September 7 – Grandma Moses Day

nPostednon September 7, 2014

n
n

Inthink you might have heard about this famous artist:

nShenbegan her career as an artist at age 78!

nYetneven with that late start – wait, let’s be real – even with thatnsuper duper late start! – Grandma Moses became very successful!

nAnnanMary Robertson Moses was born on this date in 1860. She and her fournsisters and five brothers grew up in New York, where her father ran anflax mill and farmed his land. Anna painted as a child, but she hadnto make her own paints out of natural materials, such as slack lime,nsawdust, lemon and grape juice, grass, ground ochre, and flour.

nShenstarted working full time at age 12; she was a servant who performednchores, kept house, cooked, and sewed for a variety of wealthynfamilies. One family noticed her interest in their artwork, and theyngave her chalk so she could create her own artwork.

Finally,nat age 27, she retired from working as a servant to get married andnraise her own family. Of course, that married-and-raising-a-familynstuff was also hard work; she helped with farm work, she had a lot ofnkids to birth and care for and feed and clothe, and she made potatonchips and butter to sell.

nEverynonce in a while, as a wife and mother, Moses was able to create artnto make her home more attractive or to give as gifts to familynmembers. Some of these art pieces were quilted objects andnembroidered pictures. But Moses had little time to make art until hernarthritis got so bad that she could no longer work on the farm…and at that point, it was also difficult to hold an embroidery needle.

nSo she started painting.

n
nGrandmanMoses painted what she called “old-timey” pictures ofncountry life, the sort of life she experienced when she was younger. n

nOnenmight think that a 78 year old woman with painful arthritis wouldn’tncreate very many paintings. For one thing, she wouldn’t have muchntime, right? n

nActually,nGrandma Moses lived to be 101 years old! And in her 23 years ofnart-making, she painted over 1,500 canvasses!

nAnnart collector saw some of Moses’s paintings in a drug store window,nand he bought a whole bunch of them for $3 to $5. He showed some ofnher paintings in an exhibit called “Contemporary Unknown AmericannPainters” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A few yearsnlater Moses had a solo exhibition called “What a Farm WifenPainted.” Soon she was selling her paintings at Gimbel’s DepartmentnStore – and giving away her award-winning baked goods andnpreserves! And her work became even more known, even more popular!

GrandmanMoses was named Woman of the Year by several magazines andnorganizations. She was awarded honorary PhDs by two differentncolleges, the U.S. President (Harry S. Truman) presented Moses with antrophy for outstanding accomplishment in art, and a documentary ofnher life was nominated for an Academy Award. Moses wrotenan autobiography. She appeared on magazine covers and on television. She won numerous awards. One of her paintings hangs in the White House, and Moses’s art hasnappeared on a U.S. commemorative stamp. On her 100th birthday, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller declared September 7 to be Grandma Moses Day!

nTonsay that the paintings that the astute art collector bought for just a fewndollars each are worth more now is an understatement. In 2004, one ofnMoses’s paintings that had sold for $10 in the 1940s was appraised asnbeing worth 60 THOUSAND dollars. Soon after that, one of hernpaintings was sold for 1.2 MILLION dollars! n

nWhatnwe can learn from Grandma Moses is that it is never too late to startnto do something you love – and although many of us will never findnthe success that Moses did, doing something you love to do can be itsnown reward.

nAlsonon this date: