Calf Weaners

I know. These calf weaners look exactly like medieval torture devices. Surely that is how they must feel to calf and mom. As if the being weaned isn't traumatic enough!

In no way a last-minute gift idea, but just a reminder that today is Mother’s Day.

Some of these devices are embossed with brand names. The above model is a “Daisy.”

Below, is a “Kant Suk” which I hope is somehow related to the “Calf-ateria” feed trough I once saw.

Whaleship Abbott

“Looking through whaling logbooks at the Providence library, my fingers went black from turning the pages. It was as though some small part of whaling had rubbed off on me, the soot from the try pots, fires that burned night and day. Melville called it “the left wing of the day of judgement”. The true history of American whaling is in those logbooks, and hundreds like them, written by the men who went to sea. Those pages hold the excitement of the hunt, the chase, the danger, as well as the boredom and near-constant longing for home, all of it the sum parts of whaling. 

They put to sea, and hoped.” 

I could never have been a whaler, but would love to have been aboard a whaleship in 1856, to see how it was done, meet those men, hear their stories, somehow get it all down in my own sketchbooks and journals, my fingers black from soot, as well as ink. 

To have put to sea, and hoped. 

Scott Kelley 

Peaks Island, Maine

Scott Kelley’s exquisite watercolors, the result of extensive research and extraordinary skill are evidence enough of a well-spent artist’s residency, albeit imaginary, aboard one of those 19th century whalers.

The paintings, which are mostly “excerpts” from said residency’s many "sketch-logbooks" are on view now at Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine.

Meticulous portraits of whales, delicate renderings of their dramatic spouts, and identification charts of their fins and tails grace soot-smudged and, in cases, severely foxed “pages.” There’s an entire “logbook” of gridded pages--color charts of the North Atlantic under various conditions.

And because Kelley is the quintessential whaler-artist, there is scrimshaw, too.

I'll be checking out his show opening next week in NYC at W. M. Brady, 22 E. 80th St.

Hiatus Interruptus?

Selfie on the bus

It's hard to know whether this post is a hiatus from a hiatus, or the end of one. Only time will tell ...

Dead Horse Bay revisited

Anonymous snapshot

Jeff Koons sculpture from his show at the (old) Whitney.

Apple Season

I so want a set of these!

Archimedes Apples were used in the classroom to teach schoolchildren about fractions. This set from the 1920s, was produced by Critas for students of the Netherlands and its colonies.

Antiques dealer, Zus Korsten of the Netherlands offered this on 1stdibs a while back. Needless to say, it has been sold.

eBay Eyes: Went Fishin'

I seem to have taken a bit of a hiatus from posting. But hey, isn’t that what summer is for?

These vintage reel boxes might trigger memories for some of you, but I’ve no salty sentimentality to offer. You see mine were not a seafaring people. Navy service during WWII cured my father of any further interest in maritime adventure. Ocean-passage to Ellis Island was quite enough for his father before that.

Fortunately, no nautical expertise is necessary to enjoy the period graphics on these old boxes.

What’s the opposite of “deep-sea” fishing? That’s me, age 3, with big bro.

eBay Eyes is an occasional presentation of found visual treats from that ever-expanding, electronic mega-marketplace.

Squirting Grapefruits and Fingerprints: Deskey's Textiles

"Squirting Grapefruit"

Donald Deskey might be a name you are familiar with, but if you can’t quite place his work, just think Radio City Music Hall.

The interior that we now think of as the quintessential expression of Art Deco design, was actually slated to be yet another over-the-top “Rococo,” movie palace. That, of course, was before a certain designer entered the design competition with a completely different vision.

From the Radio City’s website:

Deskey invested $5,000 in a spectacular presentation of the new Art Deco style that utilized glass, aluminum, chrome and geometric ornamentation, promising a modern theatre, unlike any other in New York. Deskey won the competition and was awarded the mammoth project of designing every public area in the Music Hall, including thirty lobby areas, smoking rooms, retiring rooms, foyers and lounges ...  

Deskey himself designed furniture and carpets, and he coordinated the design of railings, balustrades, signage and decorative details to complement the theatre's interior spaces. He used a brilliant combination of precious materials (including marble and gold foil), and industrial materials (including Bakelite, permatex, aluminum and cork)

The archive of Deskey’s work at the Smithsonian contains iterations of Radio City’s instrument-themed carpet, along with many other Deco delights. These playful pastel-on-black 1930s textile designs definitely took me by surprise!

"W.P.A., or Spare Time"

"Fingerprints"

"Party Ashtray"

Then there was one more pastel on black, from 1961, and about as far from a textile design as you can get. It was the sketch for New York City’s familiar streetlight!

The street art of Buenos Aires is as exuberant as it is plentiful. The painting of murals on outside walls throughout the city is not only accepted, but encouraged and celebrated.

I wandered by the above mural of Argentine deity, Diego Maradona, during my visit to BA in 2009. It’s way more lighthearted and cartoonish than more recent soccer murals, which tend toward the heroic and reverential. A big supporter of the local street art scene is Buenos Aires Street Art. They organize and document projects, offer regular street-art tours and even aerosol classes. You can see soccer related murals they’ve posted here and here.

As all will be watching Lionel Messi’s “date with history,” in the World Cup final of Argentina v. Germany, I thought I’d finally post Maradona and some of the other painted walls I saw in BA. While I can’t give equal time here to Germany’s wall art, I’ve slipped in a mural from a visit to Berlin. I think you’ll figure out which one it is. (Hint: don’t be fooled by the Volkswagen)

 Also check out the NY Times infographic on Messi vs. Maradona.