 My Mt. Everest is a metaphor for including in your life fun, recreational activities that challenge your fear and strengthen your courage. It's a sure way to develop your "courage muscle." First, Your Mt. Everest. Then, the world.
Newsletters: 2009 2008 2007 September 2006 December
Dear
MyMtEveresters, I haven't written an
edition in 2 months. I've tried a couple of times.
I would write something and save it, but let it
disappear into the computer - most likely , never
to reappear. I'm just not into angst
writing and I'm not quite ready to talk about what
I'm currently working on. But I did get my shorts in
a bunch recently. I saw something that was really
impressive and no one has written about it. There
are no revues. The arts section of the Los Angeles
Times is otherwise engaged. Why aren't people
bragging about all the talent we have in L A.? What
I saw is well worth talking about. I went to the Barnsdall Art
Museum to see my husband's art piece on display.
What I saw was an exhibit of 600 paintings.
Barnsdall had an open call. That means anyone who
wanted, could enter a piece of artwork. If no one
was refused, you would figure that half the work
would be junk. 600 people stood in line for hours
to bring a piece of their soul to exhibit. 600
pieces; no junk. Plus, I did recognized two
names: Nathan Singer, mi amore, and Sloane Kanter,
daughter of friends. Of course, both of those
pieces were fabulous. That was not surprising to
me. What was surprising was
that the other 598 pieces were also fabulous. There
was the portrait of a woman with a bird in a cage
in her mind; the piece was called Freedom. Maybe it
meant that the woman was a birdbrain, or that we
think we are free when we are really thinking in a
cage, or that we are as free as we think we are. I
don't know; but I liked the piece. There were two paintings of
horses by different artists, side-by-side. Neither
painting had the entire horse. In one you saw the
horse's face with rich brown colors turned toward
you. The other painting had muted brown tones that
created the feeling of swiftness of the running
horses. There were big, bright
abstract pieces, great photo art, neon, moveable
blocks that currently spells out "poop". I thought
about changing it to "oops", but I
didn't. All the life studies were
in a separate room in case you wouldn't want your
child to see it &endash; though that wouldn't be my
choice. Nathan's piece was an impressionist
self-portrait with tiny nudes that make up the
color palate of his face wearing the boxy skull cap
we bought in Israel. Why is it that this
phenomenal exhibit was not revued in any Los
Angeles paper? Can we be so blaise here that we are
not duly impressed that Los Angeles spawns artists
so prolifically that 600 worthy artists can flutter
together in a beautifully hung show that 10 people
at a time come to see? My bubba (grandmother) would
say: "What a shonda!" Create your life style on
the go. In Los Angeles, every day is it's own piece
of art. Take a Sunday off, Go to the Hollywood
Farmers Market. Have lunch in an outside
café (if you can avoid the smokers)
. Pack a lunch and have a
picnic on the Barnsdall museum grounds and then go
see the exhibit. When you stop into the
show, pick one piece that you like and buy it -
while these artists are still unknown. The prices
are not listed as being for sale but the gallery
people will have the artists get in touch with
you. And while you're at th e
Barnsdall, visit Hollyhock House, the
Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece of
design. Then find yourself a place
to listen to music for free or cheap. They're all
around the city. We work so hard to make
money and create a comfortable life style. Let the
Unknown Exhibit in the Little Known Gallery in
Barnsdall Art Park be your entrée to the
lifestyle of your soul. Merle About Merle M. Singer: |