This was my first visit to the Amelia Island Artwalk which happens every second Saturday. It incorporate 11 galleries and shops close to the vibrant downtown area. Artwork ranges from amateur to professional and includes many types of media including wood, metal, ceramics, paint and mixed media. I was impressed with the range and the quality of pieces we saw. Below is a small sampling of the artwork on display.
Amelia Island Artwork- Artrageous Artwalk
Michigan Late June 19
Visited the Detroit/Ann Arbor area the last weekend in June. Saw several interesting things. The Heidelberg Project I can’t explain as well as their page so I’ll just put the link here. Detroit Institute of Art was good but the Art Museum at the University of Michigan was almost as good and free. We tried e-scooters, which seemed dangerous. Also went to a ball game at Comerica Park which had a great view of downtown Detroit. Really enjoyed the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Not just about cars, they had planes, trains and automobiles but also glass, furniture and other americana through the decades. Also has Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House which was made in Wichita. Lots of children activities there and craft demonstrations. We saw weaving, glass blowing, metal spinning and a demonstration of an early phonograph. Also a nice botanical garden in Ann Arbor with interesting greenhouse collection.
Northern California Late May 2019
Pics from our trip from San Francisco to Humboldt County
ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES
Travel to countries that are/have rapidly industrialized reminds one that clean air and water are worth protecting and not to be taken for granted.
Dirty air and water view
This is improving though and steps are being taken whose results should be watched for possible replication.
Electric car charging infrastructure is far more developed in China than anywhere else I’ve seen. This is a row of car charging station outside my hotel. However I have still never riden in an electric car.
Bike shares are extensive in China but I also see a lot of abandoned bikes by the side of the rode so not sure if this is cost effective.
Efficient and reliable mass transport is one of the biggest things we can’t seem to replicate that other countries have figured out.
Nice train stations with all your favorite amenities.
Also lots of city green space.
Chinese tea
I just learned that tea bags are an “English” tea thing. In China I was told you just have a bowl of tea leaves, you take a pinch out and put them in the pot with hot water. Then pour into very small tea cup. The tea cools much quicker due to small size of the cup. You take small sips and keep your mouth small to avoid drinking the leaves. This explains how “reading tea leaves” is a thing. (The glass in below image was unusual. This was a birth celebration party so it was really for wine. Depending on the region you have a big party when a child is either nine or a hundred days old, possibly both, and present the baby to friends and family.)
A factory gave me tea as a gift. I assumed these packets had tea bags in them.
They did not. Makes really nice tea though.
Also every restaurant has this table with the lazy Susan and burner.
Boston Library
Recently stayed in Boston for a night on the same city block as the public library. The old part of the library is all the things you think an old library should be. Heavy wood, cast iron, marble, green shades, old books and also snow.
India
Images from the Lotus Temple in Delhi and the trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra
January Beach Time
Just my annual beach outing.
Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens
We visited this great space for the first time last weekend. Very nice (and well attended) green space in an area that previously was used for strip mining materials for titanium, see more details here. The space includes many short trail loops, a lake, sculptures, educational signs and plant labels and is also dog friendly! We even saw local wildlife.
Sewing Project
Someone decided their new dog bed was a better chew toy than a bed.
Managed to preserve the existing zipper and used some thick fabric scraps in relatively coordinating colors to recover the internal padding. (which was mostly intact)
Dog approved. I do not really hold out much hope that this will not also be chewed up but maybe the dog will appreciate the effort :) At any rate it was free and fast.
CORK open studios 2018
CoRK Arts District is over 80,000 square feet of warehouse space converted to artist studios and galleries. These are my images of a few of my favorite pieces from their annual open house last weekend. Free event that I highly recommend if you enjoy art.
High Point October 2018
New categories - Clocks and Planters - plus lots of new Furniture and Mirrors (and two new Fountains as well. Lots of great new Modern Farmhouse style and Oversized Mirrors. Not to mention all the great new Lamps and Fixtures. Somehow I didn’t get a shot of the main mirror wall but you get the idea.
MOCA Jacksonville
I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Jacksonville for the first time last month. It is a relatively small three floor museum that you can easily get through in an hour. There were very few visitors when we were there (it was the end of the day on a Saturday) so we had no trouble seeing the collection. The one floor is their permanent collection, the next is their rotating exhibitions and the last floor was an interactive children's zone. The rotating exhibition was the most interesting to me. It was a collection of three artists from different time periods who used black to unify and transform found objects.
Chakaia Booker used different types of tires and transformed them into 360 degree sculptures that brought to my mind sea creatures and barnacles. These pieces evoked different references from different angles and were very dynamic. The museum used strong lighting to bring out the contrast in the forms between shadow and light. Unfortunately this washed out my photographs so you can not see the full effect in my images.
While Booker’s work reminded me of underwater objects Laura Fensterstock transformed actual underwater objects with black paint so completely into Victorian floral decay that at first I could not tell what the underlying objects were. She also used black paper and charcoal to create floral pieces. These cabinets were my favorite pieces. Fensterstock was the youngest of these three artist.
The exhibit was centered around Louise Nevelson as sort of the originator and oldest of these artists. Her pieces came from found objects (mostly wooden) rescued from the city streets. She used the black paint to unify the pieces and put the focus on the contrasting textures of the objects. These works were the least interesting to me as they were not as transformative. It was hard for me to look past the original objects.
This bench was on the fourth floor in the children’s area. I thought this was a clever design for a spacial divider/bench back. Reminiscent of the exhibit before it transforms pool sticks into something else through the use of repeated colors and pattern.
View of an adjacent downtown building from the top floor of the museum.
Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Enjoyed a visit to the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta last weekend. They have an large conservatory with an extensive collection of orchids and other non native plants from desert and high elevation climates.
Atlanta Aquarium July
Had a nice visit to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. I had been six or seven years ago but it is still interesting and they had new exhibits and animals I hadn't seen last time. Especially enjoyed the dolphin show. It was part of regular admission and was very entertaining. I recommend sitting in row eight or nine, just above the 'soak zone' but low enough to get your feet wet for a little thrill. Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.
Hong Kong in May 2018
Had a spare day in Hong Kong so we went up into the clouds on a cable car to visit the Tian Tan Buddha, took a double decker bus up a winding mountain road to the top of Victoria Peak and took the Red Ferry at night. The visibility was terrible but the clouds made visiting the mountain tops feel like a mystical sort of experience. Also very creepy in the cable car. This was my first ride in the cable car and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The lights in Hong Kong at night are amazing and even though the ferry ride is brief I would still say it is a must do at night.
My best view from Victoria Peak. The visibility went to zero after this.
Night views from the Red Ferry. Lots of visitors here.
Fireplace Reno
We finally finished the uncovering and rehabilitation of this fireplace. It took almost a complete year of extremely intermittent work. Very pleased with how it turned out.
Before: The previous homeowners had covered up the fireplace for a more modern look. I rather impulsively decided to take down the covering box thinking this would be a relatively simple project...
After: 11 months later we finally have a beautiful finished result. It is very close the the original but still has a lot of lived 'character' marks.
Bruges
Our last and warmest day in Belgium
Ghent
Day trip to Ghent. The Ghent City Pass really worked out for us and allowed us to do a lot of things quickly without worrying about costs.
Belgian Sampler
Selection of things from my Belgium trip.
