U-Nite: Crocker Art Museum

Crocker Art Museum

 Hello everyone, last week was our Festival of the Arts here at Sac State and on April 10th U-Nite was celebrated at the Crocker Art Museum.  The Crocker is one of the oldest art institutions on the West Coast and contains a fine collection of art from all over the world and from various time periods.  Once an old mansion owned by the Crocker family, it was added on to a few years ago with completion in 2010.
My first U-Nite consisted of watching live bands and dance performances along with taking a tour of the Crocker ending in a viewing
 of work by Sam Francis.
When I first arrived at U-Nite I was greeted by live music performed by the Rogue Scholars.  They were doing a Nirvana cover which I had not previously associated with fine art viewing, but it gave it a festive atmosphere nonetheless. My first few minutes there were spent chatting with fellow students from my classes and trying to find a beverage.  The reception room was quite full and a number of people continued to flow into the facility which could have only brought a smile to the organizer's faces. Quite noticeably a large inflatable brain was situated outside in the courtyard with dozens of balloons being released into the top of it.  As curious as a cat I found myself outside inquiring as to the purpose of

"Balloons with names of drugs" U-Nite

such behavior.  It turns out you had to write the name of a drug on the balloon and allow its ascent to the top of the brain.  Along with my Prozac balloon I encountered many others with names such as marijuana, aspirin, and nicotine.
Having participated in a few social events I decided to do what one should do in an art museum and look at some art.  As my girlfriend had never been to the Crocker before we spent some time looking in the old mansion section containing paintings from the Italian Baroque and 17th century Dutch era.

"Inflatable Brain" U-Nite

From there I asked a nice lady who worked there if she could point us in the right direction of Sam Francis.  She not only took us to our destination but provided great insight and history of the museum along with the works we passed by.  Her knowledge and humorous commentary along the way made it feel like we were getting a private tour of the museum after hours even though many people were around us. 
The great commentary did not terminate with the reaching of our destination as our tour guide continued to educate us on the artistic evolution of Sam Francis.  Sam Francis was a Californian artist who worked mostly in painting and printmaking.  You can really see his works evolve over his career and it really helped knowing the history behind them.  For instance his "Blue Balls" series was inspired by his troubles suffering from renal tuberculosis in the 1960's.  Francis later went onto incorporate grids and dripping paint onto his canvases in a way similar to Pollock but they express a more pleasant tone with their placement and color.  Francis ultimately developed prostate cancer and lost the use of his right hand.  He continued to paint however right up until his death in 1994.

Sam Francis, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 1980

Typically people do not associate fine art and Sacramento together, but instead cite San Francisco and L.A. as more artistic communities.  However with our Second Saturday tradition along with the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento should be a place where anyone with artistic curiosity should find themselves one day.