Friday, May 21, 2010

1883 Circus in Vermont

Photo courtesy Shelburne Museum
Colchester, Vermont, 1991- the removal of siding revealed five beautiful circus posters pasted onto the boards beneath the siding of a house. The posters were mounted on the house when a circus came to town in 1883, and they remained hidden for the next 108 years. The home owners, Gladys and Harold Degree, donated the posters to the Shelburne Museum, boards and all.
The newly conserved posters will be one of the centerpieces of Shelburne Museum’s new exhibit, "Circus Day in America", (May 16 through October 24)
Shelburne Museum
(Rt. 7, Vermont)
Have a look at these fascinating images:
Flickr set Shelburne- preserving the posters
Read Story: Northeast Document Conservation Center website

Thanks, Tom!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Girl on a Miniature Horse and a Clown-child (Crehore)

Background detail of "The Angel at Gossamer Creek"painting by Amy Crehore 2010 (direct scan)
Background detail of "The Waiting Pool" painting by Amy Crehore 2010 (direct scan)
Here's just a glimpse of my two new paintings. They have lots of layers of paint. I am waiting for the weather to clear before I can take slides of the completed paintings. Then I will scan the slides for you. "The Waiting Pool" has 10 figures in it. I allowed myself to work on them for as long as I wanted to and they took me... a long time! I scanned these small details directly from the paintings.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Mrs. Crehore is Mentioned in Shaw's Civil War Letter

I knew we had ancestors in Milton, MA (Benjamin Crehore -maker of the first pianos in America). In the film "Glory", Matthew Broderick plays Col. Robert Gould Shaw, white commander of the black 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War. In a letter written by the real Col. Shaw to his mother on May 17, 1863, he indicates that he is staying with a "Mrs. Crehore" in Readville, MA which is very close to Milton.
Blue Eyed Child of Fortune is a a book of letters by Shaw.(shown above-amazon) I came across a few of these letters on Written in Glory , a website with letters by the soldiers of the 54th Regiment. A letter by Shaw to his sister states- " Will you please tell Mrs. Crehore to expect us on Tuesday? No matter whether she wants us or not, we are coming."
1863, Readville, MA
This is so interesting! There are 3 letters mentioning Mrs. Crehore on this website.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Vintage Steamship Travel Posters from Japan





Early 20th century travel posters for Japanese steamship companies (from the book Miwaku no Funatabi, published by the Museum of Maritime Science, 1993) via pinktentacle
Aren't these cool? The expressions of the people are a bit blank, except for the one at the top with the handkerchief and daisy. That might be my favorite because it shows emotion. The rendering is beautiful. Most are from 1909-1919.
Thanks, Internet Weekly for pointing them out.

Legs

Photo by Willy Ronis, Dessous de l'Opera, 1948.
kraftgenie has some interesting sets
on flickr including this one called "legs".
This reminds me- my own paintings
have a lot of legs.
Love this photo.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Winner of My Contest

Okay. I've decided. The winner of my "Name the Monkey in the Sailor Hat" contest is Sugarpie with the name "Romeo". Please contact me by email for your prize.
I really enjoyed reading all of the entries. Very clever and creative. Thank you all for playing.