We recently masked up and took a day trip to Columbia, SC (a ~2-hour drive) to visit the Columbia Museum of Art and see their latest exhibitions we’d been hearing about – and, let’s be honest, just to get out of the house and do something different during quarantine.

Here’s what we experienced and why we think you should #TryThis.

Experience:

Visiting the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC

What we tried (with pricing):

The museum (located on Columbia’s Main Street) was ahead of the game when it comes to safety precautions, and has a ton of crowd-control, distancing, touch-free + sanitization practices in place. Masks are required, galleries have capacity limits, and there are distancing signs + hand sanitizer everywhere. So we felt good about mixing up our quarantine routine and getting out of the house for some much-needed culture.

We just so happened to go on First Thursday, which means free admission, but admission ranges from $5-10 (and you can now make reservations in advance). We checked in with the nice, masked-up staff at the welcome desk and got on our way.

Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite is the CMA’s current featured exhibition, open now through Sept. 6. The collection showcases Brathwaite’s photography of the African Jazz Arts Society and Studios (AJASS), the Black modeling group Grandassa Models, and the Naturally fashion shows of 1950-60s Harlem. Very topical right now, the powerful, activism-based exhibition is filled with dozens of portraits and candid shots, plus some jewelry and fashion, beginning with black and white photography and ending in gorgeous sixties-style technicolor.

More photos:

Here are a few of our favorite shots from the Black Is Beautiful exhibition:

9 Price’s Alley before and after | Photos provided

Black Is Beautiful exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art

Black Is Beautiful exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art

Don't miss:

At the end of the Black Is Beautiful exhibition, you walk straight into Design by Time – the museum’s smaller exhibition open through Sept. 13. To us, it felt like a mashup of science and ultra-mod design. Very cool.

10 Elmwood Ave. before and after | Photos provided

In the first-floor community gallery is a companion show to Black Is Beautiful, Anima: The Essence of Blacknuss, ft. the photography of Columbia artist Dalvin “Mustafa” Spann, open until Sept. 27.

See video from our full tour of the exhibitions on our #TryThis Instagram Story Highlight.

10 Limehouse St. before and after | Photos provided

What we’re still talking about:

Being at the museum felt very safe – the space is massive, and they have masked-up staff making sure distancing is happening + basically walking behind people sanitizing anything that gets touched – but perhaps the coolest part of this experience is that we could do it from home.

15 Thomas St. before and after | Photos provided

Museum from Home has been a big initiative of the CMA, where they offer everything from kids activities to BTS peeks inside the museum’s vault of stowed-away art. If you’re not comfortable going to the museum just yet, you can still experience Black Is Beautiful through the video gallery tour (a guided tour by the CMA’s Senior Manager of Education and Interpretation Glenna Barlow). There’s also interviews, playlists, a student exhibition and more – explore everything here.

And if you opt for Museum from Home now, but want to make a day trip later this fall, mark your cal for the next big exhibition, Visions from India, opening Oct. 17. See all current + upcoming exhibitions here.

How you can experience this:

Reserve your tickets online in advance for an in-person visit, or check out Museum from Home.

Things to know if you go:

Experience: Visiting the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC
Price: $5-10 (free for children under 7 and museum members)
Website: https://www.columbiamuseum.org/visit
Address: 1515 Main St., Columbia, SC 29201
Hours: Wed.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
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