Some of the best art tells a story, and a personal art collection is no different. For artists, the work they display in their homes and studios are often the creations of the legendary artists they admire or even the budding artists whose talents they’ve helped cultivate. We asked a few local artists to share a favorite piece they’ve collected and tell us how it came to be part of their lives.
MICHAELENE WALSH
Cup by Grace Tessein of Sugar Jaws Pottery
As a ceramics professor at LSU, artist Michaelene Walsh gets a firsthand look at the evolution of an up-and-coming artist’s work. “In collecting cups and pottery from various periods of a particular artist’s career, I can directly, in a very tactile way, appreciate how she grows and changes as an artist and person over time,” Walsh says.
One of those artists is recent LSU MFA graduate Grace Tessein, whose work Walsh purchased from one of the student ceramic art and pottery sales at LSU. While Walsh owns several of Tessein’s pieces, this particular one is her favorite. “I immediately responded to this cup’s great craftsmanship, sensitive drawings and all-around beautiful usability,” she says. “And, the imagery reminded me of my sister Erin in Chicago. We were obsessed with koalas as girls.”
Walsh says every cup in her home collection becomes a topic of discussion among her family. “They offer up an opportunity for some storytelling, and many pots will be one-of-a-kind heirlooms I leave my kids.”
RANDELL HENRY
“Beautiful Bird” by Max Papart
Southern University art professor and mixed media artist Randell Henry stumbled upon his favorite artwork by French artist Max Papart by chance.
The two artists had met a decade earlier through New Orleans’ Nahan Gallery, where both of their works were being shown. Papart split his time between New Orleans and Paris, and the gallery owner set up a meeting for Henry while Papart was working in New Orleans. Papart welcomed him in, discussed collage techniques—Henry’s medium of choice—and they stayed in touch.
Henry didn’t believe at that point in his career he could afford an original piece by Papart. Until a random discovery in a Florida Boulevard poster shop.
“One day, I believe it was in the early ’90s, I was flipping through a bin of posters hoping that I would luck upon a signed, original work by a ‘famous’ artist,” Henry says. “I was stunned when I saw this lithograph by Max Papart. I had no idea how this work found its way into a poster shop here.”
The abstract piece was inspired by the birds Papart spotted flying over the southwestern part of the country on one of the visits he and his wife took to the states.
“I noted his pencil-signed signature, the Nahan [Galleries] watermark, the edition number and the price simultaneously,” Henry remembers. “It was marked at $200, much higher than the posters. I asked for a $50 discount and purchased it for $150.”
AMY JAMES
“Pear” print by Paul Caponigro
It was pure happenstance that photographer Amy James ended up with Paul Caponigro’s “Pear” in her personal collection. While in Maine for a photography workshop, a fellow photographer introduced her to Caponigro—a master of black-and-white photography and one of her idols—over
dinner. Once he realized it was James’ birthday, he invited her back to his studio to choose a print as a gift.
“I knew the apple was probably more well-known, or even more valuable, but I was drawn to the pear, perhaps in its physicality, its glorious feminine shape, as I am certainly one in that latter category,” James says. “I felt there was mystery in its rich shadows and lovely tones. I knew I’d never grow tired of viewing it in its quiet beauty every waking day for the rest of my life.”
The print was so precious to James, she went to great lengths to keep it intact on her return trip home. “I was so worried about nicking, injuring or accidentally bending it that I meticulously wrapped it, never left it in the heated vehicle, gave it the entire seat-belted back seat and even its own hotel bed when stopping along the way for the entire journey home from Maine.”
Editor’s note: The writer is also the communications coordinator for the LSU Museum of Art.
This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.
