Looking West: An Exhibition Highlighting Works by American Women Artists

Did you know that only 3-5% of the permanent holdings in art museums worldwide are by women artists? How pathetic is this?  This is why American Women Artists a non profit art organization made of up women artists in the United States and Canada,  made it their mission to do something about it.  Founded in 1991 with 12 artists exhibiting at the Tucson Museum of Art it is now an organization comprising some of the top women artists today.  AWA’s first juried competition was held in 1997-1998 and since then AWA has launched a 25 in 25 Campaign.  Twenty five exhibitions in twenty five years in prestigious museums throughout the United States.  These exhibitions include other events such as plein air paint outs, and keynote speaking symposiums, open to the public wherever the shows are being held.  

Steamboat Art Museum

I was so impressed with the caliber of artists in this group and truly believed in their mission I joined a few years ago and am extremely proud to have just received Signature status with AWA.  For those not familiar with what that means, Signature status is usually awarded to an artist who has been juried into 3 exhibitions with that particular group or society.  Some groups it may take years to achieve.  AWA also accepts a variety of media including sculpture into their shows.  

My Painting “My Point of View,” Top Second From Left

Steamboat Art Museum

The most current AWA exhibition, Looking West: An Exhibition Highlighting Works by American Women Artists is at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The show runs, May 24-September 2, 2019.  I recently returned from all the events coinciding with the Opening Reception at the museum.  There are approximately 150 works in the show and it was attended by almost half of the artists!  It was a wonderful opportunity to make new friends and meet in person many artists whose work I have admired for years!  

Steamboat Art Museum

Steamboat Art Museum

One of the events was a workshop given by Carolyn Anderson.  Since I’m primarily a watercolor painter I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity. I’ve heard Carolyn is an excellent teacher.  The first full day in Steamboat, a plein air event was organized in the Yampa River Botanic Park.  I love visiting gardens when I travel, and was thrilled to see trees and flowers from a different climate than Florida.  Since I’m not used to seeing Aspen trees, that is what I chose to paint.  

Yampa River Botanic Park

Painting en Plein Air at Yampa River Botanic Part

Aspen Trees, Watercolor, Painted en Plein Air at Yampa River Botanic Park

That afternoon, Nancy Boren, gave a demonstration at the Wild Horse Gallery. Nancy is an artist I  have long admired and I was thrilled to meet her and get to know her.  Nancy is primarily a figurative painting and not only is her portfolio of work stunning, so was much of the other artist’s work represented in the Wild Horse Gallery.  Visiting the gallery was an extra added bonus in addition to the AWA show. 

Nancy Boren Demonstration at Wild Horse Gallery

The second day we were invited to the 83 acre ranch of well known Western Artist, John Fawcett.  John is an oil and watercolor painter and I first came across his work in person at the 2017 Quest for the West Show at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana.  John and his wife, Elizabeth, where so gracious to host our group and provide a barbecue feast!  This was my first experience painting snow capped mountains.  Just three days before I arrived on the first day of summer Steamboat got about a foot of snow.  Then the rest of the week it was in the mid 80’s. Crazy!

The Fawcett Ranch

My Plein Air Set Up

My Painting Buddy, Carol Swinney

Snow Capped, Watercolor, Painted en Plein Air

That afternoon invited guest artist Carol Carter, gave a demonstration.  I was thrilled to get to spend time with Carol.  She will be joining me again in September for the Florida Watercolor Society’s  48th Annual Exhibition, Convention, & Trade Show in Orlando.  As President of FWS for 2019 I invited Carol three years ago to jury and judge the FWS Show and teach a 4 day workshop with us.  I love Carol and I’m excited to see her again. 

Carol Carter Demonstration

The third day was the Awards Ceremony and Opening Reception of the exhibition for the community and the museum patrons of the Steamboat Art Museum.  At every museum show the museum, with a purchase award, acquires a painting from the show.  Heide Presse will now have her painting, “Pursuing a Dream,” part of the museum’s permanent collection.  

Heide Presse’s Special Exhibit, We Set Our Faces Westward…One Woman’s Journey 1839-1848

Four guest speakers made up the Symposium on the last day of festivities.  Heidi Presse gave a talk on a major project she is working on, We Set Our Faces Westward… One Woman’s Journey 1939-1848.  We were so fortunate to see a preview in the museum of some of Heide’s finished pieces and concepts for others she will be painting.  This project tells the true story of pioneer women gleaned from her 1848 Oregon Trail journal.  The lengths Heide has gone to to be as historically accurate as possible are mind boggling.  Cant find a quilt, costume or bonnet to feature in a painting?  Heide makes her own, historically accurate.  The second speaker was invited guest artist Carol Carter who gave an extremely informative talk on how she built and maintains her art career.  

Jann’s Book

The third presenter was Jann Haynes Gilmore, PhD, art historian, writer, and watercolorist.  Jann’s passion are women artists who have historically fallen throughs the cracks, and feels their stories should be told.  Jann spoke on a remarkable woman artist, Olive Rush, who was the first independent women to be part of the Santa Fe Artists.  Independent refers to the fact that she did not become part of the group based on marriage or an affiliation with a man.  Born in Indiana, studied illustration with noted illustrator Howard Pyle, (as did N.C. Wyeth), her story is fascinating.  Jann has authored an impressive book on her life, Olive Rush: Finding Her Place in the Santa Fe Art Colony, which I’m looking forward to reading.

Donna Howell-Sickles Demonstration

At the end the Symposium noted Western artist Donna Howell-Sickles did a demonstration.  Donna was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2007, and is the first woman artist to be asked to create the artwork for the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, OR.  It is the most iconic rodeo in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association.  In Donna’s 40 year career she has featured the iconic cowgirl in her work.  

To top off the week, a few of us went to the Steamboat Professional Rodeo!  Another first for me to see a rodeo in person!  

From left, Laurie Stevens, Kim Minichiello, Carol Swinney, Carol Carter

The Yampa River

The town of Steamboat was so beautiful and charming.  It was hard to leave and come back to hot and humid Florida.  I’m still on a high from my spectacular few days there!  No pun intended, or maybe it was. 

Monet: The Late Years at the de Young Museum, San Francisco

Wow, I can’t believe it’ has been so long since my last blog post! Before talking about the Monet Exhibition, I’ll give you a brief update. I have had a lot of irons in the fire this year.  If you subscribe to my newsletter, you know in January, after working on the Board of Directors of the Florida Watercolor Society for four years, I’m officially President for 2019.  It takes a substantial amount of time to plan for an Annual Exhibition, Convention and Trade show attended by 600 people!  That is all taking place in Orlando September 19-22.  Everyone is invited!  If you would like more information, head on over the FWS web site.  We are also offering four workshops prior to the big Convention, taught by Carol Carter, Carrie Waller, Steve Rogers and Vladislav Yeliseyev.  Check those out too and come join the fun!

I’ve also been teaching a few workshops, and  squeaking some painting time in here and there.  Last March I had eight lovely students join me in my home studio for a “How to Achieve Texture in Watercolor Workshop.”  If any of you have taken a workshop in my home studio, you can vouch that I spoil and pamper you the whole time!  Contact me if you would like to be added to my “Advanced Notice List” for workshops or subscribe to my newsletter, which will always let you know where I will be teaching.  

The Artist's House at Giverny 1912-1913

I’ve  sent work out to some amazing exhibitions that I was honored to be chosen for.  The Fallbrook International Signature Watermedia Exhibition in Fallbrook, California  and The American Women Artists 25 Museums in 25 Years, show this year at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat, Colorado.  I’ll be heading out there in June for the opening.  I’m currently in a show at the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens  in Winter Park, Florida, called “Precious Pollinators,” with the Central Florida Watercolor Society.  It’s a great show focusing on a worthy cause,  making us aware of the current plight of the bee population! 

Corner of the Water-Lily Pond 1918, 1919

Corner of the Water-Lily Pond 1918, 1919

One of the highlights of the year was attending the Plein Air Convention, in San Francisco last April.  More on that event in the next blog post!  My husband, also a plein air painter joined me and we arrived a couple of days early to take in museums.  As luck would have it, Monet: The Late Years was going on at the de Young Museum!  If you are a follower of my blog you may have read a series of posts I have done on Monet, prompted by reading Mad Enchantment by Ross King.  Welcome, if you are new and happened upon this post! If you would like to read that series of posts start here.  This show at the de Young focused on the exact time period as King’s book.  The show closes on May 27, if you are in the area it is worth a visit.   

It blows my mind how prolific he was in the latter years of his life, painting the whole time during World War I, trying to overcome his difficulty with cataracts and the death of his wife.  The body of work, in the show was from museums across the globe, and many were from private collections. I always think when I see a painting from a private collection how lucky I am to have the chance to see it and study it.  Talk about living in the moment! In the span of 16 years from his 70’s to his death at age 86, he painted bigger, bolder, and more abstractly focusing on a limited subject matter, his gardens at Giverny, most notably the water lily pond.  

Water Lilies 1914, 1917

Water Lilies 1914 1917, Detail

Water Lilies1914, 1915

Water Lilies 1914, 1915, Detail

Water Lilies 1921, 1922?

Water Lilies 1921, 1022?, Detail

It is believed by the curators that many of the works in this show are studies for the “Grand Decoration,” the momumental works in the L’Orangerie in Paris. This exhibition was such an inspiration!  I hope at that age I have the health to continue to do what I love to do, and the freedom to play and experiment to my heart’s desire!   Do you have a favorite Monet painting or museum moment?  I would love to hear about it.  

Links to Other Monet Articles:

Part 1: Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies by Ross King

Part 2: Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies by Ross King

Musée L’Orangerie: A Peculiar Visit

Outlander "The New World" Costume Exhibit at the SCAD Museum of Art

The phenomenon  that has become “Outlander” started with a series of seven novels written by Diana Gabaldon first published in 1991 through 2009.  If you like historical fiction with a time travel twist then this series is for you.  The first novel titled “Outlander” was inspired by an episode of Dr. Who, and her idea for the series and the characters evolved from there.   With degrees in zoology and marine biology, Diana has a very interesting background, you can read about her here.  

Costumes for Claire and Jamie Fraser

In 2014 a television series based on the Outlander books premiered on Starz, and has been a popular franchise ever since. The fourth season “The New World,” premiered this past November 4. My daughter and I have been huge Outlander fans from day one.  The story, time period, place, actors, costumes, music, we love it all.  The series and music soundtrack kept her company on many nights in college while working on projects or writing papers and was my background music for many life drawing sessions.   Now an actor and  graduate of SCAD, Savannah College of Art & Design,  she was recently invited back to the Savannah Film Festival that SCAD sponsors every year.  

Costumes for Native American Characters

One of the highlights this year was the season four premier “The New World.”  In conjunction with the premier was a Q & A with the cast and an exhibition of some of the costumes from the new season at the SCAD Museum of Art.  The costumes are designed by Emmy award winning costume designer, Terry Dresbach.  

Actors from left to right, Sophie Skelton (Brianna Randall Fraser), Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser), and Caitriona Balfe (Claire Randall Fraser), photo credit Alaina Minichiello

Detail, costume Native American Character

As it happens, I was traveling to Charleston, South Carolina to pick up artwork from two shows I was part of this past summer and fall with WAM: Women Artists Mentors members at the Customs House Museum in Clarksville, Tennessee and The City Gallery in North Charleston.  Savannah is just a hop skip and a jump away so I made detour to see the exhibition.  

Costume Claire Fraser

Years ago I used to do textile art and a had a little part of myself that had the desire to go into costume design, but chose a different design path.  It was a treat for me to study the show and get a little “Outlander” fix in anticipation of the new season.  

Costumes, Native American and Slave Characters

If you live in the area, the show closes on December 2, you still a little time left! 

Costume, Native American Character

A little tip:   To all my fellow artists out there if you ever do go the the SCAD Museum of Art, just across the street is the SCAD book store, Ex Libres.  Unlike any other college book store, it has three floors of art supplies!  As SCAD has such a diverse range of majors, there are goodies in there that you won’t find in other art stores. 

Musée de L'Orangerie in Paris: A Peculiar Visit

While living in Paris, I felt very fortunate to visit the L’Orangerie many times.  I never got tired of going.  On one occasion, as I entered the first oval room beyond the entrance, I noticed something a bit peculiar.  The room was almost completely empty aside from four gentleman strategically standing at each entrance and exit,  and two in the middle along the perimeter of the oval.  They were all dressed in black, with suit jackets, neatly coiffed with tight short hair cuts, sporting ear pieces.  I felt like I was walking onto a movie set, however, there were no cameras or lights.  In the center of the room was a very tall African America man with a women who appeared to be one of the curators of the museum. 

Claude Monet's "Water Lilies, Reflecions of Weeping Willows," ca. 1918, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  A study for the the grand paintings in the L'Orangerie in Paris

 The men in dark suits watched my every move.  Wherever I want their eyes followed me.  It felt rather creepy.  The tall African American gentleman looked familiar but I couldn’t place who he was.  I knew I had seen him before.  As he proceeded to the next room all the "suits"  surrounded him and staged themselves as before, in the second room.  I followed.  I sat on a bench in front of one the water lily paintings where I could also get a good look at the tall gentleman all the “suits"   seemed to be  protecting.  It finally dawned on me!  It was the former Attorney General of the Untied States Eric Holder, obviously being surrounded by US Secret Service Agents. However at the time he was “the” Attorney General under the Obama Administration.   This was almost ten years ago.  I’m not so sure they would even let other patrons in the same room with the Attorney General now.  The crowd was very light that day.  Myself and a handful of others aside from these very special guests were the only ones there.  They kept a very watchful eye on where we were all pointing our cameras!

Here is a short video to give you the idea of the space.  Forgive the quality this was taken on a small Sony camera pre cell phone!  It will sill still give you an idea of the scale of the paintings in this one room.  This video was shot on a different day than the one described above.  I wasn't taking the chance of getting my camera confiscated by the Secret Service!   

Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet & the Paintings of the Water Lilies, Part II

Today I’m posting the second part to a previous blog post about Claude Monet and the book Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet & the Paintings of the Water Lilies, continuing my blog series on Monet, Giverny, and Other French Musings.

As  mentioned in my previous post,  the Museé Claude Monet a L’Orangerie des Tuileries had opened to little fan fare, which was perplexing since Monet had become one of the most well know, and collected artists of his time.  His long time friend, Georges Clemenceau, noted bitterly that a sign announcing a dog show in another part of the building was much more prominent than the one announcing the inauguration of the Museé Claude Monet in May of 1927,  just five months after Monet’s death. 

It was as if France had turned on Monet.  France’s most important daily art newspaper claimed his water lily masterpieces, what he called his "Grand Decoration," “The work of an old man.”  An assistant curator at the Museé Luxembourg, exclaimed, “For me this period is no long Impressionism, but it’s decline.” 

                                                                                                 Detail of a panel of Les Nymphéas

 Art lovers and critiques at the turn of the century where ready to move on.  Tastes were changing.  But instead of praising the Impressionism movement, they scorned it and the artists that were part of it.  In a special issue of L’Art Vivant, which devoted six articles to Monet in 1927, one critique claimed Monet’s paintings were, “postcard niceties of a certain American taste purchased by the vulgar nouveaux riches."  They had nothing nice to say about the museum itself claiming the space was sterile, uninviting and viewing the paintings in the two oval rooms was a “disagreeable experience.” 

Monet’s donation and the newly opened museum continued to plummet in popularity.   The museum was poorly maintained the light quality was dismal and the oval rooms housing these great masterpieces were used for other functions.  At one point, an exhibition of Flemish tapestries was hung in front of Monet’s paintings, water was known to leak down through the skylight and drip on the canvases, and one of the two rooms was used as a storage area.  Monet’s godson, and son of artist Camille Pissarro, claimed Monet had been twice buried, once after his death and the second time with the opening of the museum. A retrospective of Monet’s work in 1931, supplemented by canvases that were in his studio when he died, brought even more scathing comments of his work and those of the Impressionists.  

                                                                                          Detail of a panel of Les Nymphéas

During World War II, the L’Orangerie was bombed and one of the panels was damaged.  The lack of concern was so great, the shrapnel wouldn’t be removed for another 20 years.  The building itself was renovated in the 1960’s with another story added to the top eliminating the skylights that illuminated Monet’s work. This after the French Ministry acquired the Jean Walter-Paul Guillaume collections consisting of works by Picasso, Cézanne and Renoir.   Essentially the magnificent water lily panels were relegated to the basement in a gloomy dark space. 

                                                                                                 Detail of a panel of Les Nymphéas

It wasn’t until after World War II that things started to change.  The L’Orangerie became a place of pilgrimage for Americans, especially the American art students on the GI bill in the late  40’s and 50’s, who rushed to admire the Nymphéas by Monet.  Ellsworth Kelly, an ex-soldier studying in Paris reached out to Michel Monet and Jean Pierre Hoschedé, Monet’s son and step-son to ask if he could visit Giverny which had been abandoned and was in disrepair.  Monet’s studio still housed a number of canvases sharing the space with birds and other creatures.  He produced Tableaux Vert now housed at the  Chicago Art Institute as an homage to Monet and Giverny.  

In the 1950’s and 60’s American and Canadian painters kept Monet’s spirit alive living and working in the area around Giverny.  American artist Joan Mitchell purchased and lived on a property in Vétheuil. The gardener’s cottage there had once been Monet’s home.  Mitchell and the painters of the Abstract Expressionists movement were greatly influenced by Monet’s later work seeming to fit  right in with the works of the time by Pollack, Rothko, and Mitchell.  

It is ironic that the renewed interest in Monet’s work would have been brought on by Abstract Expressionists, especially American ones.  Monet disliked work of the Americans and “avant garde” contemporaries of the 1920’s.  He did not want to see or have anything to do with Cubism and it probably would have gotten his goat that his works were being compared to the “Abstract Expressionists” of the 1950’s and 60’s.  It was the renewed interest of this group that brought attention to his later water lily paintings and once again American collectors came to snap them up.  Walter Chrysler purchased a large scale water lily canvas for the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in a fire and was replaced by another work purchased from a dealer in Paris who had bought  most of the remaining work of Monet from his son Michel. Word spread to American collectors as it had when Monet was alive. Joseph Pulitzer III, a passionate collector of modern art purchased a six foot wide water lily canvas in which he decorated his pool house at his mansion in St. Louis.

Fast forward to 1996, the French Minister of culture at the time realized the curation of the placement of the Jean Guillaume collection to the Monet Nymphéas were completely backwards.  The doors to the Musée de L’Orangerie closed in 2000 and a major renovation to the museum begin in 2003. During the demolition the paintings were hermetically sealed in reinforced boxes and temperature and humidity controlled.  The second story added in the 1960’s was removed with the water lily paintings often being in distress, setting off alarms during the jack hammering of  the demolition.  The project would take six years and $36 million dollars.  Now Monet’s  Grande Decoration, takes the place of prominence lit with natural light from skylights above, just as Monet would have wanted it.  The Guillaume collection is exhibited in the annex below along with a space for special exhibitions.  

I have visited the L’Orangerie before and after the 2003 renovation.  Today, it is hard not to find a line stretching out the door into the the Tuileries Gardens.  Avoiding weekend crowds, on cold gloomy winter days it became a place of meditation for me when I lived in Paris.  Monet had come full circle, his grande vision of the space to house his last momentous project of his life, is appreciated and visited by thousands.  

Come back for the next post which will tell the story of a very peculiar visit to the L'Orangerie! 

Links:

Musée de L'orangerie, Paris France

Part I: Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet & the Paintings of the Water Lilies

New York Highlights

I had such a magical trip to New York on so many levels!  The highlight was attending the 151st American Watercolor Society's Exhibition and Award Dinner.  I was so honored to receive the Winsor & Newton Award for my painting Maiko's Misedashi.  The best part of the evening was meeting so many of the artists in the exhibition that I had only known on line.  I loved being able to make the personal connections and share the joyous camaraderie with everyone! 

Here is a panoramic view of the upper gallery before the award dinner.  I was like a kid in a candy store looking at all the work.

Another view looking back toward the front entrance of the upper gallery.  Out of a few thousand entries from all over the world the jury selects only one hundred and forty four paintings.  Only thirty two paintings win awards.  Winning this award will be one of the highlights of my art career. 

The exhibition and headquarters for the American Watercolor Society is at the historic Salmagundi Club, on Fifth Avenue just a couple blocks up from Washington Square, in Greenwich Village.   This club is one the oldest art organizations in the country founded in 1871.  A roster of former members include, George Inness, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Andrew Wyeth, just to name a few.  Sir Winston Churchill is an honorary member.  The club owns over 1,500 works of art spanning its, 147 years.  It just reeks of history and you can feel it when you walk in the door.  It is also one of the only surviving brownstones in Manhattan.

photo Wikimedia Commons

One of my favorite museums to visit is the Neue Galerie where the famous "Woman in Gold" or "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer"  by Gustav Klimt is housed in an old mansion on Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side.  Seeing this work in person takes your breath away and I never get tired of seeing it.  There are also some incredble pieces from the Wiener Werkstatte, Vienna in the museum. 

photo from the Neue Galerie web site: http://www.neuegalerie.org/cafes/sabarsky

A highlight of a visit to the Neue Galerie is having lunch or a typical Viennese dessert. Within the museum is the Café Sabarsky, it really captures the interior and feeling of an authentic Viennese Coffee Shop!  They are also open for dinner and feature cabaret shows on certain evenings of the month.

A café Vienne at the Café Sarbarsky

While I'm on the subject of food, one of my all time favorite things to eat is Japanese Ramen.  I will go on a Ramen quest to find a good bowl. This trip I returned to one of my favorite places, Momofuku Noodle Bar and tried a new place, Ivan Ramen.  If you are Ramen obsessed  and subscribe to Netflix you might enjoy The Mind of a Chef, Season 1 Ep. 1 featuring Chef David Chang of Momofuku Noodle Bar and  Chefs Table, Volume 3, Ep. 4 featuring chef Ivan Orkin.

I'm a huge jazz fan, and listen to mostly jazz, classical and world music while I paint.  One of my bucket list to do's was to see Wynton Marsalis live.  I got to check that one off my list this trip!  He performed with his orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center featuring the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington.  The second half was solely Duke Ellington's Black, Brown & Beige, his longest most ambitious composition.  Here is a link to a good recording I found featuring Ellington with Mahalia Jackson. 

No visit to New York is complete for me without visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met.  I’m always anxious to see the floral designs in The Grand Hall.  Each visit I pick a certain area to focus on and really take my time.  Temporary exhibitions get priority.  This visit there was an excellently curated exhibit “Visitors to Versailles.”  Stay tuned for a future blog post on that.  This trip I went to The Met three times.  It's like going to church for me. 

photo credit Alaina Minichiello

Another place to visit that is part of The Met is The Met Cloisters.  I had a wonderful day there with my daughter Alaina.  Located on 4 acres overlooking the Hudson River near 120th Street, it is the museum dedicated to the architecture, gardens and art of medieval Europe. 

photo credit Alaina Minichiello

photo credit Alaina Minichiello

The herb garden features only medicinal herbs or those used for utilitarian purposes such as dying cloth.  Scottish Thistle seed pods were used as down for stuffing for bedding and clothing. 

photo credit Alaina Minichiello

photo credit Alaina Minichiello

The Cloisters are known for their collection of medieval unicorn tapestries.

Installation in progress of Heavenly Bodies: Fasion and the Catholic Imagination at The Met Cloisters

We just missed by eleven days the opening of the Costume Institutes 2018 spring exhibition at The Met, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.  This annual spring exhibition coincides with The Met Gala which is the Costume Institute’s Benefit which Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazine co-chairs. This year will be her 20th Gala. The Gala is always held on the first Monday of May, the only day The Met is closed.  Whenever I need an inspirational pick me up, I love to watch the documentary, “The First Monday in May,”  made for the 2015 exhibition,  China: Through the Looking Glass,  which features Andrew Bolton, curator for the Costume Institute.  This years exhibition will be the largest, featuring papel robes and accessories  that have never left the Vatican and Catholic and religious influenced fashions from the worlds leading designers.   The exhibition will be showing in three locations, The Met Fifth Ave Galleries, The Met Costume Institute, and The Met Cloisters. 

Here is a video in which Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute expounds on the exhibition and how designers have been influenced by Catholic imagery.  

One of the gowns not yet unveiled in the Medieval Art Gallery at The Met Fifth Avenue.

Installation in progess in the Byzantine Gallery at The Met Fifth Avenue.

As an artist and designer I always find fascinating where other artists and designers get thier inspiration and especially enjoy the behind the secenes curation of a major exhibition such as this.  If you are as fascinated as I am and are a  Netflix subscriber here is the link to the docuementary, "The First Monday in May." 

Other Links:

The Met Blog post: The Metaphorical Nature of Creation: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination

Select objects from the Vatian featured in the exhibition. 

How the Met Got the Vatican's Vestments, New York Times Article

What Is the Met Gala, and Who Gets to Go?, New York Times Article

A New Blog Series: Claude Monet, Giverny and Other French Musings

As I was writing an article for a soon to be released blog post on a recent book I read on Claude Monet, which I'm  highly recommending, I realized I have much more to share beyond what I gleaned from reading the book.  The article on the book itself is getting quite long already! 

Living in Paris, I took full advantage of its proximity to Giverny, Claude Monet’s home in his later years,  and visited it multiple times in every season of the year, with the exception of winter when it’s closed.  I did however visit the last week of  the year it was open before closing for the winter season.   

Seeing it in this way in all seasons gave me full appreciation of the ever changing light and landscape in the garden  that was the main inspiration and only subject matter for Monet in his later years. 

I will be starting a blog series about Monet, starting with a review of the book,  my visits to his home in Giverny,  and other museums and places in France, that may or may not have a direct correlation to Monet, but that I think will be interesting.  

Stay tuned…the post about the book will be coming up shortly!

Chanoyu Maiko

Chanoyu Maiko

32" x 20" 

Watercolor

SOLD

When I traveled to Kyoto during the cherry blossom season, there was something there that had always been on my bucket list to see, the Miyako Odori.  This is the one time during the spring that the maiko and geico (geisha as they are known in Kyoto) perform for the public.  It takes years of training in dance, music and etiquette and only the privileged few who have connections or can afford to be entertained get to appreciate their performing arts year round. The Miyako Odori is the performance where the geico community of the Gion Kobu, the most conservative of the geisha community perform.  What is most special about the event is it’s an entire ensemble performing together on a stage, not just a few being hired to perform in a tea house or small venue. 

Prior to the performance, patrons are gathered in a room and seated to take part in be served from a traditional tea ceremony, or chanoyu.   A geico and maiko perform the ceremony and green tea, matcha,  and small Japanese pastry filled with red bean paste, called manju are served before everyone goes into the theatre.  The geico performs the ceremony with such elegance and grace and she is assisted by the maiko, apprentice geisha.  

This painting features the maiko from the tea ceremony and her gorgeous embroidered obi, hence the title, “Chanoyu Maiko.” The background pays homage to the special time of year each spring in all of Japan, the blooming of the cherry trees. 

I’m thrilled to share she has been chosen by juror Kathleen Conover for the Georgia Watercolor Society’s Annual Exhibition which will be held at the Ogelthorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta Georgia March 17-April 29, 2018.

To learn more about the Miyako Odori, click here. 

Les Temps des Cerises is Headed to the Kansas Watercolor Society National Exhibition

A couple of years ago my husband and I went to the Provence area of France on our 25th anniversary. Driving in the Vaucluse area to the village of Ménerbes, made famous by the classic book by Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence,  we came upon, in the valley below the village, fields laden with cherry trees ready to be harvested.  It was one of those stop the car moments. I  got out of the car and strolled among the trees marveling  at the millions of tiny red and yellow orbs hovering over my head.  While I was composing this painting inspired by that day, I couldn’t help but think of the classic French song Les Temps des Cerises, (The Time of Cherries.)  It was written in 1866 just before the French Impressionist movement.  Lyrics were added later and it become a revolutionary song for the Paris Commune in 1871.  This is the time from March to May a rogue, radical government, laid siege to Paris right after the fall of the French Second Empire.  The title of the painting reflects, a wonderful memory of a day in Provence with my husband, a classic French song beloved by many today, and an ironic reference to today’s political environment. 

I’m so thrilled that an artists work I greatly admire, Soon Warren, has chosen this painting for this years Kansas Watercolor Society’s National Exhibition at the Mark Arts Center in Wichita Kansas.  The show will take place from November 17 - December 17.  If you are in the area this show always promises some of the best watercolor paintings in the country. 

Les Temps des Cerises

Watercolor 

30” x 17.5” 

$3300

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My Favorite Things Top Ten, Bonus: My Favorite Cocktail, The Spritz

When I was in Venice last spring with my WAM Women Artists Mentors Group.  I kept noticing at every cafe, whether it be lunch or apertivo hour, people were enjoying this neon orange cocktail!  I had to find out what all the fuss was about.  I had traveled in Italy many times before but these drinks had never been on my radar.  It is the The Spritz.  

The Spritz of today has its roots in the Hapsburg occupied Northern Italy.  In the nineteenth century,  Austrian soldiers would add a "spritz" or a  spray of water to the regions wine to make it more palatable to them.  They were used to Riesling and not the drier wines of Italy.  It has gone through some other incarnations but basically The Spritz of today is three parts Prosecco, two parts bitter liquer, and one part sparkling water.  It is traditionally made with Aperol or Campari as the bitter liquer.  I like the Aperol Spritz.  It's garnished with an orange slice and sometimes in Italy a skewer with a green olive is added.  

It's a cocktail I usually make at home, since many restaurants or bars don't stock Aperol nor do they get the proportions right.  I had one once where the bar tender added plain water to Aperol and called it a Spritz; I don't think so! You can see in Italy they use a variety of different glasses to serve a Spritz. 

Spritz: Italy's Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, with Recipes

$13.41

By Talia Baiocchi, Leslie Pariseau

A recently issued book of Spritz, with a lot of nice recipes for different varieties

I find it to be super refreshing and a nice way to end the day when the golden hour strikes and it's apertivo time!  

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  Hope you enjoyed "My Favorite Things Top Ten," plus the bonus. Cin Cin! 

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