A Super Bloom happens when there is plentiful rainfall after years of drought. We missed the last one ten years ago in 2005, but hoped to be able to see one this year in Death Valley, if the rains came as predicted. In September we made reservations for Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley with hopes that March would be good timing for possible viewing of a super bloom. Timing was perfect. South East Entrance to Death Valley via Death Valley Junction What makes the blooms in Death Valley spectacular is the fact that they come from what had the appearance of a field of rocks with few bushes. Many of the flowers are a foot or more apart so you have to get down and view at a little above ground level to make it more yellow. The contrast of the rock and the flowers is striking. The Desert Gold wildflowers were blooming in areas that were very rocky and usually have little visible life. Zabriskie Point, Death Valley Furnace Creek Campground, Death Valley - Elevation 190 feet below sea level. There are several campgrounds in the Furnace Creek area and we found that Furnace Creek State Park Campground was far superior to the two other across the road that were more akin to large parking lots. Our site opened up to a flat dry marsh with the view of trees and the mountains. When I made reservations in Sept for March it was nearly fully booked. Badwater, Death Valley "Artist's Drive, Death Valley A worthwhile loop off the main valley floor road that takes under an hour A Palette of Color "More than five million years ago, repeated volcanic eruptions blanketed the landscape, depositing ash and minerals, The volcanic minerals were chemically altered by heat and water, with variable amounts of oxygen and other introduced elements. Chemical analyses have identified a paint pot of elements: iron, aluminum, magnesium, and titanium, but no copper. Some fot he colored minerals here include red hematite and green chlorite. This is truly a natural artist's palette of color splashed across the slope. The time of day, clouds, and the rare rainfall shift the intensity of the colors, making each visit slightly different." Furnace Creek Lodge, Death Valley Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley Northern Death Valley Beatty, Nevada - day trip from Death Valley also included visit to Ash Meadow Wildlife Reserve Legal Brothels in Nevada find humor for billboards Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada - day trip from Death Valley http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ash_meadows/ The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife located in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County in southwestern Nevada . It is directly east of Death Valley National Park and is 90 mi west-northwest of Las Vegas. The refuge was created on June 18, 1984 to protect an extremely rare desert oasis. The refuge is a major discharge point for a vast underground aquifer water system, reaching more than 100 mi (160 km) to the northeast. Water-bearing strata come to the surface in more than thirty seeps and springs, providing a rich, complex variety of habitats. Virtually all of the water at Ash Meadows is fossil water, believed to have entered the ground water system tens of thousands of years ago. Nuwuvi/Newe Perspective Our stories speak of many trails throughout Ash Meadow. These trails have important messages to be shared, if you listen closely to their soft voices. We have a spiritual connection with these paths that help us to communicate with the land and with others. Spring at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada is over 500 feet deep Devil's Hole is a deep, water-filled limestone cave, perhaps the deepest in North America. Scuba divers descended to a depth of 436 feet without finding the bottom and they believe it is at least 500 feet deep. From core samples taken in the depths of this watery cave, scientists have been able to piece together a 500,000-year history of the earth's climate. Nuwuvi/Newe Perspective
When we go to the mountains, we're supposed to talk to the land ... you stop and let yourself be known to everything and ask to be received in a good way, making everything safe. That you bring goodness, not harm of any sort. Joshua Tree National Park is in the Mojave Desert. This high desert landscape has many large rock formations and an abundance of Joshua Trees. The appreciation of the desert's beauty can be an acquired taste. I remember seeing a Joshua Tree years ago and wondered what the big deal was about. Now I am drawn to the beauty of the high desert and find it one of my favorite places with many things to appreciate. Jumbo Rock Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, CA Our first camp was Jumbo Rock Campground in Joshua Tree National Park. Reservations are on a first come basis and it's packed on weekends in the spring and fall so we arrived before noon on a weekday to get a great spot for the entire week. NOTE - There water and dumpsite ONLY at Black Rock Campground on the edge of the park. This is the only campground has any facilities and cell coverage and it is barely inside the park . There is limited water ranger station as you enter and none inside the park so it is best to come prepared. The cell coverage disappears shortly after you enter the park and go up in elevation. I have never experienced such silence as I have in this area. When the wind is not blowing the silence is so dense and complete that it seems to have matter. Jumbo Rock Campground is set among large rock formations and has many scenic sites. We were able to walk directly out of our campsite and explore in several directions so most of our explorations were directly from our campsite or from a trail leading to Skull Rock from our campground. . The GPS on our phones were helpful to find our way back easily to our camper since we were not on trails. The blooms on the Joshua trees were massive and dense with a velvety butter texture and color. Mara Oasis, Joshua Tree National Park, CAArt Exhibit in retro motel in Amboy, CA on Route 66 Driving down Highway 5 on the way to Joshua Tree from the Bay Area was great on this beautiful spring day. All seven photos in this series were taken from a speeding car on the freeway.
Being a passenger gives one the opportunity to take quick photos as we zipped by on the freeway. I refer to these shots as "drive bys". We entered West Virginia shortly after leaving the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful green in some areas seen from the highway, but I was not so sure about some of the industries. Then on to Kentucky Kentucky Folk Art Center - Morehead State University - We didn't get to see the thousands of pieces in their collection due to building cooling problems, but we did pick up a few things in their great museum store. Apparently they have a noteworthy collection of folk art. Highway 70 in Kentucky passed through horse county and the iconic white fences below. The highway is also on the Bourbon Trial that passes through many bourbon distilleries. Walking issues - Some of you have asked how's the ankle? To be honest, I have spent a bit of time with my swollen foot elevated during the entire trip and in the heat of Portland Maine I reclined for three days trying to recover from simply walking. I was not sure how seeing the museums of Kansas City would work out, but thankfully I managed to limp trough them well enough to enjoy myself. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri We only saw a few sections of this great museum, but I was greatly impressed! If we were not pushing towards home I could have returned here for a few more days. There were great museum curator comments along with the titles on most of the work that I found interesting so included some of these in quotes. A few Moore Outside Interior Lobby Ghana, lives and works in Nigeria, Dusasa I, 2007, Created from recycled liquor-bottle tops that have been flattened and stitched together using copper wire. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri "In Interior with a Book, Richard Diebenkorn integrates flat, abstract planes of color with more realistic passages suggesting three-dimensional space. The right two-thirds of the canvas present a landscape, sky and interior space configured as a pattern of horizontal bands of color. Perspective or the illusion of receding space is achieved through the intersection of these horizontals with the diagonal lines of the window frame. The careful placement of a chair, book and trees completes this illusion of depth. The empty chair and open book suggests the absence or eventual presence of a solitary figure, creating a quiet mood of anticipation." "The sweeping gestural brushstrokes and dramatic black and white contrasts seen in in Turin characterize Franz Kline's mature work. His goal was to create a dynamic equilibrium through asymmetry and the interaction of black and white. Close looking reveals that upon a white ground, black and white paint have been applied to the surface in equal importance. Kline used commercial house paints and brushes as large as five inches wide to create these emphatic gestures. Named after a city in northern Italy, Turin evokes both architectural structures such as bridges and grinders and the surging of energy of the metropolis." Sam Francis - "Loosely painted in red, purple and black, punctuated by luminous flashes of bright yellow, Untitled gives voice to the dynamism of the soul in action. The drips and splashes, dry-brushed area, and soft-edges pigments saturating the paper record the motion of the artist's brush and express both the tension and release. Typical of his work from the late 1950's Francis leaves more than half of the painting essentially white. These "open" spaces may represent sudden enlightenment, a reflection of the artist's engagement with Zen Buddhism." "In Woman IV, a figural form, frontal and iconic, fills the surface of the canvas. The woman had enormous arms and breasts, bulging eyes and appears to either grin or grimace. Painted in intense and garish colors, she shifts, reassembles and merges into a field of painterly brushstrokes. Dramatic brushwork, overpainting, scrapes and scrumbles create a myriad of layered effect that set the canvas in motion and record the dynamic painting process. De Kooning identified the complex fusion of references present in Woman IV: ancient fertility goddesses, Mesopotamian idols, Venus, the traditional female nude, contemporary women, the pin-up of the early 1950's and even abstract forms of nature. Fully aware of the ambiguity of form and the content in his paintings, he observed: "Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash." De Kooning's Woman IV. like the others in this series, is not definitively interpreted. Instead, it remains open, inviting speculation, while suggesting the artist's intense engagement with the concept of woman." "Cornfield of Health II expresses Arshile Gorky's poetic understanding of nature's organic, undulating forms and varied colors. The painting was inspired by the artist's experiences at this wife's family farm. There he looked deeply into the grassy fields as if you magnify nature in all its lush detail. "That is my goal,"Gorky said, "to achieve fluidity, motion, warmth and the pulsation of nature as it throbs." A liquidity of paint, rich colors and delicate black lines enliven the softly brushed forms in Cornfield Of Health II. Just below the center and to the right floats an ovoid of yellow with a blue and black center. A signature motif in Gorky's work, this shape recalls a cell and its nucleus, thus evoking the eternal flux of life." "Pink and Indian Red was created in the first of Adolph Gottlieb's mature styles: the Pictographs. During this period, Gottlieb and many of his fellow painters responded to Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung's notions about archetypal images and the collective unconscious. The simple, archetypal forms in this painting are related to those found on prehistoric cave walls, in African and Oceanic art, In American Indian art and in the art of ancient Egypt and Assyria. They underscore Jung's idea fthat all cultures share an intuitive vocabulary of fundamental forms and symbols. The painting's rich, early palette, primal forms, loose grid and shallow space make it as a key work within mythmaking phase of Abstract Expressionism." "The French symbolist poetry of Stephane Mallarme and Charles Baudelarie often inspired William Baziote's favorite poems, Baudelarie wrote, "you shall love what I love and that by which I am loved: water and clouds, night and silence, the vast green seas." A comparable mystery can be felt in Baziote's painting. Here, the crescent boon confronts a seahorse-like creature floating in a mottled, vaporous realm of sea or sky. The two forms appear to be suspended in a silent act of mutual reverence. The delicate line meandering at the top of the canvas may suggest a passage of the soul, the graceful movements of the moon and its companion or lyrical cadence of Baudelaire's poem." "Neil Welliver was one of America's leading contemporary landscape painters. His painting are as much about the covering of a flat surface with rhythmic shapes as they are about a direct observation of trees, mountains and streams. The artist sketched from nature in the Maine landscape where he lived and then returned to his studio to produce large-scale painting. Late Squall presents a grand view of Mount Megunticook in winter. It revels Welliver's interest in capturing the fleeting, ephemeral quality fo light and pervasive mood." Tracer is one of the 79 silkscreened paintings Robert Rauschenberg produced between 1963 and 1964, whose imagery is derived from everyday information -- photographs, newspapers and magazines. Tracer alludes to the Vietnam War Incorporating American symbols of war and patriotism. Rauschenberg is considered a pivotl figure in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. He unites the disparate imagery of Pop with the bold brushwork of Abstract Expressionism. The beauty of this painting is Marion Bloch, for whom, with her husband, Henry, the Bloch Building is named. According to Mr. Bloch, the couple engaged Andy Warhol's services and took a suite in New York's elegant Pierre Hotel. The artist arrived, not with paints and brushes, but with a Polaroid instant camera. To their surprise, he photographed Marion against a blank wall in the bedroom and departed. Back in the studio, Warhol selelcted one image of Marion, expanded its scale and photo-silkscreened the portrait on canvas. Wayne Thiebaud - Starboat (Tugboat and Riverboat) is painted with Thiebaud's characteristic sensuous colors and thick impasto. The boat and its reflections are rendered with delicate brush strokes. See the sky boldly defined by a yellow and green horizon line, are laid out in broad swatches with a palette knife. While Thiebaud's work has been associated with Pop art because of its focus on the everyday objects of popular culture, he sees it as a part of a long realist tradition." Pop Art - Pop Art has never been on my favorites list. Although I lived during its era of popularity, I felt it was fun but often flat and often very formulaic in its execution. Andy Wahol and Wayne Thiebaud can create work that has a painterly quality that often appeals to me . The work on the wall below leaves me cold. Clytie Alexander - "Hear the drumbeats of Indian classical music. Imagine the patterned walls of Muslim architecture. Feel the heat of California's Mojave Desert and the coolness of engineered systems. These are the artist's experiences that influenced this work. Painted on a rectangular aluminum panel perforated by a dense grid of drill-pressed holes. Diaphan 15 is hung several inches from the wall. Light passing through the holes bounces off the wall and reflects the panel's vivid orange hue." "What do you think is hatching inside Subodh Gupta's Egg - could it be a new India? Gupta transforms everyday objects into artworks that critique and challenge our understanding of contemporary Indian life. Egg is made from Humble materials, the cooking and serving wares used in millions of Indian homes. The egg has many meaning in India, from fertility and nourishment to it ancient religious symbolism as the Brahnamda (Cosmic Egg), from which the universe emerged." "Susan Rothenberg is one of several artist who helped reestablish figurative painting in the wake of Minimalist abstraction. Against the hard-edge, geometric approach of Minimalism, Rothenberg and others reinvested the image with the emotion of the human condition. The sooty palette, elemental forms and flickering surfaces of Endless express a somber yet dynamic vision. In Endless, Rothenberg depicts an inverted figure tumbling in an ambiguous, painterly space. The figure is the artist herself- tentative and vulnerable, fragmented and floating. The figure is also every person struggling physically and psychologically to live in the world. Rothenberg has said, "I want life to be the journey that gets you to the realest place in your psyche. That's what you should be able to paint." New Works by Tom Price "Presence and absence. The words imply opposite state of being. Something or someone is either present or absent. But can these two contradictory conditions occur at the same time? In a new body of work, English artist Tom Price explores this theme. What appears to be present may actually represent absence, while the reverse is also true. The hollow bodies made of coal, record a person, but the person is not here. Small disks and vine-like forms that seen to float in the resin are crack and void. In his rok, Price investigates new uses for typically industrial materials. using coal. a form of carbon, one the basic building blocks of our universe. Price casts life-sized bodies and geometric voids. A more modern substance, resin is pushed to a past it's limits, creating fractures and melting globs of tar. By using unusual material, yet in recognizable and simpler forms, Price ask us to look at the world with fresh eyes. We consider our relationship to the environment and the presence of the now and the absence of the past and the future." Isamu Noguchi Sculpture Court - The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri It is my desire to view nature through nature's eyes...to truly become...a part of the very earth, thus to view the inner surfaces and the life elements. ---Isamu Noguchi Isamu Noguchi was one the most innovative artists fo the 20th century. He made drawings, ceramics, photographs and sculptures. He designed chess sets, stage sets, furniture, lights, gardens and urban playscapes. His collaborations with creators such as the visionary architect Buckminster Fuller and the pioneering dancer Martha Graham are legendary. The unifying thread in all of these endeavors is Noguchi's devotion to nature --nature as origin, fact, material and mystery--and our place in it. Noguchi was born in Los Angeles in 1904. His American mother was a writer and editor, while his Japanese father was a poet. he spent his childhood in Japan, his youth in the United States, his maturity in New York and Europe and much of his later life in Japan." LOVE, LOVE his work! Isamu Noguchi, American, 1904-1988, Ends, 1985, Swedish granite, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri - Ends is made up of nine pieces of granite arranged to form a cubic structure. Its richly textured surface, including cylindrical drill-bit voids and smooth pegs reveals Isamu Noguchi's deep understanding of stone and the sculpting techniques. On one of the four sides Noguchi used a traditional Japanese technique. He inserted bamboo into a hole and filled it with water. The expanding bamboo split the massive stone. Noguchi made both ancient and modern sensibilities his own as he touched the life of nature and the nature of life. The sculptures in Noguchi Court speak of the body (Avatar and Endless Coupling), the world (Mountain Landscape (behcn) and Night Land). life-giving water (Fountain) and the cosmos (Energy Void and Ends). Although he worked in several materials, stone was the closest to his heart. His intent was not to impose his voice upon the stone, but to let the stone speak." The Plains Indians - Artists of the Earth and Sky - great exhibition from the Plains Indians The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Wow! What an incredible exhibit! I have not seen so much art from the Plains Indians at one time and I was impressed greatly with their ceremonial clothing and beadwork especially. This work was left me nearly speechless with awe. Most Famous of All Plains Indian Sculptures "This carving depicts a lunging horse in its last moment of life, and the red triangles represent the animal's bleeding wounds. Successful warriors danced with such objects in performances honoring horses wounded or killed in battle. Renowned artist and veteran warrior Joseph No Two Horns (1852-1942) is believed to have created this work, possibly with help from another carver." Joseph No Two Horns (He Nupa Wanica), Hunkpapa Lakota (Teton Sioux), Standing Rock Reservation, North or South Dakota, 1852-1942, Horse Effigy, ca. 1880, wood (possibly cottonwood), pigment, commercial and native tanned leather, rawhide, horsehair, brass, iron, bird quill, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Robe, Eastern Plains artists; probably Illinois, Mid-Mississippi River Basin, circa 1700-1740, Native tanned leather and pigments, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri - A great mythic Thunderbird composed of geometric motifs appears on this famous early robe. The balanced and rhythmic composition is constructed from elongated shapes and lines. "Red Cloud Owned this Headdress - According to documentation from 1882, the great Lakota chief Red Cloud owned this headdress. Each eagle tail feather represents a distinct honor earned in war. Together they symbolize bravery, political stand, and leadership. Eagle feather headdresses with long trailers are among the most spectacular objects of Plains ceremonial regalia. They transformed a warrior on horseback into a bird in flight." "Red Cloud was photographed in this Scalp Shirt - Red Cloud, one of the most famous Lakota chiefs, was photographed in this garment called a scalp shirt. The fringe of human hair symbolized brave deeds and also represented the people of the tribe whose safety the wearer pledged to protect. Small patches of glass trade beads on the dark-blue painted panel allude to stars in the night sky. Many remember Chief Red Cloud for his bravery as a warrior and also his great abilities as a statesman." The Powerful Buffalo "This sculpture portrays the buffalo as a symbol of reproduction. It also celebrates the animal's physical strength. Straddling a ridged phallus, the bull is rooted to the ground. The monumental animal looks straight ahead with nostrils flaring. Its stance is one of might and potency. From the time Cheyenne people migrated onto the Plains, they considered the buffalo a sacred relative. The regeneration of the herds was central to the tribe's physical and cultural survival." "This man's shirt is constructed mostly of trade materials. Hudson's Bay red woolen cloth forms the body, and European glass beads embroider the ornamental stripes. Still the shirt remains open at the side, like animal skin war shirts. The beaded rosettes continue to symbolize the sun and moon. The profuse use of weasel fur fringes indicated a proven war veteran wore the garment." Favored One-Piece Boots Southern Plains women favored one-piece boots over a combination of moccasins and leggings. They wore these with painted-hide and later, trade-cloth dresses. The blue and green stained leather serves as a striking background for beadwork and rows of metal buttons. The complex linear, box-like designs on the top fo the moccasins contrast with the running triangular and rectangular bands. Bring Back Old Way of Life Followers of the Ghose Dance religion created this sacred dress to wear to ceremonies. Spiritual visions inspired the images on the garment. Earlier Arapahoe traditions also informed the symbols. Turtle represent the earth. Eagles, magpies and crows serve as messenger to the heavens. The Ghost Dance spread across the Plains in 1889-1890. Believers thought it would bring back the old way of life." Like a Women's Belt Set "All of the elements of a Plains women's belt set are present in this little girl's fancy ensemble. Hanging from the belt, studded with German silver conchos, are three strike-a-light bags (for flint and steel or government ration cards), a pouch, and various tool cases. Charms for protection add special meaning -- a diamond shaped amulet, deer tails, a wooden bead, and two shells. Metal cones on four ornaments provided a jingling sound." Girl's Belt Set, Southern Cheyenne artist, Oklahoma, ca. 1884, Commercial and native tanned leather, German silver conchos, glass beads, metal cones, cowrie shells, brass heads, bone, deer's tail, pigment, shell, wooden bead, bras gear, metal key, , The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Part of Religious Movement - "This garment created in the late 1800's was part of a religious movement called Faw Faw. It advocated a return to traditional Native ways. Beaded images of horses, human figures, buffalo skulls, and cedar trees relate to the belief. Other images such as hands and horned panthers link to older spiritual concepts and mythology. American flags may symbolize power. Otoe-Missouria prophet Wa-no-she William Faw Faw) founded the movement. It is based upon a personal vision." Solid Beading - "Pianist Minnie Sky Arrow reportedly wore this fully beaded dress as a recital gown. The garment features a curving yoke and straight-edge flaring skirt. Beaded designs appear to float on the blue expanse and frame both the yoke and skirt. Included are what might be stars, clouds, and supernatural beings. During early reservations times, solid beading of clothing and other objects became popular. This dress was created at the height of the style." From a Dream - "The artist dreamed this horse mask. Her recollection follows: "The designs were very vivid. I immediately sketched out what I had seen, and I had a very strong feeling that this piece had to be made. When things come to me like this, I really try my best to make them like I saw them, to honor the design. Sometimes the meanings are unclear to when I am working, but later make sense." We were on the third floor looking at the Chinese temple when we heard the drumbeats, chants and singing from the main lobby where the Indians were dancing. It was a great way to end our tour of the building and its exhibits. Art as Poetic Motion - "The ideal way to experience Jesus Rafael Soto's shadow-box construction is to walk by it. You'll notice that Eciture, N.Y. (Writing, New York) vibrates and shimmers, which speaks to the dynamism of contemporary life and the space/time continuum of modern physics. The fine, black vertical rods establish a rhythmic constant, while the eccentric alphabetic lines dance and shift. They are not meant to be read but experienced as poetic motion." We loved this one!! The Chinese Temple - The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Installed in the early 1930's, this gallery recreates a setting typical of a Chinese Buddhist temple. The ceiling panels and central coffier vault come from the Zhihua temple in Beijing, built in the 15th century at the order of Wang Zhen, a powerful eunuch at the imperial Ming court. The glory of his temple lies in its star-shaped coffiered vault, an ancient architectural form referred to int Chinese as the "ornamental well." As with all traditional Chinese architecture, it is constructed entirely without nails using intricate mortise-and-tenon joinery. The panels on either side of the vault are inscribed with Buddhist mantras in Sanskritic script. The door panels with their latticed windows originally inlaid with paper come from their residence of a high official but are also typical of temple architecture. The columns and lintels are 1930's reconstructions faithfully imitating Chinese architecture and coated in vermillion paint imported specially from China. The mural and sculptures come from other locations and date between 12th and 15th centuries. Bactrian Camel with Central Asian Rider, China, Tang Dynasty (618-906 C.E.) ca. 700, Earthenware with slip and traces of color, Bristling eyebrows, bulging eyes, large nose and bushy whiskers serve to identify this rider as a Central Asian foreigner, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri has some great old architecture Our good friends, Mike and Mieko - We made plans to visit our friends at their booth at the 81st year of art fair in Kansas City. It was a great show and always a treat to see them. Later we all met up for a great meal at a local restaurant. The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri A small museum, but worth the trek up the hill to see it and the art inside.
Kansas City has the American Jazz Museum on the famous corner of 18th and Vine Prairie Museum of Art and History, Colby, Kansas Rules for Teachers 1872 1. Teachers each day will fill lamps and clean chimneys. 2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's sessions. 3. Make your pens carefully you may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils. 4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly. 5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books. 6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed. 7. Every teacher should lay aside from each day a goodly sum of his earnings for the benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society. 8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barbershop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity or honesty. 9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves. Downtown Denver, Colorado - Great city for Art!! I'd like to return here to see more of the art. It had the highest concentration of good art galleries on our entire trip. The Denver Art Museum was a beautiful building with great artwork! Daniel Sprick's Fictions - These paintings seem to come alive with the souls of the people. I've never seen anything like these works. I loved the way the works are loose and sketchy at the perimeters as if the person is rising from some mist or possibly chaos. "Colorado artist Daniel Sprick is known as one of American's finest painters working today in a realist tradition. But what is it that makes his work compelling?" It may be that despite how "real" they look, these paintings are in fact fictions. Slow looking helps us recognize that each is a result of his skill as a painter -- how he poses his subjects, how he employs a multiplicity of techniques from deft transparencies to think impasto to messy scrumbling, how he creates an atmospheric glow -- joined with his poetic intentions. As Sprick himself says, "Expression is the whole purpose. Otherwise, you can do really technically correct artwork that is lifeless. I want to express the level of emotion that is meaningful to other people besides myself." Timothy J. Standring, Gates Foundation Curator of Painting & Sculpture Western Art - Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado Maynard Dixon - "On this decorative screen, Maynard Dixon simplified a mountain into its basic angles and used only two colors" orange for the light and dark blue for the shadows. Although European artists Pablo Picasso and Geroges Braque had invented cubism about 15 years before, when Dixon painted this screen it was an early example of cubism in the American West." Artist's Eye/Artist's Hand Celebrating American Indian Art at Denver Art Museum, Both the building and the art at the Denver Art Museum were outstanding! Downtown Denver has several art districts with lots of galleries. We explored the area on Santa Fe Street. The galleries that I included are within three blocks of each other. It was great to see such a vibrant art district!! Artwork Network - Denver, Colorado Spark Gallery Michaele Keyes - Skyline and Change of MInd 'This series started off with a few simple ideas. I work intuitively and without thought of a completed piece. My style is not realistic, but the notion or impression of the city skyline was in mind. I have been observing Denver's skyline since 1965 when there were tall building downtown. It has, of course, changed over the years. I wanted to try to simplify my work -- less color and wildfire. I started with black and the skyline, changed my mind and added the red and yellow eventually. There are some pieces that resemble the forest "skyline" and some the city. It is just what happened. My art has a mind all of its own.' ----- Michaele Keyes 2014 Skylite Station - a live performance venue and gallery Abecedarian Gallery The Reading Room - A Place for Artists Books This gallery has some interesting work, but it was difficult to photograph. They have a good selection of Coptically Bound Books. SYNC Gallery If we had the funds to pick up bronze pieces this would have been one of them! Leaving Denver and heading west on Highway 70 towards Utah Utah Nevada along Highway 50 - The Loneliest Highway in America Yet another Shoe Tree! Nitty Gritty Details
We drove over 22,000 miles in 178 days. Overnighting in Parking lots - We stayed overnight in parking lots for a total of 61 nights (178 days in the trip) and we easily saved thousands of dollars on camping fees. Unfortunately, the best parking lots were the Walmarts in Canada with their fast free Wifi (no free Wifi in USA). Before this trip I had avoided Walmart due to their employee policies, so it was a stretch in the beginning before we realized they were most often the only choice and the safest place to stay. In a parking lot there is never mud, we can usually find a level spot and usually services are close by. Often big stores have a large grassy area where the dogs can run off leash. On the downside they are often noisy in the early morning hours with sweepers and the night shift shuffle and chatter, but we still found them to be a good option. Much to our surprise sometimes the campgrounds were extremely noisy and worse than any parking lot! To find free places to stay we used the website http://www.overnightrvparking.com/ Hotels - Twice we booked a room in hotel so that we could use their parking lot to sleep in our rig. We did this in Chicago and Niagara Falls where camping was difficult. We used their shower, but actually preferred to sleep in "own bed." Car repairs - we had a few car repairs including a rip-off oil change up for $170 in D.C. While in Nebraska at the beginning of the trip we had a serious freeze that caused some issue with our fresh water pipes. We had several service people look at it, but no one wanted to do the work to replace it since it was going to take ten days to get replacement parts from the factory. We tried while in Quebec for a long period, but they didn't speak English well and were unwilling to do the job. Everyone just tried to talk us out of getting it done and would think of new ways for us to use it as is. The problem got worse as the trip progressed and we ended the trip only being able use about 5 gallons of our 35 gallons of water since the tanks would not fill or pump properly. We bought several gallon jugs of water that we kept in our tiny bathroom. Beside the water issues the rig ran very well. Now that we are home we will get it fixed at Roadtrek dealer. Hair cuts - I cut the front of my hair and Tom did the back. Before we left my hair stylist showed Tom how to cut my hair and he did a great job! I cut his as well. We are considering keeping up our "home care" routine. Illness - We never got sick the entire trip! We made a point of making sure we got plenty of rest and only had to get up early a few days when we had an early morning tour. Food - We mostly prepared out own meals and actually ate quite well. Often the biggest challenge was to find fresh produce. We only ate dinner out 6 times in 6 months, but we did enjoy eating out for lunch often. Moods - We never had an argument and weren't even snippy with each other in the small space. We were both happy to be on the road and were very accommodating to each other's needs. In the end we felt like we truly knew what it was to live in a van. We are both glad that we made the trip and would like to go again, but probably a shorter trip is next on the agenda. Plimouth Plantation, MA (early spelling of Plymouth) - recreation of Plymouth settlement in the early 1620's. This time period was chosen because there is was a lot of documentation. Wampanoag Homesite Exhibition - A Native homesite consisted of 2 or 3 coastal acres where a family lived in spring, summer, and fall. In winter families moved inland. This exhibit is a re-creation of the home of Hobbamock - a Pokanoket man who lived in Patuxet/Plymouth Colony in the 1620's. Hobbamock and his extended family lived across the brook on the south side of the Pilgrims' town. They were the only Native People known to have lived alongside the Pilgrims. Hobbamock was a councilman to Ousamequin, the sachem(leader) known by this title, Assasoit. Hobbamock served as a liaison between England and Wampanoag. Unlike the people in the17th Century English Village, the staff in the Wampanoag Homesite are not role players. They are all Native People - either Wampanoag or from other Native Nations - and they are dressed in historically accurate clothing, mostly made of deerskin. They speak from a modern perspective about Wampanoag history and culture. 17th-Century English Village - Plimouth Plantation The 17th-Century English Village is a re-creation of the small farming and maritime community built by the Pilgrims along the shore of Plymouth Harbor. In the Village, the year is 1627, just seven years after the arrival of Mayflower. The Museum selected this year for re-creation because it is well-documented in the historical sources and shows the plantation (a word that was used interchangeably with the word “colony” in the 1600s) just before the colonists began to disperse beyond the walled town and into other parts of what would become southeastern Massachusetts. The English Village brings colonial Plymouth vividly to life. Here, there are modest timber-framed houses furnished with reproductions of the types of objects that the Pilgrims owned, aromatic kitchen gardens, and heritage breeds livestock. Well informed actors playing townspeople are eager to tell you about their new lives in Plymouth Colony.
Below is an actor portraying William Elder Brewster, my 14th great grandfather, and the spiritual leader on the Mayflower. Note the dirt floor and unpainted walls with the fine European furniture. These are reproductions of actual pieces that the Pilgrims brought to Plymouth. Kitchen gardens contained many seasoning and medicinal herbs as well as some vegetables, however, the majority of the food crops came from shared fields outside of the village. Some homes had fireplaces with chimneys and some had open pits with a hole in the ceiling. They would hang blankets from the rafters to try to keep the smoke in the area by the ceiling hole. Mayflower II - "The originalMayflower that sailed to Plymouth in 1620 no longer exists. Plimoth Plantation's full-scale reproduction, Mayflower II, was built in Devon, England and crossed the Atlantic in 1957. The details of the ship, from the solid oak timbers and tarred hemp rigging to the wood and horn lanterns and hand-colored maps, have been carefully re-created to give you a sense of what the original 17th-century vessel was like." Seasonal Campers - Indian Head Campground, Sandwich, MA There is culture around people spending the summer months at their trailer in the woods. People really set up home and decor!! 5 States in One Day & Only Two Photos The day began in Massachusetts, and then we passed through Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, to end up in Pennsylvania. Washington, D.C. Franklin Delanor Roosevelt Monument This was my favorite monument. I kept thinking that all of the"folks at the Capitol" should stroll through this area and read the quotes. Martin Luther King Memorial WW II Memorial, Washington D.C. White House - Tours of the inside are very limited and must be made six months in advance. On the right below you can see the White House in the distance through the fence. Everyone seemed to be having their photo taken in front of the fence. A new White House Visitors Center opened the day we took the tour. Below is a photo of the virtual tour I was given of the inside. You could click and many items and learn about its history. The White House Visitor's Center had many exhibits and display of historical items. Hirshhorn Gallery - Washington D.C. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum in the National Mall, in Washington, D.C. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was my favorite museum in DC. Speculative Forms Drawn from the Hirshhorn's expansive collection, Speculative Forms reconsiders the historical development of sculpture since the early twentieth century and its critique of the autonomy of the object. Including more than fifty works, this exhibition collapses conventional art historical divisions such as figurative vs. abstract; still vs. kinetic; representational vs. simplified geometric; and planar (having modeled or carved surface) vs. stereometric (exposing the internal structure). The objects oscillate between these dichotomies, thus turning one's preconceived notions of sculpture inside out. Inspired by the philosophical notion of "Speculative Realism," which emphasizes an equal relationship between subject, object, and space, the exhibition highlights the importance of installation and the viewer's eye and the body in relation to the object. The selected works - ranging from the well-known to the rarely exhibited - challenge the modernist notion that sculptures exist isolated from their surroundings. The exhibition follows these threads through Surrealism, Constructivism, Assemblage, Ob and Kinetic Art, Minimalism, and Post-Modernism. The materialist and physicality of the sculptures, on one hand, and their more intangible, phenomenological aspects of the other, raise intriguing questions about the potential limited of the perception of objects and the larger world. National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington DC A little More National Mall Architecture, DC National Museum of Natural History, DC Dom Pedro Aquamarine, 10,363 carats, from Pedra Azul, Minas Gerias, Brazil, An immense beryl crystal found in the late 1980's yielded the Dom Pedro - the largest known aquamarine gem. The original crystal was almost two feet in length and weighed nearly 60 lbs. In 1992-1993, gem artist Bernard Munsteiner fashioned the gem and named it after the first two emperors of Brazil. A pattern of tapering "negative cuts" is faceted into the two reverse faces of the obelisk. These facets reflect the light, making it appear to glow from within. The vertical "lines" near the base are hallow tubes that formed naturally in the original crystal. US Capital Visitor's Entrance is around the back and through the basement of an adjacent building. After a short mandatory movie we were shuttled from room to room by our group guide. In the two large rotundas there were five or six large groups of people, all with ear phones so they can listen only to their tour guide. Congressional was not in session so those rooms were not open for viewing. Statues of people were everywhere and they often crowded the perimeter of large rooms. The Hall of Statues in particular is highly populated with larger than life statues. Power Stances National Statuary Hall, U. S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. - Location for dinners after the Inauguration. Alexandria, Virginia - Across the Potomac River from the U. S. Capitol It is a desired location today just as it was centuries ago. Gadsby's Tavern Museum consists of two buildings, a ca. 1785 tavern and the 1792 City Hotel. The buildings are named for Englishman John Gadsby who operated them from 1796 to 1808. Mr. Gadsby's establishment was a center of political, business, and social life in early Alexandria. The tavern was the setting for dancing assemblies, theatrical and musical performances, and meetings of local organizations. George Washington enjoyed the hospitality provided by tavern keepers and twice attended the annual Birth night Ball held in his honor. Other prominent patrons included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Alexandria, Virginia George Washington's Mount Vernon, Virginia Mount Vernon near Alexandria, Virginia was the plantation home of George Washington. The estate is situated on the banks of the Potomac River. The Washington family had owned land in the area since the time of Washington's great-grandfather in 1674, and in 1739 embarked on an expansion of the estate that continued under George Washington, who came into possession of the estate in 1754, but did not become its sole owner until 1761. George Washington seems to have had a sharp, creative mind. That was evident at Mount Vernon. He raised donkeys, rotated crops, created fisheries and used numerous new inventions at his residence and on the farm. George Washington had the opportunity to create a large power grab and possibly he could have become King or President for life. As a country, I believe, that we have benefited from Washington stepping aside and for establishing the concept of term limits. George Washington freed his slaves upon his death. This was done at a time when slaves were often passed on to heirs as property. The question was raised in the museum as to why didn't Washington free them earlier. It stated that it was very complicated time and the families were sometimes broken apart when members of a family were freed and others were still slaves at adjoining plantations. Some people state that George Washington failed to take a stance against slavery during his lifetime although slavery was morally repugnant to him. I am not sure of the precise laws during Washington's period of office, but I understand that Thomas Jefferson was not able to free his slaves due to the restrictive emancipation laws during his lifetime. Slave Memorial and Burial at Mount Vernon, Virginia Visitor's Center - Exhibition at Mount Vernon - Washington's History "Searching For A Way Up - Young George received little more than what today would be considered a grade school education. That, combined with the small inheritance he received after his father's death, impeded his prospects of moving up in the Virginia society. But Washington was determined to overcome these setbacks. With help from his older half-brother Lawrence - a military officer who owned Mount Vernon - and the Fairfaxes, a powerful Virginia family, he began molding his early career, expanding his education, and polishing his social graces." Washington Life Size Recreations - After using a laser to obtain pinpoint measurements of a life mask and bust created by French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon when Washington was 52 years old, a team of experts worked backwards to create a figure 33 years younger. He is over six feet two inches tall and would have weighed 175 pounds. "First Career - Always drawn to adventure, George Washington planned to join the British Navy until his mother refused to let him go. Instead, he embarked on an inland adventure as a surveyor on the Virginia frontier." Washington began his military career as a major in the service of Virginia. Young, ambitious, fearless, and thoroughly inexperienced, the 20-year-old colonial officer soon found himself at the center of controversy and world war. Despite several major blunders, he emerged a few years later as one of the colonies' first war heroes with a reputation as a natural born leader. One of the best horsemen of his age, General Washington took great pride in the horses that carried him throuh the war. He especially favored two: Blueskin, a firey hunter with a blue-grey coat; and Nelson, a chestnut gelding with unshakable nerves.
Washington as Farmer - There were over 100 crops at Mount Vernon. Growing tobaco in Virginai took its toll on the soil, often forcing planters to let their fields lie fallow for up to ten years. Many simply abandoned their exhausted fields and developed new farmland. Seeing the futility of the practice, Washington set about developing a "system of agriculture" that would provide fertile fields fo high-yielding crops. He replaced tobacco with wheat, experimented with fertilizers, and created an innovative seven-year crop rotation system that successfully maintained the productivity of his fields. Washington had many ventures going at Mount Vernon including establishing a series of gristmills and creating a large fishery so he could farm the river. As Mount Vernon grew into an 8,000-acre estate, George Washington sought out new ways to fund the expanding operations. In 1797, he began making whiskey on the advice of his farm manager, James Anderson, a trained distiller from Scotland. Washington soon built one of the largest distilleries in America. At its peak, it produced over 11,000 gallons of whiskey and brought in so much money that it became one of his most successful commercial enterprises. Arlington Cemetery - Robert E. Lee's family owned the property that became Arlington Cemetery. The cemetery was established during the Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, which had been the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee (a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington). The government acquired Arlington at a tax sale in 1864 for $26,800, equal to $400,000 today. Mrs. Lee had not appeared in person but rather had sent an agent, attempting to pay the $92.07 in property taxes (equal to $1,400 today) assessed on the estate in a timely manner. The government turned away her agent, refusing to accept the tendered payment. In 1874, Custis Lee, heir under his grandfather's will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States claiming ownership of Arlington. In December, 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Lee's favor in United States v. Lee, deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due process. After that decision, Congress returned the estate to him, and on March 3, 1883, Custis Lee sold it back to the government for $150,000 (equal to $3,221,364 in 2014) at a signing ceremony with Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln. Viet Nam War Memorial One story that was told to us by the tour guide I had not heard before. He claimed that Maya Linn received a "D" grade from her Yale professor for this design concept. Lin's conception was to create an opening or a wound in the earth to symbolize the gravity of the loss of the soldiers. The design was initially controversial for what was an unconventional and non-traditional design for a war memorial. Opponents of the design also voiced objection because of Lin's Asian heritage. However, the memorial has since become an important pilgrimage site for relatives and friends of the American military casualties in Vietnam, and personal tokens and mementos are left at the wall daily in their memory. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects ranked the memorial #10 on their list of America's Favorite Architecture. Gettysburg, PA Gettysburg National Military Park - The viewing of battlefields was never on my wish list and I could have done without this side trip. There are over 18,000 monuments placed along the roads in Gettysburg. It has more monuments than anywhere in the America and it is the site of the bloodiest battles on US soil. The sites of horrific carnage have returned to peaceful fields populated by monuments. Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater Fallingwater or Kaufmann Residence is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 43 miles (69 km) southeast of Pittsburg. The home was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette, County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains. Time stated after its completion as Wright's "most beautiful job"; it is listed among the Smithsonian's Life List of 28 places "to visit before you die." It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 1991, members of the American Institute of Architects named the house the "best all-time work of American architecture" and in 2007, it was ranked twenty-ninth on the list of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob PA, - near Fallingwater The home is privately owned so interior photos were not allowed. At 86, and hard at work on the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Beth Shaolom Synagogue in Elkins park Pennsylvania and about 12 residential homes, Wright said he could “shake it (Kentuck Knob) out of his sleeve at will”, never even setting foot on the site, except for a short visit during the construction phase. This would be one of the last homes to be completed by Wright. The crescent-shaped house curls around a west-facing courtyard, blending into the contours of the land. The anchor of the design is a hexagonal stone core that rises from the hipped roof at the intersection of the living and bedroom wings. The walls of the flat-roofed carport and studio burrow into the knob and define the courtyard’s eastern side. A stone planter terminates the low retaining wall on the west side of the courtyard, and it features a copper light fixture accented with a triangular-shaped shade. To the south, the house extends beyond the hillside on 10" thick stone-faced concrete ramparts. As with other houses Wright designed during this period, the Kentuck Knob plan is based upon a module system, in this case an equilateral triangle measuring 4'-6" to a side creating an outside 240 degree L-plan house. Sculpture Park at Kentuck Knob From this point we were originally planning to turn south to see Memphis and Nashville, but the weather was hot and uninviting. Then we had some friends email us to suggest that we all meet in Kansas City while they were selling at an art fair there so we headed towards Kansas City instead.
The next and final blog of this series will cover our trip back across the country with the major stops in Kansas City, Denver, Arches and Canyonlands, Utah. Portsmouth, NH - a charming historical city Salsbury, MA I am including this town since one of my relatives, Mary Bradbury lived in this town. She was tried as a witch in Salem in 1692 and found guilty. A neighboring family with whom she had a long time land dispute accused her of shape shifting into a blue boar. At her trial she was referred to as an "ancient woman." 115 people testified on her behalf. Her family was able to break her out of jail before the hanging so that she was able to spend the last years of her life in peaceful seclusion. She is also a relative of Ray Bradbury, the science fiction writer. Family History - Years ago two of my great grandmothers researched their family trees so that they could be accepted into the Colonial Daughters of American. My grandfather also paid to have his lineage researched from a Canadian firm. This detailed research laid the groundwork for me to easily expand upon. I have dozens of ancestors who were early Pilgrims and I know of five ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower. Most of my Mayflower ancestors are from my mother’s side except for William Brewster, the spiritual leader on the Mayflower, who was from my father’s side. I found a note on the back of a photograph about my father’s grandmother attending Mayflower reunions in the early 1900’s. One ancestor arrived in America before the Mayflower in 1604 and was one of the few to survive the brutal first winter. I will share a few stories that I find interesting. Groton, MA - Home of 6th great grandfather, Deacon John Longley 1683 - 1750 John Longly lived on his family farm until the age of twelve when the family as was attacked by Abenaki-Algonquain Native People early in the morning of July 12, 1694. His father, mother and five of his siblings were massacred in the raid. John and two sisters, Lydia and Betty, were carried into captivity by the Native People. Betty died of starvation. His sister, Lydia, taken to Ville Marie, now Montreal, Canada, was ransomed by the Mother Superior of the convent there and raised in the Roman Catholic faith. There is book about her, "Lydia Longley, The First American Nun" by Helen A. McCarthy We drove to the tiny town of Groton, MA which is about thirty-five miles northeast of Boston. Tom located John Longley’s grave in the Old Burying Ground in Groton so that I was able to place flowers on his grave. Tombstone reads "Here lies buried Ye body of Deacon John Longley who departed this life, May Ye 25th AD l750 in Ye 68th year of his age" I prefer to use the more respectful term of Native People or Native American, however, when quoting I will use the word Indian as in the original quote. “John remained with the Indians over four years and was known among them as John Angary. He took kindly to life among the Indians, notwithstanding hardships, and, had it not been for determined efforts on the part of his relatives and the Massachusetts government, he would probably have become an Indian chief. He was ransomed by the government and, with great difficulty, induced to return to civilization. He became, instead of a great Indian Sachem, a respectable deacon of the church and leading citizen of Groton, Mass. John Longley was the clerk of the town for six years, and had three elections to the office of representative to the General Court. He was a deacon of the church for twenty-eight years. Among papers in possession of the New-England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston (Knox manuscripts), is a deposition made by John Longley, giving a statement concerning his captivity among the Indians.” I would like to read these papers to try to find if there is truth in the statement that he almost became a chief. John Longley married twice and fathered eleven children. Three of John’s sons would live to fight in America’s war for independence, along with more than twenty of his grandsons. P. Gifford Longley wrote two books about John Longley titled Captive: Based on a True Story and Compelled: Based on a True Story. After viewing the grave we drove one mile north of town on Longley Road to find a large granite bolder that has the following etched on its face: NEAR THIS SPOT DWELT WILLIAM AND DELIVERANCE LONGLEY WITH THEIR EIGHT CHILDREN ON THE 27TH OF JULY 1694 THE INDIANS KILLED THE FATHER AND MOTHER AND FIVE OF THE CHILDREN AND CARRIED INTO CAPTIVITY THE OTHER THREE GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1946 Just as I knelt to place flowers at this rock marker, a clap of thunder sounded loudly. Shortly after the skies opened and it began to rain. It was the only sound of thunder all day. Boston, MA Old South Meeting House (built 1729), gained fame as the organizing point for the Boston Tea party on December 16, 1773. 5,000 colonists gathered at the Meeting House, the largest building in Boston at the time. The Old South Meeting House has been an important gathering place for nearly three centuries. Renowned for the protest meetings held here before the American Revolution when the building was termed as a mouth-house. Old State House - It is renowned for hosting the first elected legislature in the New World. It dates from 1713 which makes it the oldest public edifice. Today it houses a museum. Salem, MA We camped at a city park near the water. When Tom was walking the dogs he read a sign that stated this was Execution Hill where people were hanged. At one particular notorious hanging 12,000 people came to witness the event. I had numerous sleepless nights here. One was when our two neighbors made a bit of noise while consuming what is below. Salem has truly commercialize the witch theme. There were witch museums and witch shops of every possible type. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA Avanti automobile, 1964, Fiberglass body, Celebrated industrial designer Raymond Loewy designed the Studebaker Avanti, which means “forward” in Italian at his home in Palm Springs, CA. The Avanti’s body is made of figerglass, an industrial plastic reinforced with glass fibers. The lighweight material enabled Loewy to achieve the car’s sleek, seductive and aerodynamic design, a form that also made it fast - the car broke twenty-nine speed records. Equiped with a futuristic grilleless front, the Avanti still symbolizes Southern California’s innovative design and glamour. Sophia Peabody painted this pair of paintings as an engagement gift for her fiance, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Having never visited Italy, she drew on published etchings of Lake Como for inspiration. She included depictions of herself and her husband-to-be as small figures in the foreground of each work, an imaginary vision of their future life together. The Victorian tradition of sailor’s valentines-intricate souvenirs and token of love made of shells attains a new witty heights in Island Bride. This assemble of found objects and hardware store materials also playfully alludes to the tradition of elaborately embellished bridal gowns and ceremonial garments. Japanese Art - The art of Japan conveys a highly developed aesthetic sensibility that is valued worldwide. Art plays an important role in expressing spirituality, affinity with nature and enjoyment of life. Purity of design and extraordinary workmanship are evidenced in Japanese art from Neolithic times to the present. Lexington, MA - Buckman Tavern In 1714, Lexington selectmen gave John Muzzey permission to keep a “Publique House of Entertainment.” On Sundays townspeople came here for hot flip and a warm fire after sitting hours in the unheated church. John Buckman owned this inn during the Revolution. He gave it a new double hip roof to provide more attic bedrooms, obliterating its “saltbox” roof profile. In later years it served as the town post office. Author's Hill in Sleepy Hallow Cemetery, Concord, MA - It was amazing to see such a group of famous authors and to think that they lived at the same place and era. People left pens, pencils, coins and personal notes of thanks. Sandwich, MA Sandwich Glint Glass Manufactory operated from 1825 to 1888 In the 1830's, depleted uranium oxides were used for coloring glass "canary" yellow. Uranium in glass emits a low, but not harmful, level of radioactivity that is strong enough to be detected by a Geiger counter. Forty percent of glass is composed of lead which absorbs radiation. McDermott Glass - We bought a piece of glass from these artists and had the pleasure of meeting them. David McDermott is a master glass blower. His work is technically excellent and aesthetically beautiful. David worked with and studied under Robert Mason at Pairpoint Glass. He currently teaches at Corning. "The list of notable for which he has done commissioned pieces is highly impressive. That list includes Pope John Paul II, the Empress of Japan, Tip O'Neil, the Empress of Portugal, Henry Kissinger, the movie Amistad and numerous television commercial." His work can be seen at Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Tiffany's, Sotheby's, Shreve, Crump & Lowe as well as many galleries." Hoxie House, Sandwich, MA - (ca. 1675) in Sandwich, Massachusetts is one of the oldest houses on Cape Cod and one of the oldest surviving houses in Massachusetts.The saltbox house was built in the mid-seventeenth century and occupied around 1675 by Rev. John Smith, his wife Susanna and their 13 children. Smith served as pastor of the Separatist First Church of Sandwich church from 1673 until 1689. He also served as a representative to the legislature and recommended tolerance of the Quakers, a religious minority in the area. Hoxie House - saltbox roof named after saltboxes in which precious salt was stored. The guide told us that cats would sun themselves on the roof and then dogs would join them. When it rained they would all slip off and the term raining cats and dogs began. The guide in the house stated that the cradle seen in this photo was long so that a child could be kept in the cradle until the age of three. He said that this was done so the mother was able to do all the necessary chores during the busy day. When they outgrew the cradle at age three they were not able to walk since they were kept in it at all times. To remedy this the child was then chained in the corner of the room in a standing position until it could stand and walk. At the age of five the child was put to work in the fields and at home. Apparently there are many sayings that came from this early era such as: Saved by the bell - string in casket attached to bell which is above ground Raining cats and dogs - cats and dogs would slide off the roof when it rained Tie the knot - ropes to support mattress were tied at time of wedding Turn the tables - table that became chair to avoid taxes for two pieces of furniture Throw out the baby with the bathwater - baby last to bath in bi-annual family bath water so dark you could loose a child Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite - mattresses were stuffed with weeds and often bugs. Sleep tight was from tightening the ropes that supported the mattress. Dead as a door nail - nails pounded into the front door for reinforcement were not recycleable Wing Fort House - Home of my 8th great grandfather, Stephen Wing (born 1621 Sandwich, Kent, England - died 1710 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts). He arrived in Saugus, MA in 1632. I had wanted to see his house for many years. Wing Fort House is a historic house at Spring Hill Road in East Sandwich, Massachusetts. The house was built in 1641 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Wing Fort House is recognized as the oldest home in New England continuously owned by the same family. Stephen Wing either purchased the homestead from the town of Sandwich, or the town granted him the property. The home is currently owned by the Wing Family of America, Inc, an organization of family members. When I contacted the Wing Family of America a few years ago they already had records of my grandmother, Bertha Longley Wright being a descendant so they offered me membership into their organization. Plaque at Wing Fort House Reads: Stephen Wing Son of the Rev. John and Deborah Wing, came to Boston in 1632 with his mother and brothers John, Daniel, Matthew, with whom he settled in Sandwich in 1637. He lived upon this land and built this house and he was an original member of the First Friend’s Meeting in America established at Spring Hill in 1656 and suffered great persecution at the hands of Plymouth government in the cause of religious liberty. He died in 1710 and lies buried at Spring Hill. I leaned from the cultural archeologist (also the caretaker of the Wing home) who gave us a tour of the house that Native Americans lived in a dwelling directly across the street from the Wing home during the time that Stephen Wing lived here. Apparently they were on friendly terms. We were told that the Native Americans have lived in this same location for over 3,000 years so the archeologist is currently working with National Geographic to try to get them to finance an archeological dig in the area where the dwelling was located. Apparently he has worked with National Geographic on other projects and feels confident they will be interested in the dig and would want to publish the findings. He said that there are remants of the original post location on the site which he feels is unique since all of the other Native sites in New England have been disturbed over time. All of the contents of the Wing Fort House were owned by members of the Wing family, but not necessarily Stephen Wing. They were given to the Wing Family of America. Originally the home was brightly painted inside and out. The inside colors of this room were black and red. The floor was painted in a pattern to look like a rug and all of the furniture was painted and decorated. Over a period of time people stripped the furniture of all of its original paint thinking they were restoring it to the original finish. The same happened to the floor. Only the paint on the back stairs are original. Wing family and the early Quakers Stephen and his brother Daniel Wing are both my 8th great grandfathers since their grandchildren married each other. Daniel Wing was before the Plymouth Court on numerous occasions for refusing to take the oath of fidelity to English government, being fined each time after he had claimed with others of the "friends" that it was unlawful to take any 'oath' at all. He was also fined on several occasions for refusing to assist the marshal at Sandwich in persecutions of the Quakers. He was once fined five pounds, which, in those days, represented the ordinary earnings of a man for a whole year. Both Daniel and Stephen supported the religious freedom of the new Quaker religion and suffered greatly under the Quaker persecution. The constant fines had come to the point where he was afraid of losing his homestead. In order to escape that fate, he had his estate probated during his lifetime and given to his children. Under an old English law a man might be declared legally dead by the courts. This event has caused much confusion to family historians ever since. The Quaker persecutions ceased by the order of King Charles in 1662, and thereafter Daniel and Stephen Wing, with their fellow Quakers, assumed their old places in the public affairs of the colony, although it was not until 1675 that the town of Sandwich voted to record the names as among those with "just rights and privileges of the town." The Plymouth Court already had restored Daniel's citizenship in 1669 and appointed him as one of two official surveyors of the highways. For the fact that Daniel, in his will made thirty-nine years after his "legal death", left the bulk of his property to his younger children, all born after the episode of 1659, it is inferred that his older children continued to enjoy the fruits of his first acquired estate. After defending the Quakers both Daniel and Stephen Wing became Quakers. They were very active members at the first Quaker Meeting House in North America. Quaker Meeting House, Sandwich, MA - the oldest in America The Quaker Meeting House established in 1657, is the oldest continous Quaker meeting house in North America. It consists of congregations in Sandwich, in West Falmouth and in Yarmouth. This meeting house, the third on this site, was built in 1810. Cape Cod, MA - Provincetown - Francis Cooke (Cook) - born in Gides Hall, Essex, England, 1583 - died in Plymouth, MA. Mayflower Passenger - my 9th great grandfather
I knew about this relation who was a Mayflower passenger for many years. I was not aware of the many Cook descendants who resided in Provincetown until I saw the displays at the Provincetown Museum. I was quite surprised to see that many of the Cooks remained in the area and “played a prominent role in Provincetown’s whaling fortunes and subsequently the town’s fortunes.” Machias, Maine Machais, Maine was having a Blueberry Festival while we were in town. While in Maine we read an article in the Wall Street Journal about the poverty in Maine. Pleasant River RV Park, Addison, Maine - The owner of this campground's family has lived in Addison for five generations. He has many wonderful stories including about how they arrived. The tossed the animals overboard and everyone swam to shore. I am grateful to our friend, Campskunk, who recommended this campground to us Arcadia National Park - Maine Bar Harbor, Maine Mexico, Maine Sunny River, Maine Rusty Cobweb - Antiques in Maine Portland, Maine - a hot spell These simple banners dressed up the town - wish my home town would do the same Portland Museum of Art Mary Cassatt - After spending formative years as part of the Impressionist coterie, Cassat experimented with a variety of media and stylistic approaches in her mature career. A favorite and recurring theme of her work was the intimacy between mothers and their children. She used a regular cast of favorite models in these experiments: this child, Helen, appears in pastels, prints and oils, ranging from loose sketches, as here to highly finished works of art. Pierre-Auguste Renoir - While Renoir's favorite subject of the late 1860's and early 1870's - men and women represented together during an intimate moment - was popular magazine illustrations at the time, it was uncommon in contemporary salon painting. It characterizes the Impressionists' turn away from adademically ponderous themes in favor of everyday subjects featuring the activities of the middle class. Paul Gauguin - "Clovis in a hero." said Gauguin about the sitter, his favorite son, who was approaching his seventh birthday at the time of this portrait was painted. The artist recently moved to Paris after a sojourn in Copenhagen with his wife, Mette's family. He brought Clovis with him and together the two lived a frugal life on Rue Cail while Gauguin struggles to gain momentum in his artistic career. His letter to Mette reveal their Spartan existence: When we sit down together at the table in the evening with a crust of bread and a relish, (Clovis) forgot how greedy he used to be: he says nothing, asks for nothing, not even to play and goes to bed quietly." Despite the hardships, in this portrait Gauguin endowed his son with a monumental presence." N.C. Wyeth - As a student illustrator of Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth heeded his teacher's advice to "live in the picture." Wyeth traveled to the West in 1904 and his experiences living among farmers and cattlemen in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico informed his art for decades. Wyeth was the foremost American illustrator of the first half of the 20th century, as well as the patriach of a famous family of artists (including son Andrew and grandson Jamie). His realistic and engaging pictures made for reproduction in books and magazines created iconic images of such popular characters as Buffalo Bill. Harry Wilson Watrous - When this painting of mixed-race family was first exhibited in 1914, it sparked public debate over the role of racial heritage in determining an individual's place in modern American society. Its provocative title refers to the commonly accepted "one-drop rule," which categorized a "negro" any person who parentage was even partly African American. The portrait of Lincoln hanging on the wall, coupled with the pervasive sense of tension among the figures, suggested that for this family the lost president's promise of racially equally has not yet been fulfilled. Edwin Lord Weeks - With it's vivid color and carefully articulated details, this scene capture the exotic pageantry of a royal procession in the 17th-century India. The emperor Shah Jehan I, seated in the litter atop an elephant, and his retinue ride past one of his architectural masterpieces, Delhi's Great Mosque, built in 1658. Islamic art and the architecture thrived in India under the Muslim Mughal (or Mogul) dynasty: Jehan also commissioned the Taj Mahal in Agra. An intrepid globe trotter, Boston-born artist Edwin Lord Weeks regularly used sketches and photographs made on his travels - including several trips to India - to endow his Orientalist pictures with a sense of closely observed authenticity. Thomas Moran - Although Moran is best known for his dramatic, large-scale views of the American West, he executed a series of poetic themes in the last quarter of the 19th century. This painting is based upon the poem of the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson. who in turn took the theme from Homer's ancient Greek epic The Odyssey. As the story goes, a storm strands Ulysses and his men on an island where they are temporarily lulled into idleness by the narcotic effect of the plants - lotuses - eaten by the natives. Here, however, Moran subordinates the human narrative to the fantastical setting of the firey skies and the craggy rock formations. I always find this type of grouping difficult to view the individual pieces. The ones up high are extremely difficult to view. Marguerite Thompson Zorach - The picturesque village of Les Baux in Southern France captured the eye of the young Marguerite Thompson (later Zorach) as she traveled through Europe in 1910. This painting depicts the area's unique terrain in a harmony of expressive colors and abstracted shapes. Her use of the navy blue outlines to define the trees, rocks and the road evokes cloisonne enamelwork and is a classic example of her burgeoning style described at "cloisonnisme." Portland's Artistic Community Although the sculptures that you see here were created in Rome and inspired by the classical marbles of that city, they are also the products of the 19th-century Portland's strong artistic community. Born and raised in Maine, sculptors Benjamin Paul Akers and Franklin B. Simmons rose to fame as the city of Portland and its residents increasingly championed their work, as well as that of their talented fellow artist. Akers's The Dead Pearl Diver ((1858), the first exhibited in Portland in 1859, was the very first work of art to be acquired by the Portland Museum of Art (then the Portland Society of Art), Simmons, in turn was selected to create public sculpture in Portland's Monument and Longfellow Squares. Both artist spent time studying and working in Italy, however, they neither forgot nor were they forgotten by the city of Portland. Simmons left the entire contents of his studio, including a version of his statue of Ulysses S. Grant created for the U.S. Capitol to the City, which in turn donated them to the Museum. The Museum was presented with the opportunity to purchase The Dead pearl Diver, many of Portland's most prominent citizens helped by contributing funds. Wassamki Campground - Portland, Maine -
We started out camping in a free sunny parking lot in downtown Portland, however, when we awoke one morning and it was already 82 degrees at 9:30 we changed our plans to a cool shady spot by the lake where we could use our air conditioning when needed. Two Tone Bridge to Halifax - The capital of Nova Scotia Using two colors accentuated the cable lines Art Gallery of Nova Scotia - HalifaxBe a Cog in the Wheel of Change - show at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Maud Lewis - Nova Scotia Folk Artist - Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Maud Lewis was born in 1903 to John and Agnes Dowley in South Ohio, Nova Scotia. Her father was a harness maker whose business in South Ohio and later in Yarmouth, provided well for his family. As a young child, Maud spent much time alone, perhaps because she felt uncomfortable with other children who could be meam about people with differences. Because of her condition, juvenile arthritis, she had an underdeveloped chin and stunted growth. As she grew older her movement became more and more restricted due to swelling of her joints. It seems, though, that Maud was not an unhappy child and enjoyed the time she spent at home with her family. She learned to play the piano and it is said that the family enjoyed listening to music. For many years, Maud and her mother painted Christmas cards to sell to friends and neighbors. Thus began her career as an artist. She married Everett Lewis, an itinerant fish peddler and they lived in a tiny house near the "Poor House" where she spent much of her childhood. The tiny house that they shared for 30 years had no electricity and thus no radio or television to bring in the news of the world until Maud was given a small battery-operated radio. There was no indoor plumbing, the only heat was a large wood burning stove. In 1960 Maud was given a small trailer which Maud used as a summer studio. However, as her health declined Maud rarely left her home and was content to paint in the corner by the window facing the highway. It was a simple life, Maud seemed to have enjoyed painting and the visits people began to make when they saw her "Painting for Sale" sign on the roadside. Those who stopped by found a quite woman with a delightful smile who took pleasure in the enjoyment others seemed to get from her work. Through newspaper and magazine articles as well as television documentaries, Maud became well known beyond her world and orders came in for paintings from far and wide. Maud's Painted House Perhaps Maud Lewis' greatest work was her home. She painted almost every surface of the interior including the stove, the windows, the door (both sides) with flowers and birds. Dust pans, bread boxes, trays, cookie tins - all were transformed by Maud's brush from everyday kitchenware to decorated objects. Cars slowed down, drove back and forth and often stopped for a better look at this unexpected little oasis. After Maud's death in 1970 and that of Everett's nine years later, there was a great deal of local concern about the fate of the house. It was rapidly deteriorating. The Maud Lewis Painted House Society was formed by a group of concerned citizen to raise funds to restore the house and perhaps open it as a museum or tourist attraction. The relative who inherited the house was also concerned and built an enclosure around it as a protection from the elements and vandalism. Despite these attempts to care for the house, sufficient funds were not raised and the house continued to deteriorate. The house and the assets of the Painted House Society were acquired by the Province in 1984 and placed under the care of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Under the supervision of the Gallery's conservator and director, the house and its contents were moved to storage in a government hanger until funds became available from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Museum Assistant Program. In 1997 the house was moved to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to be located in the designated Maud Lewis Gallery. Between 1949 and 1952 Nova Scotia’s craft scene enjoyed an infusion of european Modernist art sensibilities via Krystyna Sadowska (1912-1994) and her husband Konrad Sadowski (1902-1960) who moved to Halifax to teach at the Provincially-funded Handicraft Centre. The Sadowskis settled in Indian Harbour where they converted an old house into a studio and home, teaching and founding a successful roadside pottery business. This exhibition celebrates the artistic accomplishments of young people who participated this past year in the very successful Autism Arts Saturday art classes at the Art GAllery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) in Halifax. AGNS and Autism Nova Scotia have worked in partnership since 2006 with the support of the Craig Foundation to provide a range of visual art experiences for children and youth on the autism spectrum. Autism Arts is a recreational art program. Its intention is to provide a safe, supportive environment to allow the opportunity for the participants to discover and express themselves through various art mediums. It also provides a natural and organic social environment that encourages social interaction and acceptance. Featured Artist - Marion Wagschal With Burning Spoons, the artist represents a poignant and telling self-portrait with her mother. Wagschal depicts herself, sitting in bed wearing a suit, a self-described “working class, working woman.” Her mother is shown asleep (or dead?) on the bed. Between them lies a small of case of gold spoons. This was as the artist tells it, the only heirloom carried away with her mother from war-torn Europe. It glows, almost levitating between the women, connecting them, holding them together as well as separate. Here the space between the two women highlights the ambiguity in their relationship. Emily Falencki New York-born Nova Scotia-based painter Emily Falencki mines the ground between traditional portraiture and anonymous representation. Her memorial portraits give voice to grief and question society’s all-too hard shell. She draws from Facebook postings, “missing persons” posters, or newspapers report of people who are missing or have disappeared. using traditional painting techniques, including layers of rabbit skin glue and hand-sanding. Falencki commits to giving meaning to those faces, painting their likeness, and demanding attention for those lost close and far from home. 2 Wheelers Exhibition Michel de Broin, Montreal, Quebec, 1970 Shared Propulsion Car, 2007 DVD This project presents a 1986 Buick Regal which has been stripped of its engine, suspension, transmission and electrical system. Four independent pedal and gear mechanisms have been outfitted in the remaining shell which continues to have the “illusion of the mass-produced luxury automobile” but has a top speed of 15 km per hour. Using bicycle technology, the passengers form the self-propulsion group. Other Exhibitions Studio 21 Fine Art - Halifax, Nova Scotia They had a great collection of contemporary art! CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS - I realize that I am treading on dangerous, hallowed ground, but I will venture to comment. I love Canada and Canadians, but draw the line at just one or two things. ;)CULTURAL OBSERVATION #1 - Poutine What Canadians do with their french fries continues to amaze me. First of all they always ask if you want gravy with your fries and then there's Poutine. As if French Fries weren't deadly enough by themselves, they've come up with a way to top it off. They add lots of big chunks of cheese curds and then smother it in gravy. In another version they add bacon on top of everything. Cultural Observation #2 - Tim Hortons From the American perspective.... be warned Canadians are going to hate this comment since they LOVE their Timmys and they are everywhere. The coffee is good, but I have to say they don't know how to make a good donut. Tom has been fighting a donut addition for many years. Timmy's donuts are soft inside like the white bread we see everywhere. The dough has little flavor or texture. We bought a few donuts and ate two and threw away the rest. When we ate them the dough became a big gooey ball in our mouths that was difficult to swallow. In my opinion they were a white flour/sugar experience not worth the calories invested. Stick to the coffee. Cultural Observation #3 - Loonies and Toonies Now this is one that I like.... their coins! They have eliminated the pennies and just round up or down to make change. It's a simple solution. They no longer have one dollar bills, but have one and two dollar coins instead that are called Loonies for one dollar and Toonies for two. They are used at toll booths, laundry machines, car wash and other places that would otherwise take bills in the US. The coins work much better than trying to shove a bill into a slot. We loved them, but we were confused at the first car wash that said they take only Toonies. I thought I had to buy a special token. Cultural Observation #4 - Canadian bills The bills are made of polymer and have a clear section. They are beautiful and probably difficult to counterfeit. End of Cultural Observations Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia It was too touristy for us so we did a "drive by" and I just got out of the car once to take a photo. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Art Quilt Gallery in Lunenburg had a great exhibit of Laurie Swim quilts. They were expertly executed with incredible fine detail. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Digby, Nova Scotia - Scallop Days & Woodsman Competition Inscription under the bell reads: In proud memory of all the seafaring sons of Annapolis Basin, Digby Neck Islands area who were lost at sea during the period of 1867 - 1967. This hand operated warning bell was located at North Point Brier Island in 1897 by the Department of Marine and Fisheries to warn mariners of shoals. "O LORD THEY SEA IS SO GREAT AND MY SHIP SO SMALL" Woodsman Competition in Digby, Nova Scotia Log Cutting Contest One person would saw the log in half and then each person had to quarter their half with an ax. She did the sawing and then lost her steam when it came to the chopping. The men on the left were a fast and efficient team. On the right dad was advising his kids. Was I the only person who noticed that the royals had a garbage can in front of them when speaking? The individual techniques to throw the ax were quite interesting. The most accurate Woodsman made it look far too easy and used one hand. Saint John, New Brunswick - Wonderful historic city with lots of brick buildings Saint John City Market Fredericton, New Brunswick - another historic city and home of the famous Beaverbrook Art Gallery The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is named after Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, who funded the building of the gallery. They did not allow photos, but they had some very impressive art that I will share with photos I found online. Muriel and Eric Atkinson: A Selection From a Modest Personal Collection. I was not familiar with the work of Eric Atkinson, but found myself inspired. I was thrilled then to see that they had another room devoted to his work titled Eric Atkinson: Journeys Through the Landscape. I ended up buying several books on his artwork in the gallery. The gallery states: Eric Atkinson is a major Canadian abstract landscape painter, whose extensive career as an artist and art educator straddles both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and is currently being rediscovered in England. A visual poet of the landscape, his paintings are created on the studio floor by working from all four sides of a canvas. He disrupts the picture plane, an amalgam of sand and glue, with incised calligraphic markings that suggest the natural rhythms of wind and water, of sculpted landforms created over the course of thousands of years from geological erosion – a layering of time and ancient memory. Appropriately referred to by the artist as “journeys through the landscape”, his paintings are not literal depictions, but expressions of the interpenetration of inner and outer landscapes, of the integral relationship between the processes of art making and the forces of nature, or as Atkinson states, “the forms echo the geological structure of the land and the calligraphy left by man and nature upon its surface.” Born in Hartlepool, England, in 1928, Atkinson was the assistant to Harry Thubron at Leeds College of Art from 1955 to 1961 before he succeeded him as Head of Fine Art. He emigrated to Canada in 1969 and became Dean of Applied Arts at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. The Basic Course at Leeds is now recognized as one of the most innovative post-Bauhaus education programs in Europe, a radical change in art educational thinking that values self-expression and the creative process over the transfer of technical skills and a permanent set of artistic values that also became part of Atkinson’s legacy at Fanshawe College. The photos below were not in the show and don't do justice to his work, but will give you a flavor of his art. Four Turns of a Key: Metalwork by Elma Johnston McKay Elma Johnston McKay is a master metalsmith who has low vision related to myopia, retinal tears, and cataracts. Between 1996 and 2009, she researched and crafted an extensive collection of replications and interpretations of historical keys. On display in its entirety for the first time, this exhibition presents McKay’s creative exploration of the design, metalwork, and symbolic use of keys in imagery and lore across time and different cultures. Historically, a key is symbolic, signifying prestige and power. As though reclaiming her own power, McKay produced something unique and beautiful in the image of a key, despite deteriorating eyesight. This collection of handcrafted keys formed in copper, silver, brass, and gold includes “inspiration” pieces (replicas or likenesses of historical keys derived from artworks or literary sources) and contemporary reinventions of those key(s) based on themes ranging from competition to tolerance, patronage to greed. Just as a key provides access to a sacred or treasured space, this exhibition gives access to a merging of contemporary fine craft, fine art, and art history. McKay has identified four core qualities that are exemplified by the key as an object: Beauty, Difference, Symbolism, and Progress. These qualities resonate in the exhibition: the aesthetic quality and exquisite craftsmanship and artistic skill evident in the individual works; the metaphoric celebration of individualism objectified in the key (a thing that must be unique to function); the continuation of an art historical tradition of engaging symbolism to convey universal themes; and a physical manifestation of progress in the relationship between old and new, inspiration and interpretation, traditional craft and contemporary art. A small collection of the keys are below. The museum book that has photos of all of the keys along with the wonderful written material explaining the inspiration and keys is available at this link. Book - Four Turns of a Key: Metalwork by Elma Johnston McKay Another exhibit at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery - Off The Grid: Abstract Painting in New Brunswick After 73 days we are leaving Canada! I loved the sights, the people and the art.
What a great time!! This was our second time to return to the U.S. and this crossing was a bit more complicated. We could see that the border agents were going into each camper without the owners being inside and we knew this would be a problem with the dogs. The campers were in one lane and it was extremely slow moving. Officers were spending several minutes in each camper and always seemed to be coming out with some food items. They asked us to keep the dogs in the front seat while they entered the back. They were on leashes for control but both dogs became protective and snarled and growled. The officer immediately said that we had to pull aside and take a seat inside. After a wait on a cold marble bench and more questions, a different border officer then went through our rig while we waited outside with the dogs. It was a much better solution and the dogs were fine. They opened cabinets, looked in the refrigerator and bathroom and who knows what else. I find the questions that they asked to be interesting. Where we had gone in Canada? What we bought that was expensive? Did we have a large amount of cash? What drugs did we have? Did all of our prescriptions have our name and doctor printed on the label? What pain medications did we have? Did we have any tobacco products? Probably looking for Cuban cigars Were we diabetic and have any needles? Was there anything sharp or dangerous that would injure them while looking through the van? What alcohol did we have? So they took our tomatoes and lemons and we were on our way. All citrus peel seemed to be a problem. We are happy to be back in the homeland. A large part of Newfoundland is an island. It has the most eastern point in North America. From San Francisco to St John's is over 1000 miles farther than to Deadhorse, Alaska. We took our Roadtrek on the 6 hour ferry ride from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. The dogs stayed in the camper below deck while we roamed the passenger sections on the top floors. We we not allowed to visit the dogs during the voyage. Newfoundland is in time zone all of its own which is half a hour later than Atlantic Time. I've never heard of a time zone being half hour different. Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland Corner Brook The roads in Newfoundland are some of the most potholed that we have seen. We found ourselves having to carefully scan the road ahead to avoid huge deep holes. These signs below were on the Trans Canadian Highway. With 120,000 moose on the island it is the most densely moose populated area in the world. There were 660 moose collisions last year and over 300 human deaths. It is said that the Newfoundlanders avoid driving at night when the moose are out. They had moose detection radar in some areas where they frequently cross the highway. Corner Brook Gambo Pond - Gambo is the corruption of the Portugese word gamba which means doe. It historically was a fishing and logging center. Salvage - our favorite town in Newfoundland We stopped at this little place for a great lunch in a perfect setting. It was in the low 80's and very humid. We were able to sit outside in the shade of the building on the back deck by the sea. The blue crab sandwich on homemade bread was delicious and for dessert we shared a local wild berry pudding with rum sauce. It was the kind of place were the waitress calls everyone "Love" and makes you feel right at home. We heard the locals talking and apparently the place will close in September for the winter months. It was the only restaurant in town and had large open space inside. They had music and events here. This to was a photographer's delight. Many residents of Newfoundland sold food items they produced along the Trans Canadian Highway. We also found great bread, jams, jellies and pies for sale in craft stores. In Newfoundland the term pond is applied to bodies of water that we would call lakes. These ponds are often quite large. St. John's, Newfoundland - Capital of the Province This is the only city in the Province of Newfoundland since all of the other locations are too small to qualify as being a city. With the music being played on the street, you can hear the Irish influence. The local music store had a big selection of accordions, tin whistles, banjos, Celtic harps and various pipes. There were also several Irish pubs on the main street. We stopped by the Eastern Edge Gallery which has been a working cooperative for over 30 years. Unfortunately, they were between exhibits. Around the corner we stopped by the Leyton Gallery of Fine Art to see some great painting and incredible hand made clothing and cloth bags. After talking with the clothing artist we exchanged cards. I greatly enjoyed her and she seemed excited about the possibility of having a place to stay with us near San Francisco. The Rooms is Newfound's and Labrador's largest public cultural space. The buildings which are intended to represent fishing shacks house both an art gallery and a cultural and nature museum. The gallery exhibition space had one of my favorite exhibits by Pam Hall called Houseworks. They did not allow photographs of any of the artwork. She had three "houses" in this exhibition. You can see at this link one of the houses she created using women's aprons. The house had hanging printed apron for walls and thin gauzy aprons for the ceiling with their string hanging down. This house project used the aprons of women who worked in a seafood packing plant. The artist had a photo and history of each worker with her apron. The history included the number of hours each woman worked at the plant and the unpaid hours she worked at home. There was a series accompanying installations using these aprons that can be seen at link below. The museum states the following: Pam Hall’s creative and social engagement with community is a long-standing and significant part of her artistic practice. She invites members of the public to be creative collaborators – among these, a medical school, a fish processing plant and a small rural parish hall. The house – with all of its physical, emotional, cultural, social and gendered connotations – is the broad theme of this exhibition. The works, both displayed and performed, represent the union of Hall’s solitary and collaborative practices. She had four "houses" in this exhibition. The other houses were equally as interesting as the apron house. All of the houses had installations segments as well as public participation. One house included prayers on strips of cloth that the museum goer could add to. Norse "More than 1,000 years ago, the Norse slowly pushed the boundaries of their world across the North Atlantic and became the first Europeans to settle here. By 985 these small-scale farmers, traders and craftspeople had settled in Greenland. Fifteen years later their explorations took them south and west to Labrador and Newfoundland. They established an outpost on the Northern Peninsula at L'Anse aux Meadows at the north of what they called Vineland. But Vineland was too far from home and church, difficult to supply and the area already inhabited - Europeans encountered North American Aboriginals for the first time here. After less than twenty years the Norse abandoned the outpost, though it appears they had continued making periodic voyages to Labrador for wood over the next three centuries." Inuit "At least 600 years ago the first Inuit people arrived in Northern Labrador. Traveling by umiak, kayak and dog sled, and hunting large bowhead whales, they had a sophisticated technology that sets them apart from their Paleio-Eskimo predecessors. They eventually populated much of the Labrador coast, making Forays as far south as the Strait of Belle Isle. Their descendants still live in many Labrador communities." "In the 1560's several Labrador Inuit were taken to Europe to satisfy the curiosity that surrounded the discovery of the "New World". Details like this from a handbill printed in Augsburg, Germany, to advertise their presence, provide us with a glimpse of the people and their distinctive dress at the time". Irish in Newfoundland In the Cultural Museum they had several exhibits about the Irish heritage of many of the residents. Cape Spear - The most eastern point in North America We felt that this was our turn around point for the trip. After reaching this point we headed in the direction of home. We made a few circles of the parking lot and I gave out a few whoo hoos to celebrate! We never saw another vehicle from California while in Newfoundland. People were surprised that we drove there. It took us almost 4 months to reach this point and we estimate it will be over two months to travel home. Gros Morne National Park - A World Heritage Site Berry Hill Pond - a great place to take the dogs for an off leash trail experience Here they come and there they go Boat Tour We took a boat tour of the bay and into the ocean. The crew were local people with fun tales and lots of laughs. The ended the trip by playing some Irish gigs and reels. All the crew were musicians! We were able to see several of Bald Eagles in the trees and flying above the shoreline. Woody Point, Newfoundland Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland Along the Viking Trial - Gros Morne, Newfoundland Fishing Shack Exhibit - Gros Morne National Park The Mudge brothers came to fish in this area for many generations. The Canadian National Park has preserved these buildings and their contents as an exhibition. Three Mudge brothers came each year in April with their wives and children. They fished, grew crops and worked to bring back food with them to help them survive the long winter months. It was a treat to talk at length to the ranger and learn that each year his family has been coming to a beach just up the road for four generations. He knew the Mudge brothers and had some good stories once Tom got him talking. His family put all of the livers from the cod into a barrel. Over time the oil would rise to the top and each day it was given to the family members. All of the students in his school were also give a dose of the cod liver oil each day so he got a daily double dose. The cod population has dropped so dramatically so that it is no longer fished. The spawning areas for the cod are still currently fished by other countries so that the outlook is not promising. The communities welcome tourist to help fill their economic needs. Having a local fisherman as a ranger benefited us as well as him. The fog was trying to blow in on a warm day. Woody Point, Gros Morne National Park The Hunky Dory has a Facebook page at this link https://www.facebook.com/pages/Folkart-Things/545470712148439 Newfoundland music - I bought CD's from the people below and we listened to the music as we traveled in Newfoundland. Daniel Payne's music at a kitchen party - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7qMXRAcxOY Charlie Payne playing the accordion in his youth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xlhy2bXVsk more of Daniel playing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7CYbign4Ks Another Newfoundlander, Tony Blanchard playing Hohner Corso 1960s model,French Newfoundland Style - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_sYr2PXaS8 Folk music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tldbV9nMhCo&list=RDh_sYr2PXaS8 Many of the people in Newfoundland have the most interesting accent. At times when Tom and I would over locals speaking to each other and we could not understand much of what they said. Newfie talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rIbitJAbQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqLuIXwsLDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xmqb4W2T0M This map illustrates the areas we explored. I greatly enjoyed Newfoundland and consider it the highlight of our trip.
After driving the first two hours from St John's in the direction of home, Google maps calculated the mileage home to be 4.414 miles. Tom drove most of the way while I used our Rand McNally GPS in combination with my iPhone to guide us. Both devices were often flawed so we had to have a general idea of the direction we should be traveling. The iphone had many advantages over the traditional GPS unit, but it is often out of range in remote areas. Getting lost occasionally is part of the adventure. I am excited about turning many of the photo compositions from this trip into abstract and impressionistic paintings when I return. I now have so much rich material. A great number of the photos were taken from a moving car and usually through the windshield. They were often framed and composed on the run in a few seconds. Prince Edward Island - The island's gentle rolling hills were mostly cultivated into farmland. The area also seems to be a summer playground for many families. We stayed at Twin Shores Campground with a site very close to the beach. There were 370 spaces with many friends and families congregating for beach time and for late night gatherings. It would be a great place to bring children and to meet with your friends. Our only problem was that we found it to be quite noisy until past midnight. One can take a bridge or ferry to the island. The ferry toll to return to New Brunswick cost $45 which was a surprise. We went to the beach every night while on Prince Edward Island for a great view of the sunset at the north end of the beach. Each night after sunset there were still people swimming in the ocean and enjoying the warmth. The waves were gentle compared to the Pacific Ocean. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Charlottetown, PEI - Confederation Centre for the Arts Oh! Canada Exhibition The exhibition was so large that it was displayed in four locations across Canada. Additional exhibits - Charlottetown, PEI - Confederation Centre for the Arts. These are NOT part of the Oh! Canada exhibit Owens Gallery, Sackville, New Brunswick - Oh! Canada Exhibit continuesNova Scotia Family History - William Freeman arrived in Nova Scotia from Yorkshire in 1760. I had a copy of his will and was able to locate land given to my 3rd great grandfather by his father William. Amherst, Nova Scotia - William Freeman was a land owner and politician in Nova Scotia. He owned the land that later became the town square, Customs House, First Baptist Church and the Bank of Scotia. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia The sand on Cape Breton Island is dark, but not as red as the sand on Prince Edward Island. Nova Scotia (New Scotland) has a history of many people immigrating from Scotland. There are many people who are of Scottish descent in the town of Mabou in Cape Brenton including many Rankins. There is currently a Steve Rankin who has his photography studio downtown. Next blog will be Newfoundland - The turn around point of our adventure. Our most eastern point in our journet will be St John's Newfoundland which is the most eastern point in North America.
When we left Quebec City we headed north east towards the Gaspe Peninsula in the Province of Quebec. It was a very scenic ride along the Saint Lawrence River. They speak French in the entire province of Quebec and are very proud of their Acadian heritage. A number of the homes have a high front door without steps going to the ground. I was told by a Canadian friend that they use this door when the snow is high and use the back door which is ground level door in the summer months. Site du Patrimoine de Sainte-Luce Next to the graveyard was this restaurant. Center d'Art - Marcel Gagon, Quebec Province Sainte-Flavie, Québec The people of French descent along the Gaspe Peninsula are not afraid of color! Village Historique Acadien - New Brunswick Bouctouche Eco Parc, New Brunswick World's largest tide Bay of Fundy - Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick At 50 feet this tide is the largest in the world. We wanted to especially see it at low tide when they say you can walk on the ocean floor. Tidal Bore - Moncton, New Brunswick Moncton is ,,,,, miles from the Bay of Fundy and the rising tide creates a tidal bore which is a large wave of water that comes up the ocean and reversed the current of the river during the incoming tide. The Petitcodiac River is brown with the mud created by the turbulence of the daily wave that it is called the Chocolate River commonly know as the Chocolate River. . The wave from this dramatic tide creates a wave that people are able to surf into town. It is the longest wave to ride in the world. People gather in a specific park with seats to wait for the tide to come in in each. The times for the wave are posted on a large sign.
We spent ten days across the river from Quebec City in the Levis district in the village of Saint-Romuald. We found that we greatly like the towns across the river from Quebec City since they were less touristy. On days we wanted to see Quebec we could drive there is 25 minutes or we could take a ten minute ferry ride that took us directly to Old Quebec. Either way it was easy to get to Quebec. We greatly liked the historic town of Levis and found a great deli with incredible food and ingredients that delighted us for days. We also returned to this section for our anniversary celebration. It was full of locals and it felt more like a real vibrant community than the tourist areas of Quebec. Musee National Des Beaux-Arts Du Quebec Bill Vazan is a major figure of Canadian conceptual art and land art. "For two years, Vazan used an obsolete piece of office equipment, the date stamp, to enumerate, patiently and systematically each date of the twentieth century from January 1 1900 to December 31 1909. XXth Century invites contemplation and measures space as much as it does time. Bill Vazan imbued his activity with a performative aspect. In a word, he assigned to the surface of the canvas not a time, but time itself. " And Then, We Built New Forms "And Then, We Built New Forms features thirty-six artists from Quebec and Canada, the United States, France, Russia, Austria, Mexico, the Netherlands and Guatemala who employ art as a tool to Interface with interventionist and often, political positions. The exhibition Includes artworks that develop a polltic of having more collective and individual influence In the world and starts with a consideration that Quebec artists have played a role in giving voice to the 99% and in utilizing art as an effective vehicle for social change. Within a larger series on adolescence, entitled Des helicos sur I'tlot Fleurie, Jean-Robert Droulllard formulates contemporary images of youth today through two inter-related exhibitions at the Manif d'art 7: at the Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec and the Espace 400e Bell. Broadly looking at youth through succinct mise-en-scenes composed of life-size basswood sculptures juxtaposed with porcelain objects, the series raised questions about visual narrative, youth culture as well as what Is at stake within contemporary social values. At the MNBAQ a cheerleader stands In a pose of emancipation and celebration, surrounded by over one hundred porcelain spray cans. Playing with archetypes of North American youth culture, the sculptural installation could be viewed as a throwback to another epoch, therefore confusing the temporality of the contemporary moment. This contamination of time is further complexified by Drouillard's use of his sons and their partners as models for his figures. Inspired in part by the 2012 student protests, which his sons participated in, the artist extends his desire for a more hopeful and socially just society by representing the personal realm of his own life." Vicky Chainey Gagnon, Curator Jean-Robert Drouillard Born in 1970 in Chathan, Canada, Live and works in Quebec City, Canada A few particles of us in an accelerator, 2013-2014 Sculpture installation basewood pallet, porcelain "Here, I represented three-dimensional spaces in the form of Chinese calligraphy: the light airy background envelops these floating mobiles. ... These characters floating on a surface create spaces: they are brought to life by the contrasts of colour and texture. I love playing with spaces. I love large surfaces." Jean Dallaire, 1957 "Despite its humble state, a scupture remains as entity in which the artist's expression stems from his won struggle. ... You have to dominate the appeal of facile works, avoid yielding to mercantilism... There is a theory that says you must follow the grain of the wood; personally, that doesn't concern me. I think I "bash" the wood. Which is why I don't use olive wood:it's too beautiful to be bashed... Although I like wood, I have no respect for it." Robert Roussil "Words cannot fully express painting... Some emotions are untranslatable... Like feelings, paintings are also contradictory at times. They are tension lines..." Marelle Ferron "Surrational Automatism: unpremeditated writing in plastic matter. One shape calls up another until a feeling of unity is achieved, or a feeling that to go further without destruction is impossible. During the process, no attention is paid to the content. This freedom is justified by the conviction that content is inevitably linked to form: Lautreamont. Complete moral independence with regard to the object produced. ... A desire to understand the content once the object is finished. Hoped for" a sharpened awareness of the psychological content of any form, of the human universe as it is made the universe as such." Paul-Emile Borduas, 1948 TRIBUTE TO ROSA LUXEMBURG is the largest ever produced BY JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE Marked by a highly personal style, it constitutes a painted metaphor for his life an art. Today, this expansive composition is generally considered the artist's pictorial last will and testament. Despite its title, the work should not be seen solely as a tribute to Rosa Luxemburg, the famous Polish revolutionary born in 1870 and assassinated in 1919. Reference to his heroine, a militant member of the German Communist Party, masks the painter's deeper intention, which was to pay homage to Joan Mitchell, his companion of almost twenty-five years. An American painter of international renown, Joan Mitchell—whom Riopelle playfully dubbed Rosa Malheur, alluding to Rosa Bonheur, 19th century , animal artist—died suddenly in Paris on October 30,1992. When the news of her death reached him on the He aux Oies, Riopelle somewhat compulsively turned to creating this monumental fresco. A 40 meter long triptych, it comprises a series of 30 rectangles containing as many individual works.This constructed sequence gives rise to a narrative structure reminiscent of a cartoon.The viewer must move about to read the different scenes, of this bizarre world, peopled by phantom prints of objects that Riopelle borrowed from nature—birds, ferns—and from the handyman's workshop—nails, car fans, punches, shears.The artist obtained these ghostly images by applying the objects themselves to the canvas, and tracing them with spray pain, a technique that makes for very rapid execution. On a certain level, in authorizes comparison between the work of Jean-Paul Riopelle and that oi graffiti artists, who adorn our city walls. The museum states the following: 'This exhibit proposes to examine the seminal dialogue which took place between the founding painters of modern Canadian art, James Wilson Morrice and John Lyman, with Henri Matisse." Both Tom and I were not impressed with this group of paintings. I have included the best, but most left us cold. I like a bit of Matisse's artwork that I have seen before this visit, but the ones that were included in this collection were some of the worst that I have seen. They did not allow the Matisse art to be photographed and I thought perhaps (LOL) they wanted to keep these poor works hidden from the public to save his name. I wanted to like them ... Jean Paul Lemieux "Although its composition seems quite simple in appearance. The Express Train is in fact dominated by a comples series of references to space and time, to transience and lastingness, to the "here and now" of painting. A point of extreme tension, form in charged with meaning on this surface which might otherwise have been appreciated for its formal beauty alone. Lemieus's art, however, while it draws on geometric order and schematic forms, does not abandon representation." "Over the course of his career, Jean Paul Lemieux never took up abstraction. yet he always stayed in touch with the art being made around him and, despite his attachment to the human figure, he explored the symbolic power of form by reducing it to its simplest expression. He thus grazed the boundaries of non-representation and abstraction, and Highway is a fine example of this slippage." Alfred Pellan Paris Sojourn: "After his studies at Ecole des beau-arts de Quebec, Alfred Pellan, then only twenty years old, set out for paris, where he assimilated in an eclectic and intuitive manner the aesthetic ideas of various avant-garde movements, including Cubism. Fauvism and Surrealism. Imbued with the stylistic influence of artists he admired, such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Paul Klee, Joan Miro and Fernand Leger, he created works with explored various kind of pictorial abstraction. " Jean-Paul Riopelle "In 1953 and 1954, following the dripping technique employed in canvases of the previous years, Riopelle's painting became more structured. The agglomerations of unmixed paint, evocative of crystals, were most often applied with a spatula and knife. Across vast surfaces the thick and colourful strokes create rhythms at once copious and staccato. Af few traces of dripping can still be seen. As the work progressed the contrasts became accentuated. After 1954, Jean-Paul Riopelle's work was not only internationally known, but was applauded as one of the most significant contributions of the post-war period." Fernand Leduc The dogs are seeming to enjoy the trip even though we've been in the big city lately. Tom has been diligent about taking them each out for two off leash runs a day. It's kept their spirits up and has tired them out. A tired dog is a good dog. They each have a few options as where to sleep or hang out so they can get up and move around. Occasionally, Kayla gets in the way and underfoot when cooking since there isn't room for her to be near us, but we are learning the move around each other as if in a dance.
Several people told us to skip Montreal, but we found that it was an exciting city with a strong French influence and style. French is definitely the dominate language and the signs are in only French which was a challenge, but it was fun to feel like were actually in a foreign county. A few times we were clueless as to the meaning of roadway signs with our meager French, in fact, one morning we used Google translate and discovered that we had spent the night in a tow away zone. Fortunately, most of the people working in the museums, stores and other businesses were bilingual enough to make transactions. They have an interesting French accent in Canada that seems to take a bit of the music out of the language. We spent most of our time in Old Montreal and the area around the Museum of Fine Art. The area around the museum was a vibrant area with lots of foot traffic and many outdoor cafes. This area was populated by the locals and not just tourists. I had a solo show of my artwork in Montreal a few years ago so it was fun to see that location since I missed the opening. The Galerie d"Art Inuit has a extensive, impressive collection of art from the Inuit people. The gallery claims it has the largest collection in Canada. I estimate the collection to be in the thousands. Unfortunately they do not allow photographs inside their gallery. We have been fortunate enough to find a parking space in every major city fairly easily. Tom has become adept at driving the busy streets and changing lanes quickly as needed. I do the navigation on multiple devices as he drives. This space was in the middle of the Old Town in Montreal just steps from museums and a lively plaza. There were numerous sidewalk restaurants on the downtown streets creating a lively inviting atmosphere. We had several great meals outside where we could people watch and enjoy the street life. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Montreal The museum was in three separate buildings with connections underground. We found it a bit confusing and could not find our way out even when the guards gave us directions twice. This was the third museum in which we got lost, but that seems to part of our experience. Yet more fine work by the Canada's famous Group of Seven We first explored Ottawa on a warm Sunday in June. There were lots of people out on bikes along the canal and around the city. I have been impressed by the bike friendly downtowns of the major Canadian cities. There are many bike lanes and places to park the bikes. Ottawa being the capitol of Canada has the Parliament buildings and other government buildings. From the pictures it looks a bit like Disneyland. National Gallery of Canada - Ottawa - great art in a beautiful building The museum not only had art by world famous artists, but it had some of the finest examples from these artists that I have seen in one museum. These work included art by Renoir, Matisse, Degas, Cezanne, Braque, Pissarro and Monet, It is not practical to include everything I saw so I ended up editing out the majority of the master's works since I felt that most of you have seen works by these artists many times before. They were breathtaking examples that deserve to be seen in person. Several of you wrote to me to say how much you appreciated seeing the works by the Group of Seven so I included more of these works since they are less familiar artists. This museum had some great paintings by this noteworthy group. The museum building was a work of art itself. It created a perfect setting to view art and it filtered the light and the views of the city beautifully. Many of the individual galleries had a bold use of color on which to display the art. These rich colors played beautifully off the artwork and enhanced the works. Great indoor sculpture area with perfect lighting. The scale of the space was inviting for viewing sculptures. Returning to Ontario, Canada Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada - We came to this area because my great great great grandfather arrived here from New York shortly after the American Revolution, Prince Edward County is essentially an island that is very close to the mainland. I was pleasantly surprised to find a rich vibrant art community located here with an Art Trail and many galleries. It is also considered the gastronomical center for all of Ontario so it was a treat to find great restaurants as well as great food shops. I could feel right at home here. There are also many wineries and a Wine Trail. Mad Dog Gallery - Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario Marysburg, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada - The county is quite beautiful and it remains mostly unblemished by modern development. The villages have kept their historical downtown and are actually vibrant with activity and commerce. There aren't any malls in the county or big box stores. The countryside is full of galleries, wineries, enough to have tours for both. It claims to be the gastronomical capital for the entire province including the big cities. In between the villages are small farms and heavily wooded areas. It is interesting when things fall into place. I had a few birth and dates relating to Marysville, Prince Edward, but I could not find out anything else when researching on the internet. The plan was to drive through the area and get a sense of place. I learned that the village of Marysville no longer exists, however, while at the Mad Dog Gallery in Picton the owners showed us a map of the area from mid 1800's . I could see precisely where the village of Marysville was originally located. It was interesting that this gallery was the only gallery we went into that day and that they happened to have the map hanging in their living area. The owners of the gallery were able to guide us to the location of Marysville and they also gave me a contact for local genealogical research. The sign at the Bay of Quinte where we took the ferry to Prince Edward, Ontario reads: BAY OF QUINTE LOYALIST SETTLEMENT This region was among the first in present-day Ontario to receive loyalist settlers following the American Revolution. Surveying began in 1783, and by the following year five townships had been laid out between the Catarquit River and the east end of the Isle of Quinte (Kingstown, Ernestown, Fredericksburgh, Adophustown, and Marysburgh). Loyalist refugees and discharged soldiers arrived to take up land grants in these five Catarquit townships in 1784. That same year, Iroquois loyalists settled lands granted to them on the north shore of this bay. These and other loyalist settlements west of the Ottawa River prompted the British government to establish the province of Upper Canada in 1791. My great great great grandfather who was born in 1790 in Brooklyn Kings, New York and died in Marysburg, Canada in 1851. He came to Canada as young man and his son was born in Marysburg in 1812. It was great to be able to visit the place. The town of Marysville has only a few buildings and there is only one business on the street. it was apparently the site of the first settlers to the area in 1791 but they did not establish much of a downtown. We could see old farms and homesteads in the area. I left small scattering of my mother's ashes along the creek in Marysburg. She always wanted to return to Ontario to see her roots. Bon Echo Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada Oeno Gallery, Bloomfield, Prince Edward, Ontario, Canada - This gallery had an impressive collection of art with many artist selling internationally. It is connected to a winery. Unfortunately, the outdoor sculpture were not labeled. Andrew Lui - the main exhibition Originally from Canton, China, Andrew moved to Canada in 1972. Lui now lives and works in Montreal, Quebec. He studied in Italy, the United Kingdon and Canada from 1972-75. We traveled the backroads of upstate New York through lush rolling hills. Both the woods and the farmlands were fresh with spring green leaves and abundant flowers. Seneca Falls, New York - Women's Rights National Historic Park and Museum - It was a long 72 year struggle for women's rights. A significant number of men stood beside the women during this struggle. The First Convention for Woman's Rights was held at the site of the building on the right. Next door is an impressive national museum with many informative displays. The historical buildings in Seneca Falls have changed very little over time. It does seem that the new shopping malls in other parts of town have had an impact on the downtown since there were many vacancies. Bronze State overlooking the river in Seneca Falls, Ny - the plaque reads: When Anthony Met Stanton In May 1851, there was a chance encounter on the streets of Seneca Falls which forever altered the struggle for women's rights. Amelia Jenks Bloomer introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The friendship that forged between Stanton and Anthony gave direction and momentum to the seventy-two year struggle for women's suffrage which culminated on August 26, 1920 in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United State Constitution. Neither women lived to see this happen. I never realized the effect of wearing a corset had on the ribs over time. It seems to have been been often mentioned in the women's rights movement. Cornell University Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY - The building was interesting since most of the museum was underground under the grass lawn. There were two above ground sections. The building at the bottom left had the entrance. The second above ground section had an eye catching digital display on the underside. It was constantly moving and pulsating which is difficult to capture in the photo.. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York - The university is set at the top of the hill overlooking the town of Ithaca. I found the old architecture wonderful on this rainy afternoon, however, some of the newer building didn't inspire me since I felt that they did not relate well to the historical features. Moosewood Restaurant, Ithaca, NY - I bought my first Moosewood cookbook in the late 1970's. It is a famous standard in many kitchens. Now they have eight cookbooks and I bought one more while at the restaurant. Robert Treman State Park, Ithaca, NY - It was a pleasant surprise to find three state parks less than 3 miles from the downtown. The ranger gave us her promise that the foot deep water we had to cross to get to our campsite was not a problem We were both still nervous crossing since our rig has been modified and is low to the ground. Upstate New York - a virtual backroads ride Lake Durant, Adirondacks, New York - home of our first insect encounter Adirondack Museum, NY - The museum was housed in a number of building over several acres. In the 1800 the Adirondacks was big vacation destination with many large hotels. None of these exist today. When the Prospect House opened at Blue Mountain Lake in 1882, it became the first hotel in the world to have an electric light in every room. Power was provided by two, steam-driven, "Z" dynamos manufactured by the Edison Machine Works. For more than a century the firm of Abbot and Downing of Concord, New hampshire, was famous for stagecoaches - so much so that the type became known as the Concord coach. With the body suspended on leather straps called thorough-braces, such coaches, hauled by four or six horse teams, were used from Maine to California, The one exhibited her was rated by the makers to carry twenty-four passengers. Vermont Montpelier - Vermont State Capitol - The state capitol was quite small. It has two main streets with businesses. Directly behind the capitol there was not even one street, but there was a large hill for hiking and skiing in the winter. Across the street from the capitol was one row of businesses and the river was behind that so there was not even a second row of businesses. We saw a number of men in suits in town which we had not seen in other towns. The small town city has a vibrant, lively downtown although very small. It has some good restaurants, food shops, bakeries, book stores and shopping. Burlington, VT - This is the largest city in Vermont. They have renovated Church Street to be a pedestrian mall. It was nice, but most of the stores were large chains and it had few local establishments. BCA Center - Church Street, Vermont Ferry from Vermont to New York across Lake Champlain North Star Underground Railroad Museum, Ausable, NY - I greatly admire the conviction of those that ran the Underground Railroad. They did what was right and just despite the great personal risk to themselves. Point Ausable Campground, New York Cambridge, Ontario - We discovered this great town when we were looking for a place to stop for the night. We felt like we were transported to a European city. Frank Lloyd Wright - Marin House Complex, Buffalo, New York We were not allowed to photograph the inside. It has interesting features such as the four interior columns that carry the weight of the building so it can have large walls of windows. It also had a wonderful open area when first entered that was very inviting. Letchworth State Park - New York The water was very brown and muddy from the recent heavy rain run off. Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York is the world's largest museum of glass. The collection spans 35 centuries of glass from ancient to contemporary including over 40,000 pieces of glass. They also have glass making demonstrations and a center that shows modern industrial uses of glass. Photographing glass is challenging in the best of circumstances. Some of the most exciting pieces did not translate well in my photographs so I did not include them. Most of the pieces in the contemporary exhibition are monumental in size and display a true mastery of the glass material. There were hundreds of pieces in the contemporary collection.
A few items from the historical collection at the Corning Museum of Glass - there were TENS of thousands of items in this collection. They often had hundreds of samples for every period of history up to the present. The collection was huge and filled room upon room upon room. I can understand the claim that it is the largest glass collection in the world. We had some beautiful weather when we crossed the border into Canada. The trees were beginning to leaf out and the grass was bright green. It was a beautiful day as we first drove into Ontario. Family History in Ontario Canada - In 1888 my grandfather came with his parents and grandfather to the US to Ontario, California from Ontario, Canada. His grandfather (my great grandfather) was minister at a church is Bothwell, Ontairo which I was able to locate. I did a bit of research on this side of the family twenty years ago so it was interesting to see where they came from and learn more about their history. I had the old photograph on the left so it was fun to find the church on the right. There has been a new front added to the building, but I could still easily identify it as the same building from the windows on the side and front. The family moved to Port Stanley in 1884. This family home in Belmont, Ontario was built in 1850 by Thomas Nugent using wood from his mill and local bricks. I have had a copy of this etching for years so it was exciting to find the building still standing today. It once had 22 rooms, but recently it has been turned into apartments. It is shaped like an "H" with the middle part being a large room where my great great grandfather sometimes held church services. At the local library in Belmont they have a number of documents about him. He is considered one of the founding members of the town. We were able to exchange copies of documents since I brought copies of the etchings and my photos with me. The town historian seemed almost as excited as I was about the document exchange. I have wanted to see this house since 1993 when I first saw the etching so this was very rewarding for me. I was able to see the town where another great grandfather was born in 1846. A short distance from here I was also able to locate the town where my grandfather was born in 1880. I did not have exact addresses for their homes, but was still able to see these historic towns. Toronto, Ontario, Canada - I wanted to like the city, but Toronto is a busy congested city with an abundance of construction, road work and traffic that makes it a challenging city to maneuver. It seemed that every major street had restricted lanes due to roadwork so it took up an hour and half to travel 10 miles. The overhead streetcar wires added to the feeling of congestion and obstructed the views. We did not see much inspiring architecture and the old part of the city lacked historical buildings that we had hoped to see. It seems to be a city caught up in the process of rapid growth. I would estimate that 80% of the people walking the streets were under 40 years of age and most in their 30's so they probably enjoy the youthful community. I wanted to like Toronto, but we found it to be congested and lacking great architecture. McMichael Canadian Art Collection - Vaughn, Ontario. I was completely captivated by the art collection at this gallery. I was not familiar with the famous Group of Seven from Canada so it was exciting to discover. I was particularly impressed by the work of Tom Thomson and marveled that he created all of these works in a period of under four years. His work made me want to get out my paints! I decided to include an abundance of paintings from the Group of Seven so as to give my artist friends lots of work to view. Inuit Traditions at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection - There were several other very interesting exhibits in the gallery and several that did not allow photographs. Sculpture Garden at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection - nine monumental bronze sculptures created and gifted by Winnipeg-based artist, Ivan Eyre. This artist's "massive forms of the human figure demonstrate his fusion of historical styles and the futuristic elements. These stylized male and female archetypes are integrated with the land which acts as their inspiring muse. The Sculpture Garden represents a deep appreciation of the poetic relationship between art and nature." |
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April 2016
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