Certainly an advantage to being a house sitter in a new community, rather than a tourist, is that I have unrestricted time to mosey through market and residential areas that aren’t featured in Chamber of Commerce literature. I particularly like to look for people’s art or public art, as opposed to gallery art, all over a town. On out-of-the-way streets in the town of Langley on Whidbey Island, I got to discover what the ordinary (and extraordinary) townspeople think is import

He wrote that I should look for the tall Japanese man with the bald head. Okay. I walked into Counter Culture Cafe in Santa Fe and greeted him, mispronouncing his name. I said it as “jen”— he corrected me, “gen”—as in Genghis Khan. Thus my hour with humble, warm, and inventive Gen Hayashida—who at first glance intimidated me—began. Gen Hayashida, March 2018 Gen is a remarkable man: his parents sent him from Japan to the San Francisco area at age 16 as an exchange student. He

I’ve encountered nothing but kindness and charm in Albuquerque, NM, and I’ve been housesitting in this city for three months already. Here in Albuquerque’s North Valley where I temporarily live, I’ve explored several walking trails, for this historic area is criss-crossed by ditches. These acequias, in Spanish, are long old trenches of varying widths and depths that sometime during the year, I’m told, carry water to agricultural fields. Much of the time they are dry and dusty

An Occasional Post on Art that Thrills Me Boredom is also the mother of invention. Back-in-the-day, we entertained ourselves in the evening—reading, conversing, playing, singing, writing, carving, sketching, knitting, learning, planning, studying, listening to and making music. Back-in-the-day, there was no screen with words and images created by others to seduce us into simply watching others conversing, playing, doing…. Back-in-the-day, our unspoken mottos were this: Out wi

Strolling along the Thames near the Tate Modern last evening, near the Blackfriars Bridge Ticket Office I chanced upon the first d-pod in England. It’s been in existence for less than a week. What fun to discover this retail idea! I shot this from outside the window glass, so there’s a confusing reflection of people buying tickets opposite the d-pod, but still you can see the dimensions of the space from the two walls. It’s quite a narrow space. In its windows were open white

An Occasional Post on Art that Thrills Me I saw an exhibit that made me oogle and cheer in Santa Fe in August 2016. It was “MAIL ART! Priority Mail” at the Axle Contemporary, a irreverent mobile gallery that feeds those starved for unusual art. The Axle Contemporary truck appears at street corners and farmers’ markets, feeding art to the curious and open-minded. I must take photos for Sherry! I said to myself. For thirty years, my friend Sherry has been the lone practitioner

An Occasional Post on Art that Thrills Me The other day during my stay in Santa Fe, I stumbled upon Max Cole. She’s a minimalist artist, originally from Kansas, whose work was being shown in tandem with the work of Constance Dejong at Charlotte Jackson Fine Arts. When I entered the gallery I had no idea that I was just in time for a talk by the two women. I stayed for it, luckily getting a front row seat. And as I left the gallery, I found myself crying because I was so moved

An Occasional Post about Art that Thrills Me If you become paralyzed with awe when you see monumental rocks, vast stone cliffs, or boulders that only a god could make, split, and balance—then the bold paintings and charcoal sketches of Jane Culp should take your breath away. (See several jpgs below.) Jane is old-school: she was classically trained (at Yale), steeped in the New York art culture (her husband was a well-known artist, too, and art critic and teacher), and has spe

An Occasional Post about Art that Thrills Me Date? Dec 10, 2014 Location? San Francisco, CA—Alcatraz Island At the Alcatraz Cruise ticket office: I like that logo! Synchronicity(aka Miracle) of the Day? Meeting Anna, an art-historian docent, at the beginning of the exhibit; she did an excellent job of putting Ai Weiwei’s work in an historical and political context for us after we approached her and asked questions. That’s what you’ve gotta do in a museum, I’m learning—talk to