Monet and Me

 

went into the studio to make a tag for a gift.

When we reached for our favorite kneadable eraser, we found

it had been turned into a pig.

When the girlies were little, they liked to take my kneadable eraser and sculpt it into various things. I've found a cat, whale, mermaid, and a bird. 

While the Young One was visiting she had an online meeting. I told her she could use the studio/office for privacy. It must have been some meeting. When I found the piggy, I laughed. Some things never change.

Sean Kenney's Natures Connects

 Also at the Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, was an art exhibit, Sean Kenney's Natures Connects. From the website: This award-winning and record-breaking exhibition uses beautiful works of art made from simple toys to explore animal endangerment, the balance of ecosystems, and mankind’s relationship with nature. The art for the exhibit is/was made out of LEGO building bricks. The exhibit runs until September 10, 2023.

27,788 bricks, 515 hours

61,107 bricks, 265 hours

23,317 bricks, 290 hours

29, 314 bricks, 240 hours

12,990 bricks, 80 hours

46, 563 bricks, 215 hours

37, 879 bricks, 327 hours

19,536 bricks, 220 hours

39,708 bricks, 425 hours

68, 827 bricks, 625 hours

Chiaozza

The Eldest and I visited the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. There was a sculpture exhibit called Chiaozza which rhymes with Wowza or Yowza. It's a collaboration between two artists, Terri Chiao and Adam Frezzo.  Hopefully you can embiggen the above photo to read all these playful creations.

Some of the sculptures were indoors and

some were in the wild

Burnside Fountain

I had a meeting at the Worcester (pronounced Wi-stah in your best Bostonian accent) Public Library in the heart of the downtown. As a Boston snob, I don't know the area well even though I've lived out here for the past 30 years. I'm not sure if there's parking and parallel parking sends me into a panic. I decided Id walk from the art museum to the library. It's only a mile, the weather was pleasant, and I know I can get parking at the art museum because of the magic parking pass on the rear passenger window of my car.

Worcester is not only the second largest city in Massachusetts, but also the second largest city in all of New England (The six state area of: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, just in case you're not from these parts or have forgotten)

You would have thought for a city this large, the downtown area would be crowded and bustling with people. It's the middle of a Tuesday afternoon and I'm practically the only pedestrian. There are large buildings, and I assume businesses, but few people going in and out. There aren't even a lot of people going in and out of a Dunkin' Donuts. I wondered if it's siesta time in the city.

As I approached the library in Salem Square, I remembered there's supposed to be a famous, iconic statue somewhere behind city hall and the park. I spied it, and decided to take a closer look after my meeting.

I crossed the street from the library and came face to face with Turtle Boy. Officially, the statue known at the Burnside Fountain. The fountain was dedicated to a prominent, local attorney, Samuel Burnside in the early 1900's, by his daughter. The fountain base has two large basins originally used to water horses and a smaller basin for dogs.

The bronze figure of the boy with the turtle was sculpted by Charles Harvey. Poor Mr. Harvey had some mental health issues, and he took his own life before the statue was completed. The statue was completed by Sherry Frye. You can read a history of the statue at A Rolling Crone: The Saga of Turtle Boy

I can hear you snickering. At the turn of the last century, the genteel people of the city didn't bat an eyelash or wonder what in Gawd's name is the boy doing with the turtle. They would have accepted the classical mythic faun. But time has moved on. The fountain no longer works and with the smirk on the youngster's face, he looks like he's having way too much fun with that turtle.

Wordless Wednesday

Everyone is welcome!

Diffusing from Overthrow Martha Holdiay Stress Be Gone: Lavender, Frankincense, Orange

Rocky Has A Home

Several years ago, I took a stone carving class at the museum. We worked in marble and carved a face by finding features in the stone. My piece, unimaginatively named Rocky, looks like a sleeping knight. Since he first arrived, Rocky's been moved from place to place. He lived in the sun room for awhile before being relocated outside the sun room. I knew he would always be the first feature in the Zen garden.

This morning, Himself moved Rocky to his permanent home as the stone island in the middle of the pebble sea. Himself's description was less eloquent: Gewgaw 1.

The Friday Five Good Things

Whale sculpture courtesy of The Eldest

Five good things that happened this week.

1. First baked treat of the new year I made was blueberry scones. Himself had bought fresh blueberries over the holidays.

2. I'm glad the Worcester Incubator Art of Science Learning project is done.

3. The Young One went to another doctor about her shoulder/neck problem. He was the only doctor who listened to her. Good news, she has excellent range of motion and no nerve damage. He prescribed medication for muscle aches and told her to exercise the shoulder.

4. After running errands, Himself and I stopped for a date lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse. While the decor is still Western, I miss the chaps(especially the ones that looked like Heath wore), tack, and boots that used to decorate the place.

5. I store my kneadable eraser in a plastic egg to keep it clean. When the girlies were little, they liked to surprise me with eraser sculptures. I never knew what creature I would find when I opened the egg. Looks like big girlies never outgrow some things.

How was your week?

Pan

While wandering the wooded paths of Tower Hill, we came upon this statue of Pan. I wanted to enroll this statue in the Statue Relocation Program. I would relocate him to my yard. Isn't he magnificent?

Don't Blink!

Lunch with Sigi

The second workshop for the Art of Science Learning was held at Clark University in the heart of Worcester. Our afternoon assignment was to consider problems and opportunities about urban nutrition. We were to roam the neighborhood and observe assigned grocery stores and restaurants.

Before leaving for my destination, I decided to take my bagged lunch outside and enjoy the sunshine. I had driven by the university a million times, but had never visited the campus. I made my way across the quad to a group of stone benches facing a statue. Seemed like a nice place to have lunch. The students were on Spring Break so there wasn't a lot of activity. The temperature was in the high 30s to low 40s combined with the sunshine and a light breeze, the weather was quite balmy for New England.

As I read the plaque on the statue, my lunch companion turned out to be none other than Sigmund Freud. Who knew such an august visitor came to Worcester? Certainly not this Boston snob.

In 1909, Freud was invited to lecture at Clark University to help celebrate the anniversary of the university's graduate school, only the second graduate school in the country at the time. The statue was installed for the centennial celebration of the event.

Sigi and I sat in companionable silence. He was interested in the book he was reading, and I was basking in the glow of Spring fever.

Veterans Memorial Park

While in the Fens, came across the Veterans Memorial Park. The WWII monument was designed by architect, Tito Cascieri. The bronze angel statue sculpted by John Paramino.
The angel also watches over the Korean and Viet Nam war memorials.

Uncle Manny's Eagle

On the way home from the museum, we stopped at Boston College. I wanted to see up close and personal, the eagle my great-uncle Manny carved. The eagle stands on a plinth in a well-manicured, grass circle outside the BC football stadium.
The eagle was a gift from the Class of 1939. You can read how the eagle came to live at BC here.

The statue looks to be carved from unpolished pink marble. At some point, the wings broke off and have been cemented back on, but the eagle is still is a handsome statue.

In The Galleries

I had a wonderful time as the Artist in Residence du Jour of the Worcester Art Museum. yesterday. I had hoped the museum would have done some advertising about the event, though truthfully, the weather was so gorgeous there were very few visitors to the museum all day. Next time, I'll arrange for a rainy day. A big thank you to friends and a family who braved a trip to the wilds of Central Massachusetts. I really appreciated your support.

Since I only had the one day and was expected to have a finished or nearly finished piece at the end of the day, I had planned on using Tim Rollins and K.O.S. The Scarlet Letter VI as my inspiration. Instead of doing an illuminated initial, I wanted to do some sort of an altered book sculpture. I put out a call to family and friends to see if anyone had an old copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and came up with nothing. At the last minute, I was searching for a used copy and found a 1970 copy of a Penguin Classic. Big deal, right? Except the cover was a portrait painting of Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and her daughter, Baby Mary. The portrait just happens to hang in the American Gallery of, you guessed it, the Worcester Art Museum. Was that fate or what?

I have to say I really liked having the museum all to myself. Sitting and sketching was very relaxing. I can see the advantage of having a studio outside of one's home. No distractions to take your mind off your work. No one asking about lost items, and no guilt about ignoring the siren call of dirty dishes in the sink.

 First stop was to the 20th. c. gallery where I played with the letter A

Then I paid a visit to the Freakes. 

And then on the balcony of The Renaissance Court, I sketched a really cool, bas relief coat of arms with a dragon for a crest. 

Next stop, the studio, but I'll bore tell you about the rest of the process on Thursday.