I haven’t made any updates in over a month! Yikes! In my studio, I’ve been working on some illustrations for a book written by a local author and a big new painting for my room. In life, I’ve been decorating for the holidays and my Christmas music has been blaring. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I love seeing all the Christmas lights out and all of the beautiful creations people make out of their homes and yards.
I’m also very excited about this. There’s a Matisse exhibit at Duke University. From the website:
Henri Matisse fondly called Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone “my two Baltimore ladies.” The two Cone sisters began buying art directly out of the Parisian studios of avant-garde artists in 1905. At a time when critics disparaged Matisse, and Pablo Picasso was virtually unknown, the Cones followed their passions and amassed one of the world’s greatest art collections. The exhibition tells this story and features more than 50 of these masterpieces–including paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Matisse, Picasso, Gauguin, Renoir, van Gogh, Pissarro, Courbet and more–on loan from The Baltimore Museum of Art.
In addition to modern masterpieces, the exhibition includes textiles and decorative arts from Europe, Asia and Africa that the Cones collected, as well as photographs and archival materials to highlight the remarkable lives of these sisters. Also featured in the exhibition will be an interactive virtual tour of their adjoining Baltimore apartments, showing their remarkable collection as it was displayed in their home.
All works are from the collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland.
If you can, check it out. Once I visit, I’ll post some comments. Matisse’s use of color always puts me in a cheery mood. If you are in another area, try to visit a local gallery or even just go check out the Christmas lights in your neighborhood. Take a minute to look at something beautiful – a break from the “everyday”.
I used to intern at a gallery in Newport News, VA. Their motto was “Art is what YOU make it.” It’s a good thing to remember.
