Road Trip: The great American (art) roadtrip

A photo diary from Texas + Bentonville

For the last two weeks, I have been road-tripping across part of the USA. From Art Basel Miami, I hopped on a plane to Dallas to meet Keiran, who had been at a residency for two months in Corsicana, Texas.

We spent 5 days in Texas before starting our drive back home. The itinerary was as follows: Tulsa, OK > Bentonville, AR > Mountainview, AR > Memphis, TN > Nashville, TN > Bourbon Mile, KT > Columbus, OH. Most of the road trip wasn’t art-related, so I’ll keep my commentary brief: I nicknamed Arkansas “Darkansas”; I loved Nashville more than I thought I would; we went to see Zach Bryan in his home state of Oklahoma; and the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis was a highlight of the tour, embuing the entire road trip with an appropriate amount of gravity.

In terms of art, Texas had some of the best museums and galleries I’ve visited. I especially recommend a trip to Fort Worth for the Kimbell and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. After, go straight to Joe Garcia’s for a margarita and Tex-Mex. I immediately took a nap upon departing.

1.1: Fort Worth

Kimbell Art Museum, designed by Louis I. Kahn, houses 125 Dutch masterpieces. The building itself is a work of art, rivalled only by the paintings within.

When I was younger, I’d skip over Renaissance paintings to head straight to the modern and contemporary wings. The work at the Kimbell showed me what a mistake that was. Notably, I think the museum works to highlight paintings from this era by not being overhung.

Ladder for Booker T. Washington by Martin Puryear at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was a favourite. Other highlights included Rothko, Sally Mann, Nann Goldin, and Philip Guston.

Restaurant Reccomendation: Joe T. Garcia's

1.2: Corsicana

From Fort Worth we journeyed back to Corsicana, stopping at Bucee’s along the way. On Friday, we sang karaoke at the Corsicana Opry. On Saturday, 100 West Artist Residency hosted open studios. Curators, gallerists, collectors, and artists stopped by to see the work the artists had produced during the two-month residency.

A herd of animal-like sculptures by Katie Hudnall, an artist who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she runs the Woodworking and Furniture Program at the University of Madison. These objects were so delightful and playful. Every person I saw was smiling as they moved through the room.

Paintings by my husband, Keiran Brennan Hinton, who is very talented. All of the 20+ paintings he produced were created on-site, en plein air (painted directly from life).

Restaurant Reccomendation: Cocina Las Tres Marias

1.3: Dallas

I love a publicly accessible private art collection! Anthony Cudahy and Ian Lewandowski at the Green Family Art Collection make a great pairing.

Cecily Brown at the Dallas Modern of Art.

One of the best paintings I’ve seen recently, by Kyle Dunn. I had to pull Keiran away from it.

I'm mostly familiar with Hugh Hayden’s basketball nets from his 2021 show in NYC at Lisson Gallery. It was nice to see a full spectrum of Hayden’s work in his hometown.

12.26 is my favourite discovery of the last year. I feel our tastes perfectly align. I was lucky enough to catch Judith Dean & Georgia McGovern’s exhibition the day before it was de-installed. I loved the collage and stamped elements in McGovern’s work, paired with the oil paint that has the appearance of being drawn on.

Restaurant Reccomendation: Một Hai Ba

2.1: Bentonville, Arkansas

Nestled within Darkansas is a Hallmark town with one of the country's most notable private art museums, Crystal Bridges, which includes a pristine Frank Lloyd Wright house. The collection is courtesy of the Walton family—the town is the birthplace of Walmart.

Restaurant Reccomendation: The longest standing docent at Crystal Bridges, Johnny, recommended Tavola Trattoria.

I hope everyone’s holidays are safe, happy, and bright! I will still be publishing through the season to give you some art to look at during the break!