Some months back, I visited USC for an IMAX movie. On the way to the Natural History museum, I was stopped in my tracks by a white structure looming ominously on the West side of campus. Wow! Rounded, organic, grassy knolls on the top of it, with a hole large enough to fly a plane through. And huge! A full size cruise ship? Seeing it get ever larger as I approached stirred in me that awesome feeling of childhood wonder and curiosity. What a mysterious find! Soon to be an adventure. Perhaps this was a landed space ship of friendly aliens that decided to stay for a while!

When this "space ship" finally opened its doors, I made sure to be there. My friend and I spent 2-3 hours and were simply gluttonous in our intake of all the art, creativity, and inspiration these collections had to offer us. In fact, we simply became aesthetically over-satiated in those few hours even before completing the tour. We decided to come back with new eyes at a later date to be able to more fully enjoy the treasures stored in the other Galleries.

History of Narrative Art: Heroes * Myths * The Sacred:
This gallery is cavernously dark, and like all the rooms in the structure, rounded like a cavern as well. Most of the works here are framed backlit prints. The view took my breath away. A winding collection of art, presented as a stream of color-speckled rectangles leading the way through dark! Amidst the reproductions, actual oil masterpieces shine just as brightly, front lit from spotlights above. Stunning. Simply Stunning.

The Norman Rockwell Collection:
OMG. Even if this museum was limited to this one collection - I'd still consider the day and admission price well spent. Rockwell is a national treasure, beloved by so many, including myself. Lucas brings these gems all in one location and invites viewers to get up close and personal with these originals. Soak up all those careful design choices, colors, exacting, craftsmanship, and humor! You breathe it in and become it! You experience the emotions Rockwell chose to paint. And to christen it, a life-sized bronze sculpture of Rockwell's self-portrait welcomes you.

Soon the Space Shuttle will reopen at the CalSci Center, together with this beautiful Lucas Museum, the other museums on campus, and the Imax theater (one of the few actual original full-size Imax theaters left in LA), the USC campus hosts attractions worth spending 2-5 days exploring. And with that said, I'll be back to continue my review of the Lucas Museum in Part II!