Art Detectives

It doesn't make ANY sense to only have a half of a meeting for each of these brilliant artists ... but we did! Hahah! Ha Jai Bang was featured in Jerry's show on Saturday & Gordon Parks is one of my favorite photographers, artistic historians, and filmmakers; so we looked at the work of these two phenomenal artists and we will again.  Top of the Day is this photograph by Gordon Parks of  Mr. and Mrs. Albert Thornton, Sr  in Mobile Alabama beneath their wedding photo.    Mr Thornton is 82, the son of a slave, a sharecropper & independent farmer.  Part of "Background of Segregation" series. Ha Jai Bang, In the Middle of the Source, 1994 -- link --  Ha Jai Bang, Without Title, 1974 -- link --  Ha Jai Bang,  Particles of Light, 2007 -- link --  Gordon Parks, Department Store, Mobile Alabama, 1956 -- link --  Gordon Parks, Untitled, Mobile Alabama, 1956 -- link --  Gordon Parks, Mr & Mrs Albert Thornton, Mobile, Ala...

Top of the Day: Floating - Fraser Smith, 2002 Today's Artwork: The River - Roberto Pulido, 1994 -- link -- Portrait of Doge Alvise I Mocenigo - Domenico Robusti detto Tintoretto, 1585 - 1590 -- link -- House and Tree - John Henry Twachtman, undated -- link -- Vessel with Women and Goats - Paul Gauguin -- link -- Halach Unich - unknown, 0600/0900 -- link -- Un'onda di luce - Giacomo Balla, 1943 -- link -- 26 Breath - Bang, Hai Ja, 1995 -- link -- Indians Simulating Buffalo - Frederic Remington, 1908 -- link -- St. John the Baptist - A. Del Sarto. -- link -- Kathreiner’s Morgenlatte - Sigmar Polke, 1969–79 -- link -- River View - Goyen, Jan van, c. 1644 - 1648 -- link -- Rama and Lakshmana Meet Sugriva at Matanga's Hermitage, Folio from a Ramayana (Adventures of Rama) - Unknown, circa 1595 -- link -- Floating - Fraser Smith, 2002 -- link -- ​We had to go to  Frazer Smith's website .  None of us could believe all of his quilts are woo...

Top of the Day: Music on the Karl Johan Street - Edvard Munch, 1889 Today's Artwork: Two Tahitian Women - Paul Gauguin, 1899 -- link -- Girl and Three Male Heads - Edvard Munch, c. 1898 -- link -- The Forest at Pontaubert - Georges Seurat, 1881 -- link -- Portrait of Irene Phillips Olmedo - Diego Rivera, 1955 -- link -- Natureza-morta - Pablo Picasso, 1962 -- link -- Seated Figures, Study for "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" - Georges Pierre Seurat, 1884 - 1885 -- link -- The Village of Gardanne (Le Village de Gardanne) - Paul Cézanne, 1885-1886 -- link -- Entrance to the Village of Osny - Paul Gauguin, 1882 - 1883 -- link -- Butterflies and poppies - Vincent van Gogh, April 1890 - May 1890 -- link -- Garden at Arles - Vincent van Gogh, July 1888 -- link -- La Chance de Françoise; La Mort du duc d'Enghien; Le Cor fleuri - Paul Signac, 1888 -- link -- Boy With a Straw Hat - Paul Cézanne, 1896 -- link -- View of a butch...

Top of the Day: Narihira and Nijo no Tsubone at the Fuji River - Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1882 Today's Artwork: Changing Horses and Porters at Fujieda Station - Utagawa Hiroshige, circa 1833-1834 -- link -- Fashion Plate (A Walking Dress, or Carriage Costume) - Rudolph Ackermann, 2/1/1811 -- link -- Laughing Child - Frans Hals, circa 1620-1625 -- link -- Doily, mid-19th century -- link -- Wrestlers, 1899 -- link -- Narihira and Nijo no Tsubone at the Fuji River - Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1882 -- link -- Funerary Sculpture of a Horse - Unknown, Eastern Han dynasty, 25-220 -- link -- ​We strolled through the hallways of LACMA today! 

Today, because it is Kiki's last weekday until a holiday, we looked at a stunning array of wooden quilts and sculptures by Laura Petrovich-Cheney. Jaw dropping! She's been quilting since she was 17 and after Hurricane Sandy devastated her community and caused a death in her family, she began reclaiming wood and forming sculptural quilts.  Top of the Day .... (there were so many!) .... is this moving image of homes she created from pieces of broken homes. It's called Homesick & while there were so many incredible pieces with abstract or cleanly geometric shapes & a wide array of colors, this one encapsulates a lot of her mission ... reclaiming destroyed objects then repurposing them to elicit hope.  Laura Petrovich-Cheney's website .... check out all the wonderful links at the top of the page; the arrows to the right of each piece of work cycles you through her artistry. -- link --   From her website 2017-present quilts -- link --  Pencil quilt made in ...

Kiki sent this article full of unusual embroidery and fabric techniques and we went dooooooooown the rabbit hole!  Top of the Day is this Quokka! There were many more intricate pieces we saw & you can view them below .... but this little beauty stole our hearts & you can see an actual naturally "smiling" quokka for comparison in the links below. Tryyyyyyy not to smile!  "Happy" quokka photos -- link --  Forest floor & canopy views by Sew Beautiful -- link --  Shimmering beads in embroidery makes for a celebration of the skies against landscapes by Ksenia Zimenko -- link --  Moth Art!!! Bigggg moths made of vintage and antique fabrics by Larysa Bernhardt -- link --  Animal embroidery by Laura McGarrity -- link --  Secretary Bird correctly identified by Ruth! (from the animal embroidery link just above) -- link -- The wonderfully creative Laure McGarrity chooses such a variety of animals & uses nontraditional colors to tell their st...

Mt. Lefroy - Lawren Harris  1930 Today's Artwork: Girl in Red Robe and Black Stockings - Egon Schiele, 1911 -- link -- Warhol's Gaze - Kang, Hyung Koo, 2010 -- link -- Port Scene (Hafenbild) - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1908 -- link -- Thomson Campfire - Douglas Coupland, 2013 -- link -- ​McMichael Art Collection Group of Seven

Top of the Day: Ocean Life - James M. Sommerville|Christian Schussele Today's Artwork: Ships off a Rocky Coast - Willaerts, Adam, 1621 -- link -- Escena de playa - Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, 1899 -- link -- Portrait of Alida Christina Assink - Jan Adam Kruseman, 1833/1833 -- link -- The sculptures by Aleksander Chellak at the exhibition "To Catch a Big Fish" -- link -- Chestnut Trees at Jas de Bouffan - Paul Cézanne, c. 1885-1886 -- link -- Portrait of Alfonso V, King of Aragon (Retrato del Monarca Alfonso V, Rey de Aragón) - Juan de Juanes, 1557 -- link -- The Daughters of Durand-Ruel - Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1882/1882 -- link -- Valmiki Sees the Hunter Killing a Pair of Kraunch Birds - Unknown, Early 18th Century -- link -- The Virgin and Child with the Magdalen and Saint John the Baptist - Andrea Mantegna, about 1490-1505 -- link -- Ocean Life - James M. Sommerville|Christian Schussele -- link -- ​

I happened to catch a PBS documentary on this amaaaaaaaaaazing artist who, like our last few artists, work with book and printed media -- this time in collage and 3D art forms. She's a South Carolinian artist who goes by the one word name of Aldwyth.  Top of the Day is this Eye Globe collage where Aldwyth combines images of famous artists with the eyeballs of famous artists titled  Many of Aldwyth's works as well as opportunities to examine them very closely -- link --  Collage and Assemblage -- link --  Some of the strange "creatures" that Aldwyth creates -- link --  Aldwyth, A Walk in the Woods -- link --  Aldwyth, a looooooong video of her showing how she creates her 3D art pieces -- link --  A shorter (excerpted) version of the looooooooong video -- link --  Aldwyth's website -- link -- 

Speechless. All of us. AND WE ARE TALKERS!  Don't Even Know HOW it's Possible to Choose ONE Top of the Day from the list below ... please enjoy every piece -- we looked through a LOT with our mouths & eyes wide-open today!  Here are three examples of Brian Dettmer's book sculptures.  Article about Brian Dettmer's brilliant sculptures out of old books -- link --  Video showing Brian Dettmer's work and how he accomplishes it -- link --  Another videos showing Brian Dettmer creating & talking about his work -- link --  Vanessa Mancini's book bathtub -- link --  Alvaro Tamarit's Bench of Thought -- link --  Matej Kren, Octagonal Building made of books -- link --  Marta Minujin, Tower of Babel made of books -- link --  Guy Laramée, Book Sculptures -- link --  More of Guy Laramée's work -- link --  Clip of Guy Laramée working -- link --  Close Ups of Guy Laremée's work -- link -- 

 Stunning photographs of ocean water transformed into sculptural art.   Top of the Day is every single one of them .... but here's just one we loved.  .Photography of Waves & Water by Matt Burgess -- link --  Behind the Shot, a video showing his work & how he makes these astounding photos happen -- link -- 

Thought the artists are lost to time, their artwork lives & is celebrated today.  Top of the Day is this Balinesian Mask ... link with a little bit more info below  Hamburg Flint Tools, Paleolithic -- link --  Skeleton of an Elk, c. 10,700 BCE -- link --  Museum view of Giant Elk -- link --  Brazilian Vessel, 10, 000 BCE -- link --  Bali / Indonesian Mask, 1850 - 1950 (our Top of the Day) -- link --  Islamic Prayer Mat, circa 1900 -- link --  Dance Mask (hornbill mask), unknown -- link --  Hornbill that Beth found (looks like our bird mask including decorative elements) -- link -- 

Top of the Day: The Water Lilies - Setting Sun - Claude Monet, 1915/1926 Today's Artwork: View on the Catskill—Early Autumn - Thomas Cole, 1836–37 -- link -- Windsor Castle: The Round Tower, Royal Court and Devil's Tower from the Black Rod - Paul Sandby, (c. 1767) -- link -- Buffalo Bull, Grazing on the Prairie - George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872, 1832-1833 -- link -- Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in the Marriage Procession his Eldest Son Dara Shikoh - Unknown, 1700/1800 -- link -- Sentado Niña - Elizabeth Catlett, 1951 -- link -- Scrovesni #1 - Carlos Gonzales, 2016 -- link -- Luncheon of the Boating Party - Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1880-1881 -- link -- Majestic Mosaic - Karen Kay Buckley and Renae Haddadin, 2014 -- link -- The Water Lilies - Setting Sun - Claude Monet, 1915/1926 -- link -- A Sibyl and a Prophet - Andrea Mantegna (Italian, b.Circa 1431, d.1506), ca. 1495 -- link -- ​