El Paso Art Museum

This Saturday we brought along a guest on our date. Chris' sister was in town for the weekend so we headed downtown to explore the El Paso Art Museum. Admission was free, even though there was a special exhibit on display. While we were walking through downtown making our way to the museum, Chris and I decided we needed to do more exploring downtown. Upon entering the Museum, an exhibit of butterflies took over the front lobby. They looked as if they were flying up the wall and through the lobby (this was personally my favorite piece).

The rest of the downstairs gallery was taken up by Edith Head's costume dresses, which she designed for Paramount Studios. These dresses were worn by the likes of Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and others. They were beautiful gowns to say the least, and it was obvious how tiny those actresses were at the time. Letters to Ms. Head were also on display. It seemed Grace Kelly and Edith were close friends ("Edith darling, We just returned from a fabulous summer in the mountains. Switzerland is always so beautiful.... - Love, Grace). There was also jewelry on display loaned from Paramount from movies such as Cleopatra and Samson and Delilah. Upstairs was full of a mixture of styles from abstract modern art to medieval Renaissance pieces. Some of the pieces were beautiful (the life-size tubing woman, or the portrait of Don Haskins), others were odd (the Dr. Seuss umbrella law mower things), and others we decided we could created in our sleep (the scribble from Louisville to El Paso). There was another featured exhibit of local artists from the 60s through the present day. The region definitely has a lot of great, artistic talent. Overall it was a very interesting and eye opening experience. We will definitely be visiting again when the next rotation of exhibits comes through.