GUSTAVE BAUMANN

Last week, Rika, Ted and I went to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the small albeit powerful "Gustave Baumann: Artisan Printmaker of the Southwest" exhibit. Oddly, a month or two ago, I had seen his work in one of those books of postcards on sale at an airport in New Mexico on a layover and was struck with the simple beauty of his prints. But some kind of negative "Oh, it's on sale, something must be wrong with it" or "Maybe I'm just jet lagged and this stuff is actually terrible, that's why it's on sale..." brain washing mechanism kicked in and I didn't buy the postcards. Dumb. Turns out his "stuff" is actually beautiful and after doing a google I found that there have been many an inspired blogger to adoringly blog his images.

After a few days of emotionally kicking myself, feeling like I had yet again made another horrible mistake, lo and behold, I received an email from the PAM saying Gustave would be there for me even though I had let the word "sale" skew what I had known instantly to be exceptional beauty (which is really weird and totally backwards 'cause I LOVE a sale).

So, off we went on FREE DAY! to see the exhibit (every wednesday is free day at the PAM but please leave a little donation to support your arts!). I found Baumann's prints to be honest, understated yet complex, and truly lacking in ego. He was really just trying to convey the beauty of his natural surroundings in a way that would be immediately felt by those who viewed his images. It was such a pleasure to be able to see his prints in person, all hand done by Gustave himself, and to see an inspired view of nature, vibrant and loved. And I got to buy my book of postcards.

See Gustave Baumann: Artisan Printmaker of the Southwest at the Phoenix Art Museum 

April 7-July 8, 2012

Orme Lewis Gallery

PhxArt.org

VINTAGE JACKPOT

I work at a wonderful, magical place called The Cottage Garden aka The Cottage.  I have worked here for over a year and I must say it is the best job I have ever had. And here is one of the many reasons why: Just a couple of weeks ago one of our most lovely customers Delores came in and plopped down a giant basket full of mint condition vintage clothing for me to H-A-V-E.  Now just so you know, Delores is somewhere around eighty years old, used to model, and as she says she used to "go". The woman knows how to dress. Needless to say this stuff is COOL. Thank you Delores, I love you! And maybe one day she'll give me her old Arizona Highway modeling pics for me to post here for us to see. Anyway, here are pics of my vintage jackpot!

HALL OF FLAME

A few weeks ago Ted took his son to the Hall of Flame Fire Museum in Phoenix, AZ. While this may seem to be an overtly male type excursion, after analyzing the photos of their trip I found objects of delicate beauty. Yes, at the fire fighters museum. Now this may be due to the fact that when you take away the functionality and element of danger associated with these objects, many of these fire apparatus are really just vintage pieces designed and built during a time when people took pride in creating beautiful things. In fact the Hotchkiss carriage was devoid of all firefighting function and was actually just built to be beautiful and to be pulled around by firefighters during parades. Like the Homecoming queen. So, next time the guys want to check out the local baseball museum or swamp cooler museum, go with, as you never know what may inspire you.

 www.hallofflame.org

6101 E. Van Buren St.

Phoenix AZ, 85008