Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History

Located on Front Street in downtown Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History has just been placed on my list of all time favorite museums.  I visited it on a Thursday afternoon and absolutely loved it.  I spent about 90 minutes there and though it had three floors, it was not overwhelming in the number of galleries available to browse.  Right now they are featuring a program called "Work in Progress" which describes the intermediate state of some of the exhibits still being set up.  These exhibits remain through March 17, 2013.  

Odd as this may seem, I liken the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History to the giant ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto, and the little Corvette Americana Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (1992-1998).  What these three museums have in common is a magic that moves them beyond being mere collections of artifacts.

Years ago, I was visiting the ROM with some friends from Iowa and while gazing at a glass display case in the prehistoric dinosaur wing, I happened to bend down and look closely at a miniature model of a tree.  Through the branches of that tree I saw a complete scene of some pre-historic cavemen which I never would have seen had I not peered so closely at the display.  The scene added so much context to the display and was so clever that I have not forgotten it to this day.  I was similarly awed by the Corvette museum in Cooperstown.  The museum was the brainchild of a former professor of cultural anthropology (Allen Charles Schery), and he did more than line up  32 corvettes in a building.  He put the corvettes on a time line and placed each corvette in a setting reflective of the time period in American history.  Both museums were really fun to walk through.

The first thing I liked about the Santa Cruz MAH was its centrally located winding staircase and the mobile hanging in its center.   It was constructed by students of the Tannery Art Center.  Little models of everyday items hung on strings in interesting ways.  At the top of the mobile was a huge brain.   After some reflection, I realize what that was all about; they were displaying the odd assortment of images one might find inside the thoughts of the human brain.

The second thing I really liked about this museum was the History Gallery.  It had several wonderful displays with the most dramatic photos of people (some life-size).  Combined with mood lighting and strategic placement of objects of the period (such as farm instruments or a barrel of lime stone), the curators of this museum created a very effective feeling for the place or time period they were talking about.  Plus, I learned a bit more about the history of Santa Cruz County.

For instance, after many drives up and down Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz, I have wondered at least a dozen times how there came to be a street called Santa's Village.  With it's dearth of snow and holiday decorations, I had never pictured California to be very "Christmas-y." But one of the display cases in the HISTORY GALLERY had postcards and ads and even a children's book portraying the once famous amusement park that existed for 21 years in the Santa Cruz mountains.

I also spent a few minutes in the Barn Raising Exhibit.  It was a rather sparse room with a hay barn and some photos and a small video explaining about timber framing.   It appears that a hay barn is going to be rennovated on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus.  Barns are a staple of the midwest farm and I was drawn to and appreciated the items in this exhibit.

Another great part of this museum was the Mary and Harry Blanchard Sculpture Garden up on third floor.  It was outside on a mezzanine where you could get fresh air.  The sky was blue and the sun was beginning to set.  An interesting fountain sculpture hung from the back wall.  But the best part for me was the standing sculptures, about a dozen, all massive and organic in nature.  The biographies of the artists were provided on laminated sheets and I was surprised and pleased that one of the sculptors (Daniel Rhodes) was a native Iowan!

The fourth thing I loved about this museum was the Thomas Campbell: Work in Progress Exhibit.  There was a big tape crossing the entrance to this room so I thought at first the area was closed for construction.   But when I peeked in, I saw that two guys were painting on two different walls and it turns out they were the artists of the exhibit.   Within the room was a small cubby hole with two seats where you could also watch a video of what they had done.

As I said before, I now count the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History as one of my favorite museums.   It is one of Santa Cruz's coolest places.  It is not overwhelming; you can take a casual morning or afternoon to visit it.  Right now, there are free admission tickets for the whole family on the local library website.