Located in the heart of Boston, Massachussetts, and housed in a stunning 15th-century Venetian-style palace with three stories of galleries surrounding a sun- and flower-filled courtyard, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is home to works by some of the most recognized artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent. A popular stop for tourists, it is also the only private art collection in which the building, collection and installations are the creation of one individual, Isabella Stewart Gardner.
So we were pleasantly surprised and even a bit proud, to receive an email from them ordering ten copies of our children's book, "Message in the Sand," for them to sell in their shop. There's the small problem of how to actually ship the books to them - the cost of shipping from Manila to Boston is criminally (almost) prohibitive - but we will figure that out. :-)
Interesting bit of trivia, I had a chance to visit the Gardner Museum back in 2001 where I chanced upon and purchased two copies of a charming little book, "In a Japanese Garden," by Charmaine Aserappa. We liked the book so much that we embarked on an internet search for Charmaine, hoping to get permission to adapt her book into Filipino.
We found her, but that initial idea didn't pan out... but to make a long story short... it instead led to new discussions that eventually led to her penning "Message in the Sand" for us.
So now, this surprise email from the Gardner Museum completes a circle for us.
This whole episode just goes to show... things don't always work out as hoped or planned, but they always do work out in the end...
* Photocredit: Self-Portrait, Aged 23, 1629
by Rembrandt, Dutch, 1606-1669
Oil on wood, 89.7 x 73.5 cm
(from the collection of the Gardner Museum)
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