Morgan Chambers Museum

          According to Dictionary.com, art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, and I am a very technical person. I will even argue that marching band is a sport based of the definition of a sport. By this definition, the sculpture Taking Root made by Lewis Woodruff is art; however, I also have some beliefs of my own. I think things that are made should be considered artwork. A building is an architect's art, a photograph is a photographer's art, and a glass sculpture is a glass-blower's art. The beauty of Woodruff's piece adds to its argument to be called art. Most art is captivating and mesmerizing due to its beauty or message which can definitely be said for Taking Root. Also, the piece is in an art museum.

    After walking through the museum, I was torn between a different sculpture and the water bottle chandelier, but as I debated which piece to write about I wandered over to Taking Root and knew I wanted to write about it. The glass was very visually appealing. There are pieces of glasses suspended in the glass that look like sparkles. The sparkles draw your attention right to the glass sculpture. My family has taken a camping trip to Watkins Glen a few times where we visit a glass museum, and you can watch people blow glass. The art form has always mesmerized me, and Taking Root had a similar effect. The fact that someone can make something so beautiful out of plain old glass amazes me. It also impresses me that out of all the pieces in the glass case the artist was able to pull my attention right to his piece.
     I’m not sure it is going to be possible to describe the beauty of this piece using just words, but I will try. The shape of the glass sculpture is flat on the bottom, but it rounds up like an egg shape. The bottom of the sculpture is a spiral of neutral colors like brown, tan, a smidge of dark blue, and off-white. It spirals up into a tree a dark blue that is so dark it is almost black. The tree looks like water splashed up and suspended in the air. It has small branches holding up the “leaves.” The leaves are small spheres of sparkle covering the branches. The sparkles are suspended in the glass as well.