Jim Henson

  Born Sept. 24, 1936. died May 16, 1990

"When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope still is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been here."

Jim Henson created the original Kermit the Frog out of his mother's old coat and a ping-pong ball. In the beginning Kermit was not a frog, but a lizard-like character. He gradually evolved, and first appeared as Kermit The Frog in "Hey Cinderella!" (1969) and has remained so ever since.

One of the main reasons why Henson preferred to use Kermit for his signature character was that he was the lightest in weight of the regular puppets and therefore one of the most comfortable for use for extended periods of time.

In an interview, Juliana Donald (who played Jenny in 1984's "The Muppets Take Manhattan') recalled how filming of the jogging scene in the park was temporarily delayed by a camera problem. In wide eyed amazement, a little boy passing by approached and started talking to Kermit, oblivious to Jim Henson operating him. Despite the surrounding commotion of technicians trying to fix the camera issue, Jim started interacting with the boy. Moments later, Jim found himself doing an impromptu performance with Kermit for an entire group of children who had gathered around to watch. Juliana said, "It was so memorable to me because time just stopped. It was a wonderfully magical moment where you experience someone's true joy with their work."

Henson's alma mater, University of Maryland, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003.

"Some people claim Kermit is my alter-ego. I'm not sure I know what that means. I like to work Kermit because there's a lot of leeway for ad-libbing, which I don't have with most other characters, but I'm not sure that I'm not Kermit."

From Gainesville FL...actually from all over!

 

David Parry New Work David Parry inspires with a new collection of his arresting white stoneware pottery, decorated in colors influenced by his Pacific Northwest home. Stately forms catch the eye as much as captivate the hands. Colorful dots play on surfaces that take advantage of the flowing qualities and variable translucency or opacity of glaze. Lovely ripples in the clay surfaces of his vessels speak of the artist's hands at work and the currents of nature. His forms are beautifully made and soothing to touch and use. These are pots you'll find yourself frequently choosing from the cupboard or keeping at the table to be enjoyed with each meal. Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, England (commonly known as The Potteries), David earned a BA with Honors in Ceramics at the University of West England in Bristol, UK. Since 2009 David has made Oregon his home, where he established his studio, Whistle Post Pottery, and shows up and down the west coast. Artist Statement and Bio Living in the foothills of the Oregon Coast mountain range I can’t help but be influenced by the evergreen woods that surround me. On daily dog walks I venture into these wild places and take in the conifers, the mosses, the lichens and creeks. I feel blissfully isolated and there’s no sign of civilization for miles. Then I’m hit with a flash of color, a yellow gate closing off a logging track, a bright red 4x4 truck distant on the horizon. Or even the unnatural patchwork of forestry clear-cuts scarred across a valley. I recognize these color and pattern juxtapositions as major themes in my work. Shop David Parry's pottery here. Charlie Cummings Gallery | Website

Christina Cordova

 

Ms. Cordova has taught sculpture at Penland and has been featured in various clay magazines. She's even had a few things at local pottery shows. I LOVE her work.

This piece was displayed in a corner at the Asheville Art Museum when we visited last month (or maybe the month before.)

Here's an article from the Asheville Laurel.

I've been very fortunate to visit several galleries featuring her work.

Signing of the US Constitution

 On July 27, 1939 Congress awarded artist Howard Chandler Christy a contract to create a large painting in commemoration of the signing of the United States Constitution. The painting was first proposed in 1937, during the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the signing, but Congress had refused to appropriate the $35,000 necessary to commission it, as many members felt that such an expense was inappropriate during an economic depression. The proposal failed again the following year, but was finally approved in 1939, with a reduced price of $30,000.

It took Christy over five years to complete the 18 x 26-foot painting, with much of that time spent doing research. He wanted to depict the signers accurately, so he searched out and studied the best existing portraits of them (no known portraits existed of two of the 39 signers—for those two he intentionally obscured their faces). The clothing, flags, and furniture depicted in the painting were also the products of careful and diligent research.

Even though not all of the delegates were present on signing day, Christy portrayed them all. He depicts George Washington as if he is gazing out into the future, while Benjamin Franklin stares out directly at the viewer. All of the subjects are identified in a key sketched by Christy.

The finished painting was dedicated in May 1940. After hanging in the Capitol Rotunda for 16 months, it was moved to east grand stairway of the House of Representatives, where it has been ever since.

Signing of the US Constitution, September 17, 1787, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia by 39 delegates from 12 states.

Edward Hopper

 It's the birth anniversary of the painter Edward Hopper, born in Nyack, New York (1882). By the time he was 12, he was already six feet tall. He was skinny, gangly, made fun of by his classmates, painfully shy, and spent much of his time alone drawing.

After he finished art school, he took a trip to Paris and spent almost all of his time there alone, reading or painting. In Paris, he realized that he had fallen in love with light. He said the light in Paris was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. He tried to re-create it in his paintings.

He came back to New York and was employed as an illustrator at an ad agency, which he loathed. In his spare time, he drove around and painted train stations and gas stations and corner saloons.

Hopper had only sold one painting by the time he was 40 years old, but his first major exhibition — in 1933 at the Museum of Modern Art — made him famous. His pieces in that show had titles like Houses by the Railroad, Manhattan Bridge Loop, Room in Brooklyn, Roofs of Washington Square, Cold Storage Plant, Lonely House, and Girl on Bridge. Though his work was more realistic and less experimental than most other painters at the time, he painted his scenes in a way that made them seem especially lonely and eerie.

Edward Hopper said: "Maybe I am slightly inhuman ... All I ever wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house."

Writer's Almanac 2014

Summer Evening by Edward Hopper

Whistler

 It's the birthday of the artist best known for a painting of his mother: James Abbott McNeill Whistler, born in Lowell, Massachusetts (1834). His most famous painting was titled Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), but it's more commonly known as "Whistler's Mother." It's a portrait of Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler in a black dress, seated in profile against a gray wall. When Whistler's scheduled model didn't show up for a sitting, he decided to paint his mother instead.

Frida Kahlo

  "And in the end, I think we don't need to do anything to be loved.

We spend our lives trying to look prettier, smarter.

but I realized two things.

Those who love us see us with their heart and attribute to us qualities beyond what we actually have.

And those who do not want to love us will never be satisfied with all our efforts.

Yes, I really think it's important to leave our imperfections alone.

They are precious to understand those who see us with their heart. "

Frida Kahlo artist, ( 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954).

Born to a German father and a mestiza mother (of Purépecha descent), Kahlo spent most of her childhood and adult life in Coyoacán, her family home in Mexico.

Although she was disabled by polio as a child, Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until being injured in a bus accident at the age of 18, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art with the idea of becoming an artist.

Kahlo's interests in politics and art led her to join the Mexican Communist Party in 1927,^[1] through which she met fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The couple married in 1929^[1][6] and spent the late 1920s and early 1930s travelling in Mexico and the United States together. During this time, she developed her artistic style, drawing her main inspiration from Mexican folk culture, and painted mostly small self-portraits that mixed elements from pre-Columbian and Catholic beliefs. Her paintings raised the interest of surrealist artist André Breton, who arranged for Kahlo's first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1938; the exhibition was a success and was followed by another in Paris in 1939. While the French exhibition was less successful, the Louvre purchased a painting from Kahlo, The Frame, making her the first Mexican artist to be featured in their collection.^[1]

 While she had had solo exhibitions elsewhere, she had her first solo exhibition in Mexico in 1953, shortly before her death in 1954 at the age of 47.

Kahlo's work as an artist remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s, when her work was rediscovered by art historians and political activists. By the early 1990s, not only had she become a recognized figure in art history, but she was also regarded as an icon for Chicanos, the feminism movement, and the LGBTQ+ community. Kahlo's work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and Indigenous traditions and by feminists for what is seen as its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.^[7]

Even as Kahlo was gaining recognition in Mexico, her health was declining rapidly, and an attempted surgery to support her spine failed.

------------

Source Wikipedia 

There are numerous paintings of hers which appear in various places, including my favorite Mexican restaurant (well, prints.)

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, with her husband, Diego Rivera painting the mural "Nightmare of war, Dream of peace," Mexico, 1952

I also would recommend the movie "Frida" which I recently watched on Prime. It shows much of her art, as well as her husband's (Diego Rivera). There is an artistic twist in the film whereby different works are connected to the quotes by the artist by animations. It also has English subtitle translations of the Spanish words.