#r2bcheerful42 – Bantu Stephen Biko

Today is the memorial of Stephen Biko’s death in custody of the South African police, back in 1977. He was founder of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and I first became aware of him though Ian’s reference in Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3) in July 1979, ahead of Peter Gabriel’s iconic tribute to him in the song “Biko” the following year. Bizarrely, “Biko’s” was also the name of the burger bar at my Student Union in University in the UK in the 1980’s. It is odd how the SU chose to memorialize people, but hey, that was the 80’s for you. I am sad to see that it is no longer the case.

Now, obviously I do not have any photographs of Steve Biko that I have taken myself and in some ways it’s odd to include him in a list as a “Reason to Be Cheerful.” I can only assume that Ian was eluding to the fact that heroes like Steve Biko are a real reason to be cheerful. For that reason it seems appropriate for me to not post a simple photo but rather his likeness in the style of the famous Obama “Hope” imagery.

~Richard

December 18, 2016 2

Haiku: High Flying Food

After seeing this remarkable story this morning I felt inspired to commemorate the occasion with a simple haiku:

~ High Flying Food ~

Epicurean

meat and potato pastry?

It’s pie in the sky!

December 16, 2016 0

Stock Market Skylines

If you have been observing the online art world over the last few years you may have noticed just how popular have become city skyline silhouettes, often in dark colors but also as watercolors.

As graphic artwork they have a certain appeal and the other day as i was looking at the stock market online I noticed that the daily trade volume of shares could also be viewed as a sort of “skyline.” I have therefore created a series of graphic art images based on the volumes of shares traded daily on the Dow Jones Index tracker over an entire year.

It would certainly make for a conversation piece on the wall of a stock trader. Here’s the one for 2009 – what do you think?

If you click the image it will take you to my art website and show you more from the series.

~Richard

December 12, 2016 2

Santa Claus Story

The old man sat very still on the park bench, just as he had been requested. Although it was cold with the snow falling he wasn’t too bothered. After all the well spoken gentlemen had said he could keep the coat and the hat as long as they could capture his likeness on their photographic equipment. To be honest, he was grateful for a little attention too, although it was the clothing and the dime they had given him that was sure to help get through the next day or two.

They had seen him sitting there shivering and remarked about his beard and his blue eyes. He thought they were a little odd but then he wasn’t sure how the younger generation really acted any more. It had all been so different when he was their age.

He remained in his position for about 20 minutes while the young men fiddled about with their contraption, moving large plates of glass in wooden frames back and forth in a serious manner. His stomach was rumbling now, but he sat like a statue, as he had promised. There was no way he was going to jeopardize this offer. Finally, they thanked him and he slowly rose, stamped his feet and headed through the snow to where he knew he could get a warm meal and a hot drink on this cold day.

December 8, 2016 1

Pottery Perils Persist

Several days back I wrote of my recent kiln disasters with my holey bowls and the addition of the concepts of shivering and dunting to my ever-expanding vocabulary of ceramics. Well, lo and behold I turned up to the art studio a few days later only to be confronted by yet more disappointment.

This time it was not hand made art bowls, but two simpler wheel-thrown bowls that had succumbed to a similar fate. Again, luckily no other art work was impacted (literally) so it was only my work that was ruined.

So, as it doesn’t seem to be the design of the works that is causing the issue, we are left with the conclusion that it’s the choice of clay I have been using. I have recently switched to Hugo gray clay, one that is very suited for sculpting and handbuilding, since we had over 50 lbs of it left over from other sculpting activities. This clay is said to throw well and be adaptable to all craft glazes up to cone 7 for vitrification, so I didn’t think there would be any problems and I cannot understand why I am having so much trouble with it.

Not surprisingly, the Studio Director no longer wants to fire this to high fire, for fear of damaging the kiln, so we have agreed that we will bisque fire what I have and I will then use low fire stroking coats to do a second low fire (cone 06) to get some color onto the pieces.

If anyone has any ideas as to why this may be happening, please feel free to add a comment.

~Richard

December 7, 2016 1

Claude Monet and Lilies

Today is the 90th anniversary of the death of Oscar-Claude Monet, father of impressionist painting. Monet was driven to document the French countryside by painting the same scenes repeatedly under differing light conditions throughout the seasons.

He is best known for his paintings of the water lilies which he cultivated in his man-made ponds at Giverny, about 50 miles (80 km) from Paris. To be honest I can understand his fascination with these beautiful flowers, although painting them day in and day out for over 20 years is nothing less than obsessive.

Although we do not have lily ponds at our house we are fortunate enough to have giant lily pond near us at Longwood Gardens and I offer these photographs of these wonderful blooms as an homage to the great painter.