Month: January 2021

One Ticket for the ColumBUS, Please!

Leave a comment

I spent last weekend in Columbus, Ohio for a  hockey tournament. It was so fun! I have to tell you- Ohio is really winning me over. The last couple times I’ve been there I’ve been super pleasantly surprised. Fun fact about Columbus: it is the fourteenth largest city in the United States! I never would have guessed. They are big into food trucks, German stuff… and art!

Sadly, the art museums were not open when I was there. It was torture, because I was so looking forward to visiting them. Alas, we were there during a pandemic, over MLK day, and during a “protest” (note: there were crickets downtown. Not a protester to be seen.) We did get to visit German Village, where the architecture is beautifully preserved from the mid-1800s. Each home was a work of art in itself. (Did I spend all day yesterday looking for stain glass house numbers on Etsy? I did.) The Book Loft was the coolest bookstore I’ve ever been in, and The Red Stable was a little shop with art from local artists. So, it was a great visit, despite the fact I didn’t make it into an actual museum.

Ohio is noteworthy for producing a bunch of presidents, but a quick Google search informed me of some great Ohioan artists too. One in particular caught my eye and I’ll be darned if she wasn’t from Columbus. Alice Schille was an Impressionist with a strong Mary Cassatt vibe. She often painted women and children, but did some landscapes too. Here are a few of her paintings that I really like.

Doesn’t this look like a video? I can practically see the shadows moving.


I told you! Very Mary Cassatt feel, right?!


I wish my babies still fit on my lap!!

She’s good, isn’t she? It’s no wonder her last name rhymes with “slay.” I love discovering new artists. And new towns! Next time I vow not to visit on a holiday, but no promises about excluding hockey from my trip!

It’s Going to be a Great Year! You Can Quote Me on That!

Leave a comment

Happy New Year! I am so looking forward to an art-filled year! I’m so excited, I can only seem to type in exclamation points! 

Tis the season for lists. They are all the rage in January. We’ve got lists of resolutions (1. Take up underwater basket-weaving. 2. Eat more gelatin-based foods), to-do lists (exchange skinny jeans I was gifted for sweatpants), to-buy lists (when I buy all the things I didn’t get for Christmas. i.e. basket-weaving supplies and Jello), and of course “Best Of” lists. 

As you’ve no doubt seen on Instagram, everyone is making a grid of their top nine moments of 2020. I’ll get to that. Add it to my resolution list. There are the lists of celebrities we lost in 2020, best songs of the year, most anticipated books of the year… The lists go on and on. So, in the spirit of itemizing, I scoured the Internet for the Top Five Best Art Quotes by Famous Artists! Just for fun, I put the artists at the bottom of the post, so you can quiz yourself or a friend, if you like.

Let’s count down!

Honorable Mention (and a gimme, if you’re doing the quiz): “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”

5. “Don’t think about art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

4. “As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance.”

3. “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.”

2. “The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.”

1. “Creativity takes courage.”

Let’s have a creative, courageous year, friends! This storefront best displays my wish for you this year:

And remember! “Earth without ‘art’ is just ‘eh'” (A quote off my 8 year-old cousin’s t-shirt.)






________________________________________________________________________________

QUIZ ANSWERS: Honorable Mention: Bob Ross 5.) Andy Warhol 4.) Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes 3.) Georgia O’Keefe 2.) Auguste Rodin 1.) Henri Matisse