With Mother’s Day fast approaching, we thought we should introduce Miriam’s mother, Ellen Maddox Jackson, and her impact on Miriam’s art. Ellen (b. 1904) was one of five siblings and grew up in a small town and farming community (Easonville) in central Alabama. Her brothers preferred hunting, fishing, and other popular outdoor sports, which Ellen …
Why would you collect and hang a portrait of someone in your home that you do not know? Consider this—most of the most valuable, appreciated, and well-known works of art in the world are portraits of people that know one personally knows: Mona Lisa, Whistler’s Mother, Girl with the Pearl Earring, American Gothic, etc. That …
A few of Miriam’s grandchildren recently returned from a whirlwind introductory tour of Europe including Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, and London. Can you guess where they spent most of their time in those cities touring? Museums and churches! Why? Well, it wasn’t to see the technology they used at the time for music or lighting or …
A central theme of Miriam’s art is her faith in God. This week, many Christians around the world celebrate “Holy Week” or the days leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Miriam has quite a few works around these events as they are personal and foundational to her faith. You cannot fully understand Miriam or …
The events of the last few weeks in Ukraine have caused us to pause writing this newsletter several times, not knowing what to say, as we watched in shock then horror at Putin’s unjustified invasion and destruction of Ukraine unfold. It has become clear that one of Putin’s aims is to destroy the culture and …
Seeing past the current events in Ukraine to a future of forgiveness Read More »
I learned more about painting at the Farnsworth’s School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. I was down there about six months. Jerry Farnsworth was a great admirer of El Greco, and it showed in his work. Also he was the first painter I have run across that scraped the canvas down after a session. It …
Workshops around the country significantly influenced my art along with museums. Workshops, if one stayed a week or two, were a holiday—a time to meet other artists and have a wonderful teaching experience. The best part of some of the workshops are the places you stay, and seeing another part of the country. I learn …
My favorite place was the “Burnsville Painting Classes” (SeeCelo) in North Carolina. John Bryan and Everret Kivette were teachers there who took over the classes started by Frank Stanley Herring and his wife, Frances. I attended classes there in the summer for two weeks over the course of ten years. The criticism was frank but …
Hard to remember this far back, but it was the summer of my sophomore year at the University of Alabama. I went with a sorority sister, who was also a childhood friend. We took the train out to Colorado. It was a fun trip with lots of beautiful scenery. One boy on the train I …
Reflections: Summer Study at the University of Colorado with Mark Rothko Read More »
From 1953 to 1957 I attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Coming from a large city (Birmingham, Alabama) with no art museum at that time, I was fortunate to have a father who loved to travel and was an amateur photographer, an aunt that taught ceramic …
Reflections: Undergraduate at the University of Alabama Read More »
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