Author and photographer Nancy Hopkins Reily will present a lecture and be available for a book signing of excerpts from the life of artist Georgia O'Keeffe, titled, "Georgia O'Keeffe, A Private Friendship, Part II, Walking the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch Land," today at the Museum of East Texas, a MET press release stated.
The signing will be at 2 p.m., and is free and open to the public. Reily, of Lufkin, has been a homemaker and outdoor color portrait photographer, and has taught portrait workshops at Angelina College. She has also had an invitational workshop with Ansel Adams as part of her advance studies, the last workshop he taught before he died in 1984.
In her book, she draws on her personal experiences and memorabilia with Georgia O'Keeffe, a former neighbor in New Mexico that she knew as family friend "Georgia," the release stated.
Reily said Thursday that her book differs from most others on O'Keeffe she's encountered in that it includes personal stories — most other writers didn't actually know her, she said.
The idea for the book began in 1953, when her family spent Christmas with O'Keeffe in Abiquiu, N.M.
"As a young girl, I was there in the house and saw this painting on the wall, and I couldn't identify the subject matter," she said. "That's when I really started hunting for Georgia O'Keeffe."
Years later in 1995, she assembled all the O'Keeffe memorabilia and family articles collected over the years, including personal letters and snapshot, and started putting it together for a book, realizing she had as much and more, plus personal knowledge of the artist, than did most authors of other books on her.
There was so much material, her published divided the book into two volumes, the first produced in 2007 and the second this year.
The text reflects Reily's travels to O'Keeffe's birthplace and places she has lived and taught, including Canyon, Texas, and research at Yale University.
O'Keeffe was one of the first to do modern art, and her husband was her promoter. She was known as America's foremost artist, some of her work was considered controversial for its time. But she wanted not to be known as the foremost "woman artist," but simply as "artist," Reily points out. To Reily's family, she was a friend and neighbor.
"She was just a neighbor. She walked over to our house and introduced herself, and became friends with all of us," Reily said. "We entertained her and she entertained my aunt and uncle (who owned the house next door). So there are personal stories in this book. My best qualification other than the research is that my family knew her," Reily said.
Both of Reily's books on O'Keefe will be available for sale and signing. The first book is $50, and the second is $60. The text includes line drawings by local artist Jeannelle McCall.
The museum has 47 photos from the book on exhibition in the Loggia Gallery through Nov. 1. More information is available online at metlufkin.org. Information on O'Keefe is available online at okeeffemuseum.org.
