24 ML | August 2015

MLfroM the editor

port

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by

debo

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Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about art and what it has meant to me over the years. First, it was intimidating. I thought I needed a degree in art history just to visit a gallery, and that it wasn’t enough to consider how a painting or sculpture made me feel. Then, as I began to purchase art for my own home, I often found myself thinking of it as an investment and wondering what I should buy.

That all changed when I read a blog post about artist Lamar Briggs, whose work hangs in the house of Darlene and Baron Cass (featured on page 118), and who passed away earlier this year. It was written by one of his friends and had more to do with Lamar the person than Lamar the famous artist. In it, the author described a man as colorful as his paintings, who liked fast cars and dark chocolate, called his wife “Babe” and painted to a soundtrack of jazz music.

As I read, I thought about how cool it is that even though Briggs never set foot in their home, the Cass family has felt his vibrant energy ever since they hung one of his paint-ings on their wall 30 years ago.

I think that’s what collecting and displaying art should be about. Not just finding a pretty piece that goes with the sofa and fits a blank spot on the wall (which I’ve done before, I’ll admit) or buying something to impress dinner guests, but discovering a per-sonality you connect with and inviting it to live with you.

If I could add a piece of art to my “family” today, it would be one of Casey Vogt’s dot paintings, pictured at left, that juxtaposes psychedelic mandala symbols with classic cowboy images. They’re brash, bold and over the top, which I am not. But for me—when it comes to art and people—opposites attract.

christine deorio editor in chiefcdeorio@mountainliving.com

GettinG the hanG of art

“HOLD ON #2: The Susan Vogt Project” by Casey Vogt, 2013.

House paint, collage, envirotex/panel, 8” x 8.” caseyvogt.com.

Find Vogt’s available works at diehlgallery.com and

longviewgallerydc.com.

LateLy LovinG