Monday, June 26, 2006

Nelly Furtado rocks!

I wasn't sure I would buy Nelly Furtado's new CD. I'd heard she was sexing her music up, and I was disappointed that she was doing so when she has so much talent.

But then when Mel and I were driving home from our adventure at the Royal Botanical Gardens, CBC radio played an unreleased song from Loose entitled “Te Busque” (“I Looked for You” in Spanish, I think), and it was so catchy and pretty that I bought the CD about 30 minutes later.

I’ve listened to the album multiple times since, and I love it! Like her previous two CDs, the songs are eclectic and interesting both sonically and lyrically. These songs have gotten under my skin. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

One by one, sisters earn Harvard honours

Click here to read a cool article about a wonderfully accomplished family and the amazing parents who created a truly nurturing and encouraging environment for their five daughters.

But one thing moved me to tears:

Her late husband's quiet, smiling demeanour masked a fierce will and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, she says. He had a penchant for quoting African proverbs and metaphor-laden parables, which the girls ate up, Ms. Maxwell recounts with a laugh.

"The children were always mesmerized by what he had to say."

Despite his own academic pedigree, Dr. Maxwell's career was stalled by racism, a fate he endured mainly in silence.

"They saw his black face and they'd make up their minds about him," Ms. Maxwell said of her husband's patients and colleagues. "My husband did not get a fair shake in Canada."

Sounds like Canada didn't realize the treasure it had ... I hope his daughters never have to encounter the ignorance their father did.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Belfountain Conservation Area


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Today I needed some time out in nature by myself, so I drove to Belfountain Conservation Area. It’s a fairly pretty little place in the Niagara Escarpment. There is a small dam of the Credit River, which creates a pond and a waterfall, and there’s a nice little suspension bridge to provide an excellent view of the waterfall and the subsequent rapids.

I brought my camera AND my brand-new tripod. The tripod definitely helped when I was doing close-ups (e.g., shot of berries below this post), but was a pain to cart around on the trails. I think I need a caddy, like a golf caddy, but for photography. You know, some poor underpaid dude who would haul my tripod and extra lenses and bottled water and hiking poles and trail maps and field guides when I’m not using them. Maybe I should invest in a burro? LOL

FYI, if you ever decide to visit this conservation area, take Hwy 10 from Brampton to Forks of the Credit Road until you get to the park. FOTC Road is all twisty and hilly (including one double hairpin curve), so it's fun to drive. :)

Suspension bridge at Belfountain CA


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Wildflowers


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Berries


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Inquisitive mare


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

While driving through Brampton today, I saw a paddock with several mares and their foals. Turned around, stopped, and took photos of course. :)

This horse (and one other) were particularly beautiful. I think they would have come closer to me if they hadn't had foals.

If you look closely at some of the pictures on my Flickr site (by clicking on this photo), you will notice that all the foals have a patch of shaved skin behind their right ears for a tatoo (I guess these are quite valuable animals). The foals don't look so cute with the bald spot, but thanks to the quasi-telephoto lens, you can *almost* read the numbers in the tattoos!

Spooked by a skateboarder


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

A kid was skateboarding down the sidewalk and spooked the horses.

Cute!


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Who can ask for more than this when shopping for a car?


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

:)

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Martha, Abi, Melanie, Sharon, and Grant


Martha, Abi, Melanie, Sharon, and Grant
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Today I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens with this fun and great group of people!! :) Had a blast, as we were interested in checking out the beautiful flowers, taking pictures, and laughing lots. :)

I thought I took a ton of pictures, but lost many of them - battery issue with my camera? very disappointing! Ah well, this is one of the few pictures that I would have been very upset to lose, but I still have it!

Roses


Roses
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Rose


Rose
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Happy :)


Joe and Lisa
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Girls' Night Out!


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

A great time tonight at a French restaurant (I won't give the name because they refused to provide separate checks even after I'd called ahead and they'd told me it wouldn't be a problem ... but the decor was fabulous). Awesome group of women (and Kevin) from work, very fun conversations.

The only thing I don't like about this photo is Andrea's face is cut off! Sorry, Andrea!!!! Hmm ... maybe should include a photo of just yourself! :->

E.

Yes ... MUCH better!!!


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

;->

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Randolph Rogers, “The Lost Pleiade”, 1874-75, Marble


Randolph Rogers, “The Lost Pleiade”, 1874-75, Marble
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

“In creating this sculpture, Randolph Rogers was inspired by the Roman author Ovid’s poem ‘Fasti’, which recounts the legend of the seven sister stars who lived among the constellations. Merope, the youngest sister, married Sisyphus and hid herself in shame because he was a mortal. This sculpture depicts the outcast Merope as she seeks out her celestial family. With its unclothed torso, ‘The Lost Pleiade’ is Rogers’s closest approach to a complete nude. Although the reference to ‘Fasti’ would not have been understood by a general audience, the literary title reassured Victorian viewers that this partially nude woman was not intended as an erotic image.”

Randolph Rogers, “The Lost Pleiade”, 1874-75, Marble


Randolph Rogers, “The Lost Pleiade”, 1874-75, Marble
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Look into this face. It is one of the most powerful and moving sculptures I have ever seen. Who can't relate to the very human experiences of sadness/sorrow/shame/fatigue/despair/sense of loss depicted here?

This art is for anyone who is looking (literally or figuratively) for their (literal or figurative) family, or for anyone who has made a mistake and can't find their way back.

This sculpture says: You aren't the only one who's been there. You are not alone, and someone with immense talent found these emotions to be significant enough to express them in this art form.

Pablo Picasso, "Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler"


Pablo Picasso, "Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler"
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

1910, oil on canvas

"In 1907 Kahnweiler, a 25-year-old German stockbroker, settled in Paris and opened an art gallery to represent experimental artists like Picasso, Braque, Derain, Leger, and Gris. Picasso, who had already done portraits of three other art dealers, needed around twenty sessions with Kahnweiler posing in order to complete this Cubist likeness."

Pablo Picasso, “Portrait of Nusch Eluard” – May 1941


Pablo Picasso, “Portrait of Nusch Eluard” – May 1941
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Graphite with erasing, scraping, and incising, on cream wove paper

Note that the artist who drew this sketch also created the Cubist painting in the post above!

"Wife of the poet, collector, and champion of Surrealist Paul Eluard, the German-born beauty Maria Benz was known as Nusch. She met Pablo Picasso in 1936 and occupied his art (in drawings, paintings, and prints) and mind for enough time to suggest their relationship was more than a friendship. This portrait of Nusch, emphasizing her beauty and dignity, is more formal than others produced by the artist."

Bernardo Martorell, "Saint George Killing the Dragon"


Bernardo Martorell, "Saint George Killing the Dragon"
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

1430/5, tempera on panel

Try this exercise: the next time you’re on the subway or in a mall or other busy place, think of a particular colour (e.g., red) and then look around you for any and all objects that are that colour. You soon become acutely aware of all the things around you of that colour that you may have overlooked previously.

It’s the same thing when someone makes you think of something differently. Suddenly, you are aware of it, seemingly everywhere. Funny how the mind works, huh?

Andrea, although I never would have anticipated this, I thought of you several times while wandering through the Art Institute of Chicago. Thank you for giving me that little extra awareness, that private joke, to amuse and bemuse me. Thank you for being a person who raises my awareness, challenges my thinking, and helps me to open my mind just a little more. :)

Charles Courtney Curran, “Lotus Lilies”


Charles Courtney Curran, “Lotus Lilies”
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

What struck me most about this painting was the expression of sadness or deep unhappiness on the face of the woman to the left.

Pompeo Batoni, “Allegory of Peace and War”


Pompeo Batoni, “Allegory of Peace and War”
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

1776, oil on canvas

“Regarded in his maturity as Rome’s greatest living painter, perhaps even the most famous in Europe, Batoni gained such stature through numerous grand portraits and prestigious commissions for religious and historical subjects from popes, emperors, and kings. Yet he painted ‘Peace and War’ without a commission, during a rare interval of peace in Europe …

A contemporary called this picture one of the most beautiful Batoni ever made, a judgement repeated in the artist’s obituary. Batoni earned such praise by combining elements of Rococo softness and eroticism with those of the newly fashionable neoclassicism.”

This was probably my most favourite painting from the Art Institute of Chicago. It's wondrous.

Francesco di Simone Ferruci, "Portrait of a Warrior"


Francesco di Simone Ferruci, "Portraitt of a Warrior"
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

c. 1475, marble

Andrea might get a laugh out of this one. :)

Luca Cambiaso, “Venus and Cupid”


Luca Cambiaso, “Venus and Cupid”
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

c. 1570, oil on canvas

"The most important and inventive painter in 16th-century Genoa, Luca Cambiaso developed a poetic style characterized by soft, rounded figures and elusive, silvery light. In this representation of ‘Venus and Cupid,’ heh positioned the goddess of love in profile, recalling an antique cameo. The canopied bed lends an unusual intimacy to the mythological scene. The broken strap on the quiver indicates that the goddess has disarmed her son, who, vulnerable, seeks his mother’s comfort. Ironically, the young god, notorious for wounding others with his arrows, raised his index finger to show Venus where he has been stung by a bee.”

This was one of my favourite paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Joe and Lisa


Joe and Lisa
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Getting my photos all out of order now - this is from my weekend in Chicago (two weekends ago - just finished labelling all the pictures last night). We were sitting in a park with huge gnarly oaks in Oak Park, IL.

Love this photo.

Street Sign


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Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Cooling off the hot feet


Cooling off the hot feet
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Mel


Mel
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

This is my new friend, Mel. She and I spent all Saturday together in Niagara-on-the-Lake while a group of other new friends went cycling in the crazy heat/humidity. Mel and I had a great time putzing through the shops (of COURSE we bought the heavy jars of jam within the second or third store we visited, so we had to lug them around!) and then catching a few quick minutes at the beach for some photos before we had to run off to rescue the heat-exhausted cyclists.

Mel is great fun and I enjoy her perspective as an artist (she paints!)

Shaw Cafe and Wine Bar


Shaw Cafe and Wine Bar
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Sculpture and Nature


Sculpture and Nature
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Daisies


Daisies
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Roses


Roses
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Girl swimming in pool, Niagara-on-the-Lake


Girl swimming in pool, NOTL
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Brendon is Mr. Charm


Brendon is Mr. Charm
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

The other Brazilian team



Captain Australia


Captain Australia
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Three Australians


Three Australians
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

I really love this photo. Alison, Jon, Becky. They're a fun and truly decent bunch of people. It was good to hang out with them today.

:)

A gracious Brazil fan - BEFORE the Brazilians trounced the Aussies


A gracious Brazil fan - BEFORE the Brazilians trounced the Aussies
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

I met my Australian friends today to watch the World Cup game between Brazil and Australia. We were one small table with a few Australia fans (it was my first real World Cup game to watch, so I couldn't claim to be a fan of anyone), SURROUNDED by Brazil fans. But between Brendon's impish grins at the rowdy Brazils whenever he cheered for the Aussies and this young woman's sense of grace and fun, it ended up being a very friendly experience. :)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

My hostel in Lincoln Park (Chicago)


My hostel
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Notice the near wall is covered with ivy - like many of the buildings in this neighbourhood. The ivy and the mature trees and the neat architecture make this area really, really special ... cool, green, and a bit like walking through an urban forest.

Reflections of me and my world


Reflections of me and my world
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

This is Cloud Gate at Millennium Park in Chicago. I'm in the pink sweater.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Kevin's amazing photos from the Royal Botanical Gardens

You can check them out here. I'm going to the Gardens fairly soon, but don't count on seeing the same quality of pictures from me! LOL

Missed it!!!


Missed it!!!
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Darn! The one painting I actually *knew* was at the Art Institute of Chicago, and it was loaned out! Phooey! LOL

Dragon


Dragon
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

for Andrea

Maya Angelou quote for the day

"Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.'"

- Maya Angelou

Monday, June 12, 2006

Trellis with sound system at Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park


Trellis with sound system at Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

I really love this picture too - somehow the angle makes something that is fixed seem dynamic.

Jolisa chillin' :)


Jolisa chillin' :)
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

I love this photo - this is how they really are when they're relaxed. :)

And I thought that Tiffany was just a jewelry store



One of the best things about traveling, of course, is that you learn new things. I'm not going to make claims that my mind has been expanded, but I did find my trip to the Smith Museum of Stained Glass in Chicago to be very interesting, enjoyable, and informative.

For one thing, I did not know of Chicago's role in the development of the art of stained glass (see below).



And for another, I didn't understand that Tiffany the jewelry store was actually an inventive American artist in several visual forms, including stained glass:

Call me a geek, but I found reading about these art greats fascinating; that there were people - brilliant people - who were passionate about colour and technique and beauty and line. (I'm sure such people still exist today, but I guess I don't travel in such circles.) My friend Lynn works as a hobby in stained glass, and the things she makes are gorgeous, but I didn't appreciate it as an art form and as an art form with a history as I do now. I think about people like Tiffany and La Farge, and I wonder about their lives, and how they came to seek the creative expression that they did in the methods that they chose. I wonder about the people who worked for and with them, and how they must have influenced each other, and how the people of their time must have felt to see the new variations of this art form (did they think it was too garish? too modern? too secular? a revelation?).

Like I said, I'm a geek who's excited by this kind of stuff. :)

When he died in 1910 he was acclaimed as America’s only old master.


When he died in 1910 he was acclaimed as America’s only old master.
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

The accompanying placard said:

FLORAL, c. 1890
Design and fabrication attributed to John La Farge (1835-1910). A ventilator window from an unidentified building, probably in New York.

When John La Farge, a stained-glass innovator of genius, took up the art of stained glass, there was almost nothing left of the great European tradition and practically no glass of good quality was available in the United States for making windows. He was forty years old. The year was 1875.

For his first window, made in 1878, La Farge had found a glass-maker in the United States whose richness of color was European in style. At the same time he saw everyday household items made of opalescent glass in imitation of porcelain. He visualized both glass types together as a harmonious translucent material.

The European styled glass he found in the Thill’s Flint Glass shop in Brooklyn, New York. Thill was a glassmaker from Luxembourg who made household items of opalescent glass. In Brooklyn, La Farge also met the German-trained chemist Louis Heidt. La Farge induced both men to experiment with colored opalescent glass and to make glass according to his specifications. The reason for using this glass was its unique properties. With opalescent glass the artist could obtain a three-dimensional effect without painting or shading the glass.

La Farge’s simple effort to portray flowers and objects in glass resulted in the minting of a visual language that was entirely new. The invention of the irregular line, the plastic and expressive line, in the lead-work allowed him to expand his range far wider than any artist working at that time. Yet the methods La Farge used were relatively simple and direct.

That he should have chosen glass as an appropriate medium of expression is both a mark of the times in which he lived and a revelation of his personality. In a period of great scientific discovery and development, La Farge invented a new technology for stained glass, and he sought to regenerate the craft. There are about three hundred windows securely attributed to him. Some of them have been lost. Others are being discovered.

In his lifetime, John La Farge was acclaimed an American Renaissance man: he painted exquisite still lives and landscapes in both watercolor and oil. He invested a radical new style of illustration. He created extraordinary decorative schemes for some of the nation’s most impressive churches and mansions, and he traveled throughout Japan and the South Seas. When he died in 1910 he was acclaimed as America’s only old master. And then quickly forgotten, only to be discovered again in the early 1980s.

Dragon at Navy Pier


Dragon at Navy Pier
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

For Andrea :)

View from the Sears tower in Chicago


View from the Sears tower
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Back from a weekend in Chicago. Had an amazing time. Saw quite a bit - especially art - in three days. Took a gazillion photos. Bought a visitor's pass for 3 days at a cost of $12 USD and went all over the city with it (a fantastic value!). Caught up a bit with my brother and sister-in-law who were also in town from Seattle.

I'm working on sorting and labeling my photos on Flickr - will post some more photos here as I organize myself.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Kitten vs. the laptop

This is sooo cute ... thanks to Jim for the link!

Sunday, June 04, 2006

George sets the record straight

Here is an example of why George Stromboulopoulos is great. He just cuts through the bullshit.

Leslie-Ann at the Riverdale Art Walk


Leslie-Ann
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.

Today, at the last minute, I ended up going with my friend Leslie to the Riverdale Art Walk (http://www.riverdaleartwalk.com/). We saw some beautiful art!!!

This was a candid shot of Leslie, and trust me, it was not easy to take! The woman has the eyes of a hawk!!! LOL

Click on the photo to see more pics from today.

Websites of some artists we saw today:

Matt Durant
Amanda Clyne
Mark Gleberzon