This serious toddler is artist Esther Geller, my mother, at about age 3. She was born in October 1921 and this is her centenary year. The photo would then date from about 1924. She taught me almost everything I know about art and painting skills and how to make a picture. She learned painting and art-making at the prestigious Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, now part of Tufts University near Boston and was one of the few female members of the "Boston School" abstract expressionist movement.
The archive that I brought back from Massachusetts documents Esther Geller's life and work from her teen years as a modern dancer and amateur art model, to her bohemian Museum School life, her marriage to my father Harold Shapero and their life together with musicians, other artists and creative types, and their journeys through Europe, with me or without me.
In 2021 I plan to post entries on Esther and her work throughout the year here on the By-Product. There will be plenty of my newer and older work, as well. This archive is exclusive to me but I hope you will look through it along with me. The theme of my sketch and improvisational art this year at "Art By-Products" for this year is "The Year of Plants" and the theme color is rich red. There are plenty of red plants and fruits and flowers and so forth...I won't run out.
I wish all 3 of my readers here (more? please?) a very happy, leafy, flowery New Year 2021!
3 comments:
I wish you the best for 2021, Pyra, and look forward to you sharing your mother's archive with us.
I recently purchased one of your mother's pieces at an estate sale. I would love to read more about her.
Would also love to send you a photo of it.
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