To get the most out of this blog, please click on many of the images, underlined words, etc. for links to more information, interviews, music, etc.
three things we love
Super Model Carolyn Doelling, age 74, rocking a Gert Mathiesen Rust Tree of Life scarf.
Carolyn Doelling in front of one of my paintings, July 2021.
Carolyn Doelling, modeling a dress by Designer Kamperett, Photography by Drew Altizer
Carolyn Doelling in a dress designed by Jonathan Cohen. photography by Kaleb Welch.
Every artist remembers people who have helped and supported them along the way. One of those people, an early Californian supporter, was Carolyn Doelling. If I remember correctly, she bought three paintings from me back in the early 90’s and I was proud of the sale, especially since her home was designed by very prominent architects at that time: Ace Architects of Oakland, California. Fast forward many years and quite a few art pieces later, we have stayed loosely in touch. She was always a beautiful woman but at the age of 74, she is more gorgeous than ever and began a new career a few years ago when a local boutique ((The McMullen in Oakland, California) asked her to model for them. It is not often that women of her age get noticed, let alone asked to model clothing…and that got her thinking about how older women are often ignored, which got her thinking even more about the diversity (or more accurately, the lack thereof) of the whole advertising world in general. Being an activist at heart, Carolyn is now on a mission to draw attention to the invisibility of older women and she is determined to change that. In her own words, I am a fashion model because I aspire to be a “role model” model. The fashion industry ignores older women as models even though women over 50 have buying prowess of over 2 trillion dollars. Only 4% of women view themselves as beautiful because they are comparing their looks to a standard of beauty set by some advertising executive who assumes we all have aspirations to be 20 years old. There is a burgeoning wave of 72 million baby boomers, ages 55- 73, who do not aspire to be 20 again." She will stop no short of her goal to "inspire the fashion industry (and all of us) to reassess the standards of beauty and encourage older women to embrace style and color as a tool to enhance social engagement." Featured last week on a segment on NBC's The Today Show, Carolyn Doelling is a woman to watch! Follow her on instagram @doellingcarolyn and click here to read some of her writings.
Hilna af Klint, The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood, Group IV, 1907 Photo: Albin Dahlström, The Moderna Museet, Stockholm/Courtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Hilna af Klint, Fig. 6. Grupp I, Urkaos, nr 5 [Group I, Primordial Chaos, No.
The Guggenheim Museum past Hilna af Klint Exhibition Oct 12, 2018 - Apr 23, 2019
A while back I saw a very interesting show at one of my favorite museums for viewing art--the Guggenheim in New York City. Frank Lloyd Wright brilliantly designed it so you could take the elevator up and walk down the circular slope, never having to wonder where to go next. (As an aside, it enrages me these days when the curators organize a show to go in reverse--but don't get me started...) In any case, the last show I saw there a few years ago was of an unknown to me Swedish artist by the name of Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), who in the words of the New York Times "Upended Art History, But Left Few Traces." Precursor to such abstract painters as Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, Klint claimed that her work was channeled through her and knew the world was not ready for her art. She even went so far as to instruct her nephew not to release any of her work until twenty years after her death. For those who missed this show, Here is a walk through video about her spiritual, intriguing life and work.
Alice Neel’s 1960’s portrait of Jeffrey and Toby Neal when they were young boys. Toby passed away before ever getting to see the finished portrait.
Jeffrey Neal, posing this weekend in front of the Alice Neel portrait of him from the 1960s. When I asked him what he thought of the experience way back when, he told me it was very hard for him to sit there and be still.
Allen Tobias, a Columbia college student at the time, became a type of mentor for the two young brothers, taking them on outings around the city and to the country.
Jeffrey Neal and his wonderful entire extended family.
Sometimes I think I have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Or maybe I just notice it more. Such is the case when I finally got to see the Alice Neel show at the Metropolitan Museum (through Augut 1, 2021). I have always loved her portraits, especially now since I started dabbling myself in this genre during the pandemic (I am in kindergarten compared to her!). I also wrote about a particular portrait of hers in a previous blog post (number 16): the story of two brothers: Jeffrey and Toby Neal (no relation as far as we know), who posed for her some time in the 1960s and then lost touch and never saw the finished product until recently, after searching for it for many years. Well, today, not only did I see the amazing exhibition chock full of wonderful, quirky, gutsy, unusual and amazing paintings, but guess who happened to be there, standing in front of his portrait: none other than Jeffrey Neal himself, fifty some odd years after posing for the artist as a young boy. As it turned out, Jeffrey's son Desmond was about to go out of town on a project and wanted to take one last look at the Alice Neel exhibit before it ended on August 1. He told his dad of his intention and Jeffrey decided to come along too. Word got out in the family and that prompted a mass exodus to the museum for the whole extended Neal clan. I had the good fortune of stumbling on them, meeting the whole bunch. And as I knew their story, got talking to them, including the then college student Allen Tobias (who was also there!), who started the whole thing by being a kind mentor to two young boys who had just lost their father, including Alice Neel's studio as one of his many stops on outings he took the boys on. Testimony to art, kindness, and being our brothers' keeper.
painting of the week
I am including this painting again here to illustrate a tool I have in my toolbox these days: I can superimpose any painting on a photo of your wall and be able to show you or your client how it will look in your space. Please take me up on this. I know I am prejudiced but I think art is the soul of a home and if you are living without it, whether it be a poster, giclee print or original piece, you are missing out on something that can uplift you and provide you with endless inspiration and joy.
Charity of the Week:
Jane Goodall Institute
Found this quote this morning in a worthwhile NYTimes piece on Jane Goodall. Seemed to express my thoughts entirely and why I began this blog in the first place. Click on the image to read the full article.
Please donate if you can: https://janegoodall.org/make-a-difference
“…We absolutely need to know all the doom and gloom because we are approaching a crossroads, and if we don’t take action it could be too late. But traveling the world I’d see so many projects of restoration, animal and plant species being rescued from the brink of extinction, people tackling what seemed impossible and not giving up. Those are the stories that should have equal time, because they’re what gives people hope. If you don’t have hope, why bother? Why should I bother to think about my ecological footprint if I don’t think that what I do is going to make a difference? Why not eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die?”
Jane Goodall, New York Times Magazine, July 18, 2021
Another Self Portrait going grey in the time of Covid…
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow created the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her, check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.