Lois V. Harris
Children's Author

At Mary's dinner parties, she served her homemade caramel candies. Try making this easy recipe for a similar tasty treat:

Caramel Fruit Dip

You will need:
½ bag of caramel candy
2 tablespoons of water
3 apples, washed, peeled, cored and sliced

Microwave caramels and water in microwavable bowl for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes until candy melts, or melt candy and water in a pot on the stove.

Using a toothpick, dunk apple slices into caramel sauce and enjoy.

Besides apple, try dipping sliced pears, strawberries or banana chunks.

In 1999, I attended the Seattle Art Museum's exhibit on Impressionism and saw a Mary Cassatt painting---I was captivated by her artistic ability. In 2002, I bought a book of stamps featuring a Mary Cassatt painting. Something tingled in my brain as I studied the image, and I wanted to know more about Mary Cassatt. I visited many libraries and read books about Mary's life and saw pictures of her beautiful artwork.

I learned Mary Cassatt was born in America in 1844. When she was young, she dreamed of being a famous artist and earning her own money---but in 1855 few painters were women. She moved to France and, by following her own plan, became one of the world's greatest Impressionist painters!

Wanting to share her inspiring life story with children, I wrote her biography and submitted it in 2004 to Pelican Publishing Co., located in a suburb of New Orleans, LA. While my manuscript was being considered, I was asked to send a dummy (a manuscript in book form with pictures of Mary's artwork).

On August 26, 2005 I drove to the post office to mail the dummy and heard on the radio that Hurricane Katrina was heading for New Orleans. I figured my dummy would be safe in a New Orleans post office building until the storm blew by and mailed the dummy. Three days later Katrina roared ashore devastating New Orleans. My heart sank as I watched the news, wondering about Pelican.

About a month later, the company used the internet to inform people everyone on the staff, from the publisher on down, had helped to save books. Their offices had been damaged, but they were rebuilding, and in spite of difficult conditions, they would recover. And they did! A few months later, I submitted another dummy (the first one must have floated out to sea), signed a book contract in May of 2006, and Pelican began working on my book project. Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter, my first book, was published in September 2007.

The following exhibitions include Mary's artwork:

"Inspiring Impressionism"
Seattle Art Museum, 6/19/08 to 9/21/08

"Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva
Gonzales, Marie Bracquemond:
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park
San Francisco, CA, 6/21/08 to 9/21/08

"Mary Cassatt: Friends and Family"
The Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT, 6/21/08 to 10/26/08

"Children in American Art"
Dayton Art Institute
Dayton, OH, 9/20/08 to 1/04/09

(If you know of another upcoming exhibit presenting Mary Cassatt's artwork, please email me.)

Paintings and pastels by Mary Cassatt can be seen at the following museums and institutions: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Corcoran, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Huntington, Joslyn Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and many others. Check their websites. Most provide an online view of Mary's artwork.