Berlin or bust! 04/23/2012
 Berlin gripped me with its unique combination of both history and newness. Historical accounts are manifest in ancient art, contemporary architecture, and structures from the past laden with 20th century history. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to visit; it was such an unparalleled, captivating and moving experience for me. Wishing you all the best, Mary^ 4 Comments Little Red Traveling Journal 04/09/2012
 1 chunky red day-a-page 2012 Moleskine journal size 3 ½” x 5 ½” x 26 WCA chapters with 1400 members = 425 opportunities to make art for WCA’s 40th anniversary! Currently, a little red journal is on an expedition across the country to celebrate Women’s Caucus for Art’s 40th anniversary. Chapter members are embellishing the Moleskine journal pages with art and inspiration! In January 2013, the book will be auctioned during the New York WCA Conference. One lucky bidder will own a fabulous collection of art created by WCA members from all across the country! The Little Red Traveling Journal began in Northern California in October 2011, and then traveled to Washington DC. From there it traveled on from one chapter to the next to St. Louis! I just mailed the journal to Philadelphia! And it will continue to travel until the end of the year! The Little Red Traveling Journal is full of creativity and collaboration, and celebration of 40 years of: recognizing the contributions of women in the arts, providing women with leadership opportunities and professional development, expanding networking and exhibition opportunities for women, supporting local, national, and global art activism, and and advocating for equity in the arts for all! Have a great, creative week! Mary^ Your Rainbow Panorama 02/06/2012
May 27, 2011 was the official opening of Your rainbow panorama, a new work by Olafur Eliasson on the roof of the Danish art museum ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum. I was fortunate enough to visit Aarhus, Denmark, and this amazing work and museum in July.  In 2007, Olafur Eliasson won the competition for his work to stand on the roof of this museum. The jury was unanimous in their decision, selecting Your rainbow panorama, saying: The project is an elegant solution to the objective of the competition, which was to convert the roof surface of ARoS into a unique, artistic and architectonic feature of international standing. The project creates a very beautiful, poetical space that combines the panoramic view from the roof with a unique artistic and architectonic dimension that helps develop a new understanding of the borderline between architecture and visual art. At the same time, a powerful symbol of identity is created and established for ARoS and the city of Aarhus. Olafur Eliasson describes his work: Your rainbow panorama establishes a dialogue with the existing architecture and reinforces what was already there, that is to say the view across the city. I have created a space that can almost be said to erase the boundary between inside and outside – a place where you become a little uncertain as to whether you have stepped into a work of art or into part of the museum. This uncertainty is important to me, as it encourages people to think and sense beyond the limits within which they are accustomed to function. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT Your rainbow panorama • The steel used in Your rainbow panorama weighs 200 tons. • The glass used in Your rainbow panorama weighs 60 tons. • The steps leading up from the terrace level to Your rainbow panorama weigh 15 tons. • The steel for the load-distributing steel construction beneath the terrace floor weighs 100 tons. • There is space for altogether 290 visitors at a time on the roof terrace and 150 in Your rainbow panorama. Before leaving Aarhus, I also stopped by Aarhus Cathedral...to see the largest stained glass art in Denmark, created by Emanuel Vigelund, brother of none other than Gustav Vigelund! See my previous post on artist Gustav Vigelund by clicking here. Thank you all so much, too, for commenting on my blog for a chance to win 4 sketchbooks! There were 166 comments made by the midnight CST February 5th deadline! Wow! Comments were numbered from 1 to 166, with number 1 being the first comment made. Then I used random.org to generate the winner. Drum roll please… And the winner is…  Congratulations to Claire Hyman! I will contact you to get your pertinent information to send you your new sketchbooks! I hope you have a creative and colorful week! Mary^ Iceland Travels & Techtonics 01/23/2012
I was fortunate enough to recently visit Iceland – a dream come true for me with its 130 volcanoes! Below I am sharing photos I took in Iceland along with Ted Kooser's poem entitled Tectonics – a friend passed this poem on to me after seeing my exhibition at Renaud Spirit Center and reading from my artist statement: I am captivated by the idea that geological shifts and transformations seem to parallel both individuals and their relationships: continually changing, varying, shifting and developing, too.  Valley between tectonic plates that grows 2 centimeters wider each year. Tectonics by Ted Kooser, current Poet Laureate of the US from Delights and Shadows In only a few months there begin to be fissures in what we remember, and within a year or two, the facts break apart one from another and slowly begin to shift and turn, grinding, pushing up over each other until their shapes have been changed and the past has become a new world. And after many years, even a love affair, one lush green island all to itself, perfectly detailed with even a candle softly lighting a smile, may slide under the waves like Atlantis, scarcely rippling the heart.  E-15 tongue/glacier.  Blesi (the blazer) is a hot spring pool at the Geysir Area in Iceland.  Volcanic basalt rock gives the sand its black color.  Geologic folds in Iceland.  Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ Tour these museums in your pajamas! 01/16/2012
I spent this morning touring the Van Gogh Museum...using Google’s Art Project! If you’re not familiar with this webpage, Google has taken the “Street View” technology and used it to document several well known art museums across the world. This year, I was fortunate enough to visit The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Rome, and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Now anyone with a computer has the opportunity to get a sense of what it’s like to wander the rooms of Uffizi Gallery in Florence.  I was thrilled to see The Night Watch by Rembrandt in person at Rijksmuseum!  I loved seeing Rembrandt's self-portrait in this painting!  I couldn't get this close to The Nightwatch in Rijksmuseum.  But you can get closer than I ever did via Google's Art Project! All of these images are screen-shots from there! Grab a cup of coffee, and check out Google’s Art Project by clicking here! Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ Birthday at the museum! 01/09/2012
 Above is a collage of some highlights we saw on my birthday! 1. Wreathed Lion, 2. Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 3. Vincent van Gogh's The Bedroom, 4. Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, 5. Grant Wood's American Gothic, 6. Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, 7. Salvador Dali's Venus de Milo with Drawers Today's post is dedicated to my sister! She made my recent birthday super-special...the best birthday ever! The big celebration actually began the morning before my birthday, with a delicious cinnamon cake birthday-eve breakfast! On the morning of my birthday, I woke to find my bed filled with balloons that she, my niece and nephew had decorated with markers. Then upstairs, fresh-baked chocolate chip scones and blueberry scones were served hot from the oven! We spent the day at The Chicago Art Institute seeing highlights from the collection and enjoying the Holly Days Family Festival! We visited the exhibition Animals around the World: Picture Books by Steve Jenkins in the Ryan Education Center and created paper animal sculptures of our own! We had an Italian dinner and ended the day with...you guessed it...chocolate lava cake! My visit was filled with wonderful art, yummy sweets, and lots of warm love! Today's post is dedicated to my sister, and now it's your turn... please make your own dedications in the comment space below! Maybe you'll make your dedication to a blog reader, friend, family member or fellow blogger... Looking forward to reading your dedications! Mary^ 2011 Greatest Hits 12/26/2011
Celebrating My Creative Journey of 2011… (Click on the photos below to read highlights of art and inspiration!)  Before being autioned off in May, my 5-foot by 4-foot fiberglass butterfly sculpture entitled Journey was on display at Plaza Mercedes Benz. The Wings in the City public art project raised $1.3 million dollars for BJC's pediatric hospice program Wings!  In March, I found nature and inspiration while visiting Chicago!  In October, I celebrated my 1-year-Blogoversary and the benefits I’ve experienced since beginning my blog!  In July, I experienced pure joy in Tallinn, Estonia! This is one of my favorite travel memories of 2011!  In January, Heather Haymart invited me to become a Resident Artist at Wood Icing Studio & Gallery! I've had my art on display there ever since, and have enjoyed the opportunities to meet and paint with artists like Mary Beth Shaw and Kristen Powers! Enjoy! Mary^ The Importance of Having a Back-Up Plan 12/19/2011
When the guided tour we’d scheduled in Copenhagen had been delayed indefinitely, we took matters into our own hands and bought train tickets to Malmö. Our train crossed Öresund Bridge – a two-track rail and four-lane road bridge across the Öresund Strait. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects the Danish capital of Copenhagen with the Swedish city of Malmö.  The Öresund Bridge seen from the Swedish side. Photo by Paul Bischoff. Some interesting facts: the construction of this famous Sweden to Denmark bridge started in 1995 and was opened for traffic in July 2000. It’s nearly 5 miles long, but takes only 20 minutes to cross – compared to the former way of the ferry that takes 1 hour.  Lund Cathedral When we visited Lund Cathedral in Malmö, we were very pleasantly surprised to find an art exhibition entitled Capillaries – Paintings by Hertha Hanson on display in the crypt! Hertha Hanson’s paintings were revealed one after the other for anyone who strolled through the crypt of Lund Cathedral. The contemporary paintings juxtaposed well with the old stone clad walls. Two types of sensuality were contrasted here: the dry, rough surfaces of the stones and the paintings’ layers of color with different textures, including glossy, matte, thick or no color at all. The canvases’ own color and structure formed part of the work.    Hertha Hanson lives and works in Malmö, Sweden. Her work often deals with setting limits – boundaries around oneself, the body and how they meet the outside world and change over time. The exhibition was arranged by the parish of Lund Cathedral and is included in Lund’s initiative, Sommarlund, with the support of Birgitta Hellerstedt’s donation to promote ecclesiastical art projects. To find out more about Hertha Hanson, visit her website! Where is the most unusual place you have found art? Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ I scream. You scream. We all scream... 12/12/2011
 Edvard Munch was born on this day in 1863. While in Oslo, we were fortunate enough to see The Scream at The National Gallery.  While in Oslo, we also had the opportunity to visit Vigelandsparken – a 74-acre park containing 227 of Gustav Vigeland’s monumental sculptures. Vigeland was the most famous among Norwegian sculptors of the 20th century, and he worked for a total of 4 decades on this park. One sculpture – the Vigeland Monolith – stands 52-feet high and is composed of 121 colossal figures all carved into one piece of stone!  I am anchored to my work so that I cannot move. If I walk down the street one day a thousand hands from work hold on to me. I am tied to the studio and the road is never long. ~Gustav Vigeland, 1912    In this photo, you can get an idea of the mammoth scale of these sculptures. Before planning our travels to Oslo, I had never even heard of Gustav Vigeland. Any artists you’ve recently learned of and love? Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ Is it a pipe organ or a forest? 12/05/2011
Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ birthday is December 8th. While in Helsinki, Dan and I visited The Sibelius Monument, dedicated to Jean Sibelius.  Sibelius loved nature, and the Finnish landscape inspired his music. He once said of his Sixth Symphony: [It] always reminds me of the scent of the first snow. On the subject of Sibelius's connection to nature, biographer Erik W. Tawaststjerna, wrote: Even by Nordic standards, Sibelius responded with exceptional intensity to the moods of nature and the changes in the seasons: he scanned the skies with his binoculars for the geese flying over the lake ice, listened to the screech of the cranes, and heard the cries of the curlew echo over the marshy grounds just below Ainola. He savoured the spring blossoms every bit as much as he did autumnal scents and colours.  It was wonderful to be able to walk under this monument, too, to view it from many angles! The monument, located at Sibelius Park, was designed by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled on September 7, 1967. It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. These 600 acid-proof stainless steel tubes of various diameters, welded together individually and hand-textured by Eila Hiltunen. Wearing a 1930s leather jacket and red overalls scattered with holes from welding sparks, she would sit on a tube for hours, with the welding torch in one hand and a water-hose for rapid cooling in the other.  I loved how the pipes reflected the natural light and outdoor sounds. The purpose of the artist was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius. The monument weighs 30 tons and measures 10.5 meters (length) by 6.5 meters (depth) by 8.5 meters (height). Our tour guide told us that these tubes or pipes symbolize the trees of forests often said to have inspired his composition Tapiola. And after 35 years, this monument shows no signs of aging, stress or corrosion.  Next to the monument is the face of Sibelius. This portrait added a figurative element, to appease the public who felt the monument was too abstract. Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ | About Me
I am a painter and art educator living in the Greater St. Louis Area. I love creating mixed-media paintings layered with maps and geologic drawings. This blog is a place for me to share my work and what inspires me. Read more here.  Follow me? Interested in buying my art?
You will always see my most recent paintings here on my blog, so you are in the right place. If you are ever interested in a piece, feel free to contact me. You can also find my work at Wood Icing, The Little Gallery at Art Saint Louis, Artlandish Gallery, and Etsy!     Grab my button  
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