On Saturday, I took in a Chicago Cubs / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game at Wrigley Field. Watching WGN as a little boy, I became a lifelong Cubs fan. Daytime baseball, the brick, the ivy, and the seventh-inning stretch with Harry Caray made quite an impression on a young boy.
When a friend offered me a ticket to this game, I was particularly interested because of the chance to watch Mike Trout play. For those who don’t actively follow baseball, the Angels’ Mike Trout is becoming a once-in-a-generation talent, who not only possesses all five tools of a great baseball player (speed, fielding, arm strength, hitting for average, hitting for power), but also carries himself as a tremendous ambassador for the game.
He is the best in his profession. There are other greats right now, but he’s the finest. Alas, an injury prevented him from playing this weekend. Although I took in a fun afternoon of baseball with friends, I missed my chance to watch someone who is the best at what they do.
Fortunately, at the Woodson, we have plenty of those opportunities. As the Birds in Art submission deadline of April 22 approaches, artists from around the world are sending images of artworks to the Museum, eagerly hoping to be a part of the 44th edition of Birds in Art. While art is subjective, without statistics measuring and ranking an artist as the best, it’s not too hard to figure out who is at the top of their game.
This fall, visitors will have their own opportunities to find out who the best is by viewing the artwork juried into the exhibition, meeting many of the artists on Birds in Art opening day, Saturday, September 7, and watching some of them demonstrate during the popular “Artists in Action.”
Who knows, maybe Mike Trout will start moonlighting as an artist? He already loves having “ducks on the pond,” why not draw them?
