Introduction
On Friday July 15, the City of Longmont held an event called Art Walk – Longmont. This event is held is held three times a year along a three block area of Main Street. It is a free evening of art exhibitions, music, live theatre, dance and children’s activities. The ArtWalk turns several businesses in that area into galleries and helps promote the cultural arts for the evening (ArtWalk Longmont, 2011). My husband and I attended this event and I will be discussing one of the artists featured and a historic home that held an open house the evening of the event.
Part I
The work of art I have chosen for this part of the assignment was done by Julie Petro. The painting that I chose is located at: http://www.juliepetro.com/2011/05/adagio/. I especially like this painting because it is of a ballerina and when I was a teenager I took ballet. Ms. Petro calls herself a contemporary realist. The painting shows a ballerina at rest, but her pose almost looks staged. She looks serene and happy. The colors are muted, which contributes to the serenity in the painting. The ballerina’s face is almost chiseled which is accomplished with the shading. Fine detail is shown in her tutu and ballet shoes even showing the folds and the bottom of the sole of her shoes making the painting very realistic. The sheerness of the fabric in the tutu is shown because you can see her arm through it. Although the way she applies paints, seems more Impressionistic to me because it is soft and flowing. There is also great detail in the wall and baseboards.
I wrote a Haiku which reflects the emotions that this painting evoked in me:
Wishing I could dance,
Had my young, agile body back;
Not this betrayer!
Part II
While walking the three block area during ArtWalk Longmont, we noticed a sign stating that the Callahan House would be holding an Open House that evening. The Callahan House is two blocks off Main Street and is one of the most historical houses in Longmont. It was built in 1892 and is a Victorian-Queen Ann style home. The interior contains cove moldings, hand-painted floral designs on the walls and ceilings which reflect the Louis XVI style. They also have baroque molding and bas-relief ceilings. There are two watercolor and gouache painting in the house which were original to the home and belonged to the Callahans which were donated by Alice Callahan Evans in 1999. They are titled: “The Quarrel” and “Seascape”. The dining room has a Tiffany style light fixture over the dining room table. The sitting room has a crystal chandelier which was original to the house. Also in the dining room is a lion-carved buffet. The windows in the house feature curved glass on the top which is beveled and leaded plate glass. There is a stained glass window in the center of the staircase and another faces east in the back hall. The bathroom contains original tile and fixtures. The top of the tiles are beautifully decorated. There is an 1893 Steinway piano upstairs which was fully restored in 2002. Where floors can be seen in the parlor, library, music room, dining room, second floor hallway and bedrooms there are at least eight different patterns of parquet inlay work. In 1902, Mr. Callahan purchased the first automobile in Longmont and in 1904 the Automobile house was built. It contained a turntable in the floor to enable the car to turn around without backing it out. The turntable has been removed. The Italian style gardens features Victorian iron fencing with cement posts. There are four cement cast busts that represent mythological Greek figures. A fountain is central to the garden. Here are several pictures that I took of the Callahan house with permission.
A little history is appropriate to fully appreciate why this home is so important to Longmont. The home was owned by Thomas Moran Callahan, Jr. and Alice Barnett Callahan. They opened the first retail store in Longmont in 1889, a small notions store called “The Golden Rule”. The business was soon expanded to include general merchandise and many branches were opened in the West. It was in Longmont that James Cash Penney learned the new “cash” concept of merchandising while working for Callahan. The first J.C. Penney store was in Longmont.
ArtWalk Longmont came at a perfect time for this unit and was a rich resource. I wish I could have included more of what I saw that night because there are many historic buildings along the stretch of Main Street where it was held.
Virtual Tour of Callahan House click here to see the pictures described in the project.
Photos by June Saxton
References
Art Walk Longmont (2011). Welcome to ArtWalk Longmont Retrieved
Julie Petro. (2011). Adaigio/JPFA. Julie Petro Contemporary Realist. Retrieved
City of Longmont. (2011, July). Callahan House Tour Guide, Walking tour of Callahan House, 312 Terry Street, Longmont, CO
Janaro, Richard, P. & Alshuler, Thelma, C. (2009). The Art Of Being Human. (9th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions
Virtual Tour of Callahan House click here to see the pictures described in the project.
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