The Art Work of Heather Classen
Three Faced ceramic vase, hand built in 2020.
When the ceramics studio closed at the start of the pandemic, we went home with our bags of clay and created work on our dining rooms tables. The three faces on this small (4x5x4in) vase portray the feelings of making art during the complicated isolation of the covid pandemic.
As the Guardians of Galaxy, we put together this birthday video to celebrate the sweetest Siberian Husky’s First Year.
Neither of us had our own dogs before, it’s been both challenging and rewarding… mostly rewarding. She’s the sweetest pup.
GalaxySaysRoo on Instagram if you want to follow. <3
Much of my mixed-media painting is inspired by symphonic music while both playing in the CSO and designing their concert posters for many years. Prints and other items can be purchased at my Fine Art America Shop.
Pen and ink drawing in it’s simplicity has become a favorite medium of mine. Black on white paper. Black, white, and walnut ink on natural paper. These and other works are available to purchase at Fine Art America.
Visit Heather Classen’s fabric shop at Spoonflower.
Surface design work created from Heather’s painting can be used for fabric projects, wallpaper, and all that Spoonflower has to offer.
On our last day we visited the Petit Palais Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. So much art to see all over the city. Taking a day in between art outings really helps you take it all in.
The front entry way was lovely, of course.
The Petit Palais has art from many different periods. This art nouveau portrait is “Woman wearing gloves” by Charles-Alexandre Giron.
A book of printing samples.
A delicate brocade wrap.
A behind the scenes painting of a music party.
The CSO had just played the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz before my trip. I was delighted to see the original score in the museum.
This one is so peaceful.
Jean d’Arc est partout.
Art Nouveau furniture.
Outside after the museum, a view of the Eiffel Tower.
In the evening we got last minute tickets to the Assassin’s Creed concert at the Palais Des Congres in Paris. The symphony played over classic Assassin’s Creed gaming video from the various games. The composer came out for a bow at the end. Such a great way for this gamer musician to wrap up vacation.
Thanks for looking at all this. I’m writing this a year after the fact during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, like everyone else we are largely quarantined to quell the spread of the virus. Herd immunity was something I didn’t know we were taking for granted. Hopefully soon science will get us to a place where we can gather in sports arenas, museums, and at musical events again. Be well, everyone.
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Attending the Quarter Final game of the 2019 Women’s World Cup at Les Parc des Princes in Paris was, no doubt, the highlight of this adventure. The US Women’s National Team had two more games to win after this one, but somehow this one felt like a final with the French team playing in the French capitol to a very excited crowd.
The games were all very family friendly and each game had bunches of cute little soccer fans.
Timbao Percussion Group played outside the stadium and set the pulsating tone for the arriving crowd.
We arrived at the stadium early for this one so we didn’t miss a thing.
“The Outlaws” US Soccer fan club arrived en masse.
The US Women’s National Team warmed up before the game in blue.
The starting line up was announced.
A video from the crowd’s point of view before the game. The stadium was intermixed France and US fans in red, white, and blue.
The players marched out in the pregame pageantry.
An image of a woman was unfurled during the opening ceremony.
And play began. USWNT in white and the French team in blue.
Megan Rapinoe got a goal pretty early on. A magical penalty kick, the video is in the highlights video at the end of this post.
We sat behind these two. The French woman on the right was a super polite fan, the US man on the left could hardly stay in his seat he was so excited.
This video shows how sitting behind these two went for the whole game. The French woman is a saint, btw.
The French team keeping the pressure on with this corner kick.
Definitely the most media of the games we saw.
Btw, “Dare to create”, what does that mean? How about just “Create”. Maybe something was lost in translation.
The French had a penalty kick.
Ettie, the FIFA mascot, made her appearance at the half.
A panorama gives a feel for the place. The entire audience was excited for the game, good sportsmanship and camaraderie all around.
Dunn throws in.
A Megan Rapinoe corner kick.
The arena was almost at capacity.
The audience around the broadcaster’s booth.
Both sides had huge support in the stands, the stadium was pulsating.
The barricades and guards were the same setup at all the games.
Red, white, and blue.
The US won 2:1 leaving the French out of the finals.
The US team huddled as the saddened French team found their way together.
There was always this mini huddle after the large team huddle.
And the heartbroken French grouped up for a post mortem.
The fans left the stadium in a festive mood. The crowd showed good sportsmanship over a game well played. I was concerned that people might get nationalistic and combative, but I never saw it happen. People just loved the light-hearted nature of how the Women’s World Cup was played.
The FIFA highlights real:
One more day left, a museum visit and Assassins Creed (yes, the video game) Live in Concert.
Click to return to the index of 2019 France Trip Memories.
June 27, 2019 was the day before our last soccer game in France. We spent it at the Louvre. These are the pieces and experiences that struck me the most.
Spring term of 2019 I took a pen and ink class at the MFA in Boston. We learned exactly this technique of using standard tan colored paper stock, and lightening and darkening the illustration with black and white ink. I absolutely love working in this style myself, and was pleased to see a whole gallery on the hallway into the main part of the Louvre dedicated to examples of this type of work.
Next we viewed the ancient Egyptian art. These blue hippos are the best, you can see examples of them in Providence, RI, and New York. Of course there’s one here.
These carved wall reliefs are just beautiful. The Brooklyn Museum has a display showing how the artisans created them, if you’re nearby and curious.
Below are snapshots of the same piece from two different angles to see how the carving is recessed in the stone.
The Ancient Persian art was next after the Egyptian galleries. They also use the aqua colored glazing that the Egyptians mastered with those hippos. The three following images were quite large on the wall, these photos don’t show their size properly.
I wish I got a photo of the information card for these signet rolls below. They are thousands of years old, and I believe they are used for commerce. The Harvard Art Museums have examples of these cylinders. The designs are clever and repeating. Nothing new under the sun, people always needed their brands with eye catching designs, even four plus thousand years ago.
From Egypt to Persia to Europe. The word is 12,000 people visit the Louvre a day in normal times. I believe this 100%.
We made our way to the lunch café overlooking the center courtyard.
Next, the Mona Lisa.
the heck?
Grab a snapshot as you shuffle by in the crowd to prove you were there.
Jean d’Arc is everywhere and I love it.
Arcimboldo depicted the four seasons as people made entirely of food.
Musical instruments!
I feel Iike this was a dream I had.
SOoooooo much lovely art.
Dramatic clothes.
Pssst, I like this Da Vinci more than the Mona Lisa.
This artist’s work felt very modern to me. Though this may be what the Mona Lisa changed about art, adding the fogging.
This fella had a bad day, but isn’t the artwork amazing?
Gilded Fra Angelico pieces take my breath away.
again, the heck?
I was surprised to see this work below. While working on CSO posters I snarfed the image of these demons for the background of the Angels and Demons concert poster.
Winged victories come in all sizes.
Thought this one was lovely.
Queens have nice fabric.
Look at the varying levels of interest and boredom in this painting. So great.
Right about when we saw this view we realized we were maybe halfway through what was on display and decided we needed to come back and visit Paris for maybe three months and go see all the art. But this day we were done.
Next: quarter final game day.
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June 26 was a day to sight see. A fun video projection place, L’Atelier des Lumières, and a visit to theart museum, the Centre Pompidou.
L’Atelier des Lumières is still running this year even with the pandemic according to their website. They change the shows periodically, and alternate throughout the day. We were there for a Van Gogh display followed by Japanese art. I kept the perspective of my photographs the same to show how dramatic the changing video was. These photographs of course don’t do the experience justice, if you find yourself in Paris this is a must see experience. It is the perfect thing to do when maybe it’s too hot outside, or maybe you’re exhausted from touring and you need a gentle, low energy Paris experience.
Rejuvenated by the video projection show we made our way to the Pompidou art museum, stopping at the Lil Weasel yarn store along the way.
Lots of great modern art in the Pompidou. There was a photography show, as well as contemporary modern art, one of the many art museums to add to your list when you visit Paris.
A northern view of Paris from the Pompidou hallways.
This Venus statue is tens of thousands of years old, it really stood out in comparison with the contemporary art on display here.
After dinner at another great Paris restaurant we walked back to the hotel along the river. Parisians weathered the heatwave by gathering down at the river on this regular week night. Bottles of wine and water were politely piled up at the trashcans, as people watched the sunset. People were sitting on the river bank for the entire length of our walk back.
Another lovely sunset back at the hotel bar.
The next day, June 27, is dedicated to a visit to the Louvre museum.
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Reims Cathedral’s stained glass is phenomenal for two reasons: 1) beautiful and 2) they replace damaged glass with pieces that reflect the style of the time.
The old and the contemporary glass are situated side by side.
It’s an active church.
A most French kings were coronated at the Reims Cathedral. Jean d’Arc accompanied Charles the VII here.
Marc Chagall designed these windows.
Imi Knoebel designed these.
Another super hot day had a steady stream of tourists visiting the cool cathedral.
Next door is the Palais du Tau museum, with various items from the ancient French regency.
Charlemagne wore this … 1200 years ago.
One last view of the cathedral before we head back to Paris.
Back in Paris we stayed at the Citizen M Hotel which had weird tiny rooms like a cruise ship and large common areas on the second floor for the intent of having everyone socialize.
This French Fashion Institute Knit Workshop was across the way from the hotel but it wasn’t open when we went by. It looked really cool inside.
Nice street art near the fashion institute finished out our long travel day.
Next two days we were back touring Paris before the US v France game on the 28th.
Click to return to the index of 2019 France Trip Memories.