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A month or so ago I wrote a post in the 30 day blogging challenge I was doing about a date I would like to go on. Wendy and I finally arranged the “Artist Date” a few weeks ago and headed out on a gorgeous autumn afternoon with our friends Sam and Candace. We spent about and hour or so wandering through the Des Moines Art Center, taking in the collection on display. Each of us then split up and spent just over a half-hour with one work of art that stood out to us for whatever reason.

Being a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon, I spent my time in the courtyard with the DMAC’s iconic statue of a man launching himself off of a pegasus. I’ve seen this sculpture a million times and it had sort of morphed into the background of the Art Center’s surroundings. I didn’t think much about it. So, I took some time to really study it. It spoke to me of the relationship of myth and culture. I realized that the statue, now surrounded by the three very different buildings making up the DMAC, had layers of meaning for me that the artist could have never envisioned since it was conceptualized and installed well before its present surroundings. I thought a lot about the meaning of artwork that gets layered upon it over time and the changes of culture compared to the artist’s original intent. It spoke to me of courage, faith, and adventure.

We stopped for coffee and casual conversation at Zanzibar’s on Ingersoll. It was a great time of building relationship and friendship as the process of knowing and being known deepened between the four of us. We then took a walk through the sculpture garden downtown before ending up at Noah’s for a wonderful dinner.

Over dinner, each of us shared about the work of art with which we spent time. It was really interesting to hear how each piece affected the viewer and intersected with our current life experiences. We had a lively conversation with great food and good wine, topped off with rich, dark chocolate cake for dessert.

The ride home flew by as our conversation continued. Wendy and I could not have enjoyed ourselves more as we looked back on the day. It fulfilled what I’d blogged about and envisioned back in August. Great experiences with great people certainly serve to fill life’s well.