Outside incredible progress has happened in the last month, including installation of two new outdoor works of art (sculptures by Ursula von Rydingsvard and Roxy Paine). And in the coming weeks, the landscape will be transformed.

On a personal note, on October 1, I completed my fifteenth year as director. It has been a great privilege to lead the North Carolina Museum of Art through its growth in these dynamic years. None of our achievements would have been possible, however, without the support of the community, our members, and our volunteers. Likewise, the staff is doing a brilliant job organizing the arduous and time-consuming move which is being executed with great professionalism. I am proud of their creativity and commitment.

As we move forward, stay tuned for the most exciting things yet to come.

Frederick Carl Frieseke, The Garden Parasol, 1910, Oil on canvas, Purchased with funds from the State of North Carolina, 73.1.4

So it is interesting that I could not tell in the Frieseke picture whether not only the painter but also the scene was American or French. It was open air, and Americans like that, a sense of freedom. It was sunlit, and we like that too. In addition, everything-from the gorgeous parasol spread wide to the open book, the relaxed posture of the seated lady who holds it, the tea set on the little garden table-speaks of generosity. “Come on out,” she seems about to say. “Join us.” There are two empty chairs. The flowering border behind might well be in New England, the thick foliage a shady backdrop for a delightful summer day. But let it then join the French and their kind of pleinairist painting, beckoning to us on happy afternoons: “Bienvenue! Vous aussi pouvez venir!”

–From Elizabeth Spencer’s essay “The Garden Parasol” in The Store of Joys (available in the Museum’s Art Reference Library and the Museum Store). Frieseke’s The Garden Parasol is currently on view in the exhibition Highlights from the American Collection.