Draw and Paint a Georgia O'Keeffe inspired skull and flower with Ms. Jennifer at BRAHM.

For this week’s weekly artist inspiration, we are looking at artist Georgia O’Keeffe. She grew up in Wisconsin and then lived in New York and New Mexico. She is most famous for her large paintings of flowers and skulls. She enlarges (makes it big), crops (zooms in and goes off the paper), and abstracts (makes it look different than in real life).

Henri Matisse began an interest in art as a young man when he was sick and stuck inside. His mother bought him an art set and he was hooked! He went on to paint and sculpt for the rest of his life.⁠ Matisse spent many years confined to a wheelchair or his bed, but did not let this stop him from creating. Some of his most famous, colorful work was created during this time, such as his cut-outs.⁠ ⁠ Here we see Matisse drawing a head for the decoration of Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence in his studio/room in the Hotel Regina, in Nice-Cimiez, 1950.⁠

This week we will highlight the late Louisiana artist George Rodrigue and his cheerful Blue Dog series. Raised in Louisiana, George Rodrigue began learning to draw and paint after he was found to have polio at age 8 and spent several months in bed. He later became one of the greatest success stories in American art. The Blue Dog Series, based on a cajun legend, brought international fame. His paintings of his cajun country heritage sought to preserve this legacy despite the rapidly changing world.

This week’s artist inspiration is late Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. DID YOU KNOW... Munch suffered from a sickly childhood, several losses of loved ones, family illnesses, alcoholism and mental conditions, but used his artistic creations to document his life struggles? He also was one of the millions who was infected by and recovered from the infamous 1918 Spanish Flu.

For the final week of Women's History Month we'll learn about the late artist, Laurel Burch. Similar to Frida Kahlo, Laurel suffered from a debilitating disease but persevered and created art continuously through her pain. We know her cheerful paintings from popular art prints, fashion wear and accessories. 

As we experience a collective at-home confinement, who better to celebrate than Frida? We hope you will be inspired to create your own self portrait (with or without your pets!) in the style of Frida Kahlo.