Much obliged to Paul for posting about this sand-painting artist on Facebook.
Andrés Amador, of San Francisco, creates lovely designs with a rake. He maintains that his work is “more about the process and less about the result.”
The website Viral Nova explains that Amador “uses a rope as a guide so that he can make the geometric patterns. … By raking up the wet sand at low tide, he is able to make contrasting sand colors.”
And he apparently takes orders — for marriage proposals (“Love Letters in the Sand”?) and even for corporate team-building exercises.
If I lived in San Francisco, I might ask Amador to create a message about something — maybe peace or kindness or helping the homeless. Some year, a sand painting could be my donation to the San Francisco-based Homeless Prenatal Program, an outstanding organization that Suzanne told me about.
Check out the collection of Amador’s other works is at Viral Nova, a site that bears watching.
Photo and Art: Andrés Amador
I caught my breath when I saw the inevitable happening to this painting. With sand art, it seems that “Ars longa, vita brevis” becomes “Memoria longa, ars brevis.”
Happy Lunar New Year, Spring Festival, and Year of the Horse!
I love any excuse to celebrate a holiday and went over to Chinatown at lunch in hopes of seeing a dragon dance or something.
As early as 11:30, the restaurant Bubor Cha Cha, here, was packed. I was the only non-Asian. I ordered spring rolls to go. At the Chinatown gate, a young couple (husband American, wife Chinese) asked me to photograph them with their baby. On Harrison Ave., someone was selling fresh produce.
My husband is the Year of the Horse. He says he’s a Water Horse, whereas this is the Year of the Wooden Horse.
Hmmm. Wooden Horse? Wherever you are this year, Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
The Telegraph notes how advertisers have been turning to classic poets to sell products.
Charlotte Runcie gives this example: “The new ad for the iPad Air features a voiceover from Robin Williams in his Whitman-toting Dead Poets Society incarnation. The Whitman extract in question is from Leaves of Grass:
“O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring;
“Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish
“… Answer.
“That you are here—that life exists and identity,
“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
Here’s another: “Levi’s chose an extract from A Midsummer Night’s Dream to reboot their advertising campaign for 501 jeans in 2005.
“The magical fairy forest became downtown LA, with Bottom – played by Joshua Alba – getting grabbed by a member of a nearby gang, who exclaims: ‘Oh Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?’ At this point in the play, Bottom has grown donkey ears. In the advert, he has bought new jeans.
“Then fairy queen Titania arrives, and says:
“Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;
“So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape…” More.
All good fun. But I think companies should reach out to contemporary poets the way Ford once reached out to poet Marianne Moore. It would be a good way for poets to earn a little money doing what they love. Then again, companies may prefer the “free” aspect of dead poets.
When John played saxophone in high school, I got it in my head that I should set a good example about practicing by going back to piano and seeing if I could make more progress than I did as a child.
In the first lesson, the teacher asked me what what I wanted to learn to play, and I said Boogie Woogie. So we did a little bit of that, and I thought I would really learn it. In the next lesson, she said, “You don’t want to learn this, it’s so repetitious.” So I studied what the teacher liked, which was classical. It fizzled out after a few years because I didn’t like to practice any more than John did.
Anyway, I still like Boogie Woogie, and was tickled when the FortPointer tweeted this new Boogie written especially for Fort Point. What happy music! It makes you want to jump right up and — well — boogie.
Photo: The Slater Mill, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, bears the name of Samuel Slater, the father of the American Industrial Revolution.
Suzanne is interested in textiles as well as jewelry. (Check out the little purses she had made for Luna & Stella using weavers in Bhutan, here.) So I wasn’t surprised when she passed along an article from the NY Times on the U.S. textile industry today.
It seems that in addition to artists who create textiles for artistic purposes (see yesterday’s post), niche textile businesses still exist in the United States.
Rivka Galchen writes, “In 1776, America didn’t have a single textile mill. There were no spinning mules, no water-powered looms. There were only rumors of what such things might look like … Nearly every American woman, except the wealthiest, knew how to spin her own yarn and weave her own cloth …
“Samuel Slater was 14 when he began working at a cotton-spinning mill in Derbyshire, England. Seven years later, in 1789, he disguised himself as a farmer to pass English customs and board a ship to the United States. When he arrived in America, he got a mechanized loom up and running, then a textile factory and later factory towns, eventually becoming known as both Slater the Traitor and the father of the American Industrial Revolution.”
In 2010, Galchen continues, photographer Christopher Payne “came across a yarn mill in Maine and was transfixed by the way it seemed to exist both in the past and the present; it became the first textile mill he photographed.” He has since photographed more than 20.
“Langhorne Carpet Company, in Penndel, Pa., used to share its building with a hosier, but that business closed long ago. … On the day I visited, a young man in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans was making a five-color runner on one of the narrow looms, while an older man in a denim smock was restringing a broad one; 5,040 spools of yarn needed to be knotted on.
“ ‘We’ve stayed in business because we’ll take a 20-yard order, that’s our niche,’ said Langhorne’s president, Bill Morrow, whose grandfather and great-grandfather founded the company in 1930. … Langhorne has made reproductions of historic carpets for the Frederick Douglass house in Washington; the Congress Hall of Philadelphia; and the Rutherford B. Hayes home in Fremont, Ohio. …
“Langhorne employs about 40 people, whom it trains in-house. When a machine needs a new part, it is specially forged. ‘We’ve bought a lot of [our] machinery from other companies that have closed down,’ Morrow said.” More here.
Kind of nice to know that not all manufacturing has gone overseas. American ingenuity still can create jobs doing specialty work, training people in-house.
Above, “I” Formation, by Ann Ribbens
Ann says, “This piece is a combination of a purchased hand-dyed top panel and an Arashi (pole-wrapping) shibori piece that I made. The panels were assembled, heavily machine quilted and embellished with beads.”
My ex-boss in Minnesota is a very fine quilter. That doesn’t mean that I’m a quilter. It means that she was my boss in her day job.
Ann is exhibiting the piece above in the show “A Common Thread” at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, here, through February 26. She has a number of other pieces available for viewing at the Minnesota Artist website, here. I think you will find the variety quite remarkable.
I often wonder if an artist is better off finding a way to make a living from art or doing art on the side. The first way means doing art all the time but maybe compromising to please clients.
The second means never having enough time but always having freedom. Ann is an example of someone who has made the latter approach work. Her day job is completely unrelated to quilting. But I suspect that while she is focused on it, her unconscious is working away on her next textile project.
Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to let one part of your mind lie fallow while the other is busy.
Below, “Carnelian Sunbursts,” by Ann Ribbens Ann says, “This work incorporates shibori dyeing. It is intensively machine quilted. It was completed in 2011 and is a table runner, 15 x 43 inches.”
This work incorporates shibori dyeing. It is intensively machine quilted. It was completed in 2011 and is a table runner, 15 x 43 inches.
Listening to the lone WICN radio host early Saturday morning reminded me of when I was a WGMC radio host in Greece, New York — until Suzanne was six months old and starting to reach over the baby seat to grab the turntable.
I was never sure if anyone was out there listening, but I liked doing it anyway.
Kind of like blogging.
At 5:30 a.m., the WICN host was playing a series of mellow tunes. He seemed to be enjoying the music, which means he didn’t talk much. I appreciate that kind of host so much more than the ones who love to hear themselves talk.
WICN, “Jazz Plus, for New England,” is a rare boon to jazz lovers. Having been to the studio recently to donate school instruments, I couldn’t help thinking that the hours before dawn on a Saturday must be pretty bleak and lonely in that industrial part of Worcester.
The only thing I was able learn about the host after Googling around was that his last name is Chandler. It was nice to think of Mr. Chandler enjoying the music in that barren neighborhood before 6 a.m., and I wish I had told him that someone was listening and appreciated the way he rode the records, transitioning so smoothly.
You can listen to WICN online, here, if you don’t live near Worcester. Send the station an e-mail to tell a host you’re listening. It’s a small outfit. I’m still waiting to hear back from my own e-mail.
If you are free during a weekday, be sure to catch a live performance by Pamela Hines andArnie Krakowsky (below) on January 29.
Update 1/27/14: WICN General Manager Gerry Weston e-mails that the early morning host was “Osay Chandler, he’s out of Pittsburgh.”
Photo: WICN
Join pianist Pamela Hines and her special guest on January 29 at 2 p.m. Arnie Krakowsky, a professional tenor saxophone jazz musician, will perform live with Hines in the WICN studio.
Asakiyume put me on to this offer from the nautical museum in Mystic, Connecticut. They have just finished restoring a whaling ship, and the public is invited to apply for the role of stowaway on its first trip.
Now, as we all know, stowaways stow themselves away in secret, against the wishes of the boat’s owners, but the museum has decided to put a new spin on an old concept.
Here’s what the Providence Journal reports: “Mystic Seaport is looking for a stowaway for its restored 19th century whaling ship. Whoever is hired will sail with the Charles W. Morgan ship next summer on visits to ports across New England. The stowaway will receive a stipend and will share the experience through videos and blog posts.
“The museum in Mystic has spent four years restoring the ship that was built in 1841. The Morgan’s last voyage ended in 1921 and is the world’s only surviving wooden whaling ship.
“The ship … will sail with a mission to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the oceans and its species.” More here.
Kind of counterintuitive to use a whaling ship to promote preserving the ocean and its creatures, but I guess no one is going to hunt any whales. Good thing, too. I read Moby You-Know-Who finally in 2010, and I wouldn’t recommend the life aboard ship.
Stowaway entries must be submitted via e-mail to stowaway@mysticseaport.org by 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 18, 2014. I like the idea that the stowaway is expected to blog about the trip. S/he just better not be prone to seasickness.
Update 5/11/14: Read here how the whaling ship restoration benefited from special timber stored upright in saltwater at Charlestown Navy Yard in Mass. and rediscovered during the construction of Spaulding Rehab.
Photo: Bob Breidenbach/The Providence Journal Matthew Barnes of Mystic Seaport examines the billet head on the bow of the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan.
I lived in Minnesota for a few years, so I really shouldn’t make a big deal out of cold weather, but it sure has been hard to pry myself from a warm building this week.
Today I went out to take a picture of salt water starting to freeze in Fort Point Channel, something I hadn’t seen before. I got a bonus for my effort — a colorful bubbly sculpture in a tree in front of the Children’s Museum. Was the nearby Boston Tea Party Museum throwing its bales of tea into the channel as usual? Probably the tea would have bounced right back.
The flowers are by the wonderful landscaper in the building where I work. They make you feel like you are in a greenhouse (“växthus” if you are Swedish or have a bilingual grandson).
Note the weather outside the window.
Update 2/6/14. Today the ice in Fort Point Channel, covered with snow, reminds me of chicken fat when you take homemade soup out of the fridge. I added the photo up top.
Yesterday a colleague who has been taking a work-related class told me he finally sent in his latest paper. He said that he had kept taking it home, intending to work on it, but just couldn’t. Finally, on the day it was due, he came to work early and wrote the dang thing.
He said, “I always leave this stuff till the last minute. I work better under pressure.”
I said, “There’s a song for you. It’s called ‘A Book Report on Peter Rabbit,’ and it’s from the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
And I went on YouTube and found the song for him. It’s sort of a fugue involving Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Charlie Brown. They each have their own way of approaching the task of writing a book report, and I think the four styles pretty much cover the different ways each of us approaches work.
Are you more like Lucy, counting up the words in order to do the bare minimum? More psychologically analytical like Linus? Wildly imaginative like Schroeder, who would rather be writing about Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham?
My friend identifies with Charlie Brown, who sings that there is no point in getting started when he’s “not really rested,” that he works “better under pressure.”
Someone on twitter linked to this delightful post at Junk Culture this week. It’s an extraordinarily detailed replica of a Boeing airplane — made out of manila folders.
Writes Junk Culture, “Using nothing but manila folders and dabs of glue, Luca Iaconi-Stewart has been putting together a very detailed model of a Boeing 777 that is almost as complex as the real thing.
“The doors open and close on paper hinges and the landing gear retracts up into the fuselage. The project which has been a labour of love for five years grew out of his passion for airplanes and the models he made from manila paper in a high school architecture class.
“Iaconi-Stewart told Wired, ‘There’s something rewarding about being able to replicate a part in such an unconventional medium.’ ”
A collection of amazing photos — some that move — may be found here. The retractable wheel carriage has to be seen to be believed.
Without meaning to suggest that there is anything bizarre about such remarkable precision in a young man, I have to say actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s version of Sherlock Holmes keeps coming to mind as I look at the photos.
I have blogged before about Sam and Leslie Davol’s library projects, including the Uni, a portable library (here). They were living in Boston’s Chinatown during the economic downturn and got an idea for a temporary library in one of the empty storefronts. Chinatown has not had a branch of the Boston Public Library since the 1950s.
(Read a couple stories about that at the BostonStreetLab, here, and the Boston Globe, here.)
Now it seems some 8-year-olds in Mattapan have become indignant about no-library injustice and have marched on City Hall.
Wesley Lowery writes in the Globe, “The voices were young, but they rang out in a synchronized and forceful chant as the children made their way through the downtown streets. Gloved hands held painted signs as pink and blue bookbags bounced on their backs.
“ ‘Books, access fairness, we’re marching to raise awareness’” the more than 50 second-graders declared as they marched from the Chinatown gate to City Hall Friday afternoon. …
“The youthful protesters were seeking to raise awareness of a campaign to bring a public library to Chinatown, which is the only Boston neighborhood without a library branch. …
“The protest was planned and carried out by students at the Young Achievers School in Mattapan, which as part of its curriculum has recently spent time learning about libraries. Upon hearing that Chinatown does not have a public library, organizers said, the students decided to stage the protest.
“ ‘They asked: “What can we do to help?” ’ said Kim Situ of the Chinese Progressive Association, which helped to organized the march.” Read more here.
And when the Young Achievers from Mattapan have gotten a library for Chinatown, maybe they could work on one for Fort Point. It’s something @FortPointer has been tweeting about for ages.
Maybe he should have been talking to 8-year-olds.
Photo: Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Luis Pizarro, 8, was one of the students from the Young Achievers School who marched on City Hall.
You never know with winter. The weatherperson says “possible snow flurries,” and you get two and a half inches. Lichen-covered branches crash in the first high wind.
I’m posting a few pictures.
The tree in front of the brick bank will look just like this in the spring, but the white puffs will be flowers. I especially like the way the dogwood looks in winter — a Chinese scroll painting. The Assabet River is lovely from any angle. The tree between the yellow buildings has an elephant’s trunk.
Friends and family are heading off to warmer weather or just coming back and feeling mellow. But I think I kind of like winter.
This is my 1,000th post! Thanks to everyone for sticking around.
Back in May 2011, Suzanne and Erik asked me to write a blog for Suzanne’s birthstone jewelry company, Luna & Stella. They said I could write about anything that interested me.
Anything!? How could I resist?
Luna & Stella gift giving is all about relationships and relations, and I’m certainly a relation.
One time a woman who was nervous about buying online checked out the blog, felt like it helped her know the family a little, and decided Suzanne would be an OK person to buy from.
Want a gift certificate?
I’m going to list a few of my favorite posts. They are mostly recent because it’s hard to remember all 1,000. If you comment on your own favorite post from Suzanne’s Mom’s Blog before February 1, Suzanne will enter you in a drawing for a $100 gift certificate. She said we should do something special for the 1,000th entry.
Here are a few of my favorite entries.
In this post, I had fun trying to imitate Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.
This one, here, is about a funny episode at the “On the Media” radio show, with songs that Broadway professionals wrote for corporate conventions.
Here you can read a story about an older couple celebrating their long-ago wedding with a theme from the movie “Up.”
“Iceland Has Elves” got me started on a whole Iceland kick. (If you can get your hands on the video Cold Fever, you are in for a strange but fun treat. Thank you, Asakiyume.)
The post about Suzanne’s 18-month-old son “training” his grandparents got nice comments on Facebook. And here is one on gratitude that I did at Thanksgiving.
Will you comment on a favorite post, too? Write your comment before February 1, Suzanne says, and she will enter you in a drawing to win a $100 Luna & Stella gift certificate. Valentine’s Day is coming up, you know, not to mention Mother’s Day. And Luna & Stella has birthstone cufflinks for Father’s Day, too.
And thank you so much for hanging on for my daily posts.
Poet friend Ronnie expressed admiration on Facebook for Colorado’s governor, who actively supports the arts, and she linked to an announcement about applying for the Governor’s 2014 arts awards.
“The 2014 Governor’s Creative Leadership Awards are now accepting nominations, through Feb. 27, 4 p.m. Formerly the Governor’s Art Awards, and given to locations or districts (Pueblo won one last year), this year it will recognize organizations and individuals who ‘demonstrated a significant commitment to Colorado’s creative landscape through civic leadership and volunteerism including advocacy, vision, collaboration or innovation.’ …
“Nominations are accepted under the following categories:
• “Arts and creative placemaking: Presented to individuals or organizations that use the arts to envision new futures through activities such as activating a public space, animating a community or sparking redevelopment.
• “Arts and community action: Presented to individuals and organizations that have demonstrated selfless service, inspired others to take action or catalyze change in their community using the arts.
• “Arts and social change: Presented to individuals or organizations that work to solve a critical social problem such as homelessness, drug prevention, abuse, poverty or racism using creativity and/or arts.”
In addition, you have until Feb. 3 to nominate Colorado’s poet laureate. More here on Colorado’s efforts.
Why don’t more states and cities promote the arts? I can think of places right now that should have their own creative arts districts. Or maybe a design district. Suzanne tells me that Helsinki, Finland, has attracted international recognition for its own design district, here. I like how they define it as a state of mind rather than by specific street boundaries:
“Design District Helsinki is a neighbourhood and a state of mind. It is creativity, uniqueness, experiences, design and Finnish urban culture.”
Photo: Salida Creates
Downtown Salida is a Certified Colorado Creative Arts District.
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