“Grandma Moses”

Anna Mary Robertson MosesSep. 7, 1860 - Dec. 13, 1961

About Grandma Moses

American Painter. Anna Mary Robertson Moses spent most of her life as a farm wife in rural Washington County, New York, never receiving formal art training. In her 70s, she began to paint pastoral scenes as a hobby, showing some of her work in a local drugstore. Art collector Louis Calder saw her paintings and brought her work to the attention of the New York art scene. By 1939, she had exhibited at the New York's Museum of Modern Art, and she had a solo show at the Gallerie Saint Etienne in that city the following year. In 1945, Hallmark licensed her paintings for a well-received series of greeting cards, giving her work mass exposure and contributing to her status as one of the best-known American artists. She was widely hailed for reinfusing common sense into an art world that was becoming increasingly overwhelmed by abstraction, as well as for emphasizing happiness when many of her well-known peers were portraying existential despair. (bio by: Stuthehistoryguy)

Quilting Bee

Christmas Eve

Assignment1. Think of a happy, busy place or scene.• Grocery store• Kemah or other amusement park• Christmas morning• Soccer game or other sporting event• Birthday party

2. Think of all the possible things that would be going on in your scene. For example- birthday parties have cake, present opening, games, people hugging and talking….

3. Cover your entire paper with mini scenes that show what is going on.

4. When you think you are done, take a rest and think some more….add more details.

5. Use watercolor to complete your picture.