Notable Marys in Art: Mary Cassatt

Hey, Wikipedia! Who's this Mary Cassatt I've been hearing about in all the coolest art circles?

"Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children.

"She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of 'les trois grandes dames' of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Berthe Morisot."

Self-portrait by Mary Cassatt, c. 1878, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Notable Marys in Song: "Proud Mary"

The song "Proud Mary" is such an integral part of modern-day music, it's hard to know what to say about it! Written by John Fogerty and first recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival for release in late 1968 or early 1969 (probably the latter), it has been covered numerous times, most notably by this woman who now owns it in all but the legal sense:

(If you're impatient to hear music, click here to skip the 2min intro: http://youtu.be/UJGoNeM3WzY?t=2m4s)



For more information on this fine song, consider visiting its Wikipedia page for lots of good jumping-off points.

Announcing IMAD 2013

We're pretty sure it's going to be Friday, February 15. Yeah, we think that's it.

Mark your calendars!

Photos at last

Let's be honest, this is still pretty good for us. Oddly enough, I've apparently had the photos ready to go for ages. I had to look at the site three or four times just to make sure they weren't already up.

Day By Day Café

Drinkin' and bloggin'

St Constantine's -- the church, not the school part

St. C's school cafeteria/multipurpose room, great Ukranian art style everywhere

Mary two-forkin' it. These perogis are totally worth it.

SooVAC and an adorable budding art critic

Ceiling at the SooVAC, which you'll recall had the exhibit about non-art spaces at art installations

The view from the MIA café area

DT Minneapolis, en route from the MIA

Beverage/blog/knitting break at the Black Dog Coffee & Wine Bar...

...while the snow flurried.

Dinner at Babani's! 

The restaurant has gorgeous decor

...and is in a gorgeous building to boot.

Final leg of the crawl; and, dinner

It's a very good thing Mary D had the notion to update the site throughout the day because apparently we are bad bad bad at following up after the event!

The last stop, art-crawl-wise, was the AZ Gallery just down the sidewalk from the Black Dog. It was one of the last days of their multi-artist A Midwinter Night's Dream show. There was a variety of media to be seen, ink and paint and woodblock and photography and jewelry, and some of it was quite appealing.

Then it was off to Babani's to dine, in conjunction with the Bus Hooligans' monthly dinner. A good crowd turned out, twelve of us in all, which caused a bit of confusion but everything got sorted out and the food was delicious. Oh my, yes.

I'm starting to sort through my photos, and I'll see about posting a representative set before too much more time goes by.

P.S. "Museal" is a word!

More art at MIA

The second stop on the mini art crawl was MIA. This museum is free to the public and a delight to visit. I feel recharged by beauty. Three new favorites were found in the Japanese galleries. A painting of three women floating down a river, and two adorable colored owl woodcuts. Wonderful. Our next stops are another gallery in St. Paul and then dinner at the Kurdish restaurant. I am hungry already, so I am soothing the inner fires with a glass of sparkling wine at Blackdog. Our next update may be much later tonight. -Mary D.

Or tomorrow, if we're honest with ourselves! Mary D don't forget to have me give you the photo with the info about Ikeda Shoen. The MIA was lovely as always and I don't have much more to add. We went there specifically to see the Jason Fulford exhibit which had a great sense of humor about it (if you were in a good mood) but if you know the MIA you know it's large enough that there's plenty else to browse and revisit or be surprised by the new things. The Tlingit house screen was a wonderful find this time, and the works by Chris Willcox based on photos of the Scott and Shackleford expeditions to Antarctica. Mary D actually saw some woodcuts she liked and then of course there's the cherry-blossom viewing piece by Shoen. Oh so much to see and talk about. But now it's time to dash to the next locale.

Oh and the Black Dog is as welcoming as always. Piano player just started but we're no longer as flexible on time. -- Mary R.

Art at the Soo

After lunch we went to the Soo Visual Arts Center to see this show. I am glad we went. I found the paintings of the huge interior spaces the most interesting. It generated a lot of discussion between us but now I am not sure what to say, perhaps Mary R. will be more articulate. - Mary D.

Riiiiiight, articulate.
I have to confess up front that I'm not an art person. This a small gallery which is in some ways a relief since there's no chance of being overwhelmed. And there was plenty for Mary D and me to discuss, because very little in the way of context was given. The ten pieces in the show fell into what felt like three disparate themes, and that gave us a lot to chew on -- the artist certainly seemed to make some very deliberate choices in her works. Would I have better been able to understand both the show's description and the language of the pieces if I were more involved with the art world? If Mary D and I hadn't overheard the curator (?) talking to someone else about the show, we would likely still be floating around in headspace trying to make connections.

That's not to say there weren't things to enjoy about it, since a significant part of the overall theme seemed to be the non-art spaces at art installations and I like such non-standard perspectives. I was even inspired to look at the ceiling of the SooVAC and enjoyed it very much, photo to come by and by.

Does anyone out there know if "museal" is an actual word? And, if so, what it means? Please let us know. This show made me feel a little dense, to be honest. - Mary R.