Brussels

 

Bad news as soon as I got out of bed. Terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium this morning!?!? What do these terrorists think? Do they really think these kind of attacks are helping their cause? 
   This one hit a little too close to home. My cousin Maija is working for EU in Brussels. I knew that cell phones were not working in Brussels so I had to call her mom (my aunt) in Finland to find out that Maija was ok. She is fine, even though that Maelbeek subway station is near her apartment. 
   The attack brought back some memories. I have been to Brussels airport  a few times. The first time was 1989. I had  a fifteen hour layover there. Those steel benches in the terminal are really uncomfortable if you want to sleep. The second time was maybe a year later. I had another long layover. This time the police moved everyone to the other end of the terminal, because they had found a suspicious package. That situation was over pretty soon though, and I got to go back to my really uncomfortable bench. 

Snow day

The phone rang this morning around 5:30 am. School was canceled today because of snowy conditions. About twenty minutes later my wife received a similar call from her school. This was the first snow day of the year. We went back to sleep.  Today is February 5th, and that happens to be Runeberg's Day in Finland. Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877) is the national poet of Finland.
   Having a day off gave me an opportunity to commemorate Runeberg's Day by baking some Runeberg's Pastries (Runebergin Torttu). Luckily I had all the ingredients in the house. Mixing the ingredients took about half and hour. Traditionally Runeberg's Torttus are cylinder shaped, but I have always made them in a cupcake forms. 

 The torttus are in the oven.

Here is the first patch. I took some artistic liberties while decorating them. Mr. Runeberg was said to have a sweet tooth so I decided to celebrate his legacy by overdoing the raspberry jam and sugar.

Empty Nest

My youngest daughter has gone to college. I guess we are empty nesters now.

Sculptures in Easthampton

The third biennial "Art in the Orchard" started its run on August 13th. It will run until October 31st. The apple orchards up the street from my house have been filled with sculpture. This year there are 28 pieces of sculpture made of a wide and wild variety of materials. Here are some of them:

This is called "Truth #1" by Peter Dellert

"Orchard Pig" by Susan Halls

A detail of a piece called "Empty" by Katie Richardson. I have seen some of her other pieces made out of steel and glass. She makes some very cool stuff.

Don't be alarmed! UFOs have not landed in Easthampton. It is a piece of sculpture called

"Cosmic Gypsy". I guess they are coming in peace.... 

This was created by Chris Woodman. The piece spins in the wind.

BUT WAIT!!! ......THERE IS MORE!!!!!

In addition to the "Art in the Orchard", which is a special event, there are a couple of other new  permanent pieces of sculpture in the downtown area. Recently a huge Gibson Explorer appeared between the Senior Center and an Indian restaurant. It is steel. It looks solid. 

Why next to  Senior Center? I don't know nor care. It looks really cool. Maybe it is there to remind us that the first generation of rock and rollers are now senior citizens.

I have not been able to find out the artist's name yet.

Here is a detail of the Explorer. 

If you want to find out what a real Gibson Explorer sounds like, you can check out Pete Willis on first three Def Leppard albums. You could also check out Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

On Main Street there is also a new bicycle stand. 01027 - that is the Easthampton zip code. For what I have seen, people are actually using the bicycle stand for its intended purpose. And above all: it looks cool.

College for Kids at Westfield State University

During the last week of July my wife and I taught a sculpture class for kids at Westfield State University. This was part of their "College for Kids" program. Our class was called "Skulpture with K". (It was taught by Mr. And Mrs. K.)

In five days we did 7 different sculpture projects with our students. It was a blast! We did the same thing in July two years ago. Here we have a couple of the sculptures that the students did.

This is an abstract sock sculpture. It is called a "sock sculpture" because it is made of a piece of wood, a twisted coat hanger, a nylon sock and some acrylic paint. 

Here is a wall sculpture made out of an old picture frame, a piece of plywood and some scrap wood. Yes,.... it is clearly inspired by Louise Nevelson's work. The skills of these students were way above their grade level. Below you can see the materials that were used in making it. There were more great pieces, but during the hectic last day I didn't have a chance to take as many photos as I wanted.

I am looking forward to next July.

More Turtles

As I was driving down to Madison, Ct. I spotted a turtle trying to cross the busy Route 81 in a  blind curve.  I had to drive a little further down the road to turn my car around. I then rushed to aid that turtle. By the time I got back to the curve the turtle had created a traffic jam. Cars going both directions had stopped. I saw a guy with work gloves grab that turtle by the tail and swiftly move it on the other side of the guard rail. The situation was over, the turtle was safe and the traffic jam cleared. I wanted to take a picture of the turtle before continuing my journey. I reached for my iPad and it wasn't there!?!? Darn! I still had my aging cellphone so I took  couple of pictures with it. The turtle was very muddy.

   I returned to my car and drove up the road to turn around. When I got back to that curve that turtle was trying to cross the road again. I stopped the car, took my work gloves from my trunk and went to help the turtle. I grabbed it with two hands on both sides and it started to bristle violently. Her movements were surprisingly powerful. For a moment I thought this might be one of those Ninja Turtles. I tried again and she jumped, bristled and tried to claw me. She could actually reach on the back of the shell and I saw white claws come out of her legs. Now I was sure she was a crazy Ninja Turtle.

It started to look like I am not a man enough to  move this turtle. Maybe I should try to grab the tail. Another car stopped by and a guy came to see what was going on. We tried to figure out what to do because this turtle was determined to cross the road.  He got a cooler from his car and pushed the turtle in the cooler. The turtle got moved safely across the road.

 A day later I found this website http://www.turtlerescueleague.com/index.html that tells you how to help turtles. I wish the guy who grabbed the turtle by the tail had read this warning on the website:

NEVER EVER PICK UP ANY TURTLE BY THE TAIL, IT CAN INJURE THEM VERY BADLY.

Bruises, Deviled Eggs and Rainbows

School is over and I have the scars to prove it. On Monday June 22nd we had a volleyball game: teachers vs. the 6th and 7th graders. The teachers lost. That is kind of strange, because in February we easily defeated the 8th graders. Now, a week and half later I don't limp anymore, but my knees are still black and blue and bruised. 
   After the game we had a little luncheon. Once again I had some deviled eggs. This time I only got three. I did much better last year, but any amount of deviled eggs is a great start to summer.

It has been rainy for a couple of days, but now as we are heading for the 4th of July weekend the weather is getting better. Today (July 1st) we spotted a nice rainbow and I had to go out to see if I could get a good picture of it.

Unfortunately the rainbow had started to fade by the time I got to Park Hill Road. Notice Mount Tom on the background. It also appears that my bad luck with digital cameras is starting to be a thing in the past. My iPad has been taking semi-decent pictures for almost a year now. My daughter also knew that you can zoom with the iPad and she showed me how to do it. The result can be seen below.

Davis Art Museum at Wellesley College

A month and a half ago I visited Colby College Art Museum in Maine. I heard then that it is the biggest college Art museum in the country. It very well might be, but the Davis Art museum at Wellesley College might give it a run for its money. I have tried to visit the Davis in the past, but it has always been closed. Today I lucked out and finally got in.
   On the bottom floor there was a big show by an Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanavoli. I had never heard of the guy, but he does some amazing stuff. AMAZING!

These are fiberglass sculptures called "Heech". Heech is a farsi word that means "nothing".  More info about the Davis and Mr. Tanavoli

 Here is neon light version of "Heech". The photo doesn't do justice to the piece.

I believe this big bronze work was called "Wall". I love  Mr. Tanavoli's bronze work. Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of one of the bronze "Heeches".

Here is a shot looking down from a balcony.

The Davis Museum also had a whole room full of Andy Warhol's works. Below is a picture of Mao Zedong (sometimes spelled Mao Tse-tung). It is difficult to take pictures of works that are covered with glass - you always get a reflection of something.

Here is another shot from the Warhol room. If you never took an Art History class I should point out that those boxes in the foreground are actually sculptures. For reasons that I don't completely understand my wife is standing on one foot. Maybe she is impersonating a flamingo.

   

Here is a picture of a stairwell at the Davis. The stairs were kind of strange. The steps were low and deep. I had to concentrate going up and down the stairs, because I could not find the correct rhythm for walking in these stairs. 

  You should all go to the Davis Museum. There is much more to see than what I described here. It is worth the trip. And there is no admission.

Decadent Stuff (Happy Mother's Day!)

I have wanted to try this for  long time. "Bananas Foster". Today is Mother's Day so I finally got my chance. I got up early and made my beloved wife a nice breakfast in bed: Bacon, home made waffles, vanilla ice-cream and Bananas Foster. Making Bananas Foster wasn't that difficult - you take a stick of butter, half a cup of brown sugar and three bananas (sliced). Cook them for a few minutes, throw in a couple of tablespoons of dark rum and that's it! It was delicious.

To say that this is rich and filling is an understatement. Your arteries might get clogged just by looking at this. What you see in this picture is about all you can eat. Banana Foster can  also be flambeed, but I didn't try it this time. The fire chief is probably happy about that.
   I noticed an interesting little detail: if you stuff a lot of hot Banana Foster and cold ice cream in your mouth at the same time, you can burn your mouth while having a brain freeze. It is worth trying. Happy Mother's Day!

A Trip to Maine

My daughter has been visiting a lot of colleges lately. This past weekend I had a chance to tag along. We visited Colby College in Waterville, Maine. It turns out that  Colby College has the biggest Art Museum in the state. I also heard that it is the biggest college art museum in the country, even though I haven't been able to confirm that yet. 
   The museum has an impressive collection of art. There is a mobile by Alexander Calder.

I forgot to find out the name of this piece.

There was also this wall sculpture by Louise Nevelson. 

I know what you are thinking: "Those shades look cool, but crack a smile dude!" I didn't get this title either. It is a big one. I tried to make a big wall sculpture for my last year's show but I ran into problems with gravity. Louise's piece is standing on the ground so she didn't have to deal with the same problems.

While walking around in the museum I discovered another piece by Louise Nevelson. I had forgotten that she had made pieces that were not wall sculptures. This piece is called

"Standing Figure (Proud Oriental Figure)". Louise made it around 1947 and it is made of painted terracotta.

STUFF

I have not been creating new wall sculptures lately. I have five pieces in my studio in different stages of completion. I don't know whether this cold weather has put me into hibernation mode or if I am just too busy with my teaching job. 
   Today, however, I got nine of my wall sculptures into a new gallery in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. The gallery is called "STUFF". It is actually more than a gallery - there is also antiques and...stuff.  STUFF is located diagonally across the street from the Shea Theater. I have to update this post later so I can add the address and other information. My pieces should be on the walls sometime next week.

added February 20th:

Yesterday I went back to STUFF. My wall sculptures were hanging on the wall. If you are collecting classic Telechron clocks STUFF has 12 cases of them, some of which can be seen near my wall sculptures.

Deb at the store told me that many of the female customers were interested in my piece

called "46 Shades of Gray" (bottom left in this picture). I believe this is because a movie with a similar sounding name just opened last weekend. In the movie the number of shades is different and also the spelling of the word "Grey" is different. 

STUFF is located at 102 Avenue A in Turners Falls.  The locals would say it is at the corner of 3rd and Av A.
You can reach them by calling (413) 863-2300.
Right now there is a small sign in the window, but a bigger sign is coming in the spring.

Looking forward to spring.

Huddled Masses #2 and Jury of my Peers

Why are you putting up all these old photos???  Because I can. Or maybe I should say "Because I finally can." As I have stated before I have had extremely bad luck with digital cameras. All my digital cameras have been:
1. Dropped and broken by my family members.
2. Lost by my family members.
3. Have stopped working at a critical moment.
4. Never worked when I took it out of the package.
5. Memory cards have been defective.
6. ... and so on.

Recently a lot of old pictures have been surfacing from a variety of sources. Here is another old one. This is called " Huddled Masses #2 ".

The picture is from my show at the Nash Gallery in August of 2012.
The one below is from the same show. (Photos by Marlies Stoddard) It is called "Jury of my Peers".  My style has clearly changed in the past two years. I have moved away from representational work towards non-representational work. Neo-Cubist style is taking shape.

Forbes Library in Northampton

Forbes Library in Northampton has become one of my main hangouts. When Pleasant Street Video went out of business a couple of years ago, Forbes Library got most of their DVD collection. This collection wasn't just like any other video store collection. Pleasant Street Video specialized in classics, strange art movies and other hard to find titles. I of course realize that you can get all this on line or on digital cable and so on. However it is not the same for old geezers like me. I want real DVDs.
    While I was in Finland some bozo poured some lighter fluid on the rug in the library stairwell and tried to burn the whole place down. We know from history that people who burn books don't usually fare well in the long run. But if someone tries to burn a whole library it should be seen as a crime against humanity. If you have to burn something, burn something else! Let the library be. I need my DVDs.

The upstairs has been closed for a couple of weeks, while the stairwell is being repaired. Looks like it could have been much worse. They caught the guy who did this. I have no sympathy for library burners. Throw the book at him!

Trip to Finland

In July I made a quick three week trip to Finland. It had been a while. I flew KLM this time. Of course these days most airlines are partnering with other airlines, so even though I had booked a KLM flight I was actually inside Delta, KLM, Finnair and Air France airplanes.

I was originally supposed to fly with my daughter, who was going to town of Hamina ( in southeastern Finland ) for ten days. She was going to take an "Intensive Finnish for Teenagers" class. However, I had to change my ticket and fly a week earlier due to some family reasons.

Eating tasty airline food (above) is always a life altering experience. There is some evidence suggesting that this piece of culinary excellence is actually chicken.

The trip was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with family and old friends. Visiting Finland is always an inspiring experience. I mean it inspires me to make Art. You see things that look different, you speak a different language, you walk around in a jetlag induced haze.... I also discovered that there is a lot of old gray wood available, if I ever have a chance to make some neo-cubist wall sculptures in Finland.

When my daughter wasn't studying finnish we had a chance to see some sights. She was taking pictures of the Helsinki Cathedral and some architectural details in the buildings in downtown Helsinki.

Of course I had to eat some pulla while I was there. Pulla is what we eat with coffee. My wife  calls it "sweet bread", which might be an accurate description, but it won't cover the whole spectrum of a pulla eating experience. Those little white dots are sugar, even though they look like salt. These pullas are distant relatives of cinnamon rolls, but much better.

Naturally eating all this pulla and finnish chocolate is not good for my waistline. 

Now I have to eat nothing but Alfalfa-sprouts for the rest of the summer.

Ray Mason

Here is another old photo. Last year ( I believe it was June) bunch of my wall sculptures got into Mill 180 Gallery. Kim Carlino and her crew hung the pieces up in an interesting formation. The opening was a blast - some caterer provided sumptious banquet of food, some specialty coffee shop provided fancy coffee and a local micro brewery provided craft beer.
   I was thrilled when it turned out that Ray Mason - a local rock legend - was playing a solo gig in front of my art. I think it is safe to call that a multi-media experience.

You should note Ray's rare Silvertone guitar. I have known Ray for twenty years and I have never seen him with another guitar. 

A tiny turtle

July 1st. I was driving home from Northampton and I saw another turtle. This one  was trying to cross the road, and with all the traffic on route 10 I knew it wasn't gonna make it. 
I did what any nature lover would do: I stopped my car, put the flashers on and rushed to help that turtle in distress. Not all the motorists were that happy about my action. This turtle  was much smaller than the last turtle I wrote about, so carrying it across the road wasn't difficult.

Clearly this was not a Snapping Turtle because it could retract completely in its shell. 

I carried it across the road and placed it down on the breakdown lane. After a couple of minutes it still hadn't moved so I eventually placed it in the underbrush on the side of the road.

I took these pictures with my aging cellphone. In the bright sunshine I couldn't see the screen on my phone. Not really great pictures, but at least I got something.