MUSEUM ADVOCACY DAY

Over 250 museum advocates from around the country will gather in Washington, D.C. to make the case to Congress that museums are essential, especially in educating our youth.

If you can’t make it to Washington, D.C., that’s okay.  We advocate and support from anywhere!  Even from home!

Please take a moment today to share this on facebook and twitter:  #museumsadvocacy

Just copy and paste on your facebook wall or in your twitter account.  This small gesture will increase the awareness for museums all over the country.

January 2015 at the Wichita Art Museum.

Museums have a rightful place in our communities.  They aid in children’s education, and to be quite honest, I learn something new every time I visit a museum.  Our Wichita Art Museum has been a treasure since 1935.  Please visit their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WichitaArtMuseum and tell them Linda Palmer sent you!  Let them know you read about Museum Advocacy Day here on my blog.  What is going on this week at the Wichita Art Museum?

Chipping the Block, Painting the Silk: The Color Prints of Norma Bassett Hall

February 21 through July 12, 2015

Guest-curated by Dr. Joby Patterson, Chipping the Block is the first one-woman exhibition of artist Norma Bassett Hall’s work since her death in 1957.

Born in Oregon, Bassett Hall studied at the Portland Art Association and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1922, she married Arthur Hall, who had been a fellow student at the Art Institute, and the couple settled in El Dorado, Kansas.

It was during these early years in Kansas that Bassett Hall explored the artistic possibilities of woodblock printing. 1930 marked the launch of the Prairie Print Makers, with Bassett Hall as the only female founding member. In her work, Hall employed line, color, and pattern with delicate skill, using up to seven blocks for each print.

On view in the Kurdian Gallery.

 Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air — explode softly — and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth — boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either — not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.  – Robert Fulghum

The Ulrich Museum on the campus of Wichita State University is a great place to go, especially when your funds are a bit low.  All of their events and showings are free of charge.  And what’s on the schedule for this week?

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26
6 P.M. PROGRAM, 7 P.M. RECEPTION
IN LIVING COLOR ART HISTORY TALK: Dr. Brittany Lockard
No Defense of Abstract Art: A Brief History of the Non-representational
Alfred H. Barr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, famously said, “Abstract art today needs no defense. It has become one of the many ways to paint or carve or model. But it is not yet a kind of art which people like without some study and some sacrifice of prejudice.” In this curatorial talk, Dr. Brittany Lockard will discuss the history and development of abstraction, and how to read and evaluate art that uses line, shape, and color as subject matter.

Without awareness, appreciation and advocacy these programs would not be possible.  Visit your local art museum today and let them know you support them.  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

 

OK – hands up, everyone who had fun learning to spell MISSISSIPPI – with the emphasis on the 4 S’s and 2 P’s.  For that reason alone, I’m grateful that the great state of Mississippi was admitted as the 20th state of the Union on this day back in 1817.

And Ray Stevens would have had to choose a different state in which that famous revival took place – can you imagine?

And the song by Mountain would not be called Mississippi Queen.  Hmm…  that would be weird.

And the coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs had this to say as he grinned from ear to ear on November 22nd after their 0-51 victory over Vanderbilt:

I couldn’t be happier with how our guys responded; offense, defense, kicking game, guys flying around, making plays, playing with that chip on their shoulder and really believing we have an awful lot still to play for.  You saw that on the field with how our guys played.  – Dan Mullen

Yep – we’re glad that on this day in 1817, Mississippi joined the Union!

I’ve never been to Mississippi, but it is on my bucket list to visit there one day!  I imagine overwhelming Southern hospitality, a laid-back attitude, good music and good food (not necessarily in that order).  What is life like in the deep south?

Ah – the gospel music has SOUL to be sure!  I feel God’s Holy Spirit!  But no squirrels inside this church (I am just a little disappointed).

Who’s ready to eat???

Now – let’s check out that Southern hospitality!  There are so many Bed & Breakfasts in Mississippi.  Really though, can you imagine soaking in the South from a Motel?  I can’t.

Um…  just make sure you don’t book your stay here:

I just read that Mississippi lost their first Miss America, Mary Ann Mobley.

Rest in Peace, Mary Ann Mobley. A Mississippi treasure.  She was Miss America in 1959.

God richly blessed this Nation when He saw fit to allow Mississippi to become a part of the United States of America!  😀

If you are looking for a perfect Christmas gift, may I suggest a new devotional book by Lucinda Berry Hill?  Everyone needs a new devotional book to begin the new year!

Click on the link below to order your copy!

http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000952694/A-Second-Cup-with-Jesus.aspx 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A culture Christmas is cold, commercialized and calculated.  Everyone is all about the bottom line financially.  How much will retailers make this year?  Profit margins and being in the black are the most important aspects of a culture Christmas.  No wonder it leaves non-Christians feeling cold and wanting.

To lean heavily on the mere traditions of Christmas is to miss the mark and to miss the meaning. If we are so wrapped up in the “doing” part of Christmas, we miss the “being”, the present that God wants for all of us to receive. He wants us to see His Son, Jesus. Celebrate His birthday and be grateful that He came to save the world. There is no greater gift than that. No new technological gizmo can top that!

A culture Christmas will have you on an emotional “high” for just a little while, getting all wrapped up in the glitz and glitter, the rushing and the flitting here and hurry there. It is fun and folly for a short time. Unfortunately, the result of that sort of celebration leaves you empty inside. When you indulge the carnal folly of Christmas, you end up with an empty soul and a sad credit card statement. Most people just over-spend and it takes the rest of the year to get the debt paid off – if it gets paid off.

There’s a better way to approach Christmas. It begins with pure simplicity and a level logic. It’s not based on external folly, but internal wisdom that will rule your heart. It is not a fleeting happiness, but a deep sense of peace and joy that will remain in your heart long after the last Christmas decoration has been put away for the year. Christ Himself wants to inhabit your heart and fill you will joy unspeakable and full of glory. He alone can replace the carnal desires with real peace and contentment that allow you to see beyond all the frills and fluff of a culture Christmas – to a personal celebration between you and Him.

For a Christian, Christmas is simply Thanksgiving all over again. We keep the same attitude of gratitude, adding our eternal thanks for the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While we know that His birth is what we are celebrating, many of us also have a Christmas tree and exchange gifts. The difference is that we know in our hearts that God gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus! ❤