family tree





















Images from my own collection 
Kindly inform me if you would like to use them. 
Thanks to Verele Ghering- Engels for all the amazing information. 
Other related sites: The Curacao Museum and Villa Belvedere 


"Our most treasured family heirlooms are our sweet family memories"
-Unknown-


My grandmother comes from an amazing family. I love spending time with her and listening to her stories about her life, the people that make up our family and the amazing things each of them went through and contributed. 

It is also great to hear these stories from other family members, - and so this weekend we had quite the information session with loads of family members, a visit to an extraordinary house on the island and beautiful stories and memories. 

My grandmother is 83. She comes from a long line of interesting, talented and extraordinary people. She still cooks lunch for us every day, we sit around her dining table and laugh, talk and enjoy.
The photos of the house above are of Stroomzigt , a house that was very much part of my grandmother’s life when she just moved to the island, where her children went to the doctor, where her relatives lived and a place she was very happy to visit this past weekend. Stroomzigt is an exquisite home, filled with art, music, colour and a great deal of Curacao's history. Thank you to Verele Ghering-Engels for giving us the opportunity to see this with our families. It is such a privilege to share this with my grandma and the rest of my family. 

xx
Pris






"Like branches on a tree, our lives may grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one" 
-Unknown-


 Photo courtesy: Verele Ghering-Engels 
The family Ecker




james mcgrath




Images via here
Art by James McGrath
Collection: Dutchman's Dream-folds 

The moment I saw these images I loved them. 
The shades, the flow, the history connected with modern techniques. 
And of course the hint of flowers in each piece. 
Simple gorgeous. 


From the website

"Art is an illusion, a facsimile, a representation of a heightened reality. Artists of the 16th and 17th centuries mastered these illusions of reality as no other artists in Western history. With the advent of modernism (modernism or post modernism?) at the start of the twentieth century artists began to challenge what we knew to be true. James McGrath is one of these artists who combines contemporary printing and digital techniques with 16th and 17th century historical and artistic traditions.

To create these works on canvas and Plexiglas McGrath uses familiar artists’ tools such as drapery and folding, color and perspective. But it is McGrath’s use of drapery that is exceptionally innovative and dramatic. Artists in the past in both stone and paint have always created illusions of cloth or rich fabric that were supposed to and did startle the eye by their sensual reality. McGrath takes this notion one step further. “I think of drapery as alive or malleable as the human figure,” he says. “I believe drapery can be fragmented or abstracted in the same way as what Picasso through cubism did to the human figure.” The reason this can be done is due to the idea that fabric can be seen as the second skin, so it can be fragmented or abstracted in the same manner as flesh. It is this philosophy that gives the works their very contemporary presence as well their connection to art history. And that is another aspect of the works that is quite 17th century (reminiscent of the 17th century etc). Baroque artists made a fetish of teasing the eye of the beholder, tricking the viewer into imagining that space was where it was not, that something was falling when it was still, that paint was
flesh. McGrath’s works deliciously play on optic tricks, as well as recalling the glories of Dutch landscape painting"



fine arts




Photographs by my photographer ;)
Museum of Fine Art, Boston 
Selections from the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection of Fashion Drawing


"Images of fashion exploded in the 20th century with the proliferation of ready-to-wear and glossy fashion magazines. As photography gradually became the medium of choice for fashion advertising, artists who worked by hand began to emphasize interpretation and impression over pure likeness. They also played up drawing’s advantages over photography. A figure’s poses and proportions, for example, could be manipulated to show off clothes to their best advantage. Skilled artists could convincingly depict the drape and texture of textiles with remarkably minimal means. Evocative details and locales could easily be incorporated into the designs, fostering the fanciful and escapist possibilities of fashion.
This show features 50 drawings by 26 artists, dating from the 1940s through the 1980s. Each section of the exhibition is organized roughly chronologically, allowing us to see how styles changed over time—not only the clothing itself, but artists’ dynamic interpretations of it. The works are selections from the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection of fashion art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as well as gifts from the artists themselves. The Museum now owns nearly 10,000 works of 20th-century fashion art, including the archives of preeminent Women’s Wear Daily artist Kenneth Paul Block and American couturier, Arnold Scaasi. Thanks to the Sharfs’ continued generosity and encouragement, the collection continues to grow." - for more information visit the website

If by chance you are in the Boston area, take a few hours to visit the museum, it was really a wonderful place with some great collections. 

hello monday








Good morning and welcome to another wonderful week in December. I hope you had a great weekend. 
On Saturday Monart Gallery had their December Local Jewelry Exhibition, Bejeweled III. Of course, Beck, Lara and Evelien had their exquisite pieces on display. This year Nikita was also showing her photography talent with beautiful images of the island.

Enjoy the week.
Smile loads.

xx

Links:
Beck Dutch Caribbean
Lara Sierra
Evelien Sipkes

bejeweled

photo from Beck

Tomorrow the Mon Art Gallery in the Riffort in Curacao is hosting a wonderful show of artisan adornments.
Some of the designers are Evelien Sipkes, Sharine Kessock Leenders, Lara Schweighofer and Rebecca Paz.

Enjoy your weekend.
xx
Priscilla