Happy July to you all! I’m so happy to be back here, sharing what has been beautiful and restorative for me. Of course, I’ve taken breaks from blogging before, but every time, I’ve missed you all.
I recently revamped my finance business, and I’ve put a lot of time into research and development. So when I posted my last blog post (in February 2025!) I was in the midst of restructuring my business and when I finally came up for air, 5 months had passed by.
But, I have lots of photos and beautiful experiences to share over the past few months, so look out for blog posts where I bring you into my world. Because believe me, I’ve been living WELL. Friends, fun, food, travel: I’ve been enjoying all of it. So more posts will be coming this week. I look forward to reconnecting with all of you!
Recently, I visited one of my favorite museums, The National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. This museum is located right by Chinatown in downtown, a stone’s throw away from Capital One Arena. I was in the area while one of my friends visited from Atlanta, and we took advantage of a sunny afternoon and explored downtown DC on foot. She had never visited this museum before and, since the Portrait Gallery shares a building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, I thought it would be a great time to visit both. I also got a chance to show her one of my favorite sculptures, The Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis (I wrote about this breathtaking work in this post).
As it just so happens, the museum had two exhibitions that were perfect for our artistic preferences. In this post, I’ll discuss one of those exhibitions (I’ll share the other exhibition in a separate post). Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939 is a stunning collection of works from the various genius women that found themselves living in Paris pre-WWII for the same reason. Paris, during this time, was progressive enough for female creatives who wished to hone their crafts, giving them an environment to do so without the stigmas, pressures, or expectations of life in America. The women were often in Paris for art school, but ending up in some cases staying longer than expected, so they could continue to enjoy the freedom that Parisian life offered.
I focused on the Harlem Renaissance section of the exhibition, since this period fascinates me and offers many relevant lessons for creatives in the current day. I was thrilled to see some of my favorite artists represented in the collection, including Lois Maillou Jones, Augusta Savage, and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller. And, naturally, no exhibition about the Harlem Renaissance would be complete without a Josephine Baker feature.
Sculptress Augusta Savage
Sketch of Lois Maillou Jones
I was delighted to see other singers that are sometimes overlooked during the conversations around influential vocalists during this period. Florence Mills, Nora Holt, Adelaide Hall and Ethel Waters were also highlighted in this exhibition, which was a refreshing surprise.
I was tickled to see a photograph of one of my favorite jazz-era entrepreneurs, Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Her Paris nightclub realized a level of success that Smith could have not even fathomed in America. I love that her entrepreneurial spirit led her to a foreign country, where she enjoyed a long and fruitful career.
This collection also introduced me to Laura Wheeling Waring, an African American female portraitist that captured some of the most brilliant women of the time. I fell in love with her portrayal of Jessie Redmon Fauset, the poet and literary editor of The Crisis, a magazine that published the works of a number of Harlem Renaissance greats (such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Nella Larsen, and many others).
Jessie Redmon Fauset by Laura Wheeling Waring
The exhibition also re-introduced me to Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, a sculptor that I’m excited to learn more about. I was captivated by her story, especially her diligence to her craft. She was so devoted to sculpting that she suffered through extreme poverty and physically demanding tasks (like carving stone and wood) in France, just to ensure that she could bring forth the art she desired to create. These hard times took a toll on her, but her efforts paid off, and she enjoyed success during her lifetime.
It warms my heart to know that, during a period of time where Black women in America were often pigeonholed into careers that were neither financially nor emotionally fulfilling, there were some brave and fortunate women that got to leave the States and experience peace and freedom in Paris. I am blessed to see portraits of these women, and even artwork that they created, during this exciting time in history.
The exhibition runs until February 23, 2025. I hope you all get a chance to check it out!
Happy 2025, everyone. It’s been several months since my last post. Fortunately, I’ve been away for (mostly) happy reasons. But I’m back (for now), because I’ve had a lot of memorable experiences and this is my favorite space to capture those moments.
Last year, my family and I were in the throes of an intense court case to determine guardianship over a relative with dementia. Thankfully, the case was settled and in the aftermath I was able to finally BREATHE and resume my normal life. It felt like I’d been holding my breath for over a year: always tense and bracing myself for the next round of insanity. Once everything was finalized, I could finally plan trips and enjoy the life I had prior to the case. So, to celebrate, I spent nearly 3 weeks away; the trip encompassed a stay in London and a lovely transatlantic cruise back to the US. I can’t wait to give you more details about both of those experiences!
I wasn’t aware how much of my life I’d been living on autopilot, due to devoting all of my excess emotional and physical energy to managing fibromyalgia. I streamlined a lot of my life, and reduced my energy expended so that I could devote everything I had to improving my health. The court case experience showed me how much I’d been doing things on “easy mode”, and, while that was crucial during the healing phase of my life, it left me unprepared for the unpredictability that came my way last year. I knew that I was in need of a change after I spent some time away and rested: the downtime was necessary but I didn’t have anything that “lit me up”. I came back home and felt better physically but also a little empty and lost.
Dealing with a chronic condition really distorted my sense of self and my vision for my life, and it caused me to see myself through the lens of a permanently ill person. I recall completing an incredible 3 day workshop a few years ago, and the personal vision I crafted during that workshop absolutely aligned with who I was then, but isn’t a perfect fit now. The thing is, the choices you make when you’re not at your best are generally not the choices you’d make when you’re feeling fantastic. So, as someone who has improved tremendously from where I was several years ago, AND as someone that finally has the energetic reserves to take on new ambitions, I can comfortably say that my personal vision needs to be recalibrated. I’ve already made some adjustments, but there are more tweaks I’ll make in the future.
It feels great to be back in this space, where I can share the things that light me up. And, I’m thankful for all of you who have stuck around. I look forward to connecting with you all in the weeks and months to come. Take care of yourselves, and I’ll talk to you all soon.
Bronze Butterfly 