{"id":139,"date":"2005-05-24T21:21:44","date_gmt":"2005-05-25T03:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2005\/05\/24\/sell-us-your-huddled-masterpieces\/"},"modified":"2006-02-22T21:24:19","modified_gmt":"2006-02-23T03:24:19","slug":"sell-us-your-huddled-masterpieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/sell-us-your-huddled-masterpieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Sell us your huddled masterpieces"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock<\/h6>\n<p> <b>Tuesday, May 24, 2005:<\/b> A Brick about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crystalbridges.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art<\/a>. Last Monday, Wal-Mart&#8217;s Alice Walton announced she and also her family&#8217;s foundation would build a museum surrounded by a park near downtown Bentonville, Arkansas, her companies&#8217; headquarters.<\/p>\n<p> There was a clue about this a couple of weeks earlier when major news media, being New York-based, reported (as did local media), that Miss Walton bought a 19th-century Hudson River School masterpiece that long has been exhibited at the New York Public Library. (Go ahead, plug &#8220;Walton&#8221; and &#8220;Durand&#8221; into Yahoo news or Google news, and you&#8217;ll see how big a deal some thought this to be.)<\/p>\n<p> The plans are by the architect who did (actually, redesigned) Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and the grounds will be by a similarly credentialed landscaper. Sure, it would&#8217;ve been great if she&#8217;d hired local, but hiring the best, period, is just as good.<\/p>\n<p> In the next four years as it&#8217;s being built, there&#8217;ll be plenty of time for writerly fun: Within hours Monday, I had notes for several satires. Now, this week, it is time to be grateful. The museum is a good thing.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/nwanews.com\/story.php?paper=adg&#038;section=News&#038;storyid=117383\" target=\"_blank\">One of the <i>Democrat-Gazette<\/i> articles<\/a> quoted more than one more non-local business analyst to say this is not a Disney World type of tourism magnet. I hope that fact continues to be expanded in reporting.<\/p>\n<p> My take on that would go in the wrong direction this morning; there&#8217;s time enough. Suffice it to say now that Crystal Bridges is good for the area and its residents. Not everything has to translate into money, into the shallow industry of tourism.<\/p>\n<p> This is how major if smaller museums get going. One good example not yet used by any commentator so far as I&#8217;ve read&#8211; but it&#8217;s the first that came to my mind &#8212; is the Amon Carter in Fort Worth. Actually, the Carter and <i>several other<\/i> museums lie on the perimeter of that beautiful park in downtown Fort Worth, including the Kimbell.<\/p>\n<p> Lots of money from just one or a few benefactors got these halls going. Oil money, appropriate for the era.<\/p>\n<p> The rest of the country should shut up and let us build our museum. Miss Alice won&#8217;t buy all your masterpieces. We don&#8217;t need that many. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Tuesday, May 24, 2005: A Brick about Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Last Monday, Wal-Mart&#8217;s Alice Walton announced she and also her family&#8217;s foundation would build a museum surrounded by a park near downtown Bentonville, Arkansas, her companies&#8217; headquarters. There was a clue about this a couple of weeks [&hellip;]<\/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-139","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":256,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/12\/wal-mart-takes-liberty-bell-to-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":139,"position":0},"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 &quot;American Culture&quot;","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":3230,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/11\/bentonville-picture-show\/","url_meta":{"origin":139,"position":1},"title":"Bentonville Picture Show","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2011 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- What a lovely day for a dedication. This is free-range journalist Noah Vale, preparing a live blog for my client Crystal Britches. We are here for the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, although Ms. Britches prefers calling it the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Chronicles of Crystal Britches&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Chronicles of Crystal Britches","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/chronicles-of-crystal-britches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cool Wrist Bands at Crystal Bridges dedication 11-11-11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Wrist-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2039,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/07\/vuvuzela-monologues\/","url_meta":{"origin":139,"position":2},"title":"Vuvuzela Monologues","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As long as soccer's World Cup has made the vuvuzela stadium noisemaker a common word in America, Brick wants to horn in on its ubiquity for a new series of short takes. Today, it's skin and drama. \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 Speaking of vuvuzela, one rash has come home to roost,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Loose Talk of the Town&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Loose Talk of the Town","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/loose-talk-of-town\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2202,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/08\/cultural-muscle\/","url_meta":{"origin":139,"position":3},"title":"Cultural Muscle","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A month ago, the Walton Family Foundation offered money to Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center if it would build a second, larger auditorium 35 miles north in Bentonville, rather than enlarge itself into a complex a la Lincoln Center, with an accent. The idea had merit in some ways -- the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2990,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/07\/our-raveenia-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":139,"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 &quot;Chronicles of Crystal Britches&quot;","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":226,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/08\/modern-art-balm-for-our-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":139,"position":5},"title":"Modern Art, Balm for our Times","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center has asked the state Highway Department about installing sculptures along Interstate 540 for the cultural enrichment of us all. Today's Northwest Arkansas Times wrote it up, but its photos are not online. They're palm trees, more or less, in bright colors. Wood, though made to look\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","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=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}