A Tale of Three Citi-Slickers: Re-entering the blogosphere...

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Re-entering the blogosphere...

November and December passed in a whirl of activity....Thanksgiving Day Parade...Thanksgiving Dinner with friends in our ward...work...flying to Utah (me Dec. 8 & Michael Dec. 17), weddings, Noteworthy, family, friends, food, and laughter. I spent a wonderful week with my family in Utah catching up with friends, skiing with my family, and enjoying every minute of it. When Michael joined me, we went up to Rexburg for the wedding of Michael's sister, Karen & her fiance Austin. They were married December 21 and it was a beautiful day! We went back to Utah to spend a couple more days with my family. While we were there we visited the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU MOA. It was such a gorgeous exhibit. I was so moved, I'm not ashamed to admit I cried a few different times. The works Bloch painted were filled with life and spirit. I've never been to an art exhibit that was more charged emotionally and spiritually. I highly recommend everyone go see the exhibit! It's only there until May 7, so hurry and get your tickets! And you should absolutely rent the iPad guided tour. Fantastic! On Christmas Eve we flew to Texas to spend Christmas with Michael's family. We had a really great time! It was fun to spend time with Michael's family around the holidays, and to participate in some Alemany Christmas traditions. After traveling for 3 1/2 weeks though...I was ready to come home! Living out of a suitcase is only fun for a little while after all. We're back in New York and loving it. And we're so excited for this NEW YEAR! That's all for the update for now. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

1 comment:

A. VerzelloJanuary 16, 2011 at 7:02 PM
Your holidays sounded amazing! Glad you had so much fun :) Thanks for the MOA exhibit suggestion. Jared and I will definitely have to check it out.
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The Essentials

Artwork of the Week

The Entombment of Atala (aka The Funeral of Atala) by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, 1808. The first place I wanted to go when I was in the Louvre was the 19th century Romantic Era Painting Hall. If you’ve been there then you’ll know the room by its gorgeous red walls and giant oil paintings. It was there that I first encountered this image, and it was standing in front of it that I fell madly, deeply, and forever in love with it. It’s characteristically part of the Romantic Movement filled with passion, and drama, eroticism and of course completed on a grand scale. It’s based on the tale of forbidden love by Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, which was published in 1801 and extremely popular. It tells the Romeo/Juliet-esque story of Atala a Christian maiden who’s sworn herself to God, service and a life of chastity, and Chactas an Indian brave whom she frees from his enemies and hides in the cave of a religious recluse, Father Aubry. When Atala realizes she’s falling in love with Chactas and breaking her vow she takes poison and commits suicide. After her suicide Chactas vows from then on to be a Christian. The pure grief on Chactas face in this work is what originally drew me in, his love for Atala so great that he can’t bear to let her be buried and taken away forever. If you get really close to the work you can see a tiny tear trailing down his face. The bold colors, subdued brushstrokes, and ephemeral light bring a peace to the scene that is intensified by the illuminated cross in the background, a confirmation of heaven's acceptance of Atala.