My Artsy Side – An Image & A Story
Having Art In My Heart
I have decided to do primarily create “MyMindsEye” images here at MyArtsySide for 2026. If you haven’t guessed already this one is of a couple of the remaining pieces to be placed in a picture puzzle I just completed. I love taking images and making them abstracts. It adds a little mystery to the image.
There is just something about working picture puzzles that calm my mind.
I think this is the most unique/creative one so far…
Peoria is a city in central Illinois, and has a population of about 100,000. Its Riverfront Museum has some of the most unique art around. When I was there, the main floor was dedicated to Lego art, several are shown below.
With this post, I am going to clue you in on a secret I have learned after visiting at least a hundred museums around the country. It seems that every town or city with more than a population of 1,000 has it local museum. I would say that about half of those type that I have visited were worth the trip. The others were just various local pieces thrown together in one room.
Then there are the large cities, meaning those with a population of 200,000 or more, are primarily made up of Renaissance and similar art pieces they have managed to collect through trusts or inheritance of wealthy people. If they give enough, a room in the museum is named after them. These types of museum have become dull and boring to me. It’s the “same old, same old” every time. Due to my humble upbringing, I can’t help but wonder how all that money could have been used for clinic/housing/feeding of those at the other end of their spectrum.
Then there are those cities between about 70,000 to 200,000 who thrive on their creative juices. They, like this Riverfront Museum, find things that are visually pleasing, but don’t cost a fortune. Those are the museums I mostly sought out during my 50 years of traveling across America.
And this is definitely artsy. These Artsy Ladies were in the Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens which is located in Rockford, Illinois. When I visited in 2017, the Bruce Monro Light Exhibit was the current attraction. This was in the beginning phase of my search for artsy. I don’t know if these ladies were part of that exhibit or a permanent part of the conservatory, but they did fit very well into landscape of the dome. They were about 5 feet tall and made of glass, but I can’t imagine exactly how they were actually constructed.
The conservatory itself is certainly in the top three I have visited. The plants were nice, but the artsy is what flabbergasted me. It is well worth a visit if you are in the Chicago area.
Here are a few other photos with captions if you care to see them. Just click on any image and a larger version will pop up.
