Finding an Artist's Perspective.

Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite place in all of the Twin Cities. It is the place where I have most connected with the concept of art and imagined what vision and life the artist held as they created so many lovely things. It is where I first realized that I am an artist, illustrating my own view of the world with my camera and design. I find myself there often, sometimes with my children, sometimes by myself, simply wandering… checking on my favorite pieces - like members of my own family.

I encourage you to click in the images to visit the MIA website and read more about the artist, inspiration for the pieces and other amazing pieces that inspire you to visit yourself.

PENITENT MAGDELENE
C. 1650–65 by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

I have always called this the Joan of Arc painting to my kids because it reminded me of a moment I once saw in the movie “Messenger”.

This is my favorite piece in all of art. I can’t tell you why. But, when I am old and grey and likely have Alzheimer’s that encourages me to wander, you will find me here… standing in front of this painting for hours, simply wondering. Art breeds curiosity.

PORTRAIT OF CATHERINE COUSTARD, MARQUISE OF CASTELNAUE, WIFE OF CHARLES-LEONOR AUBRY WITH HER SON LEONOR
c 1700 by Nicolas de Largillière

This painting inspires me to appreciate technique. This image does not do it justice! The blue and rich rust color of their garments is breath-taking in person and I could stare at Leonor’s hand for hours.

FRANK
c. 1969 by Chuck Close

Frank is a sexy beast.

The most tragic change I have observed from MIA is when they moved my beloved Frank to a new location in a corner room. Until then, you could see Frank from a broad distance through many door ways. Until you got close did you realize this perfect photo was actually a painting with painstaking detail. It has taught me you need to look closer at many things to get the true answer.

CARCASS OF BEEF
c. 1925 by Chaim Soutine

I was 19 the very first time someone brought me to MIA and this is the painting that I first branded to my memory and carried with me. I became vegetarian as a teen and looking at this, I wondered what the artist’s reasoning was for painting this. To this day, I feel a physical reaction every time I look at it. Art has purpose and does influence and affect us.

MIGRANT MOTHER, NIPOMO, CALIFORNIA
c. 1936 by Dorothea Lange; Depicted: Florence Owens Thompson

I do not think there is a photographer in the world that does not know this photograph. Nor do I think there is a photographer that doesn’t pray that they have the skill to capture the world as purely and honestly. Art can be truthful and it can be more beautiful for its honesty. When I capture subjects, I pray that they realize that perfection is not the goal, but rather sincerity.

PERIOD ROOM: THE STUDIO OF GRATIFYING DISCOURSE
c. 1797 by Unknown Artist, China

The highlight of every visit taken with my children (and always the first stop) is a tour through all of the period rooms. (Yes, there are many!) These tours allow me to imagine and realize that our interpretation of the world is shaped not by the world itself, but first by the place we call home.

VEILED LADY
c. 1860 by Raffaelo Monti

Gaze upon this sculpture in person and you swear that the lady beneath the veil is living, waiting glance upon you. This piece drives us to excel in our techniques and go beyond what we think is possible. A translucent veil made of marble? Impossible, yet true!

COLLAGE IX: LANDSCAPE
c. 1974 by George Morrison

Amazing. Simply amazing how people can see art from a cluster of pieces. No rhyme, no reason, until an artist creates it. Art is everywhere, if you just look for it.

THE DENIAL OF ST. PETER
c. 1623 by Gerrit Van Honthorst

Again… website photos do not do this painting justice. When you walk past this painting, you will swear the light glows as the artist paints so beautifully. As a devout Christian, I take this painting closely to heart as it reminds me the truth in the art we create and the legacy it will create for others long after we are gone.

Frank is a Sexy Beast

Every time I visit my favorite museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, I must always take a visit to see my favorite painting by Chuck Close called 'Frank'.  If you have ever been there, I promise you have seen it.  It is a large painting that is seen through many hallways appearing as a photograph, until you inspect it closer and realize it is a painting.

Chuck close is not only one of my favorite artists for his paintings, but also his realistic approach to photography.  A style that strips down the facade and simply shows a connection between the soul of the subject and the eye of the photographer.

#thisbody was made to shine through

I have been a big girl for many years.  It rarely seems to matter in my world. I live a rich beautiful life full of love, success and happiness.  Yes, it would be fun to be smaller and healthier, but I have never let this body stop me from doing anything and everything I wanted to do and be.

I really like this ad campaign if for no other reason it shows us that the body is only a shell for all the magic, passion and life that we are destined to be.

The Last Time

From the moment you hold your baby in your arms,
you will never be the same.
You might long for the person you were before, 
When you have freedom and time,
And nothing in particular to worry about.

You will know tiredness like you never knew it before,
And days will run into days that are exactly the same,
Full of feedings and burping,
Nappy changes and crying,
Whining and fighting,
Naps or a lack of naps,
It might seem like a never-ending cycle.

But don’t forget …
There is a last time for everything.
There will come a time when you will feed
your baby for the very last time.
They will fall asleep on you after a long day
And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child.

One day you will carry them on your hip then set them down,
And never pick them up that way again.
You will scrub their hair in the bath one night
And from that day on they will want to bathe alone.
They will hold your hand to cross the road,
Then never reach for it again.
They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles,
And it will be the last night you ever wake to this.

One afternoon you will sing “the wheels on the bus”
and do all the actions,
Then never sing them that song again.
They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate,
The next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone.
You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your last dirty face.
They will run to you with arms raised for the very last time.

The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time
Until there are no more times.
And even then, it will take you a while to realize.

So while you are living in these times,
remember there are only so many of them
and when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of them.
For one last time.

-Author Unknown-

To my beloved kiddos who have given me so many beautiful last times.

You will always bring beautiful chaos, loud voices, messy rooms, and wonderful imperfections that make you all so absolutely perfect.

Photographs That Stir One's Soul

Photography has always enchanted me.  Long before I even understood why.

According to Eduard Steichen “The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each man to himself”. If this statement can be taken as certain, then these photographs fulfilled such a mission.

Eight-year-old Christian Golczynski accepts the flag for his father, Marine Staff Sgt. Marc Golczynski, during a memorial service. Marc Golczynski was shot during his second tour in Iraq just a few weeks before returning back home.

Learn more about Christian and his life since this iconic photograph here.

The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her 7 children in 1936 in California. 

Read about Florence and the taking of this unforgettable image here.

A 1994 Pulitzer Prize wining photograph by journalistic photographer Kevin Carter during the Sudan famine.  The photo depicts a child struggling towards a United Nations food camp a mile away, as a vulture is waiting for the child to die.  No one knows what happened to the child.   Two years later, Kevin committed suicide, saying “I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, of killer executioners”.  Whether or not he did the wrong thing when photographing the struggling girl in Sudan, the truth is that Kevin Carter gave his whole life for the sake of information. He communicated reality in the most truthful way, hoping to make a change by increasing society’s awareness of the world’s injustice.

Read the story behind this controversial image here.

Mark David Chapman asked for John Lennon's autograph outside his Dakota residence.  Several hours later, he would meet him there again and kill him.

Victory Over Japan  (V-J) Day in Times Square, a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in Life in 1945 with the caption, In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers.

Read the story behind this infamous and most copied photograph here.

In November 1990 LIFE magazine published a photograph of a young man named David Kirby — his body wasted by AIDS, his gaze locked on something beyond this world — surrounded by anguished family members as he took his last breaths. The haunting image of Kirby on his death bed, taken by a journalism student named Therese Frare, quickly became the one photograph most powerfully identified with the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the reminder of the human connection.

Read the story behind David Kirby's life and passing here.


Beginning

Being an artist dictates the way I move, think, breathe and act.  I am a sponge and the world around me fills me up with the good, the bad, the heartfelt and the whimsical.

This blog is dedicated to all the things that give me pause to think, dream and act - both in my quest as a photographer and my will for my life.