No Life Without Art

When I first got out of college I had a friend who’s new wife convinced him that they had to have custom made drapes for their tiny New York City rental apartment.  They were poor and hardly had money for food.   Her line was “It’s just not a home without drapes.”  I’m happy to report they are still married even though at the time I gave them only a 30/70 chance after the drapes demand.

The only reason I even know about this is at the time my friend called me to quiz me what I thought was most important for a home to have.  Drapes were not in my top three, but I clearly remember saying that art was number one.

Perhaps I was tilted towards art since my mother is an artist and I had majored in art in college.  I can remember when I was about ten eavesdropping on my mother commenting to her best friend Shelly about how sad people’s houses were that had no original art.  Starving artist sofa size oils were definitely frowned upon in my family, especially anything painted on black velvet.

About a dozen years ago I went on a house tour with my mother in a small provincial southern town I refuse to name in fear of inciting a new war between the states.   Although some of the houses were beautiful and their furnishing exquisite, they all had one horrible thing in common — bad art.  Now some had prints or reproductions of famous art, but the worst homes had nothing but portraits of the homeowners through the years.  Yes, portraits are art and some are just fabulous, but it is a little spooky to have three pictures of the same people in ten-year age progressions in the same room.

Look at what is on your walls and decide if that poster you framed in college is still what you want to have hanging.  Chances are if you have not moved your art around you have stopped looking at it.  Now it is easier than ever to create your own art with inexpensive canvas prints that can be made from photos you take and upload to Costco. Russ has been bugging me to cover a large wall in his office in some artwork.  It is such a big wall that I needed lots of material or a giant budget. I made twelve canvases of photos of art glass I took on vacation and am going to display them in a grid.  For less than the cost of one small painting I’ll make a nine-foot square display.

Now, as a grown up I know drapes have their place, but if I had to chose between curtains or art you know which one I’d chose.  It may not block the sun out, but it will bring the sun in.