Art in the Evenings

"A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." - Eudora Welty

On Friday evenings, the North Carolina Museum of Art puts on Art in the Evening, where the doors are kept open until 9, they crack bottles of wine and beer and offer small plates to nosh on, and bands catering to small audiences get a chance to bring down the house.

Last Friday, I was alone and had nowhere to be. So I went.

I stood on line for a drink and listened to Sidecar Social Club, their sassy vocalist shaking it in her backless dress. I had arrived halfway through their set and the audience was pleasantly buzzed - on drinks and on company.

"This is my first time here," I told the lady standing behind me. "What's the nametag you are wearing for?"

"There's a big group of us here for a meet-up - 40s and 50s singles group," she smiled, snapping her fingers to the beat, and gave me a quick glance over. "But there are younger groups here, too!"

I had no idea it was obvious I was here alone. 

I tossed back the rest of my shiraz and wandered into the galleries.

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The NCMA's West Building is wondrous, a delight in form, function, and beauty.

The music reached the back galleries rich and muted. I stepped around carefully, painfully aware of my heels clicking on the hardwood.

As I moved in to study a painting, I heard a stifled laugh and saw a flash of curls around a partition to my left. I leaned forward carefully and watched as a man dipped the woman in his arms back again, her long hair tumbling towards the floor and another squealing laugh tumbling from her lips.

It was one of the most beautiful things I saw all evening, that couple, dancing in the most remote corner of the museum. For a split second, I wished that I could have captured it with a picture - that moment when she appeared around the partition, her eyes closed, eyebrows arched, and smile joyfully big in the skylight's quickly dwindling sun.

But instead, as I quietly exited, I was just thankful for the small pleasure of having witnessed it.

Some art is better left unphotographed.