Self Portrait 1996 - Joshua Patrick Joseph Slattery
When I was in middle school in Cleveland, the teachers were experimenting with a new test in art history. Many teachers at the time were demanding that art be added to the list of proficiency tests required in Ohio. Proponents of the art proficiency exam claimed that they wanted to elevate their subject matter to the level of math, reading, and science. There was a concerted effort to get us ready for the art test. My art teacher serviced our grade level for the entire middle school with an “art on the cart” program. For one semester the students would rotate schedules to view a series of slides and films and take notes on the life of an artist or sculptor, the date of birth of the artist, titles of specific works of art, and historical periods. We also spent one day a week painting.
Pictured here is my self-portrait completed in that class. One day my art teacher showed us a film about Georgia O’Keeffe. The painting Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu: Dry Waterfall appeared for a brief clip during the film, and I said “pause!” as I raised my hand to mention that I saw that painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art. The teacher corrected me and insisted that there were only paintings of Calla Lilies and Morning Glories by O’Keeffe in the museum. I told her that it was upstairs on the 3rd floor. The Teacher responded that there is no 3rd floor at the Cleveland Art Museum. She did not realize that a 6th grader could be allowed access to the director’s office on a private office floor. My teacher thought I was being a smart alec! I was very familiar with Georgia O’Keeffe and her paintings because my dad arranged a visit to the director’s office on the private floor with my sisters and my grandparents. It was an emotional visit, especially when my grandmother shared that when she dies she wants her ashes scattered in the desert of Abiquiu along the Chama River that runs through Ghost Ranch near O’Keeffe’s home. It is here that my grandmother painted in the desert when she visited with my dad in Abiquiu when he was living at the Christ in the Desert Monastery in the early 1970’s.
We had several of Grandma Pattie’s oil canvases hanging in our home along with reproductions of the Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu by O’Keeffe. I was immersed in the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe from a young age. While visiting the museum, my grandmother shared with the family this poem that she had written by creating the persona of Georgia O’Keeffe:
Self Portrait, 1996