Frist Center, Nashville

My friend suggested a "field trip" to see two exhibits at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Built in 1934, the Frist was Nashville's main Post Office for fifty years. Repurposed as a museum, it specializes in hosting traveling exhibits. The building's art deco details have been carefully preserved. Metal grillwork rises above the entrance, wavy chrome lines crisscrossing to frame decorative panels. Backlit motifs of spiraling ferns glow from molded glass blocks. Even the stars on the edges of the ceiling shine. This is a view from the upper level, a happy rhythm of window grids and slightly curved wall panels. I love it when the building turns out to be as interesting as the art it shelters.