Just ordinary Thursday

 

 

There I was, in layers because it was still cold when we set up at 8 am on Saturdays...trying to sell all those pots. Sometime before 2019 (since I wasn't selling that summer!)

Remember 2021, and 2022? and 2023? This was at the Dripolator, where I took the mask down to drink my Americano! Not in 2021 probably.

The other day I did a post about the earth...but didn't see this plume at Mt. Kalaheo till later. (Hawaii)

A New York blogger posted these wood elephants the other day.

Facebook showed lots of good No King Day protests. The national news shot clips of the army demonstrations of their armaments with civilians holding howitzers (or something big). But no parade yet at the 7 o'clock news.

Sunday morning I found this:

Today's quote:

Sometimes the motivation to help others may be an extension of a deep desire to heal a wounded part of ourselves.

Wheel thrown and altered cobalt glazed teapot.

What if...

Yellow iris by Lake Tomahawk, Black Mountain NC

Unknown dates - Antarctica

Antarctica

Mom'sCleanAirForce 8.14.24 on FB

Katharine Hayhoe - EveryChoiceMatters

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday

and Signs2

and My Corner of the World

Today's quote:

Gratefulness helps us return to ourselves, restoring our equilibrium and helping us to see beyond what’s broken to the beauty and wholeness of life.

Tim Roberts Tree sculpture with dried honesty seeds

Julia Burr's sculpture

 

Glass marbles catch the sunlight...I am glad I could step close to get this detail.

At the foot of the gardens, stands a sculpture by Julia Burr.

It's located near an area which has a butterfly garden during spring/summer/fall. But now it only has grass and fallen leaves around it.

I actually misread it and thought it said Archery, rather than Alchemy. Duh. And me who has had a blog and a pottery business called "Alchemy of Clay." Hanging my head, I am.

Today I remember my little sister, who died a couple of years ago. Today would have been her 75th birthday.

Today's quote:

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow 
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

~Mary Elizabeth Frye

Some Sepia photos I've been hanging onto

 

A famous photograph of men lunching on an I-beam (640 feet above the New York streets) while building Rockefeller Center during the depression. It was planned on September 20, 1932, on the 69th floor of the RCA Building, It appeared in the Sunday photo supplement of the New York Herald Tribune on October 2, 1932. For many years noobody knew who the photographer had been, but it was credited to Charles C. Ebbets in 2003. Incidentally, the floor below it had been finished already, so this view kind of belies the fact of only being 20 feet or so above another floor.

The rest of the story...

A movie was made of the immigrants who worked as construction iron workers...I'm not sure who the director was...probably an immigrant. There was some mention of Irish immigrants, and American Indians. Only a few of the men in the photo have been identified.

And then there's another immigrant, 

Sergio Furnari, to whom the photograph spoke...

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Sergio Furnari's "Lunchtime on a Skyscraper"

"...Decades later a poster of the photograph hung in shop window on Fifth Avenue when sculptor Sergio Furnari walked by. The Sicilian-born Furnari was new to America and the image captivated him. The faces of the workers—mostly immigrants—spoke to him. 

“ 'I know how they felt,' he later recalled to New York Times reporter Leslie Chess Feller, 'I looked at those faces and knew I had to capture them in clay. Like me, they were immigrants, poor people who worked hard.'

"Furnari started out creating a life-size version of the photograph. The figures were executed in terra cotta, cement, fiberglass and metal. One-by-one the completed statues were welded to an I-beam which Furnari attached to his truck. The work in progress was exhibited around the city, wherever the artist would park.

"As he worked on the astonishing sculpture he said 'Those men were real people. Each one has, I think, a soul. I feel it when I sculpt them, when I touch their faces and make their features come out of the clay. It’s like I keep their spirit alive.'

"Furnari called his work “Lunchtime on a Skyscraper—A Tribute to America’s Heroes.” That title would take on new significance on the morning of September 11, 2001.

"The work was nearly finished. Only one figure was left to complete. That morning Furnari and his wife, illustrator Julia Licht, watched the collapse of the World Trade Towers from their apartment window.

"Within the next few weeks working heroes would have a new meaning for Furnari and his sculpture.

photo by Alice Lum

Each figure was executed with minute detail -- photo by Tien Mao

Furnari's sculpture became a mobile piece, touring the country -- photo newyorkdailyphoto.blogspot.com



The work was completed in October. Meanwhile hundreds of workmen toiled in the still-smoldering ruins of Ground Zero. “The twin towers were made by the ironworkers, and it was the ironworkers that had to remove the whole steel out of Ground Zero,” he later related.

:Furnari transported the inspiring work to the site as both a tribute and an encouragement to the workmen. 'When they were down in the hole, nobody was smiling. But when they were by the statue, they were inspired, and realized their work was appreciated,' he said. The sculpture uplifted the workers for five months.

"In 2003 Furnari attached the 25-foot, one-ton sculpture onto his truck and set off on a nationwide road trip in hopes of bringing ;the American and New York spirit all over America.' He encouraged people across the country who saw the work to sign his truck. Before the end of the tour, millions of Americans had seen the sculpture.

''

"Upon its return to the city “Lunchtime on a Skyscraper” became a sort of mobile museum, appearing here and there and always attracting a great amount of attention. Unfortunately, in January 2007 it attracted the wrong type of attention.

"Thieves broke into the Furnari’s Queens facility and one of the figures was unbolted and stolen.

“I feel like they stole a part of me a part of my life,” the artist told a New York Post reporter. The 100-lb. figure was never recovered.

"The essence of the work moves the observer and in 2010 a copy was commissioned by owners of a Valparaiso, Indiana restaurant named “Industrial Revolution.” One of the owners, Mike Lesson, explained 'The restaurant is dedicated to everyday people who take risks and is a tribute to the workers who built this country.'

"Furnari still tours his sculpture around on his truck—a newer one than the one which first transported the work—providing a unexpected delight for New Yorkers an d tourists lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time."

SOURCE: Daytonian in Manhattan: The stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating, by Tom Miller, HERE.

I don't know who drew this, but I firmly agree with what RBG said. What a woman. What a leader! May we all live our lives with as much dedication to our belief in democracy and freedom of all people as she did.

All alone sitting by the shore. Sepia Saturday shows this gentleman, probably taken sometime before the 1960s...I'd guess the 30's. Check out what other's have come up with as this may inspire them. And by the time Saturday comes, it will have some details of the photo, giving it credit and date (I hope.)

A more modern photo of a friend who recently visited the shore, listening to the waves in a seashell. Well, you do know about that, I hope. Try it if you haven't ever done so.

Christo and the Met

Music on Friday.

A bit of pleasure to share...YouTube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=32&v=VVlJYaoiIBY&feature=emb_logo

I don't know why bogger keeps saying there's no video found by that link. But enjoy the Met
At Home Gala.

Sculpture to amaze, in it's scope and scale and color. We lost Christo last week at 84 years (not to COVID-19 apparently.)

Work began on the installation of the couple's most protracted project, The Gates, (above) in New York City's Central Park in January 2005. The title is The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005 in reference to the time that passed from their initial proposal until they were able to go ahead with it with the permission of the new mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The Gates was open to the public from February 12–27, 2005. A total of 7,503 gates made of saffron-colored fabric were placed on paths in Central Park. They were five meters (16 ft) high and had a combined length of 37 km (23 mi). Bloomberg, a fan of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, presented them with the "Doris C. Freedman Award for Public Art" for the work of art.^[24] The project cost an estimated US$21 million, which the artists planned to recoup by selling project documentation.^(Wikipedia)

Inspired by a snow fence, in 1972, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began preparations for Running Fence: a 24.5-mile fence of white nylon, supported by steel posts and steel cables, running through the Californian landscape and into the ocean. In exchange for temporary use of rancher land, the artists agreed to offer payment and use of the deconstructed building materials. Others challenged its construction in 18 public hearings and three state court sessions. The fence began construction in April 1976 and the project culminated in a two-week display in September, after which it was deconstructed. (Wikipedia)

 Christo and Jeanne-Claude planned a project based on Jeanne-Claude's idea to surround eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay with 603,850 m² (6,499,800 sq ft) of pink polypropylene floating fabric. It was completed on May 7, 1983, with the aid of 430 workers and could be admired for two weeks. 

 Christo and his wife, Jean Claude, who died in 2009.

Quote for today:

"Artists don't retire. They die. That's all. When they stop being able to create art, they die."
Jean Claude

Winter is almost over

There is a quiet humility about the earth in the winter months, as animals and people retreat inside to do their deep work. 
From Daily Om...by Madisyn Taylor.

It seems as though the inner work is almost done...as we have 10  8 more days till Spring Equinox!

Of course those folks south of the equator will start having cooler days, as we get the warmth returning.

Today it's suddenly cold and rainy, though it wasn't supposed to be.  Poor weather folk.  They can only do so much.  A local church said pretty much the same on a radio broadcast today.  Saying the weathermen can predict but they are often wrong, so put your faith into the One and only who does know what's going to happen.  I was amazed that God now needs radio ads.

It's a make-some-soup day for me.  I've got lots of root crops, and just got a bunch of chopped cilantro, which of course will garnish my soup nicely.  Or perhaps the tomatoes which were beginning to go bad...and are now soaking in soapy water.  They will fit nicely with cilantro and some mixed greens.  But wait, I'm running around so much this week, when will I have time to make soups and salads? Well, I'll find a way.  Where's that crockpot?

Today is planned to take some pottery to a gallery and leave it for a month or more.  All Creatures Great and Small, at the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League...in their Red House gallery.  

I'm making less functional things now, and enjoying sculpting different kinds of things.  How about a big globular shape with some heads coming out of it?  Well, so far that's what's happening with the latest piece.