High... Goodbye
© 2019 Matrons & Mistresses.
Gallery Information:
high museum of art
hours:
tu-th: 10am - 5pm
fr: 10am - 9pm
sa: 10am - 5pm
su: 12pm - 5pm
admission:
$14.50
It has been my experience that life does not provide many do-overs… Rebuilds, restorations and grace it gives aplenty, but rarely a redo. And yet, it feels I was granted just that six years ago in the form of a small apartment (admittedly with a gorgeous view) in a building where my maternal grandmother once lived… designed by the architect of my father’s childhood home. It was through this apartment that I was given the opportunity to fall in love with a city that never quite felt like home growing up.
I came back to Atlanta for my son (or so I thought) to meet with specialists… to give words, to form connections, to help a little boy find his way. And, on some of the hardest days of our journey and many of the best ones too, solace and joy were found through the arts.
So, as I pack up my apartment and prepare to say goodbye once more to Atlanta, I share with you some of my favorite friends I made while roaming the halls of the High Museum…friends that I visited over and over, friends that I will be sad to leave and will so hope to see again.
coronation theme: organon, 2008
nadine robinson
Reminiscent of Louise Nevelson’s wooden wall pieces and Janet Cardiff’s sound walks, Nadine Robinson’s hauntingly beautiful Coronation Theme drew me in and touched my soul time and time again. Thirty loud speakers assembled to reflect Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (where Martin Luther King, Jr. preached), Coronation Theme pays homage through sound and presence to the 1,000 children and young adults that were fire-hosed during the Project C demonstrations of Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.
Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986), Red Canna, 1919, oil on board. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, purchase with funds from the Fine Arts Collectors and the 20th Century Art Acquisition Fund and gift of the Pollitzer Family in honor of Anita Pollitzer, to whom the artist originally gave this work, 1996.18. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
red canna, 1919
georgia o’keeffe
Vibrant, demanding, and strong… I LOVE Georgia O’Keeffe and her work always and forever! I bow to the Mother of Modernism and am thrilled that Matrons of the Arts was able to serve as the Presenting Sponsors of The Beyond: Georgia O’Keeffe + Contemporary Art exhibition when it came to the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Nandipha Mntambo (South African, born 1982), Minotaurus, 2015, cast bronze on sandstone base. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, purchase through funds provided by patrons of the Seventh Annual Collectors Evening, 2017, 2017.180. © Nandipha Mntambo.
minotaurus, 2015
nandipha mntambo
While continuing to exude the grandeur associated with creatures from Greek mythology, Nandipha Mntambo’s self-portrait as a Minotaur (half bull/ half person) has replaced expected ferocity with embodied strength and cruelty with mystical grace.
Sidney Edward Dickinson (American, 1890–1980), Portrait of Harriet “Hattie” Harwell Wilson High (Mrs. Joseph Madison High), 1926, oil on canvas. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, gift of J. J. Goodrum and others, 26.9.
Portrait of Harriet “Hattie” Harwell Wilson High (Mrs. Joseph Madison High), 1926
Sidney Edward Dickinson (American, 1890–1980)
I would be remiss if I did not thank the Matron who made all of my visits possible: Harriet “Hattie” High, after whom the museum is named.
It is hard to turn the page on a chapter that I have loved so much.