Snapshots of the Zimmerman House

I had the pleasure this summer of spending time at the Zimmerman House in Manchester, New Hampshire, as a part of my internship at the Currier Museum of Art. Working with the incredibly dedicated house docents, we worked on improving improvisational methods during tours. I went on several tours of the house with different docents. Each visit was an entirely different experience. I am finally beginning to understand why Frank Lloyd Wright has such a cult following!   Over the past few months, I watched as the summer blooms came to life in the garden, and the greens became exotic and lush. It is a magical and mysterious place.
I am constantly amazed at the fine detail work that went into the design of the house. Even to an untrained eye, elements of the house that appear effortless prove ruthlessly intricate upon closer inspection. From every angle, the house provides a kaleidoscope of shapes and lines. This is my favorite view of the house, seen from the top stair of the far left end of the carport.
Like my intern supervisor pointed out on my first visit to the house, the open view onto the lawn in the backyard from the carport is like a painting that is constantly in transition. The windows, too, with Wright's signature geometric glass panels, provides frames from which to view the yard and garden. To think that Wright designed this house without ever setting foot on the plot!

Reserve your ticket for a tour of the Zimmerman House here.

Categories: Architecture, Art Education, Currier Museum of Art, Frank Lloyd Wright, Historic House, Manchester, New Hampshire, Organic Architecture, Zimmerman House

Joan Mitchell

Drips, spattering, globs of paint smeared over larger-than-life canvases. Joan Mitchell is a powerhouse.

Mitchell is known for her abstract, streaky works that manage to convey sometimes incredibly powerful, provocative emotions.

Ladybug (1957)
Museum of Modern Art

During the period between 1960 and 1964, Mitchell moved away from the all-over style and bright colors of her earlier compositions to concentrate on sombre hues and dense central masses. The marks on these works were said to be extraordinary: “the paint flung and squeezed on to the canvases, spilling and spluttering across their surfaces and smeared on with the artist’s fingers.”

Cous Cous (1961-62)
Currier Museum of Art

As a contemporary of famous artist Jackson Pollock, her work displays an equal amount of strength and vitality. To be quite honest, I much prefer Mitchell's  slow, deliberate methods to Pollock's haphazard drips, and how could anyone dismiss the varied, unexpected use of color on her canvases?

Leading visitors to Mitchell's work Cous Cous, at the Currier, the response is often "My child could paint better." But I always try to talk about the importance of the process. From this vantage point Mitchell's process becomes laborious, her conscious efforts show in every brush stroke. She said that she wanted her paintings “to convey the feeling of the dying sunflower” and “some of them come out like young girls, very coy … they’re very human.” Perhaps that is what draws me to Mitchell's work over Pollock's. There is something alive, organic, representational. It doesn't matter that you can't pin it on a particular object or figure, but you can relate somehow.

Yves (1991)

 Thus far, my favorite work of Mitchell's is No Birds. An admirer of Vincent van Gogh’s work, Mitchell observed in one of his final paintings, Wheatfield with Crows (1890), the symbology of death, suicide, hopelessness, depression and darkness. With her sense that Wheatfield with Crows was a suicide note she painted a painting called No Birds as a response and homage. 

No Birds (1987)

Want more? Check out Mitchell's work and legacy at the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Categories: Abstract Expressionism, Art, Automatic, Feminist, Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, Spontaneous, Surrealism, Vincent van Gogh