Always driving past the outskirts of University Park, I chose to embark within Penn State's green campus laden with tall trees matured by the enormity of their trunks, and the antiquated architecture [with deep-set windows and high ceilings] of the large academic buildings. Slowly I walk, my head spinning about at the marvelous structures in the flourishing landscape.
And then I saw it... I stop in my tracks and gaze down the shadowed alleyway between the dark buildings trimmed in blue paint... there gleaming in the sunlight of a cloudless sky, two lion paw statues marking the entrance into the Palmer Museum of Art.
This small two-storied gallery holds an eclectic mix of artists and works that span over centuries. Among the collections, what seems unfamiliar actually portrays the masters. The lesser known artists reveal influences of those more famous including Velasquez or Monet. And some of the pieces, though unknown, exhibit other work of artists including Joseph Stella and Gilbert Stuart.
The more modern works I seemed to like the best. Particularly the ceramic bowls from between the '50s and '70s where artists experimented with new designs allowing new shapes to change one's perspective on the average bowl.
One work that also stood out was a modern abstract painting so thick of paint it looked 3-dimensional causing an extremity in depth and form to the seemingly haphazard colors and strokes.
For an on-campus museum, one cannot expect much, although I left the building quite impressed. And with free admission I will definitely be back.
