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Archive for April, 2012

More High Desert Conceptual Art

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Continuing our first day of hunting down art installations — we stopped for some pizza and then headed out into the desert. The desert landscape, outside Twentynine Palms, is dotted with rundown little cabins. Each one is on a 5 acre plot. This land was deeded to people if they erected a building. Most of them were never lived in — they essentially held the spot. One of these cabins was used by a woman artist who created a whole story about a religious sect that had it’s own language and Bible.

This was interesting and seemed like a lot of effort was put into it.

Next, we drove up above the desert to find several sites. Here is the view from where we were hunting our treasure.

The main installation here was formed from two aluminum truck heads welded together. It created a mirror in which you could see a reflection of the rocks and surrounding landscape.

Another installation was this mesh boulder.

And there was this funny black ceramic vessel sitting amongst the rocks.

But, to me, the most fascinating site was the rock formation that was like a little trail heading off up the hill. This is totally natural and organic – not manmade.

We ended the day at Pappy and Harriet’s, a road house near Pioneer Town, where western movies used to be filmed. We had BBQ and listened to a great country and western band, The Big Blue Tractor.

I am having a hard time getting into my groove. Yesterday, I hit the wall, mid-afternoon. Today, I made it until 7 pm. I still have not gotten into the studio, but hope springs eternal!! I have had to work diligently on the database for Artists Among Us. There is always tomorrow.

Hello!

Sunday, April 15th, 2012

It has been too long since I checked in here. After a few days in San Francisco bonding with our new granddaughter, we headed south to the desert to spend time with Steve’s brothers and their wives — Mike and Ann live in Twentynine Palms and David and Kristin live in Florida and flew out to join us for a few days.

The virus and sinus infection that I had when we left home finally left me, but it took a toll on my energy level. Keeping up with the daytime activities, meant that I was exhausted by evening and so blogging went by the wayside.

It felt so good to be in the warm, dry desert and wear a t-shirt and sandals. I soaked up some vitamin D and got a bit of color, but no sunburn. I love the big open sky and the long visitas of the desert.

My Florida SIL, is a retired art professor from University of Southern Florida. She is an authority on folk and public art and has written several  books and discovered a number of interesting outsider artists. She always has a list of things to look for and visit when she arrives. She did not disappoint us. The area around Twentynine Palms is a treasure trove of art installations — funky and surreal.

The High Desert Test Sites is an organization with the following mission:

High Desert Test Sites generates physical and conceptual spaces for art exploring the intersections between contemporary art and life at large. Scattered along a stretch of intimate yet diverse desert communities that include Joshua Tree, Pioneertown, Wonder Valley, Yucca Valley, and 29 Palms, our sites provide a place for both fleeting and long-term experimental projects.

If you click on the link, you can read about some of the sites.

Here are some photos from our first day of driving around the desert.

Our first stop was the Sky Village Swap Meet that was a very weird collection of stuff arranged in booths and shanties. There were wonderful cactus groupings that I loved.

 

Our next stop was the World Famous Crochet Museum. What a hoot!!

This was a former film developing building.

 

 

Here are Kristin and Ann enjoying the crocheted items. The little building was packed.

I have tons of photos and will try to get some more ready to post tomorrow. I have a ton of work to do to get ready for our Artists Among Us. I also am itching to get back in the studio and get caught up with my 3 x 3s. Today, I helped with the art class at Trinity, did loads and loads of laundry, tried to organize my life and had pizza with the family. It was nice to check in with M & M and their parents.

 

 

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Another Sunny Day

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

It was another sparkling,  yet brisk day in San Francisco. I am still feeling like a slug as I deal with the sinus infection. I felt lousy when I got up this morning and was moving in slow motion. I finally got my rear in gear and felt better by late morning. I went down and helped Jayme with Paige so that she could get ready to go to her first outing with Paige to a neighborhood group for moms and new babies.

Mr C and I went to a new restaurant a block away and had a delicious brunch. He had  baked eggs and I had a quiche with leeks and black trumpet mushrooms. Then, we went back downtown to go to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to see the show Do Not Destroy. Lisa was invited to participate.

You can see her piece, here. It sold the first night.

Here is the plaza as you enter the museum.

And some of the architecture in the area.

I loved the show because it is all about trees. I love trees and tree art. I was especially intrigued by this large work of birches which seemed like a painting from a distance. Up close, you see that is a paper collage. Sheet music, newsprint and other paper prints and photos are collaged for this scene. The faces in the collage give it an eerie sense when you get close.

This is a detail shot that I took before the guards told me no photos. Click on it to see the details.

I loved this old door on the church next door to the museum.

Lisa came over to spend some time with Paige this afternoon. Her dog, Wilfredo, came upstairs to visit Scooter. He was very excited to have company in his current home.

Tonight, we were to pooped to cook, so we ordered pizza. Tomorrow, we start on the next part of our journey. We are going to the Mojave desert to spend time with Steve’s brothers and their wives. We will spend the night in Valencia and then drive out to the desert on Saturday morning. We will stop here next week for another Paige fix!!

Baby, Oh, Baby

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

We just can’t get enough of this precious little girl!! Here she is, cradled in Grandpa’s hands.

I am so glad that we are here this week to help Mark and Jayme. Mark started a new job yesterday that is 4 days/10 hours a day. We have been able to help out, especially with grocery shopping and cooking dinner. It has been a treat to have meals with them every night.

Today, we picked up Lisa, and went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant near the San Francisco Center and had wonderful time catching up with her. She left us and went to see The Hunger Games and we did a little walking around Nordstrom and Bloomingdales, but I was not in a shopping mood.

I have not even been taking as many photos as I usually do. I did get a pic of the pretty paper flowers at the restaurant.

We came back to our place and I took a nap (still trying to get my mojo back) and then went downstairs to do some stuff for Jayme – changed the linens on their bed and did some laundry. Then I got to babysit Paige while she took a shower. We had fun taking some photos of her.

I am a tired Grandma. Going to get to bed early. Night.