Most people in the city rush around so they have no time to look at a flower.

I want them to see it…whether they want to or not.

Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe was feisty, no doubt about it. In the excellent biography, Full Bloom, (A warning to diehard O’Keeffe fans: It isn’t all glowing…), the author, Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, wrote about a journalist who traveled all the way from the East Coast to the little village of Abiquiu, New Mexico, to interview the famous Miss O’Keeffe. When the reporter finally arrived, O’Keeffe opened the door, did a quick pirouette, and said something to the effect of “Now you can write that you’ve seen me,” before slamming the door in the surprised journalist’s face. And this is just one of many, similar stories. The reclusive artist preferred long, solitary walks in her beloved New Mexican desert to most people, and especially loud, silly people who, she said, made her feel like a “hobbled horse.”

O’Keeffe was drawn to nature and art at an early age. Born on November 15, 1887, she grew up on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. In later years, she said she remembered being placed, as a toddler, on a colorful quilt on the porch of the family home, and how she had been mesmerized by the play of the sun on the patterns of the quilt. As she grew older, she began to collect specimens to study or draw. When O’Keeffe showed early promise as an artist, her abilities were recognized and encouraged by her parents and teachers. [Read more...]