Grandma Moses Get-Together

Five members of the Take Joy Society gathered together today for a Grandma Moses Painting Party.   Anna Mary Robertson Moses, otherwise known as Grandma Moses was born in 1860 in Washington Co., New York.  She and her brothers would draw on the newsprint paper their father brought home on his trips into town.  Anna Mary would color her pictures using grape juice or berries.  She especially loved the color red.  After she married in 1887 she and her husband moved to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  She birthed 10 children there, but only five survived infancy.  In 1905 they moved back to New York and bought a farm they named Mt. Nebo.  The only painting she did in those years was decorative painting on furniture.   Because she liked to keep busy she took up embroidery and made "yarn pictures" in the 1930s when house and farm work became too strenuous for her.  Here is an example of her yarn pictures. . . .

Mt. Nebo on the Hill

You can see more examples of her embroidery HERE.  Her sister, Celestia, suggested she try painting pictures when arthritic hands made it difficult to continue doing needlework.  She used a piece of canvas that had been used for mending a threshing machine cover and some house paint.  When she had several paintings she took them down to Thomas's Drugstore in Hoosick Falls where they were displayed along with some of her yarn pictures.  The rest is history.  In 1938 Louis Caldor, an art collector from New York City, stopped in at the drugstore while on vacation.  He was so taken with her paintings that he bought the lot and asked if there were more.  Through his efforts her paintings were shown in the "Contemporary Unknown American Painters" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.  In 1939 after Otto Kallir exhibited her paintings in his gallery her career took off dramatically.  She was 78 years old and would paint for another 23 years.  If you'd like a little more information about Grandma Moses, Debra Eve has done a lovely post about Grandma Moses on her website, Later Bloomer.  More information can be found HERE.

I look back on my life like a good day’s work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it.  I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered.  And life is what we make it, always has been and always will be.

The above quote pretty much sums up Grandma Moses's enduring appeal.  She lived a long, happy life (despite the hardships) and when most people sit around waiting to die, she found an outlet for her desire to keep busy while making people happy with her pictures.  She once said that if she hadn't started painting she probably would have raised chickens.  In the beginning she painted from pictures she found in magazines and books, but eventually her paintings were mostly from her memories of childhood and her time in the Shenandoah Valley.  With each painting she thought it might be her last, but then she'd think of something else to paint.  She painted more than 1,500 paintings in the last 23 years of her life.

When we were in Vermont last September we stopped in Bennington to see her paintings in the "Schoolhouse Museum" at Bennington Museum.

This is the schoolhouse Anna Mary attended in 1874, and later by four of her children, nine grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.  In 1968 her daughter-in-law opened the Schoolhouse Museum in Eagle Bridge to showcase Grandma Moses's paintings.  After seven years she had it moved to Bennington Museum.  Seeing her paintings up close was a thrill because photographs do not do them justice.  From there we headed over to Mt. Nebo in Eagle Bridge, NY where her great-grandson, Will Moses, now lives and maintains his art studio.  Will also paints in the primitive style.  You can see his paintings, books, cards, calendars and puzzles on his website. . . .

Will Moses' Gallery/Studio

The back of Mt. Nebo where Grandma Moses lived

The front of the house 

I bought Christmas cards and a puzzle and later regretted I did not purchase a print.  When we returned home I was looking at his website and discovered he would be at an Art Show in York, PA.  So we went up in November and was able to meet him. . . .

I bought the calendar and this print which I had framed. . . .

I chose this one, even though there were several others I loved equally well, because of the connection I feel to Walden's Pond.  I wrote about that visit HERE.

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….Now the board is ready for the scene, whatever the mind may produce, a landscape, an old bridge, a dream or a summer or winter scene, childhood memories, but always something pleasing and cheerful.  I like bright colors and activity.

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I wanted to share my enthusiasm about Grandma Moses with the group so I first showed the Take Joy Society members this short biography on Grandma Moses. . . .

                                                  

Afterwards we had Tasha Tudor's Welsh Breakfast tea along with Grandma Moses's Gingerbread served with Lemon Curd and fresh fruit. . . .

Here is her recipe. . . .

I made it according to Grandma Moses's directions.  For the "thick sour rich milk" I used buttermilk.

The dining room tables was set up with painting supplies.  We used acrylics since they dry quicker than oil. . . .

The assignment was to paint a primitive painting (sometimes known as folk art).  Primitive art is generally identified as art by untrained artists.  I had several books of Grandma Moses's art for everyone to look through first.  Some brought their own picture to paint from.  Cindy is our only professional artist.  The rest of us are amateurs.   Here are our works in progress. . . .

Here are the four paintings that were finished. . . .

Painting is very relaxing.  You really ought to try it if you've never done so.  Remember, folk art is supposed to be eclectic and original, so anything you paint qualifies you as a primitive artist!  

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Take Joy!