Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Imagine you just happened to inherit 8 billion dollars.  What would you spend your new-found fortune on?  Would you get both a large popcorn and a large drink at the movie theater—a purchase that would normally bust the family budget?  Maybe a passel of fancy sports cars that go zoom-zoom fast for fun?  Maybe a mansion so big that you need a GPS and a Segway to find your way from one end of the house to the other?  Maybe a fleet of private jets to take you to your private island where your private chef and private scuba-diving instructor make sure you have an extraordinarily fun, private time?  With 8 billion dollars, all your wildest consumerist fantasies could become . . . reality.  Even the cinema snacks. 

Alice Walton, the heir to the Walmart fortune, used her largesse in a way that was much more meaningful than the ideas above.  She used her money to collect art.  Working with an art advisor for many years, she gradually acquired a collection of American art that was extraordinary, and then built the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to share that collection with the public for free.  We’ll talk with a leader of the museum today to find out more about the art and the fabulous grounds at Crystal Bridges. Museum website: www.crystalbridges.org

The Museum of Bad Art

The second half of our show today deals with one of the unlikelyest museums found on this planet: The Museum of Bad Art in Boston.  Unlike all the other of the world’s art museums who strive to get good art, this museum defies tradition to do the opposite: acquire some of the worst art anywhere.  If you want funny-looking puppy paintings or a really bad take on Mona Lisa, this is your place.  And bad art is more difficult to find and curate than you’d think.  Our second-hour interview will show you how and why. Museum website: www.museumofbadart.org