May to Jean from Christy - Phyllida Barlow

Storm report  on yesterday's derecho - nothing bad happened on my street - 

other parts of town were hit pretty hard.

Christy used that stamp that's been popping up on several envelopes. I would not have thought of using it on a black envelope - but because she has some nice bright, opaque gel pens that pop on the black - it's a lovely combination.

***

I ran across a series called Art in the 21st Century. I've only watched a couple episodes - and am not sure how many I will use in my add-ons. The point of linking this one is to remind all of us that sometimes we see art that rubs us the wrong way and then we *take a disliking* to the artist. And sometimes - that's jumping to a conclusion. 

This video is about Phyllida Barlow. She had a show at the Des Moines art museum that is in my back yard so to speak - where I taught. Not a major museum - but a respectable one for the size. Smaller museums do not get the BIG NAMES - and I had never heard of Phyllida. I read about the work and it sounded right up my alley - but when I saw the work, I was so disappointed. The exhibit ranked with my least favorite - stuff I wished I could un-see. 

And then I watched this video - and I saw several things that were even more disappointing than the exhibit in Des Moines. But, there were also some things that I just loved - so - I ended up being reminded that sometimes you have to look at everything a person has done before you say that you do not like an artist's work.

It's 15 minutes - and if you already know you don't like art made out of junk/trash/whatever -- don't watch it. If you do watch it - there is footage of the work in the Des Moines exhibit at 6 minutes and 20 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW7SjEZfrGM

Or you can do a Google search of images. I found this - a drawing - that I rather like --- she's primarily a sculptor. No surprise that this looks like an abstract pile of stamps and envelopes, eh?