Yes, Sir, It's Museum Art --- Day 8/33

Walk: de Young Museum
Distance: 5.6 miles, Yoga

Viola Frey (1933-2004), Man Observing, Series II, 1984, Glazed Earthenware with Steel Plate

This ceramic work by Viola Frey brings a smile of recognition to Ciwt's face whenever she sees it at the de Young Museum.  You don't have to know a thing about art to know what the artist is saying here - at nearly 9' and brightly colored, more like shouting.

In the 1980's when Frey began making her monumental ceramic sculptures exploring issues of gender, past and present, you can be sure she encountered suits one after another with hands on their male hips and saying "No!"  "No, that's not art."  "No, that isn't what sculpture is all about."  "No, you can't be shown in in 'my' museum."  "No, No, No..."  

Frey stood right up to them; she had to, the museum world was completely dominated by men.  And, guess what, she stretched the limits of free-standing sculpture right into important art (not just craft) collections. Her brash talent spoke to the man, and her pieces have been standing tall for decades now in museums like the de Young, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and other first class museums all over the world.