A Happy Medium by Erin Murtaugh

Last week, the choir I am in took a trip to Minneapolis. Thursday, we went to see a musical called “Once.”

The musical is about an Irishman who is trying to make it big as a musician and meets a girl on the way. It was absolutely amazing; and if you have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

Friday, we left our hotel and went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. After that, we went to St. Olaf College and had a workshop with Christopher Aspaas, a professor there. I had a great time on the trip, but there’s one thing that really bothered me.

When we were at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, many students didn’t even take the chance to explore the museum. There were so many different styles of art from all periods of time, basically. There were quite a few people who just took it as a joke and time to mess around. I saw things posted on social media that made me quite upset about how stupid kids thought it was for us to go to the museum.

First of all, the trip was optional and from the beginning, everyone knew we were going to the museum as part of our plans. If someone didn’t want to go, why come in the first place?

Also, if you can’t even make the effort to go look and see what there is in the museum, why complain about it? There is so much to see. Sure, not everything is going to be interesting to everyone, but there was plenty of variety.

I guess what really makes me sad is the idea that there are students who don’t truly appreciate art. Art surrounds us every day and chances are, they don’t realize it.

Art impacts the way we live. It has shaped our culture and every culture on Earth. Art is everywhere for us to take in. If you’re given the opportunity to see things like paintings by Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh, why wouldn’t you?

I hope that these students who were acting this way will someday realize the significance of art in our lives and learn to appreciate it more.

 

Albert Lea resident Erin Murtaugh is a senior at Albert Lea High School. She can be reached at murtaugh.erin@gmail.com.