Touching Greatness

(Sorry the photo is a bit blurred.)


Yesterday, I met Larry McMurtry. He and Diana Ossana were discussing their screenplay collaboration at the Tucson Book Festival  It was a packed audience.

And I had gone because I wanted to "clap eyes on him".

It was special to me not only because I admire his work, but because I'm actually a relative too. His great, great grandfather (maybe there's another great in there) and my great, great grandmother were brother and sister; the children of James McMurtry. The McMurtrys traveled through Missouri before settling in Texas and started a cattle dynasty. The saying goes, "If you talk about cattle in Texas, you're talking about the McMurtrys."

My gr, gr, gr, grandmother didn't make the Texas trek. She married and stayed in Missouri.

Larry grew up on a cattle ranch, but he didn't like it. So he's the Maverick of the family, I guess, taking to education and writing instead.


















Anyway

After the session was over, some people were crowding around the stage and after some hesitation, I joined them. I wanted to touch him. I NEVER want to touch someone, but I really had the urge to shake his hand and look into his face. So I did. I said, "I'm your cousin." and explained how we were distantly related. He smiled politely and I wondered how many people had said that to him. The McMurtrys were/are a big family. This has happened to him more than once, I would bet.

His handshake was firm, warm and polite. He smiled. And I felt somehow an odd ancestral loop of some kind had been closed.

He and Diana Ossana have a new blog that promises to be a delight. It is called Flash and Filligree and can be found at http://flashandfiligree.com

Playing with Pattern

Please Note: The following post was written before the news of the horrible earthquake in Hati. I, like you, am watching and praying for those unfortunate people who have and are suffering from this catastrophy and doing what little I can to help.

Ah, the joys of winter. The days when shivering souls' thoughts turn to memories of tropical breezes and gently swaying palms.

Palm trees.......Living near palm trees have been intermittent part of my life through the years. Unfortunately, I cannot say I'm looking at any now, but I'm not looking at snow and ice either, so I can count myself lucky so far.

Even though at the moment I am looking at some spiky vegetation, I never tire of looking at palm trees, those tough survivors of prehistory.

You must admit they are very weird trees. I like to think of them as something more akin to a rhinoceros' horn than a bona fide tree. The long, seemingly weak trunk that insists on piling more growth on top of itself in the order of scales rather than grained wood, and topped by inefficient-looking tassel-like things that flops and windmills at every breeze. Not really leaves at all.

The invention of a mad scientist, I say. The fronds look more like some plastic material and don't seem too suitable for photosynthesis. And the tree has a most inefficient way of discarding dead fronds. Discarding big hunks of them leaving a wound where they had been attached. Or very carelessly not quite shedding the things, allowing the fronds to hang down the trunk giving shelter to who knows what kinds of vermin. Really.

Their roots are a joke. Although, I have almost never seen a palm uprooted or one that has fallen over unless it is the result of a hurricane or some other extremely powerful force. I'll give them that.

And fruits? Either strange cat-o-nine tails loaded with dates which have to be cut off or big, thumping bombs that fall so close to the trunk they develop into more competitive children that steal soil nutrients (such as they are) and finally, the sun from it's parent.

They really should be the total failures of the plant world. Yet persist, they do.

SEGWAY Alert:

Once, when we were living in the Middle East, a friend of mine woke one morning to find that the slight bump in the center of her living room floor had developed into mound caused by a palm sprout. It has slept there for years but, for some unknown reason, decided that morning (or night before) it was time to grow. "Must have been the Kool Aid the kids spilled", she thought. She and her landlord had one devil of a time rooting the thing out--had to take all the tile out, break the cracked concrete and dig a deep hole.

In any case, I am charmed by them. Palm groves grow in graceful poses. I have drawn them, painted them, and spent hours looking at them. They are like a corps de ballet in the breeze; dancing and tossing their heads to the music of the wind. They softly rattle their fronds against each other, clasping and unclasping green fingers in the air, making hypnotic shadows on the ground revealing the secrets to weaving in their shadows for some astute ancient woman to unlock.

A Quick Trip to DC

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Washington D.C. A quick trip, only four days, more's the pity. Each year that we go, I have my list of museums to visit. I like to go alone, take my time, make notes to myself and to think.

The Corcoran has a small bistro on one side of the main lobby that offered wonderful lunches. I usually plan to arrive sometime during the lunchtime window. And ditto for the mezzanine service at the Museum for Women in the Arts.

I always go to the Renwick. There's always a good show there, to say nothing of their per

manent collection upstairs. (Which, this year, the upstairs display was very limited. The Catlins are all off the walls and the Grand Salon is undergoing a major renovation. Wonder what they have done with those two massive vases that always anchored

two sides of the massive room?)

The Corcoran Gallery usually has the student's show plus some large, multi-room display. I'll never forget the Topkapi one a few years ago.

I always make it to the Museum of Women in the Arts. Their shows are always good. This year, it was gowns and jewelry from the designer, Mary McFadden. I was a little unsure of--

1. Whether a clothes designer could pull off an art display equal to some I had already seen at the museum. and 2. If I would really care.

I was wowed. McFadden bases her designs on classic and ethnic references and her sense of color is unparalleled. The collection included some of her personal jewelry and pieces she has collected from all over the world as reference pieces. Her clothing is the height of textile skill. The clothes were cut and put together beautifully. I wished I could have seen how they were constructed on the inside. The decoration, usually in beading, was superb.

Unfortunately, the annual Art of the Book is no longer available on the library level of the museum. They have closed the great art reference library permanently. I'm sorry they had to do that. The exhibit was also one of the highlights of the museum.

Everywhere I visited, cutbacks in expenses were very evident. The lunches were pared down to minimalist offerings. The service staff was nearly gone. At the Corcoran, only one sole woman was receiving people, taking orders, cashiering the pre-pay and putting the food on a 6-foot table for pick-up. No more elegant lunches there. The Museum for Women in the Arts was the same thing--two servers and edited menus.

When I was at the Renwick, a great show about the architect brothers Green and Green of California was set up. Examples of joinery, hardware, floor plans, lamps, pieces of furniture, stained glass, etc. were displayed. A wonderful film of homes designed for their owners was being presented in one room. When it was over, I went to the museum shop to see if I could get a CD of it. It wasn't available. I asked if there was a catalog of the show. No, the volunteer said. Was there at least a poster? Nope.

All the shops in the museums were sparse. The Corcoran has divided the gift shop space in half and is selling off stock at discounted prices. The selection available is mostly print matter--books and postcards. The Renwick still has individual artist's pieces on display, but they have cut their stock radically. The same goes for W. in the A. They is discounting nearly everything.

It's sad to see the arts take such a hit.

Artisan's Market Show

Last weekend was the Tucson Museum of Art 's Artisan's Market. It was a nice show. The Southern Arizona Clay Association's area was a good one--right at the entrance courtyard.

Outside of set-up and take-down, I was there for my work shift on Saturday morning only, but we were busy the entire time.
This is good. There's nothing worse than sitting around at a show with only a trickle of patrons coming through.











The over-all quality of the show was really quite high with a good mix of choices from two-dimensional work, fibers, sculpture, jewelry,etc.

I was hoping to be able to take a good turn around and spend some time looking at other booths, but didn't even have time to take a break; we were that busy.

There were 17 potters participating in the Southern Arizona Clay Association booth and the variety and range of work was, as it usually is, wide and varied.

My general observation is that the brighter, more colorful work sold best. And as usual, things in the lower range did well--$20.00 to $40.00 or thereabouts.

The customers were a good mix of young and older, men and women. Usually women buy the most pottery pieces.

Some of my best customers have historically been people of Asian heritage and other artists. This time it was a bit different. I usually sell some of my teapots, but didn't at this show, although I did well as far as sales go.

I really enjoy the contact with customers and like to meet people and talk. I got over being shy about my work a long time ago.

"Cathedral", a story of Mexico

When I was a sophomore in college, I was awarded a scholarship to study for a summer session in Guanajuato, Mexico. (The big, white building in the lower photo is the university ) I
was majoring in art and Spanish and my Spanish professor had established a scholarship in honor of his identical twin brother, an artist, who had died at a young age.




The university ran an arts program during the summer, but normally during the rest of the time, it was an engineering school; mainly mining engineering. Most of the silver mines in Mexico are located in the mountains that surround the town of Guanajuato. **

**The Valenciana mine is famous for it's enormous lode of silver ore and was at one time one of the deepest mines in the world. In the 1700s this mine and others in the adjoining mountains produced 70% of all the silver in the world. There is still untold tons of silver remaining, but it accidentally became flooded and was closed for many years. It has since reopened and is mined today. But, when I visited the whole area was in ruins. A rock thrown from the top opening took a very long time to hit water. And in the process, the friction of air upon the velocity of the rock created an increasingly gathering "whoosh" that became a roar as speed and echo worked together.

Anyway, with two whole year's worth of Spanish language study, I was enrolled in art classes and was living with the family of the ex-mayor of Guanajuato, so I was also "living " in Spanish day-to-day.

I took a weaving class in a weaving factory. The loom I was given was a huge timber structure I had to climb into to work. They had to adjust the treadles for my feet to reach them. My project was a poncho of white, black and blue wool.

I took pottery in another factory that made utility pots and tourist pieces. They had kick wheels and fired using a wood-fired kiln. I made small pots of earthenware that were "mas delicado" (very delicate). I learned to make miniature dishes just for fun.

I studied voice in a class of Mexican folk songs and learned traditional Mexican dance. All my classes were conducted in Spanish except painting. That class was presided over by a bristly old German expat painter whose every other word turned the air blue. He stormed into the classroom like a man going to war. He swore at the students; he had temper tantrums; he criticized mercilessly. He left me alone--he told me I could paint. I was flattered out of my mind. I spent the whole session working on the painting above. It was the view we saw from the top floor of the university.

On my return to regular collage, I exhibited the Cathedral painting at the school gallery and at the local art museum. I've moved it with me to whatever place we have moved. Sometimes, it stayed in a closet because it didn't fit or there was no room on the wall. I have a particular place in the house in Tucson where I know it will look good. Yes, the painting has flaws. There are places I would have treated differently if I were to paint it today. But I still love it anyway.

































This second painting is a variation in watercolor. (Which my sister promptly named "Pope with a Lollipop".)

It is an interpretation of the cathedral in San Miguel de Allende, shown with light illumination. It is a technique I experimented with and may try the same idea on a pot.

A lot of times with watercolor, a white or light area is blocked out and reserved by painting frisket over the area and then the darker washes or background painting is done first. The frisket is removed to bring the white into the picture or to go back and paint details into the white. It protects the white/light areas in pristine condition and is removed by rolling it off the surface.

With this treatment, I painted this laying in the white areas with rubber cement, then painted the entire building area with light yellow. Then, I blocked off the light yellow with rubber cement and painted an orange-yellow over the area. I worked out from light to dark by blocking off each color and painting in darker areas. At the end of the process, the whole picture appeared to be a total mess, but peeling off all those areas of rubber cement revealed the beautiful, bright picture underneath. I overpainted the grass, fence and trees after the rubber cement was all peeled off. The trick is, you have to have the whole picture in your mind before you start.

So, why wouldn't this work using wax on a pot and block out the light areas, then glaze, block and then glaze? Firing would take all the resist off. I would suppose care must be taken to avoid thick build-up of glaze, but the whole theory may be worth a try. A carefully planned design executed on a flat surface might have it's possibilities.........

And Speaking of Elephants, Here's some Reeealy Big Elephants

There is a store in London named Thomas Goode, ltd located just south of Oxford Street and Grosvenor Square on South Audley. It's not far from the American Embassy.

Flanking the entrance and standing behind huge glass display windows are these fabulous ceramic elephants. You can find more pictures of them on the web at www.thomasgoode.co.uk. The elephants are majolica and were made for the company by Minton around 1898. They stand at about 8 feet tall. They are truly awesome.
If you go to the Goode website, you can see another view of one of the elephants and also read about the history of the company. The outside of the building is decorated with tiles and enormous Chinese-style vases set in niches high above street level. Alongside the south wall are beautiful tiles in the wall. It is quite impressive. When I worked and lived in the UK and I would pass this business often on my lunch hour and would never tire of looking at the wonderful elephants and beautiful display windows. I try to return every time I visit London. (Which hasn't been nearly enough!)

Inside, the shop and museum seems to go on and on with rooms filled with of the finest examples of ceramics to be seen anywhere. Goode still produces china wares for sale as they have since the early part of the 19th Century.

Finally in Ar-ra-zona!

We drove a vanload of furniture and dogs to Tucson, literally threw everything into the house; put the dogs in a kennel and left for convention in Las Vegas!The lobby in Bellagio with the Chihuly ceiling.And a beautiful early blue/gold piece in a small bar.

The yard has gone completely wild. I'm amazed how things grow here.

Of course, the second day we were here, my standard Schnauzer found a skunk at 4 a.m. She ran into the house and proceeded to scoot her body all over the rugs. Sacre cerise! Un pew! Le kitty que'l terriblay odeur!Having absolutely no experience with le chat de peu, she got sprayed.

Fortunately, it subsided after much airing and vacuuming.

Back and Brain-dead

Back home again and still walking around in a fog trying to sort out suitcases, papers, wash clothes and think of something for dinner. Flying from London to Seattle is not pretty. We broke our trip in D.C. for a night's sleep and a re-group, but 6 hours plus another 5 1/2 hour's flight really whacks your clock. Besides which - all the check-in lines, security lines, suitcase dragging and hikes to more lines to catch a train or to be bussed to yet another hike to find a departure gate. T'was getting a bit tedious. Flying isn't fun anymore. We've got our packing down to one suitcase each that holds about 35 lbs and a regulation carry-on. Thank heavens for the compression bags! They really make clothes go flat and save space. But still.....

Anyway

Went to many museums and venues in D.C., London and Madrid during the trip. Filled up a travel dairy with notes and drawings to use as references for new forms in clay. It's great to get out there and look at so much stuff that you go into total overload. I loved going into the stores and looking at all the new modern things. Europe is so much ahead of us in design. Also spent hours in museums looking at historical collections. I'd love to just rent a room across from the V&A and go there every day for about a month.

This time in London we not only returned to many of our favorite spots (We lived there for 4 1/2 years), but also made an effort to visit the places we never got to in that time. I truly love London and the UK.

Also had a great time listening to the people of Madrid and finding my tongue getting looser every day. Give me a couple of months and I'd be rattling off Spanish again pretty easily even though I haven't spoken it extensively to another soul for at least 40 years. We were also in the Catalan area. I'd never been there before and they put an interesting spin on the language.

Part of the trip was business which meant a lot of social events and a packed schedule, but the London part was purely enjoyment.

More later.........

Back from Tucson

Just returned from Tucson after taking a sun-break from the dreariness of the Northwest. Not that I don't love it here, you just need to feel some warm sun and soak up some D once in a while.

My cousin Beverly and her husband Andy, bookending us in front of a great steak house, were a welcome sight. It's been too many years since we last saw them. We visited two of my favorite potters in the world as well as Realtor friends that we know from Jim, my husband's, business. Two weeks went so very quickly!

We did a blitz check of the house market there and found a lovely place to escape to when the rain gets to us. To be able to go somewhere with special friends there too is icing on the cake.

The clay scene is well-established with many choices of work areas and markets. There exists there a fine appreciation of the potter's art and I will look forward to working there.

We returned home only to find that the electrical work we had done resulted in no water in the house (we learned this only after we had emptied the storage tank) so a call to the electritian was the priority this morning. Everything is working now, thank heavens, and life can get back to normal. We are looking at a very busy end of the month as well as a full March, so it's good that these kinds of problems can get taken care of in a hurry.