Archive for September, 2011
“To be off balance but still under control”
Or: too many ideas, a creative explosion, stunning color palettes, African strip quilts, and me Sources of vast inspiration Sometimes, work and play intersect, overlap, combine. For this week’s material culture class, we read four selections, chapters and articles, on design and aesthetic. One of the pieces was a chapter from John M. Vlach’s book [...]
September 23rd, 2011Ten years later.
Taken at 9:59 a.m., New Yorkers witness the collapse of the South Tower. Each face is more powerful than the next. By freelance photographer Patrick Witty. We’ll call this the requisite commentary-on-the-anniversary blog. Probably every American is reflecting on that Tuesday, September 11 ten years ago, in their own way, to many different degrees of [...]
September 9th, 2011“Art was not separate from everyday experience.”
The face jug is a staple motif in southern folk pottery, portraying the humorous "aesthetic of the ugly." I spent over two hours of pure joy and pleasure this weekend drinking in an exhibit that told its story with folk art: hand crafted chairs, cotton-picking plows and tools, buttons made of sea mussels, the most [...]
September 3rd, 2011Summer reading list
Stieg Larsson’s third book Books I read this summer (and recommend) For the preservationist you: The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a CIty Transformed by Michael Meyer For the adventurous youthful side: Undress Me In the Temple Of Heaven: A Memoir by Susan Jane Gilman For an all-out laugh [...]
September 1st, 2011