If you haven’t experienced the truth of this, you haven’t lived very long or deeply.
IMAGE: Many thanks to the Dump-a-Day Blog, for this quote and image.
Month: September 2015
I couldn’t learn much about the origin of this photo. I thought the sidecar for the dog was a nice touch.
IMAGE: Many thanks to the OklahomaBureau of Narcotics Facebook Page.
I met Dawn LaGrave at the Brookside Art Fair in Kansas City, and was immediately blown away by her artwork. As a paper sculptor, I responded to the dimensionality of her work. And as an artist, I found the rhythmic abstractions of the images both fascinating and beautiful.
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| Here’s a detail of LaGrave’s Ste. Chapelle piece, showing the 3-D aspect. |
I couldn’t wait to get inside her display and take a closer look at the work. These pieces would reward viewing again and again over time. One of my tests for “would I live with this piece?” is how well I think it would reward repeated viewing. I believe these images would stand up to that test beautifully.
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| LaGrave’s Pink Dahlia is an eye-popper for sure. |
If you agree with me that this is way cool work, you can see a much larger variety of images on Dawn’s website and her Facebook page. If you’re curious about her technique, she explains her process on her website.
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| Here’s an idea of how she uses source photos. Very sorry–I couldn’t find the name of this piece. |
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| Here’s what LaGrave did with a cactus photo. |
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| The source photo was pretty interesting, but LaGrave’s treatment takes it to a whole new level. |
Dawn is one of those aesthetic beings who did not go to art school. She made a practical living in the corporate world of health insurance, until the urge to “do something more creative” with her life became an overriding need. As she explains in her “About the Artist” page, she brings her love of “geometry, angles and symmetry” to each piece, but she also enjoys bringing “a different perspective of actual places and things, to which people may have a strong connection.”
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| This piece is based on a photo of the Smith Tower in Seattle, WA. |
It’s better to see original artwork in person. Please look for Dawn at an art fair near you! Check her website for a list of upcoming appearances.
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| The source photo is of Notre Dame de Paris. |
If you’d like to buy some of her artwork, but she’s not scheduled to be at a show near you soon, she offers online purchasing options on her Facebook page, her website, and her catalog on ISSUU.
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| My friends who are sf fans will recognize the T.A.R.D.I.S. in this image. |
IMAGE CREDITS: All artwork featured in this post is the work of Dawn LaGrave, and the images are posted with her permission. These artworks and others may be seen and purchased on her Facebook page, her website, and her catalog on ISSUU. A visit there will be time well spent!
Whoever we are, we need to remember that no one can completely know another person. We also can’t make them think the way we want them to. Freedom of thought, speech, and religion involves respecting the other’s freedom, too.
IMAGE: Thanks to the Dump-a-Day blog, for this quote and image.
A little K9 humor for your Saturday:
IMAGE: Many thanks to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook Page, for this image.
We are coming into Monarch Migration season, in Kansas City. Some years we see more than others, and in recent years we’ve seen sadly fewer than in earlier times. But we are privileged to have a regular stopping spot for the fabled butterflies, in our front yard.
The big silver maple tree is home to birds, squirrels, and a thriving ivy growth. Yes, we know it’s a parasite. No, we don’t want to lose our tree. But every year we bargain with the devil, because when the Monarchs come through it’s ivy-bloom time.
Suddenly our tree is alive with bees, flies, and–yes–Monarch butterflies. For a few brief days we’re the center of intense activity. They’re here, then just as abruptly they’re gone.
There are things Monarch-lovers can do, along the way. Plant milkweeds, for one. Plant other flowering shrubs and herbs that attract butterflies, and limit or eliminate nonessential pesticides.
But the hazards of the annual migration are massive and fierce. Every year, we pray enough will make it to Mexico, in spite of all the destruction we humans have wrought, that the cycle can begin again.
Godspeed, Monarchs.
IMAGES: All photos were taken by Jan S. Gephardt and are copyright-protected by the artist. You may re-post these images with my permission, if you use them unaltered, with a link-back and attribution.
Here’s why:
I’m posting this now, in honor of all the art fairs being held in the Kansas City area this month–but it holds true whenever and wherever you are.
IMAGE: Many thanks to Jessilyn Park Art Studio and the Jessilyn Park Art Studio Facebook Page, for this image.
The ugly horror of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks will always remain a dark memory. But the heroism that rose up to counter that evil deserves our honor and admiration.
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| This is the ill-fated Flight 93 airplane itself, on Sept. 8, 2001 (MacMax, via Wikimedia Commons) |
One of the first places where heroic spirits stood against terror was on United Airlines Flight 93. Passengers and crew, aware of what had happened to hijacked planes earlier that day, forced the terrorists to crash it near Shanksville, PA, rather than add to the catastrophes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
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| The smoking crater from that day (David Maxwell/AFP/Getty Images) |
Yesterday, Sept. 10, 2015, The Flight 93 Memorial Center officially opened, 14 years after the passengers and crew made their last stand. I’m offering these photos of the new center as a grateful tribute to them.
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| Black granite marks the plane’s path (AP/Keith Srakocic). |
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| Granite path and two sets of walls at the Flight 93 Memorial (AP/Gene L. Puskar) |
IMAGES: Many thanks to Wikimedia Commons and contributor MacMax, for the image of the plane; to CBS New York for the image of the smoking crater; to New Jersey 101.5, for the first “granite path” image and to Capital Public Radio for the second image from the Memorial.
Today is Labor Day. I thought it might be a good moment to think about this.
IMAGE: Many thanks to the Board of Wisdom website, for this image.
