Art Np2

I'm supposed to be reading the classics.  I agreed to complete several challenges, but I let myself be pulled into The Hunger Games .  The first book was scary and I didn't finish it, but then I saw the film.  So after reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay , I am anxiously awaiting the next movie.  For me it's just as bad as my obsession with Harry Potter. Then I ran across David Blight's course Hist 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877 free on Itunes.   Find course here or on Itunes.   I became interested in with what happened during The Civil War that so I decided to listen to all the lectures and read some of the books. I am fascinated by how many men died on both sides, the nonsensical reasons the South gave for continuing slavery, and the devastating pain Sherman's march to the sea caused the civilian population.  How could countrymen  do such terrible things to one another? The books to be read during the course are: Why the Civil War Came Garb

A few years ago I went to visit Morocco for a week and a half.  The  Hassan II   Mosque in Casablanca has beautiful handmade designs inside and out.  This art reminds me of that lovely peaceful place . Niger Folk Saying:   He who boasts much can do little. Abstraction Alya Painting Acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cms, 2006  Handasah Inominate III Painting Hand-ground watercolour on khadi paper, 15 x 15 cm, 2004 Aaram   Green Composition Painting Oil on gesso panel, 110 x 110 cm, 2010 Zarah Hussain

We've been cleaning out our shed and Jake found a tub of old cassettes.  Hiroshima's Los Angeles was one of the tapes.  I was introduced to Hiroshima in the early 80's with the album Dada.   Here from 1994 is "Only Love" brought to you by Canal de leandorassiz  and Youtube.  It's very relaxing.

Gear Driven Richard Cammarata April 18- April 23, 2012 "Gear Driven" Graduate Thesis Show of Richard Cammarata featuring ceramic sculptures on hand built crate pedestals and two wall mounted pieces. The gallery looks fantastic! I love the transformation that this 3D show has brought to the gallery. A big thanks to Luis Sahagun for getting the lighting perfect. Reception: Thursday April 19th from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Beauty In Abandonment Candace Schutt MFA Graduate Thesis Exhibition April 10-April 17, 2012 Opening Reception: Thursday, APril 12th at 6:00p.m.

Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic. ~  Jean Sibelius Quote From Kate Is Rising Sculpture by Visual Artist Nathan Sawaya LEGOS

I pushed the publish button accidentally on a bunch of drafts.  If you click on them they will not come up.  Sorry. 

Classic song written by Ashford and Simpson. I don't like the way Zalon is grabbing on Dionne.  What do you think?  Am I being sensitive?

These two poems remind me there are a myriad of perspectives different from my own. There are many ways to see a thing.  It has nothing to do with right or wrong. "Spiderweb" From other angles the fibers look fragile, but not from the spider’s, always hauling coarse ropes, hitching lines to the best posts possible. It’s heavy work everyplace, fighting sag, winching up give. It isn’t ever delicate to live.  Kay Ryan from New Poems "Turtle" Who would be a turtle who could help it? A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet, She can ill afford the chances she must take In rowing toward the grasses that she eats. Her track is graceless, like dragging A packing-case places, and almost any slope Defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical, She’s often stuck up to the axle on her way To something edible. With everything optimal, She skirts the ditch which would convert Her shell into a serving dish. She lives Below luck-level, never imagining some lottery Will chang

I'm supposed to be reading the classics but... Last week I saw The Hunger Games and loved it.  When I tried reading the book a few months ago, I cringed and put the book down when the kids starting killing one another.  Everyone kept saying how good the movie was, so I went to see it.  You know what? The movie was excellent and not as violent as the book.  Now I have to read the two other books in the series.  I'm reading Catching Fire instead of The Canterbury Tales .  Then I found Tracey Morgan's autobiography I'm The New Black on the discounted shelf at Barnes and Noble.  While volunteering at the library I found The Great Molasses Flood of 1919  by Deborah Kops.  Instead of reading Hurston's The Complete Stories , I'm reading Snow White Blood Red Edited by Datlow and Windling.  Sometimes I like doing what I'm not supposed to do.

The "control of nature" is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and convenience of man.  Rachel Carson Intuition Heureuse by  Myrtille Henrion Picco , Oil on Canvas.

Paraphrases come from The Big Sea softcover published by Thunder Head Press in New York. "The Mills" was written by Langston Hughes when he was fourteen years old.  In his autobiography The Big Sea Hughes tells about how he began writing poetry when he became Class Poet of his graduating class in grammar school.  He was picked because he classmates believed that a negro would have rhythm ( 24). At a young age Hughes was an observer of other people.  For someone his age Hughes had a deep insight into the affect of steel mills on its workers. " The Mills" That grind and grind, That grind out steel And grind away lives Of men-- In the sunset their stacks Are great black silhouettes Against the sky. In the dawn They belch red fire. Grinding new steel, Old men. Poem by Langston Hughes I like how he comprehended that the men's spirits and bodies were being slowly wore down.  I imagine a life of toiling at endless hard sweaty work.   I can see the stacks he described

I just found this book at used book store in like new condition.  Couldn't believe it!  Hee hee.   The Best Of It  won the Pulitzer prize for poetry in 2010.   Kay Ryan, born in California in 1945, was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2009-2010.  She published her first book when she was thirty-eight years old.  Ryan has also won a Guggenheim fellowship, and her poetry has been featured in three Pushcart anthologies and in many magazines.  To read a complete biography of Kay Ryan click  here . I cannot remember when I first read Kay Ryan's poetry.  It had to be recent because I have only been reading poetry since April, 2011 in response to the murder of Phylicia Barnes.    What I have learned from Ryan is that trying to understand a poem can put the mind in a state the same as in prayer. What I love about her poetry is her insight into our shared human condition.  She is contemplative.  One can feel how she struggles and ruminates over her poetry.  Ryan wants to get

" One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple / By the relief office I saw my people - As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if /This land was made for me and you."   Woody Guthrie Illustrator of Working Cotton , Carol Byard. Writer of Working Cotton , Sherley Anne Williams.