change a big public space that is privately funded is not named for a big shot or a corporation?) will be a new concept for old-timers of all ages.<\/p>\n Going to the museum comprises an afternoon one to six times a year. I’m speaking as a resident of Fayetteville who does not have a daily commute to Bentonville. It’ll be maybe 40 minutes away. That’s nothing for people used to commuting, but for some of us, that time requires planning. You park, pay admission (though some of the exhibits and the surrounding park will be free, according to plans) and enjoy one to three hours looking around.<\/p>\n
Museum admission is aggravating but even in a place like Chicago it’s rarely more than a movie ticket. Get over it. Take the kids, by all means.<\/p>\n
Of course, the last stop will be the gift shop. I hate it, but museum stores are fun.<\/p>\n
Before or after the walk-around, have lunch at the museum cafe. It won’t be too expensive, just a little bit. But these bistros have a just-right amount of refinement, appropriate for a special day. It’s also quite nice to break up the museum visit with a snack in the midst of looking around, heading back after coffee for the galleries you missed, or whatever.<\/p>\n
As for me, I see my wife and I hitting the museum then dinner at perhaps Copeland’s in Rogers on the way home.<\/p>\n
There will be thousands of lucky people for whom Crystal Bridges is just five to 15 minutes away. Go often.<\/p>\n
It’d be a great idea to become a member of the museum, however they organize that. So for an annual, tax-deductible fee, you get free admission for all but the super-duper traveling exhibits, and probably gift shop and cafe discounts.<\/p>\n
This will be a great lunch-break spot. Stroll through a gallery or two, eat lunch there, or brown-bag and sit on the grounds. Bet there’ll be sculptures out there.<\/p>\n
Hey, I’ve done this, living just a mile from the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, and visited many other museums over the years. It’s very nice to have this opportunity. If the Ozarks no longer is some rural hit-or-miss sprawl of trees, colleges, chicken farms and Wal-Marts, let’s be a small version of Fort Worth — not Dallas. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Friday, May 27, 2005: Here are a few tips on how to enjoy having a major museum in your area. This is advice for locals. Tourists, get on the Web or contact AAA; this isn’t for you. Bentonville’s coming Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (isn’t it nice that for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-culture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":139,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/sell-us-your-huddled-masterpieces\/","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":0},"title":"Sell us your huddled masterpieces","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Tuesday, May 24, 2005: A Brick about Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Last Monday, Wal-Mart's Alice Walton announced she and also her family's foundation would build a museum surrounded by a park near downtown Bentonville, Arkansas, her companies' headquarters. There was a clue about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":256,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/12\/wal-mart-takes-liberty-bell-to-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":1},"title":"Wal-Mart takes Liberty Bell to Arkansas","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock A DISSOCIATED PRESS PHILADELPHIA -- The Liberty Bell is moving to America's heartland, specifically Bentonville, Ark., the National Park Service has announced. The bell, one of the nation's most prominent treasures, will be a permanent exhibit in the sculpture garden of the planned Crystal Bridges\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"liberty bell 03 stress test","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/liberty-bell-03-stress-test-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2032,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/06\/from-moma-to-mopa\/","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":2},"title":"From Moma to Mopa","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- My client Crystal Britches was sweltering in her plastic rain gear. It neared 90 this morning at the Fayetteville Farmers Market -- nearly all the summer veggies were available but no musicians or sidewalk artists -- but the forecast had projected rain.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chronicles of Crystal Britches"","block_context":{"text":"Chronicles of Crystal Britches","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/chronicles-of-crystal-britches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/06\/hat-trick\/","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":3},"title":"Hat trick","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Monday, June 27, 2005: Representatives of Highfill, home of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, should mosey down to Grapevine, Texas, and take notes, themselves. This town has created a historical district, which on some holidays and by request (such as for visiting columnists) puts volunteers in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Grapevine Lines"","block_context":{"text":"Grapevine Lines","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/grapevine-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2990,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/07\/our-raveenia-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":4},"title":"Our Raveenia Museum","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2011 Ben S. Pollock I. Crossing the Line DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- Should her museum-progress trek be now or wait till it's further along? My client Crystal Britches calls Fayetteville and Washington County home. For her, Bentonville and the rest of Benton County are places to visit. Unlike, say, Springdale,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chronicles of Crystal Britches"","block_context":{"text":"Chronicles of Crystal Britches","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/chronicles-of-crystal-britches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trail from downtown Bentonville to museum. Photo from city, www.bentonvillear.com.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/downtown-trail-300x201.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5465,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2016\/10\/will-rogers\/","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":5},"title":"Will Rogers. For President?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"TULSA -- Somewhere in the mist of the\u00a0beginnings of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists arose two icons, Ernie Pyle and Will Rogers. NSNC has\u00a0other now-ghostly mentors, including Erma and Molly and Art, but these two men from the first half of the 20th century are the modern mentors of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bookmarks showing Will Rogers for President buttons ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/willrogersforpresident-220x200.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}