Siege - Day 140

Just a quick note:

A FB friend posted an article about Black Civil War and Reconstruction era hero Robert Smalls.  Such courage!  Cleverness!  And - if you read far enough in the Wikipedia bio HERE  - also real kindness and forgiveness... as well as a steel spine.  Why isn't this man's story a best selling book and a blockbuster movie?  

Why isn't it required reading in U.S. history?  

I tell you, I become more and more disgusted by the lies and omissions in the Texas history books I once had in school.  Increasingly embarrassed at the gallons of moonlight-and-magnolia-swill that I swallowed without spitting.  And I was a pretty broad reader even then and, I believed, a skeptical reader too, so I did catch some lacks in that teaching... but not enough of them.  I find new insights daily it seems...  Betrayed by my schooling!

Ha!  Fool me once.

Two lessons for me from this: 1)  doubt what you do read/learn/hear, there may be a slant you don't immediately see, and 2) look very hard for the omissions... what aren't you hearing about?  In this age of disinformation and outright lies we all need to watch out.  (This is not, however an endorsement of silly conspiracy "research" involving dubious authorities and "alternative" facts.)

So, I'll be reading more about Mr. Smalls.

Next, complete non sequitur: 

Mark Bradford's painting/collages at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in an exhibition titled "Endpapers" :

Mark Bradford collage at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Mark Bradford collage at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Mark Bradford collage at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Sadly, I did not note down the titles of his canvases. (But then again, I always think titles are a bit of a cheat anyway.)

I really liked the subtlety of his use of color and the subtle repetitions and variations of his building block rounded-edged rectangles (presumably the title's end paper... what is this exactly?  must research...).  I love the map-like quality - sometimes reminding me of the famous London Underground maps, sometimes more of USGS or nautical harbor maps.  

It's a different approach to collage and/or painting.  Some of the few abstract works that I think I could live with and never tire of.  Mark Bradford.  (Some more future research for me on that topic too.)

Siege - Day 135

This past weekend we took an actual Field Trip!!!!

(So exciting.)

The art museums in Fort Worth have reopened and one of them, the Modern Art Museum had an exhibit I've wanted to see for decades (maybe 45 years?)... so we dared it.  

And it was fun!  Red Grooms's Ruckus Rodeo.  This photo gives you a good idea of the entire environment he creates - a Rodeo even more colorful and larger than life than the real thing.

Red Grooms's Ruckus Rodeo at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

 - photo by C. DeVries, free to use, public domain

Their other exhibit, "Mark Bradford: End Papers" was also interesting... completely different, being abstract painting/collages, but full of color too of a delicate, subtle, calibrated sort.  This is minimalism that has maximal impact and reward for close study.  And the two exhibits really did contrast each other in a nice way.  (I'll post a few images of Bradford's work next time.)

The museum itself felt comfortable and - in these Covid19 times - felt safe.  The Kimbell Museum next door was much more crowded, though just doable to me... but then its permanent collection gallery was free, compared to the pricey (and thus defacto more exclusive) Modern.  I'd visit both again.

At the Kimbell the curators were having a good time, pairing art works from different periods and places together - like this pairing of a Mayan sculpture with this Mondrian painting, both artists fascinated by mosaic like color / shape patterns.

Kimbell Art Museum permanent collection 

- photo by C. DeVries, free to public domain

So what else has been going on?

The heat of Texas summer has hit... stunning my tomatoes so that they feel too hot to even ripen.  Now that's hot.  I'll be experimenting with fried green tomatoes here shortly.  But I have just discovered a bonus avocado tree!  Well, a bonus tiny sapling where I idly planted the pit of a particularly tasty avocado.  Also the sprouty sweet potato I planted has grown into a pretty vine that shames the useless eggplant plants in the same pot.  Accidental gardening!

On the reading/watching front, I've been listening to more Masterclass gurus.  I kind of stalled out half way through Ron Howard's class on film directing (probably because I have no real ambition to direct a film), listened to a few classes on color by the expert interior designer (who reminds me very much of an interior designer I once worked with), and have started listening to my new poet fav, Billy Collins, class on poetry.  He's very good - slyly funny and very down to earth, plus a good poet.  I've been really enjoying this experience and heartily recommend it - but Take Your Time.  I find I can only absorb so much at a time.

One tidbit from the Poet Collins' talk: he describes the first few lines of a poem, which sets up its situation and eases the reader into it, as "dangling a bit of scenery in front of the reader."  As a set designer I like that!  (Honestly, in theaters with no grand drape to hide everything, a play's scenery does exactly what Mr. Collins requires from his first few lines of poetry: set the scene and ease the audience into the show.  Exactly that.)

Viewing?  After watching Hamilton, I've been "getting my money's worth" out of this one month Disney+ subscription, watching first The Mandelorean (very good and Baby Yoda!) and then rewatching The Black Panther.  The next couple days will be a Disneyfest!

Picture me lounging in my screen-watching-seat, munching popcorn and waving down the Ruckus Rodeo beer vendor, "Hey! Over here!"

Red Grooms's Ruckuss Rodeo

- photo by C. DeVries for public domain