It's the router.
12/28/09
Merry Christmas to me
Once a year my former sweetie Chris visits from Seattle and always brings flowers and computer assistance.
It's the router.
It's the router.
12/25/09
X
One of my abundant peeves is the use of X in artwork because it voids content.
I've been around awhile and have eXperinced X used by countless generations of amateur painters. It's easy to smear or slap an X on a canvas and the result is a bold non-statement.
Antoni Tapies was probably in an empty mood when he painted these:
The above is an acknowledgment of brick.
I told you painters studied brick and rectangles are critical to painting.
Don't just say no say something.
Oh yeah, Merry Xmas.
I've been around awhile and have eXperinced X used by countless generations of amateur painters. It's easy to smear or slap an X on a canvas and the result is a bold non-statement.
Antoni Tapies was probably in an empty mood when he painted these:
The above is an acknowledgment of brick.
I told you painters studied brick and rectangles are critical to painting.
Don't just say no say something.
Oh yeah, Merry Xmas.
12/18/09
12/14/09
Top photo picks of 2009
The past few years I've posted my top brick photos during December.
This year I'm posting some of my all time favorite photos.
Abandoned wasp nest pretending to be an incoming meteorite:
Tracks in TGS:
Paw print in brick:
Mortar joint:
Marti Frumhoff: St. Louis Activist and brick hugger. RIP.
View from the roof of 3410 Oak Hill:
Gothic arch:
Visiting artist Lesley Caldera:
Jen's gangway garden and window detail:
Holy Family School and bricks:
MGF:
Diamond Brick:
Fluer-de-lis:
Blue bricks:
Here kitty, kitty
Art Deco building Kingshighway Hills:
Blue coral
Beau photos:
Paw and foot
Beau in the snow:
This year I'm posting some of my all time favorite photos.
Abandoned wasp nest pretending to be an incoming meteorite:
Tracks in TGS:
Paw print in brick:
Mortar joint:
Marti Frumhoff: St. Louis Activist and brick hugger. RIP.
View from the roof of 3410 Oak Hill:
Gothic arch:
Visiting artist Lesley Caldera:
Jen's gangway garden and window detail:
Holy Family School and bricks:
MGF:
Diamond Brick:
Fluer-de-lis:
Blue bricks:
Here kitty, kitty
Art Deco building Kingshighway Hills:
Blue coral
Beau photos:
Paw and foot
Beau in the snow:
12/13/09
Sculpture in Marti Frumhoff Memorial Garden
This sculpture anonymously appeared in Marti's Garden in the late fall. It's a piece of driftwood, was perfectly placed in a dark circle of mulch and anchored with a white rock. I'm impressed with its placement and the use of organic materiel.
A few weeks later another piece of wood appeared next to it.
It's quite suspenseful and I'm curious how it will evolve.
The Marti Frumhoff Memorial Garden is located on Morgan Ford Road and Utah.
The site was donated by St. Louis City.
I maintained this garden with lots of help from friends,neighbors, and a gorilla artist.
I took these photos last month. The garden was looking gorgeous and a group of volunteers from TGS helped plant hundreds of bulbs n late September for spring blossoms.
There's two benches in Marti's garden, one was anonymously donated by a local business and the garden fund paid for the other.
I researched benches online for a week in spring 2007. One day while in McDonald Park I spied a similar bench and called Dan Skillman, St. Louis City Parks Commissioner who shared the source for these benches. Dan Skillman has been a wonderful resource for the garden and his Dept. maintains the irrigation system.
Next spring the front of the garden facing MGF will be replanted with liriope.
A few weeks later another piece of wood appeared next to it.
It's quite suspenseful and I'm curious how it will evolve.
The Marti Frumhoff Memorial Garden is located on Morgan Ford Road and Utah.
The site was donated by St. Louis City.
I maintained this garden with lots of help from friends,neighbors, and a gorilla artist.
I took these photos last month. The garden was looking gorgeous and a group of volunteers from TGS helped plant hundreds of bulbs n late September for spring blossoms.
There's two benches in Marti's garden, one was anonymously donated by a local business and the garden fund paid for the other.
I researched benches online for a week in spring 2007. One day while in McDonald Park I spied a similar bench and called Dan Skillman, St. Louis City Parks Commissioner who shared the source for these benches. Dan Skillman has been a wonderful resource for the garden and his Dept. maintains the irrigation system.
Next spring the front of the garden facing MGF will be replanted with liriope.
12/8/09
Art and Brick Part 2
A word?
Jackson Pollack was notorious for public urination and infamous for his legendary emission into Peggy Guggenheim's fireplace.
He liked to whip it out and heavy drinking provided justification.
Pollack spent many hours with a hand against brick walls peeing. I submit at one point he looked straight ahead at a brick and glanced into his future.
Pollack painting:
Detail of iron ore in brick:
I'm not dissing Pollack, he's one of my favorite painters.
My point is I believe Abstract Expressionist painters studied spent some time observing face brick.
That reminds me, many years ago I an article in a national Arts publication about Franz Kline. The writer had toured Kline's studio after his death and wrote about a telephone book that had pages and pages of small paintings where Kline supposedly practiced his gesture strokes.
Any painter will tell you he was cleaning his brushes.
Give me a break.
Kline's bold gesture strokes needed scale and an extensive range of movement. He painted with his arms and not his fingers.
I imagined telling this to Armin and hearing his laughter.
Jackson Pollack was notorious for public urination and infamous for his legendary emission into Peggy Guggenheim's fireplace.
He liked to whip it out and heavy drinking provided justification.
Pollack spent many hours with a hand against brick walls peeing. I submit at one point he looked straight ahead at a brick and glanced into his future.
Pollack painting:
Detail of iron ore in brick:
I'm not dissing Pollack, he's one of my favorite painters.
My point is I believe Abstract Expressionist painters studied spent some time observing face brick.
That reminds me, many years ago I an article in a national Arts publication about Franz Kline. The writer had toured Kline's studio after his death and wrote about a telephone book that had pages and pages of small paintings where Kline supposedly practiced his gesture strokes.
Any painter will tell you he was cleaning his brushes.
Give me a break.
Kline's bold gesture strokes needed scale and an extensive range of movement. He painted with his arms and not his fingers.
I imagined telling this to Armin and hearing his laughter.
12/7/09
Armin
I was informed via email last week that my erstwhile companion Armin died in 2002.
Armin was amazing and exceptionally talented.
He was one of the best adventures in my life and my heart is on his absence.
12/1/09
Used Clothing Drive for Marti's Memorial Garden
I've partnered with Remains at 3340 Morgan Ford Road to collect clothing and shoes as a fundraiser for the Marti Frumhoff Memorial garden.
The white trailer above is in front of the business and will be available from Friday DEC 4 through Sunday DEC 13th. Bags can be delivered to the trailer which be open from 7 AM to 7 PM.
They accept: Clothing, belts, paired shoes in a separate bag, purses, and linens (towels, sheets, bedspreads and curtains). They'll also accept toys that 12 inches or smaller (and not sets like railroad tracks or card games).
They're paying 6 cents per pound collected so gather all clothing you're no longer willing to wear, keep it out of a landfill, and help provide for long term care for the Marti Frumhoff Memorial garden.
I miss Marti.
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11/17/09
Hydraulic Press Brick Company
Henry Ware Eliot was the owner of the Hydraulic-Press Brick Company and father to T. S. Eliot. I found this page from an Architecture magazine from the 1920s.
11/11/09
Remains on MGF is your Saturday Destination!
Remains is located at 3340 Morgan Ford Road just south of the Marti Frumhoff Memorial Garden* at Utah and Fyler here in TGS. They are open to the public on Wednesday and Saturdays from 8-4. Cash only. What's available? Scroll down to the price list and photos below.
Where to go:
Drive back about fifty feet, this open door is on the left. There's a friendly dog on the premises name Pal.
Rag refers to any article of discarded clothing or textile and Remains is a rag company in the business of post-consumer textiles. It's mega Green!
I've been fascinated with this industry since I first heard the term 'rag company' from my grandfather when I was a teenager. I had been reading the Post and noticed fibers in the paper. He explained that newsprint has a high rag content (as does paper money) and the rag industry developed in large cities with a side business of selling rag for pulp. The pulp gets mixed in huge vats but that's another post.
A rag company contracts for textiles from thrift stores (They also use donation boxes). They buy and resell it by the pound. It's a huge and vital industry with dozens of related businesses. Owner Kelly Stewart recently started a related business: Arch Paper http://www.archpaper.net/servlet/StoreFront
After arriving at Remains the textiles are sorted and graded. The clothing in excellent condition is baled and purchased by brokers then shipped to Canada (for another sort) and third world countries where it's sold for the third of fourth time.
The history of rag companies is, as I mentioned, fascinating. It's directly linked to paper production and the history of public schools. Prior to paper (a rag product) being mass produced, formal education was only for the wealthy who could afford tutors for their children since the ability to mass publish texts and primers didn't exist. Paper also allowed students to develop linear thinking by writing a series of numbers and learning basic math.
My thanks to Kelly and the staff of Remains who graciously allowed a tour of the business and answered my relentless questions.
Textiles are delivered by fork lift then fed by a worked onto the conveyor belt:
The conveyor belt where clothing and textiles get sorted then head up the line to be baled:
A worker on the sorting line:
The baler where clothing is compressed:
Baled textiles:
Price list and photos of the sales floor:
Photos of the 'sales floor'.
All garments are hung and the place is hyper neat.
I saw many pairs of never worn fleece and flannel lined slippers:
Long johns, union suits, and bibs.
* As a fundraiser for Marti's garden I am talking with Remains about accepting donations of shoes and clothing. More info will follow.
Where to go:
Drive back about fifty feet, this open door is on the left. There's a friendly dog on the premises name Pal.
Rag refers to any article of discarded clothing or textile and Remains is a rag company in the business of post-consumer textiles. It's mega Green!
I've been fascinated with this industry since I first heard the term 'rag company' from my grandfather when I was a teenager. I had been reading the Post and noticed fibers in the paper. He explained that newsprint has a high rag content (as does paper money) and the rag industry developed in large cities with a side business of selling rag for pulp. The pulp gets mixed in huge vats but that's another post.
A rag company contracts for textiles from thrift stores (They also use donation boxes). They buy and resell it by the pound. It's a huge and vital industry with dozens of related businesses. Owner Kelly Stewart recently started a related business: Arch Paper http://www.archpaper.net/servlet/StoreFront
After arriving at Remains the textiles are sorted and graded. The clothing in excellent condition is baled and purchased by brokers then shipped to Canada (for another sort) and third world countries where it's sold for the third of fourth time.
The history of rag companies is, as I mentioned, fascinating. It's directly linked to paper production and the history of public schools. Prior to paper (a rag product) being mass produced, formal education was only for the wealthy who could afford tutors for their children since the ability to mass publish texts and primers didn't exist. Paper also allowed students to develop linear thinking by writing a series of numbers and learning basic math.
My thanks to Kelly and the staff of Remains who graciously allowed a tour of the business and answered my relentless questions.
Textiles are delivered by fork lift then fed by a worked onto the conveyor belt:
The conveyor belt where clothing and textiles get sorted then head up the line to be baled:
A worker on the sorting line:
The baler where clothing is compressed:
Baled textiles:
Price list and photos of the sales floor:
Photos of the 'sales floor'.
All garments are hung and the place is hyper neat.
I saw many pairs of never worn fleece and flannel lined slippers:
Long johns, union suits, and bibs.
* As a fundraiser for Marti's garden I am talking with Remains about accepting donations of shoes and clothing. More info will follow.
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