We Can be Heroes?

What's "great"? Just had a disagreement with another blogger about a piece of [literature according to me, something else according to him]. There are books that are revelations when one is young, but which seem tedious when we are older. This is not, to me, because we're necessarily wiser, it's more about what we need from literature ... or any art form. I have enjoyed introducing young friends to On the Road, for instance, but were I to reread it now I think I would feel like kicking the narcissistic a***s of the characters. In art, as my vision has become fuzzier, I have lost interest in murky images. What lasts? And even if it doesn't last, can't something be great in its time and place? Is knowing when we are older more accurate or just different from that when we're young?*

*Lewis Carroll addressed some of these questions in You are Old, Father William, of course.

A Visit from Alice?

Here's Alice looking out over the city of Oakland. I was having the thought, at about the same time as Tony was leaving a comment, about sending some of these to people who are interested.

Edit 2/23: Alices are now all spoken for, until next time. I will be posting pictures of them in their new environments from those who send me jpegs.

Palm trees seem like the question marks of the arboreal world to me.

Oh, also - this sunny vista makes me think of Wallace Stevens' The World is Larger in Summer

A trip up the coast

Two of my pieces at the Claudia Chapline Gallery in Stinson Beach. Claudia will be closing her gallery before the end of the year, in part because of the economy, but mostly because she wants to have time for her own art.

Above, two shots of Monty Monty's speampunkish balloon in The Quicksilver Mine Co. Gallery in Forestville, where I also have work. They seem to be plugging along. You can see more of his work on his website.
Here is A Noah's Ark in Sebastapol, the work of Patrick Amiot. Many of his neighbors, as well as numerous local businesses, have his yard art displayed, there are more photos here  (his web site is down, unfortunately). 

Alice in Wonderland/The Duchess

Even the Duchess sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was sneezing and howling alternatively, without a moment's pause.

The above was photographed in the Tenderloin National Forest (see left), which exists in Cohen alley in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, one of the poorer areas of the city. Its designation is real, though the sign is not standard issue. The structure the Duchess is sitting in is one of the a piece by Cameron Hockenson made for an exhibit of Shelters in the alley a couple of years back. A few blocks away in the Civic Center, Patrick Dougherty has installed alterations to an alley of sycamores (see below). Finally, if you must have more sticks before Thursday (when I will have some up on the Tinytheatre blog), here is a link to a youtube video of Nick Caves's Soundsuits.

Lost/Yarn

I am alone here in thinking Naveen Andrews is the most attractive, although not the tallest, male character on Lost? Coming attraction for the project after Alice.

Something you could do with a ball of yarn is knit something for these poles

at the National Gallery of Australia, where grrl+dog needs many knitted strips of 43" width to fill up the vertical height. Details for this international  project are here.

I will post the scary thing later today as I still need to finish it.

Art- It's Messy

Edit: Some of you are aware that there are ongoing problems with blog theft of my and other blogs. I'm not posting a link because that means more traffic to the site - I will just say that if you are reading -and seeing - this anywhere other than /Art SparkTheatre, the post has been taken by RSSfeed despite repeated requests that the webmaster cease doing so. If so, please consider unsubscribing from that site.