365 days around the world of art

Art 2010 is a blog project on Head for Art, that’ll run from January 1 to December 31, 2010. It was just after moving to Washington, DC with my American husband that the idea for the blog came about. I’d been exploring the city’s art museums and galleries when the National Gallery of Art (or NGA) stopped me in my tracks. The masterpieces here are so stunning, staggering and extensive that it was here, after a day spent just scratching the surface of one the world’s greatest collections, that I decided to start Art 2010.

For the first time in my life I’m going to explore an art collection from top to bottom, one masterpiece at a time. It’s my way of getting to know a new city and country. Over the 365 days I’ll be looking at works in the NGA’s West and East Buildings, as well as the Sculpture Garden. Since part of the point is to make use of a fantastic (free) art resource, I must see a work before writing about it. As well as recording the who, where and why of what I look at, Art 2010 is about seeing if art can start to play a part in daily life. The blog will suss out if I can get to a new way of seeing my day, or life in general, even the world at large, simply by opening my eyes and mind to art. So really, Art 2010 is the ultimate test for art: can it become real and relevant in a day-to-day way?

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life - Pablo Picasso