Loveland has one of the best small-town museums I’ve ever seen. The fine folks at the museum here manage to get wonderful shows featuring the likes of Salvador Dali and Francisco Goya, as well as some great contemporary artists. Imagine my delight, then, when I was asked to do a show there, along with my artist husband, Scott Freeman.
Luneburg, Germany
Scott and I have been painting like crazy in preparation for this show, which will be called, “Zeitgeist: Paintings Inspired By Germany.” Our studio is overflowing with canvases and containers of paint. It also smells really good, if you like that sort of smell, which I do! We’ve been cranking up the music and keeping late hours so we can put together something that will reflect the intense excitement and connection we have been enjoying ever since our sweet Klara joined our household for a year.
Mollie painting for the Germany show
Last summer, we were able to journey to Klara’s hometown and stay with her family for 3 weeks. They and their extended family, friends and neighbors won our hearts!
There will be a couple of portraits of Klara, our German exchange student, in the show. There will also be several paintings of the German landscape, or rather, cityscapes. We saw quite a few cool, historic cathedrals. Our hosts related all sorts of history associated with the various places we visited. “Johann Sebastian Bach used to practice playing here.” “The first church in the area stood here in the 800s A.D.” And so on. Our German friends far surpassed us in their knowledge of history. We Americans can get pretty detached from such things and still graduate high school. It was really inspiring to hear people who loved their history and knew so many interesting stories.
Klara and her mom, Katrin, at the North Sea
We also were able to visit numerous art attractions, such as museums, former artist residences, and towns known for their artistic focus. The art we saw naturally caused us to want to create, and we knew we’d be coming up with a whole collection of new work after the trip.
“The Prayer of Zinzendorf” – painting by Mollie Walker Freeman, Ramelsloh Cathedral
So, if you’re in our area, please join us for our opening on November 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. We will be giving a short talk at 5:30. Or, stop by the museum any time up until February 23. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, with hours varying from day to day. Loveland Museum Gallery is located at 503 N. Lincoln, right in the heart of downtown Loveland. Check lovelandmuseumgallery.org for details.
I’ll be there! Sounds like fun!
I hear admission to the Lower Gallery is free.