Georgia O'Keeffe: The Secrets of Her Success Part 6
V. A Role Model
Georgia O’Keeffe was seen as a role model for many people, especially among women and striving artists. She has been an inspiration for artists, teachers, students, and more. Her painting style has even been used as the basis for quilt patterns that use extreme close-up images of flowers (Wesley 14). It was stated that they admired her for her successful career and:
. . . her very personal vision of nature, the outdoors, and the West . . . [as well as] her life . . . and vision of women’s liberation and emancipation . . . she broke many of the prevailing rules in art and in life, but still ‘succeeded’ personally and artistically . . . Both O’Keeffe and her work, then, have become iconic forces for many women seeking to make their own way in the art, business, and professional worlds (Luke 73).
Inspiring Student Artists
Many educational institutions have used the art of Georgia O’Keeffe to teach the fundamental elements of art. The majority of her paintings demonstrate lines and color, size and scale (Scwenger 63), formal and informal balance, as well as mood and placement (Skophammer 40). These are the basic elements of art, but can be hard to explain to students in words. Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings can be used as a visual example.
Although is was not her intent, when Georgia O’Keefe painted the desert, “she ironically played a major role in its modernization” (Luke 73). These desert paintings have inspired thousands of people to move to New Mexico (76) and in doing so, they have destroyed many of the “natural attributes” that she loved (78).
(Coming soon: Georgia O'Keeffe: The Secrets of Her Success-- Part 7 Conclusion)
A complete list of research sources will be included in the final chapter of this series.
