BOOK - "THE INVENTION OF WINGS" by SUE MONK KIDD

Slavery is abundant in Charleston, SC in the 1800's. Young SARAH is given the gift of a slave (HANDFUL) by her parents in her early teen years. SARAH doesn't believe that a human should be owned by another and refuses the gift. Her parents force her to keep HANDFUL and they basically grow up together as friends.  

There are examples throughout the book of the terrible treatment of slaves, used to keep them in line - torture, beatings, hangings - which is tough to read, but it's a part of our awful American history.

The chapters alternated between SARAH and HANDFUL and I was kept interested throughout. Handful's mother, CHARLOTTE was fully developed and is a major character in the story. I liked her. SARAH'S mother was wretched and had no guilt taking her cane across the head of a slave.

A very good read - great writing and particularly interesting because it's based on a true story.

Some passages that bear recognition:

Pg. 50

     "You will not set foot from this house!" she ordered. "I forbid it."

     I stepped through the back door into the soft gloom, into the terror and thrill of defiance.  The sky had gone cobalt.  Wind was coursing in hard from the harbor.

    Mother followed me, shrieking, "I forbid it." Her words flapped off on the breezes, past the oak branches, over the brick fence.

Pg. 112

     Goods and chattel. The words from the leather book came into my head. We were like the gold leaf mirror and the horse saddle. Not full-fledge people. I didn't believe this, never had believed it a day of my life, but if you listen to white folks long enough, some sad, beat-down part of you starts to wonder. All that pride about what we were worth left me then. For the first time, I felt the hurt and shame of just being who I was.

Pg. 115

     There's a frightful muteness that dwells at the center of all unspeakable things, and I had found my way into it.

Pg. 118

     The worst troubling thing he told me was how his neighbor down the street - a free black named Mr. Robert Smyth - owned three slaves. Now what you supposed to do with something like that? Mr. Vesey had to take me to the man's house to meet the slaves before I allowed any truth to it. I didn't know whether this Mr. Smyth was behaving like white people, or if it just showed something vile about all people. 

Pg. 162

     Mr. Vesey, though, he didn't like any kind of talk abut heaven.  He said that was the coward's way, pining for life in the hereafter, acting like this one didn't mean a thing.  I had to side with him on that.

Pg 357

     He was the best man I knew.  Without meaning for it, my heart had got tangled with his.

Joan

I HAVE "FANS"!!

My sister ELLEN's friend, BETTY (who joined us when I won a free week in a French Chateau in 2008) reads my Blog and passed on a copy to her friend BETH. Pat on the back to BETTY!!

Last weekend ELLEN had a party for her husband's 60th birthday and was excited to introduce me to BETH, who now LOVES my Blog. She told me that she loves it so much, she signed her daughter up to receive it too! 

BETTY and BETH

This morning JUDY, a friend of mine from Book Club, told me she reads my Blog the minute she gets the email notice.

WOW.  I have "FANS". Real "FANS"!!  Feels good to know that people enjoy reading about the variety of things that I'm spending my "retirement" time writing about!!

THANK YOU BETTY, BETH and JUDY (and my other loyal readers)!! And my "A ZESTY LIFE" Blog-reading sister ELLEN of course........  xoxoxoxo

Joan  

"ORPHAN TRAIN" - AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING EVENT

Two months ago, SAM HANKIN, the owner of WELLINGTON SQUARE BOOKSHOP, interviewed CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE, the author of "THE ORPHAN TRAIN", which can be listened to HERE.  

SAM convinced CHRISTINA to travel out to little old LIONVILLE, PA to talk about the book with local enthusiasts. WELLINGTON has hosted a number of "Author Book Signing Events", but with close to 150 attendees, this was their largest turnout yet. And only one person in the crowd had not yet read the book. 

As a loyal supporter of the Bookstore and their monthly Book Club, I was offered a seat in the front row! How great is that?!

In the early 1900's ORPHAN TRAINS transported over 250,000 children from NYC to the Midwest, basically as a labor program for the multitude of orphans living in the streets of NYC. This was the largest migration of children in our country's history.

CHRISTINA described for us her 10-year journey of writing this book, which included personal interviews with individuals who had been a child on an Orphan Train. She was also invited to a number of reunions of Orphan Train adults. The stories she heard were so compelling - they greatly influenced the writing of her book.

After the Q&A, the actual book-signing took place back in the Bookstore. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful INDEPENDENT BOOK STORE in our community. The interior is warm and cozy, with a number of chairs around a coffee table for "chat time" or "reading time" - this is where I enjoy 2 of my 3 monthly BOOK CLUBS with friends. There's even a ladder for the top shelf of books. LOVE THAT, don't you?! 

Over 2 MILLION copies of this book are in print. If you haven't read it yet, add it to your reading list!

Joan

HURRY - JAMIE WYETH EXHIBIT ENDS APRIL 5th

It was brought to my attention that I didn't let my Blog followers know that

THE JAMIE WYETH EXHIBIT ENDS ON APRIL 5th.  

BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM

• Open daily 10am - 3pm
• Admission - $15 adults, $12 seniors (62+), $6 children ages 6-12 and free < 6 yrs old
• Admission is FREE for all on Sundays from 10am - noon
• Audio tours - $3
• Directions - click HERE

HURRY, HURRY, HURRY to see it before it's gone.


Joan

JAMIE WYETH EXHIBITION - PART 3

ANDY WARHOL and JAMIE WYETH became great friends when JAMIE joined the spirited art scene in NYC in the 1970's.  In 1976 they painted portraits of each other for a joint show in NYC.


"PORTRAIT OF ANDY WARHOL" by JAMIE WYETH

"PORTRAIT OF JAMIE WYETH" by ANDY WARHOL - 1976

More ANDY WARHOL by JAMIE

Closeup of WARHOL'S face........  LOVED THIS!!

Detail of Fred Hughes in "FRED HUGHES AND ANDY WARHOL" - 2005

"NUREYEV - PURPLE SCARF" - 2001

Another of NUREYEV.

We enjoyed several DIORAMAS that JAMIE WYETH constructed. Who knew that he's also a sculptor?  The detail of each hand-carved or hand-made person and accessory was incredible - the lamps on each table, the intricate chandelier, the wallpaper, aged mirror, etc. Notice NUREYEV in his Russian hat seated on the right in this re-make of a NYC restaurant.  

The glares were unavoidable - sorry.

An early painting that we didn't see until our way out - "PORTRAIT OF LADY" - 1968 (age 22)

Do you love that face?!

And not to be missed - JAMIE WYETH'S famous "PORTRAIT OF PIG" - 1970.  

This painting kinda "threw me" the first time I saw it many years ago.  But when I studied it up close this time, it grew on me.  I really loved the scattered slashes of hay (or is it straw?). Vibrant in person. One of the guards told us that JAMIE actually painted with his fingers to get the soft movement of skin and hair.

To give you a perspective of how HUGE this painting is.......

As we were leaving the exhibit we had to take a moment to appreciate the beautiful architecture of the BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM building, with its wide open windows bringing the outdoor landscape inside.......  

.....and inspiring other artists........

The building on the outside is rustic-looking - farmlike in our very beautiful Chester County, PA. The WYETH family of painters continue to find much inspiration in this area (as do I).

THANK YOU for the wonderful excursion MERRY!

Joan

2015 JAMIE WYETH EXHIBITION - PART 2

JAMIE WYETH continued painting REALISM. Here is his yellow lab, "KLEBERG", who one day wandered up to Jamie while he was painting. Jamie took some black paint and painted the circle around Kleberg's eye, because it reminded him of the dog Pete, in "The Little Rascals". Jamie liked the look so much, it remained there for the rest of Kleberg's life, although Jamie did switch from paint to moustache dye, because he then only had to touch it up about once a month.

The full painting - "KLEBERG" - 1984 (age 38)

What fun he must have had painting these chickens.  

"10 W 30" - 1981 painted on cardboard with a cardboard box as the subject matter.

"CORNFLAKES" - 1985 

"TWINS" (1990) was inspired by two children he saw at a local market - one with wild hair and the other with cornrows. He ran out to the parking lot (leaving his cart in line) to ask their mother if he could paint them.  

It was tough not to get a reflection of paintings on the opposite wall and the overhead light. In person, the wings of the "DRAGONFLY" (1994) were shimmering with iridescence from the pearls that he ground into powder and mixed with his paint. I was so taken by the Dragonfly itself, I didn't realize until now that the Purple Martin had him in his beak.

JAMIE again painted his wife PHYLLIS, as she recuperated from surgery at a lighthouse they own in MAINE. My friend MERRY pointed out to me that her right arm is supporting a crutch, which I hadn't noticed. The scene appears calm but we were directed to look at the turbulent sea through the inside window - intentionally mimicking the ordeal she had just endured. 

"SOUTHERN LIGHT" - 1994 (age 48)

I was taken by "P.W. and ZIGGY", a 1998 watercolor, unframed, displayed under glass.

And I'm a big fan of miniatures, so these 4 caught my eye.

"HOMER" - 2003

"STEALING HOLLY" - 2004

"THANKS FOR SAVING MY LIFE" - 2008

"BARNEY AND MISS BEAZLEY CONFERRING, INDIA OFF" (Study #2) - 2005

After his father's death in 2009, JAMIE had a recurring dream, which inspired him to paint several scenes of his father and grandfather standing on the HEADLANDS of MONHEGAN ISLAND, MAINE. His friend, ANDY WARHOL and painter WINSLOW HOMER are also included in these scenes.

"SEA WATCHERS" - 2009 (age 63)

"A RECURRING DREAM" - 2011 (age 65)

Closeup of ANDY WARHOL in the bottom left corner of "SEA WATCHERS"

"THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS" (anger, lust, gluttony, sloth, pride, greed and envy) depicted by a series of spectacular seagulls - 2005 - 2008

I'd rather keep your attention than bore you.  There are several more paintings that were in the Exhibit that I feel compelled to share with you, so there will be a PART 3 shortly.  Actually some of those in PART 3 are my FAVORITES!

ARE YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT???

Joan

JAMIE WYETH - TALENT EXRAORDINAIRE!!

I was watching DOWNTON ABBEY recently and at the end of the show there was an interview with JAMIE WYETH (born in 1946), one of our local artists. He's has incredible talent and yes, he's the grandson of Illustrator N.C. WYETH and the son of world-renowned painter, ANDREW WYETH. There were other talented artists in the family as well, so what do you think? Does genetics have any influence on artistic talent??

Anyway, a few days later a friend mentioned on Facebook that he had been to the JAMIE WYETH EXHIBITION at the BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM, which is only 30 minutes away. So I decided I should make a point of visiting.  I mentioned it my friend MERRY and before you know it, we set a date to go together. When we got there, Merry treated - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!

Because there were SO many wonderful paintings exhibited, I'm going to break this into 2 posts - this first one will share paintings from his earlier life (ages 13 - 32) and my next post will highlight later paintings.

Jamie asked his parents if he could be home-schooled and because of his interest and talent for painting, at age 11 he began spending 1/2 of each day painting with his talented Aunt Carolyn, ANDREW'S sister.

When I looked at this painting, "WEATHERVANE", that he completed in 1959 at age 13, I was astounded. It truly looked like an ANDREW WYETH painting. What do you think??

Take a look at what JAMIE then accomplished at age 17 - that's HIGH SCHOOL age!!! How is this possible?? I remember what I was doing at age 17 and it wasn't painting for half of the day....... nor was I developing any talent.  

This is a closeup of "SHORTY" their neighbor.

At age 19 he painted his father, "ANDREW WYETH".

His attention to detail is amazing.

REALISM?  YES!

One of my favorites over the years has always been "DRAFT AGE", a portrait of his closest childhood friend, Jimmy Lynch, who was inspired to arrive in this "Bad Boy" outfit after just watching Marlon Brando in the movie "The Wild One". Jamie painted this when he was only 19.

This was the first time that I saw "STUDY FOR DRAFT AGE" (1965 - age 19).

In 1967 (age 21) he painted "PORTRAIT OF JOHN F KENNEDY".

At age 29 he painted "THE ISLANDER" - a wild ram overlooking the coastline of Manana Island, next door to Monhegan Island, Maine, where he and his family spent much of their time.

He also loved to paint his wife, PHYLLIS, a champion equestrienne, who was paralyzed at age 21 in an auto accident.  She loved her horses!  

"AND THEN INTO THE DEEP GORGE" was painted when Jamie was 29 years old - his first finished portrait of Phyllis with her pony cart and two Welsh ponies . Animals and people - realism one in the same.

I'll end this post with my friend Merry looking at "WHALE" (the whale's jawbone hangs above Phyllis) painted in 1978 at the age of 32.  

A closeup of Phyllis in her 19th-century dress and boots. We both loved her clothing and shoes/boots!

Stay tuned for JAMIE WYETH'S later paintings, which will not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed the paintings of his good friend ANDY WARHOL, which I will share.

Joan