North Light Studios

Now that it's less than ninety degrees outside, I am feeling that I can bear sitting at the computer and doing some intellectual and fun stuff. For instance, talking about Leonardo Bistolfi, another fantastic sculptor born in Casale Monferrato in Piedmont in 1859. In 1876 he enrolled in an art academy in Milan before delving into full-time sculpture. Fallen Thanks to Wikimedia for the pic! Caduti is a beautiful and touching memorial. I like to think this woman is the guardian of the Fallen (literal translation), those who have gone before us, who have died protecting us. This is a war memorial at Casale Monferrato, and this woman foregoes two angels carved in stone beneath an archway. This figure can tell us so much from her gesture and expression, something different and meaningful for each of us. I see someone who is both frustrated and happy, someone who is seeking freedom and coming into happiness after sorrow. I love the hair and fabric on this piece. Gorgeous! Ce...

The first time I saw a statue by Giulio Monteverde it stole my breath. As I watched my husband scroll through images of his sculpture on Google yesterday, I knew he was the next sculptor I was going to talk about. He was born in the very small province of Bistagno, Italy, and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He was also a senator, but I think that's the least of his achievements. The Boy Columbus, from Wiki Commons The first piece I want to talk about is The Boy Columbus. It's obvious at first glance that Monteverde has a way with subtlety and form that knows how to just ignite your interest and imagination. Columbus has been caught in a moment of formulation, as if he's staring at a point he can't really see because he's concentrating on something else entirely. Thought This next piece, called Il Pensiero which translates in English to Thought , is a striking and powerful multi-figure sculpture. An allegorical masterpiece with a glimpse at one...

It's so hard to pick sculptors. There must be a thousand Italian sculptors alone to choose from, and I'm just taking a bite out of the last few centuries with that number. During my searches, my husband suggested Vittorio Caradossi , a sculptor from Florence. He was born in 1861, died in 1918. That's about as much as I know about him, unless you count his work. Thanks to the ARC for this pic! This piece, called Shooting Stars , is an elegant piece. It's design suggests a reaching for the heavens. An amazing marble piece of two young women depicting the epitomy of graceful, stretched from their toes to their hair, which is flowing upward. Picture thanks to Portuguese Wikipedia   This sculpture is not only fun, but thought-provoking. Woman With A Mirror is a marble sculpture that is actually attached to a mirror. Another elegant and graceful pose. What I like about these statues is his use of drapery. It's very well done, rivaling Bernini's detaile...

Screeeee! This is what I sound like when I get excited. And what am I excited about, you ask? That today I'm covering one of my favorite pieces - and sculptors - of all time, Antonio Canova. I'm so tempted to put up a pic of the best first, but you know...last the best of all the game, right? Restraining myself with every fiber of my being, the first thing I will do is introduce you to Canova.   This is a self-portrait of Canova from  Wikipedia  (at first I thought, hmm, he's kind of handsome in his own right, but when I saw another less-attractive painting of him thought he must've been portraying himself in a flattering light). Canova was born in the Republic of Venice, his father died before he was three and his mother remarried and left him with his grandparents, which turned out to be a good thing, because they were loving and kind people. After Canova spent his early life studying, he got to work. When nine years had passed, he learned the art of stone car...

It seems that every year, about half-way through, I lull. There is a huge gap in my blogs from about May to the end of the year. And this year, I didn't even start until March. Is it any wonder that my email used to be slacker_a? While scrolling through favorite statuary, I came across Apollo and Daphne , and my eyes lit up. Maybe this story is so intriguing to me because I have a sister named Daphne. Or maybe the statue itself is what drew me in. Apollo, who has been hit by those tricky arrows that belong to Eros (a.k.a. Cupid), wants Daphne so badly that he won't give in to her refusals. Daphne detests Apollo, and begs her father for help in getting away from him. The way I see the story - and many others as well - is that Apollo was about to deprive Daphne of her virtue, and so her father turns her into a Laurel tree. She is still a living thing, and though not a human, has escaped Apollo's grasp. From Wikipedia This sculpture by Bernini is, in effect, enthrallin...

I’ve been holding off on this one, simply because I know it so well and could go on forever about it. But the Springville Museum of Art is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. So why am I talking about it now? Because it’s director, Dr. Vern Swanson, is retiring this August. I’m both hopeful and fearful for whoever is taking his place, because he is seriously irreplaceable. I’ll start with the exterior. The building was originally a high school, built in Spanish Colonial style . Two paintings were donated to the school, which transformed into a museum when a bigger high school was built. The step-down gallery is home to exhibitions, whatever the flavor-of-the-month is. From the International Spring Salon that runs May through July every year, to the Quilt Show in the fall, there is always something fantastic to see here. I admit, Mike’s piece is in that room right now, and I love to go look at it, along with the other pieces. Each room on the main level is spacious and...

Ten years ago (okay, maybe eleven) I stepped foot in one of the most extraordinary and fascinating structures every built by mankind. I knew very little about it; in fact, I’d never heard of it until I met my husband. “The Hermitage?” I had said. “What is that?” “Oh, it’s amazing,” my husband replied. And it was. The walls were lined with ornate patterns weaving in and out of each other; trim inlaid with gold adorned the most magnificent architecture I’d ever laid eyes on. Not only that, but it was a museum, filled to the brim with the treasures of Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael, Simone Martini, Peter Paul Reubens, Jean-Honore Fragonard, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Michelangelo, Antonio Canova (my favorite!), Auguste Rodin, and Jean-Antoine Houdon. And these exhibits are just the icing on the cake. We were lucky, while there, to find that the Hermitage was hosting an exhibition of ancient Egypt, including mummy corpses and Egy...