Alice Walton of Crystal Bridges Museum Honored! "Her Mission" = Art, like the beauty of our natural world, should be accessible to everyone.

Alice Walton

Tonight, Alice Walton, Chairwoman of Crystal Bridges’ Board of Directors will be the recipient of the 2013 Archives of American Art Medal from the Smithsonian Institution.

As a long-time art lover and collector, Alice Walton conceived the idea of creating a national art museum in her hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, so that people of the region would have access to great works of art. She planned to build the museum on a 120-acre stretch of natural Ozark forest that had belonged to her family for many years. The land had special meaning to Alice and her brothers, who had played together in these woods as children; and it was important to the family that the land’s natural character be maintained. Alice presented her idea to the Walton Family Foundation, who agreed to fund the project.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is the first national museum dedicated to the work of American artists in more than a generation. By design, Crystal Bridges is a wholly remarkable museum: in its collection, which spans five centuries of American art; in its dramatic architecture; in its lush natural setting; and in its geographical location in the heart of the country, far from any coastal metropolis.

These elements alone make the Museum distinctive among its peers, but the spirit of Crystal Bridges runs deeper than these outward emblems. From its beginning, Crystal Bridges has been guided by certain key principles: the Museum offers the finest examples of American art available, and holds education at the very core of their mission, and strives to be a welcoming and inspirational place for everyone.

A rendering of the Museum Complex.

Education plus a welcoming and inspirational place for everyone are the reasons it was essential that Crystal Bridges be located in Bentonville, Arkansas, surrounded by the beautiful Ozark landscape, where the citizens of the region—for whom most of the country’s finest museums are hundreds of miles away—can experience great works of art as part of their everyday lives, and where visitors from anywhere in the world can enjoy American art amid the beauty of the American landscape. Crystal Bridges shares a belief that art is at the center of what it means to be human and art, like the beauty of our natural world, should be accessible to everyone.

Hors d'oeuvres + a great view from the restaurant, "Eleven."

Nature is a part of the building and a part of the beauty to be found in and around Crystal Bridges Museum.

21st Century: Evan Penny "Old Self: Portrait of the Artist 

as He Will (Not) Be. Variation #2" (2010)

\

18th Century: Portrait of George Washington
by Gilbert Stewart (detail 1797)

Asher Brown Durand Kindred Spirits (detail) 1849 oil on canvas

Asher Brown Durand

Kindred Spirits (detail)

1849

oil on canvas

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See ARTSnFOOD's full coverage of the Crystal Bridges Museum at:  http://www.artsnfood.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-crystal-bridges-museum-has.html

(Source: Press release from Crystal Bridges Museum, Photos of art taken by Jack A. Atkinson.)

FOOD

Apple Praline Bread + NYC Pizza Cook-Off

NYC Pizza Cook-Off

How about a Birthday Pizza!?!

On October 20, New York pizza lovers gathered to celebrate New York's best loved food - PIZZA, at the New York City Wine & Food festival. After tasting wood-fired, oven-baked and grilled tomato & cheeze pies, there was a vote for "Best Pizza." Luzzo's was the winner!

The cook-off nominees:
Co.
Da Mikele
Don Antonio by Starita
FORCELLA
Fratelli La Bufala
Luzzo's
Motorino Pizza
New York Pizza Suprema
Nicoletta
Numero 28
Ovest Pizzoteca
Pizza Luca
ReNapoli Old Greenwich
Rossopomodoro
Rubirosa Ristorante
San Matteo Pizza & Espresso Bar

Suffragettes eating pizza in 1921.

(Sources: sliceharvester.com & Time Out New York)

Apple Praline Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and finely chopped

1 cup nuts (walnut or pecan or a combo), divided

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside. (I used stoneware loaf pan for perfect cooking)

Using an electric mixer, beat together the sour cream, sugar, eggs and vanilla on low speed for a couple of minutes until well blended. Stop the mixer and then add in the flour, leavening agents and salt. Continue to beat on low until well combined.

Fold in the apples and half the nuts into the batter. Transfer the batter into the greased loaf pan.

Sprinkle the rest of the nuts on top and then press them lightly into the batter. Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in the loaf pan for about 20-30 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. So it doesn't get too dark.

Praline Sauce

Ingredients:

¼ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup butter

Instructions:

In a small sauce pan, place the butter and brown sugar. Using medium heat, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and then simmer lightly for about one minute, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and then drizzle over the bread. Cool completely.

Until later,
Jack

ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness through the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved for all content. Concept, Original Art, Original Text & "Original or Assigned Photography" are © Copyright 2013 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All photographs were taken and/or used with permission. Artworks © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.