Robin, Shamrock, Fresh, Warm, Bread …
Surely a poem can be found
between and around those words,
in the morning, in the spring time,
if I look long, listen, and smell softly.
Leica M, 350 mm Telyt-R
Spring stroll and checking in with the neighbors
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The Great Blue Heron is more of a visitor than a neighbor.
And I chose to “posterize” the photograph because the creature took off before I could get it in focus.
The Great Blue without posterization.
Leica M, 560 mm Telyt
Traces…
…both startling and subtle
Leica M Monochrom, 50 mm Summilux Asph
First friday flower appears…
…in the yard
as snow flakes
fall through spring
and food from the kiln
Leica M, 60 mm Macro Elmarit-R
On the way home…
…with Friday evening’s seafood chowder and broccoli; to go with the fish and baked potato.
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Leica M Monochrom, 50 mm Summilux Asph
Cosmically seeking…
…leads to
Cosmically speaking, Encaustic Number 4
Heat turns solids into liquids and gases.
Gesture and texture. Fuse. Burn. Melt. Blend.
Combine. Join. Bond. Merge. Intermingle. Integrate. Intermix.
Synthesize. Coalesce.
How is this not cosmic… inconceivably vast… in nature?
Learning the language.
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Leica M, 60 mm Macro Elmarit- R
A very subtle process…
this collecting, arranging and waiting.
Why would anyone pickup a couple of skeletal seed pods?
Because they whispered something to me
in that moment.
They sat around the office/studio for weeks.
A few other objects were gathered around them.
They got lost. Because they’re so light. They’d just blow away.
Then found. Waiting. I think. To be embedded in encaustic medium.
Then last evening, after completing
Encaustic Painting No. 3, Life layered over our years…
Leica M, 60 mm Macro Elmarit-R
the low, setting sun light flowed through the West window
whispering in harmony with the whispering seed pods
as they wait for their final rest.
Leica M, 35 mm Summilux Asph + Leica Wetzlar Elpro VIb
Well done…
Leica M, 35 mm Summilux Asph
Infrared honors trees and ice storms
Friday morning
demanded infrared photography
to document the drama
before the sun’s thaw
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Leica M8, 40 mm Summicron w/ B+W 092 IR Filter
Shadow of the Avant Garde presents…
Pioneers of the Art
We gathered last evening in an unfinished 6th floor penthouse space atop a Peck School of the Arts venue at Kenilworth and Prospect Avenue as the sun set over Milwaukee. It was the third eclectic gathering of souls sharing a mutual interest in music, poetry, and the counter cultural history of Milwaukee. John and McKim Stropes, along with many other dedicated students, archivists and volunteers continue to loosely anchor live performances to historical ideas found within the Avant Garde Coffee House (which presented folk and blues music, poetry and independent films) as well as the alternative news paper, Kaleidoscope (which provided a print venue for artists, designers, photographers, poets and writers) during the vibrant, tumultuous, and highly political Sixties. These wonderful events have included theatre performances, photography exhibits, live music, poetry, film, as well as the bringing together of private collections of artifacts from the Sixties.
The complete set of photographs from this event can be viewed here.
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To the East… the Great Lake Michigan
Stefano Berone presented guitar work which defied categorization; beyond gorgeous.
You can hear what I mean on some youtube offerings here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YE-GPXYeTA.
UWM’s Finger Style Guitar Department students detailed many more traditional styles equally beautifully.
Stefano hit the perfect nostalgic tone, as he married his unique, contemporary sound
to the moving pictures from Color Study, 1950-52 and Mirror Animations, 1956 -57, by Harry Smith.
The evening culminated with an all too still apropos presentation of Allen Ginsberg performing Hum Bom.
