SAGE SOCIETY MINUTES
Date : March 8, 2022
Location: Pat Conroy Literary Center, Beaufort, SC
Members in attendance:
Armer, Donna
Atkins, Sandi
Gallagher, Diane
Gray, Debbie
Hathaway, Barbara
Heath, Stuart
Lawson, Ruth Ann
McCardle, Bonnie
Mickell, Maryann
Pickett, Peggy
Stocks, Jerry
Weeks, Martha
Koolkin, Larry
Guests: Catherine Stewart, Connie Kling, Kris Peterson, Katherine Brown, Barbara Hazzard
Barbara Hathaway called the meeting to order at 4:03 pm
Member update:
Catherine Stewart has been nominated by Sandi Atkins to become a member. Barbara read her bio and announced that she will be voted on in the April meeting.
Approval of minutes of the February 8, 2022 meeting was made by Stuart Heath
General business discussed:
Sandi Atkins gave an update regarding the donation to Hopeful Horizons. She, Barbara and Jen Moneagle met to discuss appropriate books for the children’s library at the emergency shelter. Sandi and Jen met with the shelter director and received suggestions regarding items needed in addition to the books. Since used books will be accepted, it appears that we will have donated books from several sources so our focus will be to fill in around those. We will also look into acquiring a rug for the room as well as stuffed animals and coloring books that can be given to children when they arrive at the shelter. This will be an on-going project throughout the year but we hope to have most of the library in place by May. At this point we have around $500 to fund the project.
Presentation by Donna Armor
Topic: Monet’s Garden
Donna gave a wonderful talk on the artist, Oscar-Claude Monet 1840-1826. She presented him as an impressionist painter, a naturalist who loved his gardens, and a connoisseur of fine food. He was an art scholar from an early age and attended art school with Renoir and other budding artists of the time.
As a young man, Monet did military service in Africa which heavily influenced his painting techniques. He started painting outside using the “en plein air” method and developed a style using broken colors and visible brush strokes to capture light and movement in his work.
In the 1870s, his work and that of the other early impressionist artists was not well received and he, along with his wife Celeste and their children, lived in a state of poverty. Finally when he was 43, his fortunes began to rise and he was able to purchase his home in Giverny where he began his love affair with gardening. His well-known Water Lily series of paintings, which includes 250 works, was inspired by the pond and Japanese bridge he created in his garden and he spent many years painting them in different seasons and at different times of day. He also painted 2 other well-known series – Haystacks and Houses of Parliament.
Monet lived into his mid-eighties and continued to paint throughout his life, in spite of the fact that he lost much of his eyesight. He created over 2,500 works of art during his lifetime.
Meeting adjourned: 4:54 pm
Next regular meeting will be on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 4 pm
Updated list of presenters:
2022
April 12: Barbara Hathaway: Bookmobiles
May 10: Debbie Gray: Forgotten Survivors: Widowed Servicemen’s Wives of World
War II (may be postponed if Beaufort History Museum Tea takes place)
Respectfully submitted by Sandi Atkins, Secretary, on March 10, 2022
