After I booked my tickets to North Carolina for this weekend trip, I decided to check the schedule at the Nasher – the art museum located right on Duke’s campus. I took a few art history classes at Carolina, and I vaguely remember being ‘strongly encouraged’ by one of my professors to hop on the bus that connected the two schools to visit an exhibit at the Nasher that would have more than likely perfectly supplemented what we’d been going over in lecture. While I thoroughly enjoyed all three of my art history classes at school, going to Duke for anything really just wasn’t high on my list of things to do in my free time. Isn’t it funny how things can change so much in such a short span of time?

When I came across the details for the Alexander Calder exhibit, on display at the Nasher through June 17th, I invited my mother to come along to the museum with me for the morning. We thoroughly enjoyed perusing the two large exhibit rooms that displayed the 34 pieces by Calder and seven of the contemporary artists who have each been greatly influenced by his work.

After we made two rounds through the Calder exhibit, we took a look at what was on display in the museum’s permanent collection, and in addition to finding another Calder mobile, we spotted a few familiar works of art, and new (to us) paintings and sculpture that were quite inspiring. All in all, our trip to the Nasher was incredible – I would absolutely recommend paying a visit to the Nasher Museum of Art the next time you find yourself in Durham.