Arbor At the Cottages

While visiting family, we walked in a garden with a big arbor at one end. It was early afternoon on a sunny day. The straight, sturdy framework of the arbor contrasted with the tangle of vines. Leaves glowed like stained glass. Something about this seemed so familiar...then it came to me. I was thinking of the Grapevine Panel by Louis Comfort Tiffany which is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. That masterpiece is so effective because of the many textures and shades of green, and the way that the vines are formed from leading that varies in thickness, to look more realistic. Perhaps Tiffany had a moment just like my moment, looking up at an arbor and imagining those fluttering leaves in stained glass.

Graffiti Along Little Duck Creek

A lot of creeks, especially within a city, are not that attractive. This one has concrete embankments that channel the water under a busy road. Graffiti artists love a blank canvas, so now what was a bleak stretch of concrete is alive with color and pattern. As you walk or drive along the road above, the colors peek out from under the greenery, surprise art in a place that really needs it.

Gnome In the Back Garden

When the black eyed susans are blooming, he is hard to see, but the gnome is always always there, guarding his domain. Although he has a friendly expression, I am never sure about him. How does he feel when someone cuts the flowers and takes them inside to put in a vase? Is he bored in the winter when the flowers have died back? Do the birds harass him or call him names? The gnome in the garden is not telling.

ART Sculpture With Clouds

 

What could be more appropriate as a landmark for an art school than a sculpture of the word ART? I spend two weeks every summer at the  Columbus College of Art & Design, working at the Quilt Surface Design Symposium. The big red ART looks different from day to day and hour to hour. When we step outside and discover a dramatic sky, you can find several people stopping to photograph or sketch this endlessly inspiring ARTwork.

Fabulous Fabric Room

The words surface design are obviously an important part of the Quilt & Surface Design Symposium. Last week, the participants in Pat Pauly's five day class had created quite a scene in a room being used for art fabric that had been painted, stenciled and  screened. While the fabric waited to cure and be washed, the room was a fantasy of color and pattern, an accidental art installation. Even in this not-quite-finished state, it brought joy to everyone who stopped by.