Manage Museum Overload II

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Today Sheldon and a friend named Summer and I went to The Art Institute. We got on a train in the late morning and arrived there at 1:30 PM. I was feeling very tired today, but it was lovely to be with these two people. The manner in which we perused the exhibits also helped me to manage my fatigue. I often experience extreme fatigue before my period. If you are a brave soul and would like to read more about my take on PMS click here, here, here or here. Our system of managing the hugeness of the museum made the experience fun and not too overwhelming. It was a lovely afternoon. All of these pictures are ones that I drew at the museum as we were looking. Read this post to find out how and why I make them. 

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Our first strategy was to talk ahead of time about what each person wanted to see most. Summer wanted to see Impressionists and European artists. Sheldon wanted to see Japanese prints and I wanted to see the art of School of the Art Institute Alumni. This helped us to focus on a few key exhibits rather than floundering around waiting to be inspired by something. It helped us to focus our limited time before our train and to not waste precious energy.

Our second strategy was to plan a coffee break in the middle of the time. Sheldon told us that he likes to go to the museum cafe and have a cup of coffee and then return to browsing. This helped us to break the time of standing and looking in half. When our energy was flagging we knew that it was time to make out way to the cafe. We found three seats even though it was packed and were able to sit down and chat for a long while. This was one of my favourite parts of the day, because we had fun getting to know one another a little better. I also used my black Sharpie to draw a fake tattoo on Sheldon's neck. He walked around in his suit jacket and collared shirt and a neck tattoo for the rest of the day. He said it was an interesting social experiment because people kept staring at his neck. I thought it looked great. The rest of his appearance is so formal and clean-cut, but the neck-tattoo added just the right amount of rebellion. It felt like I was dating a cool former motorcycle gang member gone square. I also used the time at the cafe to draw the sketch of Summer at the beginning of this post.

The final method we employed for not getting Museum Overload was to sit down. Standing around looking at things can take it out of you, even though it sounds like it shouldn't. But I would get very tired suddenly. Instead of just managing it and carrying on I told Summer and Sheldon which bench I would be on and that when they were through looking at the exhibit they should come find me. This helped, because it did not stop either of them from browsing and it helped me to manage my fatigue. I  didn't feel like I was missing out on paintings I rather felt like I was gathering energy in order to better enjoy the next ones I would get to see.