December 27, 2008

Yesterday was a most marvelous boxing day. Jim and I hopped on the Dart train and went into Dallas for the day. Our first stop was the Nasher Sculpture Centre. What a huge treat. Although I have seen several sculpture exhibitions in my lifetime, I've never seen an entire Museum dedicated to sculpture. Many of the pieces were displayed outside and we had a glorious day to wander around. I really enjoyed my sculpture classes at university many years ago. I thought that at some point in time, I would be a sculptor. After many years as a painter, I started thinking that I would never be a sculptor, only a painter. Now I'm not so sure. During the past couple of years, the urge to sculpt or do things in three dimensions has been very strong. (ie. the recent 3d clothesline piece and Danica's Nasturtium Chair). Just before Christmas, I was at a Mexican Christmas celebration and I was talking to Carlos, whose family had been in the printing business in Mexico for many generations. They etched the steel cylinders used to put designs on fabrics. Recently the bottom has fallen out of the printing market because of China's cheaper production. I was telling Carlos that my family were jet carvers in Whitby England, until the bottom fell out of the jet carving market at the turn of the century when people no longer went into mourning when someone died and plastic was invented. Perhaps it is those genetics in me that cry out to carve or sculpt and perhaps its time I listened. Maybe it was these same genetics that gave my Mother her love of designing marionettes and of sculpting puppet heads when I was a child.

After several hours looking at sculpture yesterday , Jim and I went next door to the Dallas Museum of Art. Although the King Tut Exhibition is on right now and I was tempted, we opted to see the regular permanent collection. They have a marvelous collection, every bit as good as our National Gallery Collection and this is just a city gallery. Of course they don't have any Canadian Art so in that regard they aren't as good. I loved allot of the paintings and I especially loved to see original work by some of my favourite artists, Frida Callo, Mary Cassatt, and Georgia OKeefe. As always, I came away inspired to paint oils or acrylics perhaps because you never see any watercolours in these big collections. I feel full of creative energy and glad to be a part of the wonderful art profession.

This morning we experienced Texas weather! The wind picked up, the sky darkened dramatically and the tornado alarms sounded. Luckily after a brief heavy deluge of rain, the air cleared, the sun broke through and we carried on with the day.