There is a Story Here

As usual, I will try my best to condense this story:

Those that stop here often know that I belong to a special interest (art) group connected with the University.

Our most recent  outing was to meet a locally famous art collector who invited us to his home to see his Texas art collection. I could write a whole page about our very interesting host, but for now let's just say he is presently 91 years of age and still going strong.

Mr. M not only showed us his collection, but had interesting anecdotes about how each piece was acquired.. Many times he had stories to share about the artists themselves, some of which he knew personally. I liked all of the paintings,finding some the art to be very unusual. Almost as unusual as the artists themselves.

Like this painting by Esther Pearl Watson. Her work which is sometimes described as having naive flatness and awkward scale brings to mind work of Grandma Moses. Esther has become quite famous with her whimsical folk art designs. Unlike Grandma Moses, she does have a masters in fine art, and has done illustrations for The New Yorker Magazine and The L.A. and N.Y. Times..

Why the flyer saucer you ask? Well, Esther grew up in small town outside the Dallas Ft. Worth area in a rather unconventional family. Her childhood brought to mind the childhood of Jeanette Walls author of The Glass Castle. I wonder if she goes by Esther Pearl.... this is the south you know...Anyway, her father quit his job, during her youth, with a worldwide tech firm to build a spaceship in their backyard. He was so convinced that it would fly that he tried to get Ross Perot, Steven Spielberg and every sitting U. S. President on board (sic) with his plans.
So Esther paints a spaceship in most all of her paintings. One very similar to this one previously hung in The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. If you would like to read more about Esther Pearl, go HERE.