Once again my west coast brother has nudged some memories with his daily text. First of all, because it made me laugh, today is "Tax Day" and also "Take a Wild Guess Day." I hope none of you had to do any wild guessing. But enough about that sore subject. The special day that stirred memories for me is "Art History Day." I've always loved Art History. When my children were very young I was hired to teach Art History at the Fort Wayne Art School, which later merged with IPFW. It was a part time job with lectures twice a week but it kept my brain from turning to pablum. Fortunately I had a wonderful mother-in-law who was only too happy to baby sit on those days. We started with prehistoric art and worked our way through modern art in four semesters. This was back in the days of slides and slide projectors and some of each class was spent looking at appropriate slides from the school's extensive collection. After two years I had a complete collection of lecture notes and was ready to start the series again, feeling much more confident than the first time around. Then we moved to south eastern Ohio for my husband's new job. That was the end of my lecturing career. But happily, over the last fifteen years, I have been able to travel in several European countries, visit some excellent galleries, and see the originals of many of the works of art I used to lecture about. It's always a joyful jolt to come upon a piece I remember, like seeing an old friend, and it's fun to see their true size, often much larger or smaller than their projected image. Fair warning, if you're ever touring a gallery or museum with me, I will be lagging behind.
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