“Art is an expression of our world view, and something beautiful we can share with everyone who enters our home. It stimulates conversation; it boosts our imagination and our aesthetic senses. It gives life and spirit to empty spaces. Most of all, it shows the visitor who we are.”

– Melinda Bargreen

 

For more than 17 years, I have been sending out a monthly newsletter. Each month, there comes a time when I say to myself, “is this the month to skip?” In between taking care of two kids, two galleries, and life’s twists and roller-coasters, it’s always a challenge to come up with something fresh and inspiring to say. And then… there are the typos! I’ll never forget the first year we opened, when I sent out a newsletter without someone else editing it first. A dear friend replied back and showed me each typo in the piece, humbling me with each keyboard stroke.

After that slight humiliation, I decided to have each newsletter edited and asked my lovely mother if she might be interested. Thankfully, she said “yes,” and has been editing each newsletter month after month for over 17 years. She was then recently retired from her career (since 1977) of reporting as the Classical Music Critic of the Seattle Times and had just written a book. So you have her expert eyes and doctorate in English to thank for the newsletter’s polish and prose!

I thought it would be a fun idea to introduce her to our readers, and also get her own opinion on the blog after all of these years. So with that, we want to introduce and welcome Melinda Bargreen. Enjoy the questions that she very kindly responded to, and check out her website to learn more about this amazing woman that I get to call Mom.

 

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Q: How long have you been editing the Gallery MAR newsletter?

A: For as long as there has been a newsletter!

 

Q: What do you search for, when you first see the newsletter?

A: look for the first thing the reader sees: the letter from the owner, which sets the tone for the newsletter and the emphasis of this particular artistic lineup. The letter needs to convey a strong sense of what Gallery MAR visitors will see, and why the artwork is beautiful, thought-provoking, and important. (And, of course, I also look for typographical and other mechanical errors!)

Q: Who are your three favorite artists at Gallery MAR, and why?

A: Hard question; they’re all so good and so different!  I like Mary Scrimgeour for her whimsy, Jamie Burnes for the incredible horses and bison, Michael Kessler for his powerful complexity, Pamela Murphy for her evocative portraiture … I could go on… 

 

Q: What was a transformational art experience you have enjoyed?

A: Without question, it was a lengthy 1972 trip to Europe where we saw all the finest art museums from London to Paris to Vienna. I had tears in my eyes when I saw the real art “in person,” rather than just photographs in books. There were the real Unicorn Tapestries, not just the pictures in our encyclopedia!

Q: What is your first memory of being in an art museum?

A: A school trip to the Seattle Art Museum, near where I grew up. What a thrill!

 

Q: If you could view any painting in the world in person, which would it be?

A: I am too spoiled – I have already had that desire gratified over the years. Viewing famous paintings in person is sometimes a letdown, especially when the painting is so iconic (like the Mona Lisa) that huge crowds gather around a modest-sized canvas that is justifiably and extremely well-guarded.

Q: Which artist (living or dead) do you most identify with?

A: It’s impossible to imagine myself with enough artistic talent to identify with a great artist (living or dead!). But I could imagine entering the boisterous and colorful world of Breughel, just for a fun visit.

 

Q: When you seek our art for your own home, to what are you drawn?

A: Many things! I am looking for a piece with meaning, something that is beautiful but that speaks to my own experience (an evocative landscape? A face that recalls the past?). Art should welcome visitors into the home and give them something lovely and arresting to see. A painting also can be a wonderful souvenir of an experience, a person, or a journey.

 

Q: What things have you collected over the years? Do you consider yourself a collector?

A: No, I don’t consider myself a collector, but I am a person who is delighted to be surrounded by beautiful things. The artworks that we have mainly recall a moment in time – a trip, an event, or a meeting with the artist.  Or sometimes they are just pieces we fell in love with. You know it when it happens.

Q: Why do you think people choose to have art on their walls?

A: Because the art is an expression of our world view, and something beautiful we can share with everyone who enters our home. It stimulates conversation; it boosts our imagination and our aesthetic senses. It gives life and spirit to empty spaces.

Most of all, it shows the visitor who we are.

 

Thank you to Melinda for her contributions of many months of newsletters gone by, and for answering these questions so we could get to know her a little bit better. Those inspiring Unicorn Tapestries she mentioned? I was able to grow up with delightful copies hanging in our hall, which she brought back from her seminal European trip. And it was Melinda, and her husband Howie, who encouraged me to really take pleasure in art, take classes, and who brought us to some of the best museums in the world.

 

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More about Melinda Bargreen, from her website Melinda Bargreen.

Experience: Music critic, The Seattle Times, 1977-2008; freelance music critic, 2008-present. Wrote reviews, interviews, profiles, previews and analysis of Seattle’s arts scene, including comprehensive stories on the building of two major halls, the operatic phenomenon of Seattle Opera’s “Ring,” arts education, Seattle’s arts funding and philanthropy, and innumerable colorful characters (from Lauren Bacall to Mark Morris). Also wrote twice-monthly book reviews on biographies, memoirs, autobiographies, novels and short-story collections.

 

Here is what she is up to lately:

Freelancing — Concert reviews, book reviews, articles for magazines and other publications, including The Seattle Times, the “EarRelevant” website, and The American Record Guide.

Nonfiction writing — Profiles of performers and composers. Two books: “Classical Seattle,” a series of profiles of the most significant people in Seattle’s classical-music scene over the past five decades, was published by the University of Washington Press (2015). And “Fifty Years of Seattle Opera,” the company’s 50th anniversary history, was published by Marquand Books (2014).

Editing and consulting — I professionally edit manuscripts, publications and books, and am available to consult on the creation of media releases, press materials, statements, fundraising letters and other PR-related documents (after all these years of receiving them at The Seattle Times, I know what works!).

Music composition — Commissions and performances of new choral works, including commissions from the Arizona Repertory Singers and Seattle’s Choral Arts Northwest.  You can hear some of my choral music on the next page of this website (“My Music”), and visit www.sbmp.com — the Santa Barbara Music Publishing website.

A new piano solo, “For Craig” (composed for pianist Craig Sale), is available via the ArrangeMe website.     

College/university teaching, workshops, residencies — I have a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Washington in English; a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from the University of California at Irvine; and teaching experience at both UCI and Shoreline Community College. I also served as Artist in Residence at Gordon College (Mass.), and it was highly rewarding to work with their exceptional music students and their distinguished faculty.

Tags: Art appreciation, art blog, art newsletter, Classical Seattle, Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Times
Posted in Gallery Insights