The current and former resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington has begun to redecorate. It may be time. After all, the White House is very old and probably could use a touch up or two. Some people call it the “People’s House.” That is an old-fashioned name, but a good one. The People’s House has a nice ring to it.

            He started with the iconic Oval Office, the ceremonial symbol of the Presidency where the big guy meets with foreign dignitaries. You know it is important because that is where the big red button is… not the one that is a direct line to Russia, but the one that he can press to have a Diet Coke delivered directly to his desk.

            His predecessor had a few paintings of our founding fathers hanging around the fireplace. Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Hamilton. Hamilton was not a president but if you’ve seen the Broadway play about him, he apparently sure knew how to rap. They have been joined by 13 other portraits in newly gold leafed frames. These have been augmented by a collection of shiny golden bling…some people call them trophies…which are said to have been awarded to the president when he won tournaments at his many golf courses. (But that may be fake news).

            There are big new, beautiful, ornate gold appliques on the walls above and on the fireplace. The White House says they were created by the same artisan who decorated his home in Florida. (Some sharp internet sleuths claim to have found the same decorations for sale at Home Depot). And, finally, golden cherubs rest above the doorways. All of it looks so… er… shiny.

            Did I mention his infamous mug shot, in a gold frame of course, is hanging just outside the Oval Office? (It’s true. You can’t make this stuff up). If the Palace of Versailles were to be refurbished, they could use our People’s House as a model.

            But wait! There’s more!

            The beautiful Rose Garden, first created in 1902 by First Lady Edith Roosevelt, later renovated by President Wilson’s wife Ellen, again by Jackie Kennedy in 1962, and more recently by the 45th president’s wife, is having yet another makeover. When last renovated the red roses and crabapple trees were replaced with white roses and a concrete walkway around the grass lawn area.

            Now all of it is being paved over by a “hardscape.” A big, beautiful…” the biggest, most beautiful patio” so says the leader of the free world, so women “won’t get their heels stuck in the wet grass.” “The grass is always wet.” he says.

            The redecorating continues in the Cabinet Room. More paintings have been replaced with new ones of lesser-known presidents in, yup, giant gold frames.  “I’m a frame person” he said. “I liked the frames more than I liked the presidents.” Also added were a gold-framed mirror and ceiling medallions around the hanging lamps. The crown moldings are to be gold leafed soon.

            Next to come is a new grand ballroom modeled on the one at Mar-a-Lago, gold ceiling and giant chandeliers included.

            Well, since it is the People’s House I have a suggestion. The building is pretty old, built in 1792. It is built of sandstone and needs painting every year. In fact, as soon as the painting is completed, they start again. So, I suggest… vinyl siding, the best, most beautiful vinyl siding. It would go a long way to protect the fragile walls and eliminate costly, wasteful repainting.

            Do they make gold vinyl siding?

            Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and happily retired writer. His newspaper columns appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.

Thoughts on…

By Dick Morgado

The Marion Art Center has once again brought splendor, wonder, and artistic talent to our doorsteps with the opening of their latest exhibit titled “Duets: Two Artists and Our Blue Planet” featuring the visual expertise of longtime friends Lisa Goren and Heather Stivison.

            The two artists’ works complement one another in a variety of ways, most notably their shared interest in the natural world and the exquisite manner in which art can and does open that world to us mere mortals.

            Stivison’s paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States and in juried shows in Europe and Asia. Influenced by her mother, an art teacher, and her father, a research scientist, the artist’s work steps into the crossroads of art and science. Stivison also draws inspiration from philosophical and scientific concepts. Her use of color, form and shapes that seem to move across her canvases adds depths of meaning.

            Another aspect not to be overlooked regarding Stivison is her commitment to serving the art community. She currently serves as the chairman of the board of South Coast Artists, Inc. She is an elected signature member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) and is on the Board of Directors of NAWA’s Massachusetts Chapter. She was the founding president of the Dartmouth Cultural Center and the co-chair of the Dartmouth Cultural Council.

            Her visual presentations bring the heavens to mind as well as floral-like shapes and forms that play high above us in a magical marriage of earth and space, far away from the trials of the moment. To give you a sense of just how deep Stivison’s analytical emotions run, she quotes Carl Sagan to punctuate a point she wants to make.

            This phenomenal artist is also a published author.

            Goren works in watercolor, creating images from nature. She told us, “I wanted to use water to paint.” And the water she selected to paint is nothing short of humongous. “(When) I started painting I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use watercolors to paint water, which would be the ice and the ocean.” She has traveled to Antarctica and Alaska, where the abundance of water in all its forms became inspirational to her art.

            During the pandemic, zoo animals were given human spaces to explore such as museums. Goren painted some of those animals during this time of isolation and anxiety like gifts from the animal world. These images surely aided in steadying our collective souls. She also jokingly noted that it’s okay to have an animal head on your walls as long as it’s a painting, not a taxidermy.

            Regarding watercolors, Goren said, “I never left watercolors, I just stuck with them and love them. I’m trying different ways to show them. … My watercolors are big, they’re messy, they’re vibrant. That’s the goal.”

“Duets: Two Artists and Our Blue Planet” is available for viewing from now until August 15. And you can join Goren and Stivison on Saturday, August 2, at 11:00 am when they will be giving a gallery talk.

Marion Art Center

By Marilou Newell