The Oldest Fans.....

Thursday evening Dave and I went to a concert. I'd seen advertisements for these Candlelight Concerts for months and decided to explore on line. 

There were a number listed for Milwaukee and one especially caught my eye. The string quartet would be doing a concert featuring Taylor Swift's music. I distinctly remember seeing Taylor Swift on stage at the Country Music Awards ceremony when she was in her mid-teens and thought to myself "She is really good....we will be hearing from her!" Now she's tied with Frank Sinatra for the most Grammy Awards and has released album after album of music....to my ear very good music.

I bought the tickets and we drove into the city to St. James Abbey and walked into a beautiful candlelit sanctuary.

As we entered through the front doors we shared space with a young mother and about four pre-teens/teenage girls. Frankly they gave us a surprised look and one asked "Are you Taylor Swift fans?" When I responded "Yes, I am!" her wide open mouth reply of "Really!?" made me realize that Dave and I were just slightly out of place. The young woman even asked me which was my favorite album and I had to cover my lack of Taylor Swift trivia by saying I just played her songs on "shuffle" on my phone! These fans were really excited and as we found our seats I wondered just what they expected to hear.

We heard what we'd hoped for....an amazing string quartet (viola, two violins and a cello) playing beautiful music in a beautiful setting. As the foursome took turns introducing the songs one member said to the audience, "You can't imagine how much fun this is for us! We usually play Bach, Chopin or Beethoven!"

It was a beautiful noise even if I didn't recognize every song without Taylor singing the lyrics. A one hour concert, a very attentive audience, candlelit setting.....an evening well spent.

You may prefer classical music....and if so you should still google Candlelight Concerts and check these out in a city near you. Groups play all over the world and we intend to watch the schedule for another candlelit evening.

The oldest "Swiftie" in the room....OK with me.

And Sometimes A Ribbon....

I belong to the North Shore Quilters Guild and Dave is a member of the Urban Ecology Center Photo Club. We each have our monthly meetings and enjoy our separate "passions". He especially likes to bring his camera and lenses along in our RV and we do have some wonderful travel memories saved thanks to his efforts and talents. Also he's experienced more than one moment of frustration as he often seems to have the wrong lens on his camera when the perfect shot appears.

But sometimes things line up and work out in his favor. There is usually a photography challenge at each month's meeting and this month it was "mood". It's up to the photographer to bring in a picture that best frames that challenge. Framing a "mood" can be interesting....but going through his stash saved on line he came up with a few things he thought were "moody" and asked my opinion. They were good photos but didn't elicit any kind of moody feeling for me. I suggested he find one of the ones he'd taken over the years of a solitary old house, or barn and try printing it out in black and white to see what might happen. So he came up with this.

And after the meeting he came home with this....

:-)

Me, Myself and I....and Memories....

Yesterday's trip to MAM also gave me the chance to walk along the hallway display featuring talented student artists' work. This is an annual exhibit and I, happily, usually end up seeing it sometime during March. The work extends along one main hallway and shows paintings, drawings, photographs, ceramic pieces....so much talent. As I walk slowly along I go back in my memory to all of the middle school, high school and college shows where we specifically went to see our Megan's contributions. Some of the ones from MAM's exhibit really hit home. The one section showed a drawing of kitchen ware sitting on a counter. My photo has too many reflections to do it justice, but I well remember the assignment Meg had in high school....she arranged lots of our pots and pans on the stove to satisfy her artist's eye.

  

   

She worked on this piece for several evenings after school. In the meantime I was not allowed to re-arrange the pieces in any way or use the stove top. (Dinner was pizza in the oven.)

I dug through the bottom drawer of our living room armoire and found the black and white effort along with two self-portraits. 

Art students must still be tackling the same kinds of assignments......still life with pots and pans, self-portraits. Every time I see one of these student exhibits I wonder just how many of these talented young people will stay on their art journey....and where it might take them.

Megan's journey has taken her to gallery representation in several states, art shows and private commissions. So I think to myself, "You go guys!" 

Me, Myself and I.....

Everyone I contacted was busy (after all I had issued a last minute invitation) so I took myself off to the Milwaukee Art Museum this morning. I specifically wanted to see a new exhibit entitled Native America: In Translation. The museum's underground parking facility was almost empty when I arrived at 10:30 so I had no problem finding a space and going right into the building. I showed the ticket agent my membership card and was directed to one of the downstairs galleries. I quickly walked through some of the first floor space just sort of "absorbing" colors and shapes as I went along.

Entering the exhibit gallery I stopped to read the introduction signage. In part it stated: "In the Apsaalooke language, the word Aakiwilaxpaake (People of the Earth) describes Indigenous people living in North America, pointing to a time before colonial borders were established. In this exhibition, curated by the Apsaalooke artist Wendy Red Star, artists of various Native nations and affiliations from throughout what is now called North America offer their diverse visions, building on histories of image making."

I wandered past images captured in photographs, mixed media paintings, three dimensional pieces and one inkjet print photograph that made me stop and stare.

Entitled "mother" by Rebecca  Belmore (Anishinaabe, Lac Seul First Nation) I must have stood in place for almost five minutes just looking at different aspects of the image. A woman almost trapped behind glass or ice or thick clear plastic, (?) one hand up in what seemed to me an almost helpless pose. Plain grey sweatshirt....pair of jeans....blue blanket on the ground/floor behind her. The entire background and floor beneath her created with a large, wrinkled piece of hanging fabric/plastic? Her eyes were looking up and to my right....into the distance. What would she have seen?

Why did this piece grab me and almost shake me...."Stand and look at me it said." So I did.

Synchronicity.....

Some friends/neighbors and I started a new book club. Our first meeting was this month and we read Consider the Butterfly.  I can't say it was one of my favorite books....but it did lead to an interesting discussion....mostly about any experiences we'd had with sort of "touches" from the "other side". The author described what she called "synchronicities" in her life and encouraged the reader to be open to the idea as they moved through their days.

Having had several personal experiences that I truly do consider messages from someone I love I was open to her concept even if I wasn't crazy about the book. Then, a few days ago, I brought up a completely different kind of fiction from ECP's library. It was a mystery by James Lee Burke entitled The Glass Rainbow. Dave and I have read a number of his books and while not award winning fiction they are very readable and follow many of the same main characters each time. 

Chapter 14 began with the following paragraph...."At a certain point, perhaps we realize that we have been surrounded by the connections between the material and the unseen world all our lives, but for various reasons, we chose not to see them....So I have never argued with people about the specters I have seen or the voices I've heard....I know the dead are out there, beckoning from the shadows, perhaps pointing the way for the rest of us. But I don't fear them, and I conceive of them as friends whom I don't think I'll mind joining. It's not a bad way to be."

I think the author of Consider the Butterfly would consider me being part of the book discussion group and then reading this particular passage as an example of synchronicity.

Who knows????

Through a Lens.....

A few weeks ago Dave and I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed both the special photography exhibit and walking through halls lit by sunlight. The long hallway facing Lake Michigan is always a favorite and feathers a changing exhibit of three dimensional art....often glass pieces that reflect and glisten. This one caught my special attention.

A sphere of glass about 18 inches in diameter, looking through it gave you a new perspective on the sights just out the window. A bit bent and curved, the blue sky, the bare trees, geese and yellowed winter grass as well as the "v" shaped windowsill became their own work of art. 

A slightly new perspective on a very familiar view.....loved it.

Lost and Found....

It will only be about six weeks late....that's not bad. Summer 2022 and we visited the Morning Glory Art Fair downtown with our daughter. We wandered up and down the aisles and into artists' booths to look and talk about the creativity on display. In one booth Megan knew the jewelry maker so we stopped to chat. As we looked at her display Megan pointed to a pair of earrings that she really liked and I suggested they might be a Christmas gift. If we bought them in the summer and I saved them she would have "forgotten" by Christmas morning....so they came home with me. And I put them in a safe place.

December 2022 and our whole extended family decided we really would not exchange gifts this year. Dave and I would stuff West Bend Christmas stockings because we'd be staying over night but other than that we'd just visit long distance family via phone or hug local loved ones in person. I figured I would wrap the earrings and they could go in Megan's stocking along with a candy bar or something.

But I could not find them. They were really "safely" hidden somewhere in our apartment. I literally went through my whole closet, drawers, shelves. I checked my sewing supplies and looked in the pantry. No luck. Dave looked....no luck.

So on Christmas morning Megan got a wrapped "note" as a substitute. She would get her earrings when I found them.

February 7th, 2023 and Dave was pulling tax information together. He brought down the paperwork storage box from one of our double closets and noticed something. Reaching up he grabbed the plastic bag and said "Look what I found!"

Wrapped and ready to go.

Better late than never!