Author: juliemlmitchell_lchs7g

Chief and the National Museum of Wildlife Art

Leave a comment

Confession: I put another piece of animal art up in my home.
A worse confession: I took a picture of my kids OUT of a frame to put in said animal art.

I know. Mom of the Year. But look at him:

Chief by Robert Bateman. I think he’s gloating at my kids for taking their frame.
My middle daughter and I were in Jackson Hole last week and we saw the original hanging in the National Museum of Wildlife Art. I don’t know what I was expecting at that place, but it was so. much. better. than I expected! There was wildlife art from all over the world and a sculpture trail outside. If you ever have the chance to go, GO! Next time I am eating at the museum’s restaurant and nobody can stop me.
It’s not some historical fort, but a gorgeous art museum founded in 1987!
The actual museum was built to have an old Scottish castle look. The picture makes it look small, but it houses more than 5,000 works of art! I love that they didn’t try to give it a sleek, modern look in the middle of the Grand Tetons. This is much more fitting, and gave me an excuse to work on my Scottish accent. (“Pass me the hagiss and bagpipes, lassie!”)
But back to Chief. I was not familiar with Robert Bateman, but he’s kind of a big deal. In fact, he has his own (sizeable!) museum in British Columbia. Wildlife art is his jam, but he is also an essayist and philanthropist. 
Here is another of his paintings I think is lovely (this one wasn’t at the museum, but is on exhibit at Google.com)
Alaska Light
There may or may not be some more art from our trip coming up in future blog posts. But for now, I have to look around for an extra frame.

Revealing Venus

Leave a comment

Last week I let a stranger look down my pants. I was at a meeting where a lady complimented my pants and asked where I bought them. I couldn’t remember, nor did I remember the brand, so in a moment of embarrassing boldness I solved the problem: “Here! See if you can read the label!” Thusly, I pulled the back of my pants open for her to peek in.

I’m certain she wasn’t that curious about the pants. But she politely looked and noted the label.

That’s nothing compared to some of the world’s most famous paintings. Here is a favorite that exposes more than just lower back, tops of undies, while still maintaining some modesty.

The Birth of Venus. The birth of seashells as modes of transportation.

Have I already posted about this picture? It seems like I would have by now. Venus is being blown ashore by a couple lesser gods in her seashell, which is also how I like to arrive places. Botticelli painted this for someone in the Medici family (but who?! We just don’t know.) We do know it was likely painted to be hung over a marital bed, which is how Botticelli got away with the scandal of painting a naked woman. It actually wasn’t seen by the public for 50 years after he painted it. 

Not to harp on the nudity, but it really was scandalous for its time. Botticelli had other controversial paintings, but burned them with his own two hands when Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola guilted him into it. I’m so thankful The Birth of Venus was spared. I’m also thankful Savonarola wasn’t at my meeting last week.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but we’ve had quite a wet spring. Here are a few ways in which it has inconvenienced me:

1. My dog won’t go to the bathroom outside when it is raining, or when the grass is wet. Inside only!
2. I have to comfort bummed out daughters, who have to have indoor recess, or abbreviated field days.
3. Treadmill running < Outdoor running.
4. My basement flooded.

That last one is the biggie. We came home from our Memorial Day weekend getaway to a drenched basement. Thankfully, our most important things are up high enough that they were fine, but there were some causalities, and moving everything into my garage to dry was quite inconvenient (do you know how heavy a water-logged hockey bag, full of equipment is? Very.) The most heartbreaking part for me were the books we had to throw away. 

If you’ve ever lived through an actual flood, you probably want to wring my neck. Or dunk me in the five feet of water you had to deal with. I’m sorry. The real point of my writing about the flood, is that floods have inspired some beautiful artwork. The most famous is probably The Deluge in the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo sure can draw a naked body, amiright?

I prefer not to think about the horror of the actual flooding. The Deluge is just a little too real for me. How about this less violent, more peaceful painting by Alfred Sisley?

Boat in the Flood at Port Marly: If only floods left us all so serene.
We can imagine everybody in town got to high ground in time (and took all their valuables with them!) and are now just enjoying a lovely paddle on the new lake. Those happy, fluffy clouds tell me their damage was minimal, and they all had flood insurance!

R.I.P., I.M. Pei

Leave a comment

We lost an amazing, talented man this week. I’m embarrassed to say, I actually didn’t realize I.M. Pei was still alive until… well, until he wasn’t. The architect of Le Louvre passed away last Thursday at the age of 102. He is most famous for the inverted glass pyramids at Le Louvre, of course, but his work can actually be seen all over the United States. 

Pei was destined to be successful. His ancestry traces back to the Ming Dynasty, for heaven’s sake! His family’s affluence allowed for him to attend the University of Pennsylvania and M.I.T. His taste was for a more modern architecture than the schools taught, but clearly he did not conform. Can we also just take a moment to appreciate that his wife studied landscape architecture at Harvard? I bet they were the Chip and Joanna of their time.

I was shocked to learn all the projects he worked on! Here are a few:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I mean, when you’re into pyramids, you’re into pyramids!
JFK Presidential Library. JFK would also be turning 102 this year!
National Gallery East Building. Okay! You like triangles! We get the “point!”

Just imagine this pictorial list goes on and on for an eternity, and that’s how many buildings Pei designed over his illustrious career. It’s a shame his kids didn’t amount to anything. His three sons are Harvard graduates and his daughter is a lawyer. So, I guess they did turn out okay after all. But at least his marriage was awful. He was only married to the same woman 70 years. Oh. That’s pretty cool too. 

To recap: 
Awesome, successful kids?  Check
Long, happy marriage?  Check
Wildly successful career?  Check
Long, healthy life?  Check

Now, that’s what I call “building” a legacy.

On the Count of Tree!

Leave a comment

So, I have to know. How are you celebrating National Love a Tree Day today? I know, I know, you thought I was going to write about National Sea Monkey Day*, which shares this day with the trees, but alas! The art world is sorely lacking when it comes to sea monkeys. But trees? Ohmygoodness, artists looooooove to paint trees! And I love them for it. Here are a few of my favorite tree paintings:

To be Baby Theo and have an authentic Van Gogh hanging in my room!

Van Gogh was a beautiful artreest. He painted tons of trees, but Almond Blossom is my favorite. He painted it for his nephew and namesake. Can’t you just see this hanging in a baby’s nursery? It’s so sweet and hopeful. In fact, most of Van Gogh’s trees have the same soothing feel. It’s hard to believe his mind was in such turmoil as he painted them.

Piet Mondrian: all about the funk.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I would not have guessed Piet Mondrian painted this! I only knew him for his funky cubes. Don’t you love when an artist surprises you with a wider range of talent than you knew they had? This tree looks like it wants to be in a spooky forest, with its foreboding branches, but Mondrian was like, “Nope! I’m giving you a jazzy red trunk and psychedelic blue background.” Boom. Not spooky anymore!
Poplars on the Bank of the Epte (1892): it has curves in all the right places.
How could we possibly talk trees without touching on Monet’s poplars? This is my favorite of all his tree paintings, I think. The curve of that treeline? I swoon. He painted these poplars at least eleven times. They must have left quite an “Impression.”
In celebration of National Love a Tree Day, I took an extra moment to admire the trees in my own yard. Here they are this morning:
We purchased those pines for a quarter each when they were just inches tall, and now they’re taller than me! If you squint, you can see our sugar maples behind them in white tubes to protect them from the very hungry deer that visit our field. Jim spends hours carrying buckets of water out to them in the summer, and his hard work is starting to pay off as we can see the tops of them starting to peek out of the tubes! 


Happy May 16th, friends! I’m going to celebrate “Love a Tree Day” with a glass of wine. But don’t worry, I won’t get trunk.

* I feel like you don’t believe me about Sea Monkey Day, so here is my source: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/latest-posts/

Next Generation Art

Leave a comment

I love it when my favorite things collide. Peanut butter and chocolate, Diet Coke and pretzels, wine and dancing, hiking and friends…. in fact I was able to enjoy that last one on Monday! My friend Carla and I went for a hike at one of our favorite places (Lincoln Brick Park- if you’re in the Lansing area, be sure to go!). After, we decided to walk around downtown Grand Ledge a bit and grab coffee.

But first things first, I had to run into the library for a second, where to my delight, they were featuring local high schoolers’ artwork! Books and art! Another amazing collision! Here are a couple pieces that were on display:

I know, right?! That is talent!
I want to live there!

I cannot get over these beautiful works of art. There were certainly some talented artists in my high school, but I wasn’t one of them, My daughters and I discussed later, and my 6th grader pulled a few things out of her art portfolio that I thought were fascinating. I think I’ve mentioned before that Art class for kids now is waaaaaay better than it was for me. While I was rubber cementing magazine clippings to a piece of computer paper, they are doing more useful things like this:

My favorites are “wash,” “salt,” and “thick paint”

That’s right. They are learning actual techniques! It’s a little sad they will never know the cell-killing, heavenly odor of rubber cement, but I rejoice in the knowledge that our Art teachers are raising up a generation of da Vincis! Degas! Pollocks! Hoppers! Today: the Grand Ledge District Library, tomorrow: The Met!

Jean-Michel Basquiat: 80s Artwork

Leave a comment

Saturday night I went with friends to a dive bar that has become so famous as a dive bar that it isn’t really a dive anymore. We went to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday, but also? To dance. Starfarm, a band with all kinds of local fame, was playing. The important thing to know about Starfarm is that they are an 80s cover band. We danced to Prince, The Bengels, Madness, etc. Insert many rad heart emojis here. I was a sweaty mess by the time I left, but high on memories of Cabbage Patch Kids and Caboodles.

In honor of these eighties flashbacks, I’d like to write about Jean-Michel Basquiat: an incredible artist, who tragically died of a heroin overdose in 1988. My girls checked a book about Basquiat out of the library last year, and he’s been on my mind ever since. I hadn’t heard of him before, but he was Famous, with a capital F. One of his paintings holds the record for the highest bid for an American artist at Sotheby’s.

This untitled piece sold for $110 million in 2017.

Though he died early, he wasn’t one of those artists who only became famous in his death. While he was still living, Basquiat had exhibits in museums all over the world. Not too shabby for a 20-something! He rubbed elbows with Madonna, David Bowie, was in a Blondie video, and good friends with Andy Warhol. He was every ounce as popular as perms or mullets in the eighties. Much of his art is a commentary on violence, racism, and class structure.

This used to hang in the home of Lars Ulrich- drummer for Metallica.

As a general rule, I don’t care for art with too much skeletal structure, but I do love animals in crowns:

This is titled “Pez Dispenser.” Basquiat often put a pop culture spin on his art.

He often featured crowns in his paintings as a symbol of class inequality. See also, Tuxedo. Spoiler alert: it’s not a painting of a tuxedo. And speaking of tuxedos, he would paint in $1,000 Armani suits. No doubt, French-rolling the bottoms of the pants.

Talking Goth

Leave a comment

As promised, I did not forget about the beloved Notre Dame! I trust in the last couple weeks you’ve seen more pictures of the world’s most famous cathedral than you can shake an aspergillum at, so I won’t post more pictures here. No doubt, we also know that Notre Dame was touted as the loveliest, most famous example of French Gothic architecture in the world. I’m just going to say something here and risk the backlash. 

French Gothic architecture is… not my favorite. Am I devastated that this incredible, ancient house of God burned? Completely. I’m just saying. Gargoyles? Not pretty. 

Why do they want to scare the parishioners?

In addition to my disdain toward gargoyles, I also don’t love the thin, elongated, often distorted figures characteristic of Gothic art. BUT(tress), I do appreciate its grandeur. Plus, religion is at the core of all French Gothic art, which I always find fascinating. We also have the French Gothic artists to thank for making stain-glass so popular. So, I admit, though it isn’t my favorite art period, it certainly has plenty of merit.

Take Enguerrand Quarton’s Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, for instance.
It’s unique as a pieta in that Quarton included other figures besides Jesus and Mother Mary. John is holding Jesus’ head, and Mary Magdalene weeps on the far right. It’s lovely. Jesus’ mom looks peaceful, which is characteristic of most pietas. It implies she has known from the beginning the fate of her first-born, that He isn’t gone for good. 

Zoom in to see the halos around John, Mary, and Mary’s heads.

I wish the other guy wasn’t in it. Apparently, that is Jean de Montagnac, the fellow who commissioned the painting. Is he really contributing to the scene? I would argue not. But it was a different time; if you paid for a painting, you could also be featured in the painting, and that was that.

Another difference between then and now: if a church was built today with the grandiose of Notre Dame, it would face all kinds of scrutiny, and rightly so! We don’t need swanky churches; we need to use our resources more wisely (and humanely) than that. Which is why there will never be another Notre Dame. They’ll repair that one of course, but it will never be the same. Huge chunks of the greatest example of French Gothic architecture are just gone forever. And that is enough to make even the most gargoyle-fearing girl cry.

Holy Week Art

Leave a comment

Please don’t think because I am not blogging about the Notre Dame fire, it wasn’t on the short list for today’s post. I want to write about that very, very soon. But it is Holy Wednesday, after all, and (French people, don’t hate me!) Resurrection still trumps disastrous fire. I think Notre Dame would agree.

Holy Wednesday (also called Spy Wednesday, which is what FBI agents call every Wednesday, so I’m sticking with Holy Wednesday) is the day Jesus went to Simon the Leper’s house and Mary Magdalene poured that super pricey oil on his feet, while Martha tidied up (it would be hard not to worry about dust bunnies when the Savior of the world is sitting in your living room, right?!) Of all the anointing pictures I found, this is my favorite.

I’m not sure who the artist is. I found it on James Woodward’s website, but it’s unclear if he’s the artist. If you know, tell me! Isn’t it lovely? Mary’s anguish is practically tangible. And Jesus, as always, is acting as Comforter even though we all know He’s the one deserving of comfort here. It’s just so Jesus. And that hand! It communicates strength, protection, and love, rather than fear, nerves, and judgement. There’s a lot of feeling portrayed in that hand.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also take this opportunity to post my favorite painting of all time: The Last Supper. I don’t care if that is cliché. My second favorite is Mona Lisa (just kidding.) There is just SO MUCH SYMBOLISM in The Last Supper! I eat it right up. Ha. A little Maundy Thursday humor for you. Truly, I could read interpretations of this painting all day. Da Vinci really brought his A-game with this one. Though he picked a heck of a project to start experimenting with tempera and oil. Epic fail.

My favorite part of this painting is… well, Jesus. He’s always my favorite. But my second favorite is Thomas. He’s often depicted in paintings as pointing or waving his index finger around. That’s a nod to when Jesus returns and Thomas insisted on putting his finger in Jesus’ wounds. Isn’t that brilliant? There’s much conversation about whether Leonardo meant to portray Jesus with a natural sort of halo from the daylight, or that’s just conincidence. I think it was intentional, because it was just the style to do so in the Renaissance, introduced by none other than our man, Da Vinci. What do you think?

I hope you all have a blessed week of reverence. I hope you get to hear a beautiful rendition of “Amazing Grace.” I hope your church is jam packed and that you cry tears of joy throughout the service. I hope you eat good food with people you love. That you don’t stress about the dust bunnies! That you delight in little girls and boys in their Easter outfits. And most of all, that your Easter Sunday is lovely, meaningful, and sacred.

Jamaican Good Art!

Leave a comment

Hump Day has never felt so good! Reality didn’t hold back at all in slapping me in the face after Spring Break last week. Jim and I went to Jamaica, where it was all sleeping in and mint mojitos. My alarm sure did go off early on Monday. We’re slowly getting back into the swing of things, but every now and then I still taste a mix of mint and sunscreen and it takes me back to this time last week when winning a friendly shuffleboard bet* was my biggest stressor. 

We enjoyed a lot of the country’s musical art, but didn’t see much in the way of the visual arts. I did some research to find some Jamaican art to share!

Barrington Watson is the big wig in Jamaican art. He attended the Royal College of Art in the UK (to start with; if I listed his whole resume, we’d be here all day!) and painted scenes like this one, that I love so much!

Does this capture motherhood, or what? Except the laying down part.

 
Ken Spencer had less prestigious training (that is, he went to all the most famous museums in Europe and taught himself the best techniques), but is still described as Jamaica’s most “prolific” artist. His art is much more Impressionistic than Watson’s, but I love the bright colors he uses!

I met a fisherman in Jamaica, and he really did look like this!

Spring Break might be over, but never mind me; I’m just going to gaze at these paintings and try not to spill this mojito on my keyboard.

*Are you curious about the bet? If I won, Jim had to stop rehashing the Michigan State basketball game; if he won, I couldn’t keep trying to make an itinerary while we were on vacation. He won by ONE POINT! It was “Izzo this and Ward that” the rest of the week!