Last year in October, I took a trip to San Francisco's Legion of Honor with friends I met in an art class here at Reedley College. Our friendship started slowly, like most friendships do, with us just talking in class and giving each other advice and compliments on each other's art. We slowly started opening up to each other, which then progressed to hanging out outside class and school. It surprised me because the connection we all share is something that I would have never thought to be able to experience. Art was, obviously, the most significant connection in our friendship. So it came as no surprise when we planned a "girls' trip" to the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco. On the car ride there, we blasted music and sang at the top of our lungs, and when we got to the city, we rolled down the windows and enjoyed the ocean air.
Besides all the incredible art we saw at the Legion of Honor, we were most excited about the Mary Cassatt exhibition. Mary Stevenson Cassat was a brilliant American painter and printmaker. Most of her work had a recurring theme: women/motherhood. And as I walked around the exhibition, each piece of her work felt more meaningful than the next. Something about the softness and love that each piece conveyed made me feel so emotional. My chest felt heavy, and my throat tightened as I stared at one specific work: A Goodnight Hug, 1880, pastels on brown paper. I remember standing in front of this painting for so long. As each minute passed, a new group of people would come and go, but I still stayed there. And even as I walked to look at the rest of the exhibition, I came back to stare at this specific piece even more. I remember crying and being confused about why this particular piece of art impacted me so much. The art piece of a mother holding a toddler close and kissing him didn't even show their faces. Instead, the line where both faces met emitted a warm feeling. This piece made me so emotional because it made me think of my mother and how I want to be a mom one day. Although Mary Cassat never married or had children, her art pieces captured the true feeling of being a mother and a woman.
After the tears and walkthrough of the museum, we got lunch at a little restaurant at the bottom of the hill where the art museum was located. In a private corner of the restaurant where we were sitting, we told so many stories and laughed as loudly as we wanted without thinking twice about the weird looks we were receiving. And at the end of the trip, we spontaneously decided to go to the beach. Although we didn't have the proper clothing to get wet, it didn't stop us from taking off our shoes and socks, rolling up our pants, and dipping our feet into the water. Splashing each other as the sun set on the horizon, I stood back to stare at my friends. Here was a group of people who made me feel like the softest version of myself and like I truly mattered in the world. And that overwhelming feeling of womanhood presented itself even stronger throughout this trip.
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