Bergamont Station

Once a week, I try to take a half day that's especially for me. I am free to do whatever I want. And normally what I want to do is see a play, go to a museum, have tea, go hiking, or any other activity that we seem to never have time for.

This adventure took me to Bergamont Station in Santa Monica. This is where you will find the Santa Monica Musuem of Art, but you will also find many other art galleries. This cultural center started out as a vacant airport hanger. There were plans on turning it into a light rail station, but instead agreed on to make in artist's studios, which officially opened in September 17, 1994. There are so many galleries that you will need to take a few day trips to look through them all thoroughly. Believe me, you will want to take your time.

I arrived to the Station around 3pm on a Tuesday, which was perfect as I didn't have to fight the 600,000 people that arrive every year. My first stop was the Santa Monica Musuem of Art, which is free, but they ask for a $5 donation. Since, I only had a couple of hours, I wanted to use the rest of my time in the galleries that especially interested me.

One of those galleries was the Hiromi paper, Inc. This place was full of crafted paper made from organic materials such as flowers, grass, etc. It was beautiful. You could purchase the paper for whatever suited you, like gift wrapping, orgami, even book covers. I spent the majority of my time in there examining all the different types of paper created. And I felt ashamed of my ignorance of paper. I'm used to the ones we find at office supplies store, which is not exciting, but making paper can truly be an art.

Next, I found myself in the Lois Lambert Gallery. This was the gallery of functional art. It was awesome! I felt like a kid in a candy store. I kept looking around to see who else was there so I could point out the next cool thing I found. I was very excitable, but who cares? This place will do that to you. They had a chair made from glass bottles, hanging pictures that turned into a chair and desk, and many other things. When you walked in there, there was a hodpodge of items everywhere. You will have to search through things slowly to see all the neat designs. Quickly browsing will not open all the unique items available to intrigue your senses.

After those few places, I was full of inspiration and admiration. So, I decided to leave the other galleries for another day. Not to mention, I was pretty hungry. If you ever find yourself in the Santa Monica area, take a little time to visit Bergamont Station. The art we can create is truly amazing.