Introduction: The picture above is me getting ready to go into the Harn museum, I feel very intrigued and excited. I chose the Self-Guided tour because I want to observe the pieces at my own pace. In addition, I haven't been to a museum like this before, so I was hoping I might finally have the chance to see some amazing art pieces.

Medium of the Art: As soon as I walk into the Harn museum, I saw this piece on the right side, and I wonder what is this piece trying to say? Upon a closer look, this is a oil on canvas painting called Gate #2 by an American artist Ross Bleckner. What strike the most was that effect of the lock with the lines in the background, when I was looking at this piece, the oil paint made it seem like the lock was moving as I move from left to right. It amazed me that seeing a piece like this in person is way more different than looking at a piece from a computer screen. The unique use of oil painting is what made this "Gate #2" stand out to me.

Design of the Museum: As I walked further into the museum, I stumble upon an interesting section of the museum. In this section, all of the pieces and sculptures are very dark colored, and in contrast, the background of this part of the museum is painted all white. There is no other ways to fully express the magnificence of the arts and attract the visitors other than a dark and light contrast. I was intrigued while walking through this section. After this, I realized that there are a lot more to it other than putting out some expensive art pieces in the open, the design of the displace is also essential when showing an art piece.

Art and Core Values: The picture above is a Bi from Zhou Dynasty. It is a very expensive jewel that can worth up to 15 small cities at the time. When I saw this Bi, it reminded me when I was in elementary school in China, there is an idiom called "Wan Bi Gui Zhao" meaning to return something to the rightful owner. The idiom had a very interesting and long story, but it was about fearlessness and bravery, which is one of core values of human being. This Bi brought back so much memories along with some of the core values we all should have.

Art and the Good Life: I couldn't get a good selfie with these items because they are quite close together and my head would block the pieces. As we can see, these are Jade peaches from the Qing Dynasty. There was a myth that a monkey king stole the peaches from the Jade Emperor and became immortal. That is the same monkey in the movie of Jackie Chan and Jet Li called "The Forbidden Kingdom." These peaches represents long life and prosperity as the description above, and they reminds me of the Good Life. Who doesn't want to live longer and see more of this world, and since science is advancing very fast, who know what we will develop in 60 years. I feel that a Good Life should have its length, as the same for the meaning of these Jade peaches. A Good Life to me should be longer than we expect.