Sunday, January 31, 2010

More at Seven Feathers


It was a nicer day today more sun than clouds.


Got up had breakfast (oatmeal) then to the Jacuzzi for a few bubbles then took a few pictures and a walk. Jordan Creek was barely babbling but it was flowing but it is not in this picture.


I found a play area for the children that would be fun for little ones.


I was on the bridge looking north toward the clubhouse for this picture. The structure behind and to the right with the pillars is the office.

The RV park and Casino is run by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians and this plaque in on the bridge.


I got a shot of the Musemobile showing just how close the pool area is to the RV.


Some parts of the RV park next to the creek are fenced of for the safety of children. The fences are colored a nice shade of green.


I like the little pine starting to grow full of promise for the future.


So here is the creek shallow and running fast.


Lots of logs are down and


many covered with moss.


It was a glorious day after so many grey days this winter.


So I got creative and took this picture through the adjustment slots on a standing BBQ grill.


Then one of a rhododendron, see if you can find the face on the bud.


The beech tree was unfurling it's bark, paper thin and very cool.


I must like things in row I keep taking pictures of them like the one of the fence earlier and this one of the bridge railing.


Back to the Musemobile with a better look at the enclosed pool area. Yup that's a fire pit for group gatherings.

We later went to a great Brunch at the Casino's Camas Room and it was terrific - one of the best I've been to in my Brunch filled life.

Scrabble Score ~ Scrabble Queen 322 - The Contender 345

Quote of the Day ~
"The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing" ~ Alexis de Tocqueville(French Historian and Political scientist. 1805-1859)

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Seven Feathers RV Park


Sharyn took pity on my aches and pains and decided we needed a trip down to Seven Feathers RV park so I could us their jacuzzi and pool. So here we are parked 30 feet away from the indoor pool facility looking at clouds coming over the hills from the west and glad our spot is so close.


She actually insisted I go to the jacuzzi and afterward I got out for some pictures along Jordan Creek just 30 feet in the opposite direction from the pool.


The creek has a nice flow today and the ground is still wet from rain.


Like anywhere in this part of Oregon moss thrives on everything from boulders to ...


... trees.


The water is pretty clear but not totally clear indicating new moisture from the sky up on the hills.


Of course there are the mushroom like these two small examples.


I saw this leaf and it really reminded me of an African mask I'd seen on a web site I designed for Kristie Johnson a wonderful artist who teaches as Lane Community College.


There are many reasons to like this RV park and Casino here in Canyonville. They have beautiful landscaping, great facilities and are ecologically thoughtful.


I love this little bush that beginning to bud out.


The Musemobile likes this place also sitting calmly protected by the hills, Satellite dish up and smiling.


It was obviously getting ready to rain with the clouds closing in fast.


I stopped to get a picture of the bridge over the Jordan Creek and ...


... a really nice Information Kiosk about the plant life in the area.

Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen 328 ~ The contender 395

Quote of the Day ~
"Common sense is very uncommon." Horace Greeley (American newspaper Editor who is known especially for his articulation of the North's vigorous antislavery sentiments during the 1850s. 1811-1872)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Maude Kerns and Memory Perception Ritual


We were going into Eugene on some errands so I got Sharyn to drop me off at Maude Kerns Art Center so I could see the latest gallery offering. The title was Memory Perception Ritual and the Artists were Una Mjurka, Alexandra Opie and Naomi Kasumi.


I had never noticed the cool bulletin board at MKAC with a steeple mirroring the center's own steeple.


Not part of the exhibit this pine cone with a bird by Lynn Ihsen Peterson was very nice.


The main gallery featured Naomi Kasumi's nine tapestry-like books that hang from the ceiling and are illuminated from the back.


Each book is bound with 108 translucent cards (pages) containing Japanese sutra calligraphy, Xerox images, digital images, text, butterfly wings and leaves. Each page of the book is constructed by layering used tea bags and bee's wax. Using these materials made each page translucent and look like liquid yet stiff like cardstock.


Each hanging is a grid of 6x18 pages.


Naomi writes,
"The color of the books comes from the natural tea dye and bee's wax. Tea leaves naturally dyed the tea bags when I brew a tea in a cup, and this naturally allowed the artist no control over the color and staining process. However, this is part of my continuous practice of letting go, and allowing myself to flow with the force of nature. So, each page of the book, in which three tea bags are randomly layered, is visually unique and none of the pages is the same. My evening tea-ritual every night for over few years provided most of tea bags used for this project..."


The beauty of this installation is best seen in the detail of the images...


... leaves that express...


...a wide range of thought.


I next transitioned to the stage area and the clay creations of Una Mjurka.


While each piece is individually priced the entire work is titles Harvest.


It is a fascinating exhibit wonderfully put together with meticulous attention to detail.


The ceramic lobster actually made me a bit hungry.




The display was very cleverly put together and really looked like a harvest time kitchen.


More work by Una was scattered around the center and I particularly liked pears on shelves ...


... and "Lunchbox"


There were also these smaller displays titles "Cacao" and "Temptation"


Another wall in the narrow gallery features a lovely grid of ceramic tiles again Una work.


There was also a series of small tiles ...


The final work by Una Mjurka was this whimsical and sweet grid of houses.


Alexandra Opie presents Still Life a series of short video works that explore the intersection of traditional painterly or photographic subject matter with the time-based art form of video. As a practitioner and educator of both video art and photography,
"I engage the interplay between these forms, their properties and traditional uses. In each work, an essentially static, two- dimensional, compositional scenario is altered by the intervention of a time-based action. "


As Opie says,
"The scenes have been recorded simultaneously on multiple cameras at slightly different viewing angles and are displayed on multiple TVs - thus the whole is created of fragmented, connected, parts. This allows for the stacking-up of multiple TVs to create the final works - emphasizing the TV as object."


It is one of the most unique art presentations I've ever seen and adding the dimension of time to normally two dimensional still life paintings.


The exhibit is in the Maude Kerns Salon Gallery


It is a very difficult thing to shoot televised images and the display is wonderful in person.



I have to say I am so proud of my sister Elaine whose "New Catch 2020" Sends a message about what our harvest may be in the future with a netting of plastic bottles. There is a great write-up about her installation in this article from "The Mariners Museum" [Click Here]

No Scrabble game - called on account of rain.

Quote of the Day ~
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” ~ Scott Adams quotes (American Cartoonist - Creator of Dilbert)

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©Paul Viel