St Louis Art Day

The day could have gone either way.
Thunderstorms and rain overnight led to a day
with heavy cloud cover and no sun in the morning
but cooler temperatures.

I decided to take a chance and go ahead with my date.

Don't get too excited, 

it was with myself;

doing things I love

without having to explain or justify what I like to do with anyone else!

(Now that I think of it, that mindset could explain alot about why I'm still a singleton!)

Anyway,

I first headed down to the Flood Walls

to see what this years crop of #Paint St Louis artists had created.

For those that don't know,
St Louis is built on the Mississippi River
and, as with every river,
it can flood.

Part of the protection system in place are huge concrete 'walls' that hold back the waters;
located in the 'industrial area of town, near the tracks and roadway material storage sites.

Not particularly attractive.

An isolated area just ripe for 'taggers' with spray paint.
Rather than fight the inevitable,
city officials embraced it and
for the past several years
have sanctioned teams of artists to create what they like.

I've been to see this display every year 

and written about them before.

here and here.

I think this years selection were some of the most colorful
and fun ones yet!

 A very Harry Potter-ish portal

and maybe my favorite floodwall of all time

How I hope some urban wedding party gets to pose in front of it before it gets tagged over!

Then it was on to Art Hill to see a display commemorating both 9/11
and the soldiers who have died in the Middle East since then.

7722 American flags: one for each soldier lost.
Each flag has dog tags and a photo attached and they're in chronological order.

Despite the crowd of people attending the event,
there was silence, broken only by the dog tags swinging against the metal poles.

Truly humbling.

The St Louis Art Museum was my last stop
for an exhibit entitled "Self Taught Genius";
a display of creations by American artists with no formal art training -
you know, most of 'us"!

No training clearly doesn't equal no talent.
The works were extraordinary!

From carvings

to textiles

to metalwork

and, of course, paintings.

There are always two things that make me smile at an exhibit:

One, when the audience unintentionally becomes part of the art

and 

when I see a piece and I'm convinced the curator got it wrong.

I'm not sure this is 'art' as much as someone trying to pick up his yard!

My neighbor - and maybe yours - is sitting on a gold mine if this qualifies!

No matter what kind of creativity you prefer

you couldn't have asked for a more perfect day in The Lou!

Sea change

I know the news shouldn’t have affected me 

but it did;

changed my perceptions,

changed how I view them,

changed how I feel about them.

I know that change is inevitable;

it means people aren’t static.

 They continue to grow,

to seek

to become;

not to mention the whole 

“it’s their life and not mine” thing 

but…

The recent discovery that two artists I’ve enjoyed 

ended marriages to begin new relationships

bothered me.

 

 Author Elizabeth Gilbert

(she of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed fame)

and writer/artist Brian Andreas

(creator of Storypeople) -

 I swear it’s not because I believe in a “happily ever after” scenario.

Who gets THAT?

Besides, there’s every indication that they ARE happy now,

so maybe THIS is the happily ever after they were searching for all along.

But here's the thing -

I miss commitment.

I miss examples that people can make relationships work –

in good times and bad -

changing together through difficult times

and emerging stronger,

both together and individually.

The pain, confusion, doubts and struggle 

are their own private battlegrounds.

They owe their ‘public’ nothing.

No explanations are needed.

But my opinions of them are diminished nonetheless; 

right or wrong, 

they just are.

I wish them well.
I'll probably still enjoy their art,
but I'm mourning the loss of my image of them.

Not saying it makes sense,

just sayin'.

Spirals

 

Everything

turns,

rotates,

spins,

circles,

loops,

pulsates,

resonates,

and

repeats.

Circles

of life,

born from

pulses

of light,

vibrate

to

breathe,

while

spiraling

outwards

for

infinity

through

the lens

of time,

and into

a sea

of stars.

 Suzy Kassem

 

All the unfolding

and becoming;

Each one different.

It's OK to be obsessed, right?

Still waiting for Jackson&Perkins to call me for my dream job 

as a rose photographer!