Julia Child Arrives
and she's coming up roses
I’ve been taking pictures of flowers for a very long time. I took this picture of a Petunia almost 50 years ago. The numbers are staggering and well beyond 100,000 images. But I don’t really count.
And it’s not often that I ask myself: “Why do you do this?” When my flower photography was chosen for the inaugural “Art in City Hall” show by Citrus Heights Arts this week, I did ask myself that question.
It’s been almost a year since I moved from the Bay Area to the sprawling communities East of Sacramento. One of my goals this year is to develop creative outlets for my art photography. I knew a lot about the arts organizations in the Bay Area, but I knew nothing about art around here.
When I was selected to present my art for this show I was reminded of some pretty sweet and very important memories that could help me understand and answer the question of why I enjoy taking photographs of flowers so much.
Throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, my Mom was a social worker by trade and artist by night and weekend. She painted, she did needlepoint, she played piano and sang, she grew roses, and she collected a few pieces of art. Art was all around the house.
In 1982 she became the head of the local Kings County Art League.
I captured these images in the 1970s at art shows curated by the Kings County Art League. The show was held for one day during the City of Hanford’s Mother’s Day celebration downtown at the Courthouse Square.
Those days were special. Dads were in the Civic Auditorium kitchen with the firemen making a pancake breakfast for the whole family. The Moms and kids were running around outside and looking at art. It was the perfect day for everyone.
My Grandmother lived her final years with my parents and came with us to the shows.
Stylish Lita Marcellus, wife of local Hanford artist Bob Marcellus was always there too. Both were artists and very big in the local art scene. Our families were close. We spent a lot of time out there beyond the edge of town, into the croplands and next to a big irrigation ditch where they lived.
They called it the People’s Ditch because it gave local farmers a siphon off the Kings River for their crops.
It was country.
The Marcellus’s were artists living in farmland.
Bob Marcellus’s paintings and sculptures were in our home. Art shows were ingrained in my mind. I’ve participated in them since elementary school which is when we were so close to the Marcellus family.
The idea of photographic art and portraits stayed in my mind over the years helping me develop a style for the pictures I want — the ones I see in my lens.
The Citrus Heights Arts group was just formalized and Gigi Rayford, the director, put together an impressive art show and reception. She welcomed artists and art lovers and explained the history of new arts council. City officials greeted us, before we enjoyed food, drink, live music, and a beautiful art show.
“Julia Child Arrives” is the perfect piece for this show because it represents a lifetime of work and creativity. I’m excited to share more of my art experience through these exhibitions and there are more shows and posts coming soon!
