I’m impressed and happy to know there are abstract paintings currently on view at the White House. But I admit I would have added other media, more works by women artists, and works by Latin and Asian American artists — there are none!?

A new discovery for me was the artist Alma Thomas. Holland Cotter writes:

“If the offer were made, which artist from the White House list would I choose for my New York City apartment? I knew the answer: Alma W. Thomas.”

I agree. I absolutely loved her work and story. She began to paint when she retired from teaching at 69. At 80, she had a one-person exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. An extremely important exhibition because it was the first one-person exhibition by a black woman at the Whitney.

My favorites: Thomas used her kitchen as a studio. And for her, color was life, and life was art. Ahh, so fresh!

Image:

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)

Watusi (Hard Edge), 1963

Acrylic on canvas, 47 5/8 x 44 1/4 inches

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Like Oiticica, I think the world is the best museum. I find so many extraordinary things to be inspired by — artists, people, places. I recently learned about the films Pray the Devil Back to Hell and Run for Your Life. I haven’t seen them yet, but I’ve only heard fantastic things about them.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell directed by Virginia Reticker, is a documentary about the story of women that changed the course of the war in Liberia. Run for Your Life directed by Judd Ehrlich, is a documentary about the story of Fred Lebow and the founding of the New York City Marathon.

Stories like these give me the opportunity to keep the warm feeling of inspiration and admiration flowing continuously in my mind and heart.

Photo: Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso wearing Parangolé by Hélio Oiticica.

Top video: Pray the Devil Back to Hell directed by Virginia Reticker.

Bottom video: Run for Your Life directed by Judd Ehrlich.

…a marathon, not a sprint.

We’ve heard that so many times and it’s so true. It doesn’t matter how much we try to rush things, the result is always the same: everything takes time.

I’ve never ran a marathon. But in the races I’ve ran, I have learned how every single step and breath we take is important to get to the next mile. So when we set our minds to develop a healthy and active lifestyle, work in the studio or simply find what fulfill us — the answer is time, time, time. Learning how to be patient and let life guide us makes us the winners and best runners of life!

With the marathon in mind, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Looking at art is a fantastic way of seeing and learning the history of the world. And one of the best places to find that is at the Met. I learn something new every time I visit the museum.

I visited the Greek and Roman Art galleries to find how artists interpreted running at the time. As all runners probably know, the idea of the marathon began after the legend of the Greek soldier Pheidippides. He ran from the city of Marathon to Athens to bring news of the Greek victory over the Persians. When he arrived in Athens, he said: Rejoice, we conquer!, and then collapsed and died.

As I browsed the galleries, I found a wonderful amphora by the potter Nikias from the Panathenaic games in the sixth century B.C. I don’t know if it depicts a long distance race, but I loved everything about it: the colors and the beautiful figures of fit runners. And I especially enjoyed that the amphora was originally filled with olive oil and given as a winning prize. How delicious!

I left the museum thinking about the healthy things I would run a race for…

I will definitely keep the olive oil for first prize. The amphora was large (about 10 gallons of olive oil), but I’m flexible and would run for a 34 oz bottle of olive oil. The second prize would have to be honey. I’m like a bear — I can’t have enough of it and put it on everything possible. And the third prize I would run for is a reasonable amount of fresh fruits and vegetables — can’t have enough of them either.

Life is…pretty sweet!