By Loretta Humble/Around the Town
I love artists.
Some of the most fun I have is watching the Star Harbor watercolorists, or just hanging out with the artists at 211 Gallery in Athens.
I don’t think I’ve ever met an artist I didn’t like, or one that wasn’t pretty darn interesting.
Until I went to see the marvelous one-woman play, “O’Keeffe!” in Tyler, I didn’t really know anything about Georgia O’Keeffe, except that she painted great big flowers, desert scenes, and bones. Since I saw the play, and particularly since I’ve been involved in bringing it to Malakoff, I have become a bit more familiar with the life of that remarkable woman. And she was remarkable.
But the bigger gift that has come out of my acquaintance with O’Keeffe, is that it has given me an excuse to spend more time with a bunch of our top local artists.
It started when the Malakoff Garden Club decided to bring “O’Keeffe!” to Malakoff to raise funds for restoring the Bartlett property. Because we decided to do it on Cornbread Festival evening, we wanted to find a tie-in with Georgia O’Keeffe and Cornbread. I brazenly hinted around that I was looking for some really creative artist to imagine what Georgia O’Keeffe cornbread would look like. Cheryl Hicks, one of the very best—and busiest– artists I know, took me up on it, and created us a masterpiece in a day! It is called “Beans and Greens and Cornbread.” The greens are definitely O’Keefe. It just blew my mind. We are using it on our Cornbread Festival advertising, and it is traveling around on public display. I believe it will be at First State Bank in Malakoff when you read this.
That was such fun we challenged other artists in the community to paint their slant on O’Keeffe. Lots of them are doing so. Selwyn Wilson has pulled together a number of Star Harbor watercolorists who are working on theirs now, and will be offering them for sale at the Saturday night performance of “O’Keeffe!” with a portion of the sale price going to the Bartlett House project. I don’t know what the rest of them are doing, but I do know that my wonderful friend Celene Terry is painting a shell. I know that because I tried to persuade her to do a portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe but she chose the shell. I think it is because maybe portraits take a long time. I guess getting Cheryl to do that cornbread painting got me a little cocky.
Carolyn Ellis, proprietor of The Color of Ideas, has created an elegant abstract homage to O’Keeffe, using her beautiful pastel shades. Sky Copeland, another Athens artist, showed me a nifty O’Keeffe tribute he has at the top of his art page.
I think Charlie Bullock or some of his students will come up with something too. Problem is, I forgot to tell him about this until right this minute as I’m writing this.
Then, just for fun, Cheryl started doing Georgia O’Keeffe Zintangles. And now she is going to do an O’Keeffe Zintangles workshop at the Athens Country Club a couple of days before the play. That’s not all. Christi has announced she was going to lead two more O’Keeffe workshops—one for children, one for adults—these two as total fundraisers for the Bartlett House. I cannot believe the generosity of these folks! Please understand, I have not asked anybody to do anything except play with Georgia O’Keeffe. Because just to watch them play is enough. That is what is so great about artists—they haven’t forgotten how to play. And sometimes they help us remember how as well.
And what fun to a watch really brilliant artists pick up an idea and run with it! I was in on the start of another one today when I delivered “O’Keeffe!” tickets and had lunch with Daniela Matchael in her studio. Daniela is going to do an O’Keeffe-influenced painting, too! We had fun talking about what a Daniela-meets-Georgia painting might turn out to be. Daniela is an internationally recognized artist who mostly paints abstracts in strikingly beautiful brilliant glowing colors. She showed me her latest series. She has been painting koi, some realistic, some morphed into brilliant whirls of abstract color.
I think she is leaning towards transferring those whirling glowing colors into an O’Keefe sized flower. When she finishes it, she is going to let us put it on display around town to draw more attention to “O’Keeffe!” like we are doing with Cheryl Hicks’ “Cornbread” picture.
I’m still hoping we get some school kids doing some O’Keeffe-like stuff. I’ve posted some examples on the O’Keeffe! Event page of what kids in other places have done. If any kids make some , and want us to, we will show them all over town.
NEWS FLASH!!!!! DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, THERE WILL BE A SUNDAY MATINEE OF “O’KEEFFE!” APRIL 13, AT 2:00 PM! For more information, call me at 903-681-2880. Or find “O’Keeffe in Malakoff” on Facebook.
To find details about Cheryl’s and Christi’s workshops, call 211 Gallery or check out their Facebook pages.