Christmas Ornament Sale

 

I went to the Heard Museums annual Christmas ornament sale yesterday.  You might remember that I went last year for the very first time and came home with a butterfly ornament even though I no longer put up a tree.  There is a lot more space in the newly remodeled gift shop so it was easier to see all the ornaments and talk with the artists.

I hadn't planned on going this year but my friend Glenda wanted to go so I went along.  All of the ornaments are made by Native American artists and  the artists are there to to talk about their creations.

I managed to not buy a single ornament this year but my friend bought several.

We talked to the artist who made all the ornaments on this tree.  He had some very clever and very detailed pieces.  If I was still decorating a tree, I'm sure I would have purchased a few from him.  I especially like the tree topper!

On to the Next Holiday

 

Thanksgiving is over so now it's time to start preparing for the next holiday of the season.  The shopping centers are well on the way.  They had their decorations up the first week of November.

When I was there a week ago, Santa-Land was still waiting for the arrival of that jolly fellow.  I'm sure he will be very busy taking orders from all the little kids this weekend.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I'm wishing a very happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers.  I will be joining friends for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  I'm bringing my special apple cake and a cheese plate.  Others are cooking the turkey and trimmings.  No doubt we will all eat too much. That seems to be the standard for a really good Thanksgiving.

I'll also be giving thanks for good friends to enjoy the holiday with.  I'm also thankful for all of you bloggers who stop by my site.  Even if it's not a holiday where you live, enjoy your day!

Hiding in the Trees

 

I mentioned yesterday that I visited a friend's house a few days ago.  When I pulled onto her driveway, I caught sight of this guy who was hiding among the trees in her neighbor's yard.  

My friend said that her neighbor leaves him up and decorates him for the different seasons.  I believe he's carrying a Santa's hat in one hand.  

I have to admit, it was a bit of a shock to find him there.

Smooch and Otis

 

I went to gathering at a friend's house yesterday and enjoyed the company of Smooch and Otis once again.  They are both such sweet dogs.  Otis (on the right) was born deaf so he was a challenge to train but he has good learning skills so he picked up signals quickly.  He's a pleasure to be around.

Smooch is the older dog and he has lost his hearing through the aging process.  He was sound asleep when guests arrived and didn't notice that there were people around until around 30 minutes later.  Smooch is another sweetie.  

It was a fun little party with these two characters around to entertain us.  

New at Just Blaze

 

I found a new mural on the side of Just Blaze, the store that sells art supplies for mural artists.  Some of you might be better at interpreting this than I am.  He looks a bit like a mad scientist to me.  This one is a collaboration between oddsagainstyou_84 and satisfire_84.  Those are two names that were hard to type while auto-correct pushed the letters around as I typed them.

Taking part in Monday Murals. 

First Signs of Fall

 

I'm starting to see some color showing up on some of the trees around here.  

The leaves on the crepe myrtle trees around my complex are starting to blush.

I'll be keeping my eyes open to see if any other trees start to change colors.

I titled this post "First Signs of Fall" but actually, the first signs arrived several weeks ago when we went from 100+ temperatures down to the 60's almost over night.  It was a shock for most of us.  I'm still adjusting to the cooler temperatures.  

We Need A Bigger Bow

 

I went to the Scottsdale Fashion Square shopping center yesterday and of course all the Christmas decorations were on full display.  There was also a Christmas tree charity auction going on so the mall was full of beautifully decorated Christmas trees ready to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

This one caught my eye because of that giant bow that has pretty much covered the whole tree.

This one was wrapped in a pink feather boa.

This one was my favorite.  It's a tree of champagne bottles.  I could put that to good use.

Arches and Shadows

 When I went to the Heard Museum last weekend, I caught sight of the arch covered walkway that is found at the back of the museum.

It provided some nice morning light shadows.  

Cruising Central Avenue

 

My friend was driving as we left the Heard Museum last weekend so I took the opportunity to snap a couple of photos right through the windshield as we drove up Central Avenue. Traffic was very light as you can see.

The photos turned out better than I expected so I decided to post them.  It was a pretty day with blue sky and sunshine.  Both of these were taken in the "midtown" area of Phoenix where quite a few tall buildings frame the street and the light rail tracks run down the middle of the street (left in this shot).  The tinting on the windshield shows up at the top of these photos.

More From the Space Makers

 

I have a few more pieces from the Space Makers exhibit I told you about in yesterday's post.  This first one is a painting by Peter Busa who was a founding member of the Space Makers artists.  This one is called "Children's Hour".

Busa was a friend of Jackson Pollock and influenced some of Pollock's work.

This piece is by Dyani White Hawk.  The photo doesn't show how shiny those copper space are.  It's one of those pieces that as you walk past, it appears to be moving.

These last two paintings are by Steve Wheeler, another founding member of the Space Makers artists.  This one is called "The Magic Horn" and it was painted in 1942.

This one is called "Woman Eating Hot Dog" and let me tell you, I stared at this painting for a long time trying to locate the woman.  I still haven't found her but I'm guessing the hot dog had all the fixings on it. The colors of mustard, catsup and relish are present in this painting.

I did a Google search on each of these artist's names and found a rainbow of colorful works from each of them.  It was quite entertaining.

Learning New Things

 

I was at the Heard Museum over the weekend to attend another "Artful Mornings" lecture and it gave me the opportunity to visit a new exhibit that just opened a week ago.  The new exhibit is called "Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art."

The exhibit was exploring the art of a group called the Indian Space Painters who had a profound influence on the American art scene.

This exhibit was organized by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville Arkansas.

I had one of those WOW moments when I entered the exhibit gallery.  Most of the works were full of brilliant colors and wildly different patterns and symbols.  This piece is called "Sustenance" and was painted in the 1960's by Linda Lomahaftewa.  

This is another one by Linda Lomahaftewa. It is untitled and was painted in 1970.

This one was created by Benjamin Harjo Jr. and it is called "Ancient Images, Modern Times".  Benjamin became known as the Picasso of Native American Art.  I can see why.

This was also painted by Benjamin Harjo Jr.  This one is called "Honoring the Spirit of All Things".  

I really loved this exhibit.  I'm sure I'll be back to see it again while it's at the Heard Museum.  I love learning new things and I had not heard of this group of artists, many of whom studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.  The IAIA gallery is one I visit every time I go to Santa Fe.

The Gift of Flowers

 

This combination salon and barber shop has been gifted with a permanent display of flowers on the front of its building.  They look like pretty waterlilies waiting there to greet all their clients.  I didn't see a signature on this one but I do think it is very nicely done.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.

Full Moon Over Camelback Mountain

 

These photos won't win any prizes but I was enjoying the full moon hanging above Camelback Mountain as I was driving to my friend's house.  I snapped a couple of shots out the windshield of the car as I was stopped at the traffic lights.

As I got closer to my friend's house, the perspective almost looked like the moon was setting behind the mountain but it wasn't.  It was on its way up in the eastern sky.

When I got to her house, I tried taking one from her back garden but I had this tree to contend with so I framed the moon between the tree limbs.

After all of that, my friend Dave got the best shot.  He had a much better view when he snapped this one.

New Multi-Housing Units

 

I recently spotted two new multi-housing units near downtown Phoenix.  This one is called Monroe Gardens and it has an attractive look with all that brick. 

I didn't see a name on this one but it also is appealing to look at.  I like all those balconies.  That would be a must for me.  I love my balcony. I like stepping outside several times a day and enjoying the fresh air and the view.

Both of these places are within walking distance of shops, restaurants, museums and theaters.  That is another advantage.

Nature's Art

 

After two days of "conceptual art" I thought it might be nice to show a bit of mother nature's art.  There is beauty all around us all the time and we just need to notice and enjoy it.  Here are two desert rose blooms that I photographed two weeks ago.  If you've followed my site for very long, you will know that this is a favorite of mine.  I'm always drawn to these blooms when I'm at the Desert Botanical Garden.  These beauties will most likely be gone the next time I go to the garden.  They do not tolerate colder temperatures so they go into the garden's greenhouse about this time of year.  They will be back in the spring.

Here's a bonus bloom.  These pretty flowers bloom all year long on the large toothpick cactus plants.  I see one or two every time I'm walking there.

Airplanecrashclock

 

Yes, I did run those three words in the title together because that is the name of this piece of conceptual art by Charles Gaines, the artist I spoke about in yesterday's post. This piece was constructed in 1997 and depicts a cityscape that brings together iconic buildings from Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.  Above the fictional city, an airplane begins its flight path.

 Operating at 10 minute intervals, the plane slowly glides over the fictional city until it descends into a simulated free fall complete with the sound of screams from inside the plane.

It descends until this little square in the cityscape flips over and the plane disappears under the space that is now showing a crashed airplane.  This piece was not intended to represent any specific disaster. The artist's original idea was to create an atmosphere of suspense and to explore the emotional build-up of an anticipated catastrophe.  

The description card tells us that this piece is intended to make us think about how we are manipulated when our emotions are heightened. The fictional cityscape suggests how fact and fiction are conflated in movies and in the media impacting how we perceive deadly events.  

Well, that certainly gives us lots to think about.

Understanding Conceptual Art.....Or Not

 

The definition of "conceptual art" is: art in which the idea or concept presented by the artist is considered more important than the finished art object. I tried to keep that in mind while viewing the most recent work of conceptual artist Charles Gaines at the Phoenix Art Museum.  

This exhibit is called Numbers and Trees, the Arizona Series.  Gaines used photographs of Arizona cottonwood trees.  The trees were then plotted with specific colors and a numbered grid based on the colors was placed over the trees.  I don't pretend to understand it but it was both interesting and beautiful to see.

The exhibit also included this work called "Greenhouse" which is a massive enclosure containing three stainless steel trees.  The trees are enveloped with smoke as adjacent monitors track historical and real-time temperature patterns of global warming. As it does this, the light inside the structure changes based on the temperatures being represented.

In this photo you can see the monitors on the wall to the right.  This is another concept that I don't really understand.  However, it is a fascinating exhibit with a lot to see and to think about. These works make me think that Gaines has a scientific mind as well as an artistic nature.

There is another part of this exhibit that coveres Gaines' work between 1992 and 2023.  It contained a variety of pieces that while still conceptual, are completely different from the work I've shown here.  I'll show you one of them tomorrow.

Styles In All Ages

 

The Exhibit honoring the Arizona Costume Institute that I mentioned on Sunday had some other fashions to see besides that rather bazaar  COVID coat.

This "Court Gown" from 1765 was on display.  Imagine wearing that headpiece.

This Opera Coat from 1895 was designed by someone named Madame Judith.  I have a feeling I'd get a lot of stares if I wore that to the opera today.  

On the other hand, this ensemble from the 1920's could be worn today without too much fuss.  This one was designed by Hattie Carnegie who was a fashion entrepreneur from the 1920's to the 1950's.  

The exhibit brought us right around to modern fashions and this 'little black dress' adorned with gold safety pins.  This one comes from the Versace collection of 1994.

It was fun to see some of the fashions collected over the 58 years the Arizona Costume Institute has been operating.