The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: art

  • Nature Doesn’t Clash

    I have a friend who is an artist, and when choosing his color palette for any given creation, he looks to nature for inspiration. He’ll take a leaf or a flower petal, for example, and put it under a microscope, and then use the colors he sees there. I think that’s a brilliant idea. If…

  • Public Art as a Yardstick

    I love the fact that I’m now living in a city where public art is the norm. I often pass by sculptures and murals here in Seattle, and they never fail to make me smile. It’s always a pleasure to have a bit of beauty and humor or a dash of whimsy injected into one’s…

  • Sliz

    Every day on the way to work, I pass some graffiti on the highway by someone who calls him or herself “Sliz”. I choose to pronounce that “Sleaze”, but there’s nothing sleazy about this person’s artistic abilities. Just from the calligraphy I can tell he or she has a lot to offer the art world.…

  • Artistic Collaboration and Then Some

    A friend of mine recently told me about a delightful collaboration. Two very different groups came together to create the beautiful piece shown below, which was then auctioned off to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital. I’ll let them speak for themselves. “This piece of art is the blossom of a relationship between two groups…

  • Seattle’s Fremont Sunday Market and Mobile Food Rodeo

    I don’t know how I managed to overlook this Seattle tradition for so long (probably has something to do with the fact that I work every Sunday), but in the quirky Fremont neighborhood here in Seattle there is a street market every Sunday from 10 to 4. It’s only about two short blocks from the…

  • The New Dark Ages?

    Back in 2013 I wrote a post entitled, “When Did ‘Intellectual’ Become a Dirty Word?” Little did I know at the time that that was just the tip of a very ignorant iceberg. I am beginning to look at 2013 as the halcyon days. Imagine that. Ironically, I started that post by saying, “I really…

  • Creative Expressions of Grief

    I had the distinct honor of participating in a reception for The Healing Center the other day. It’s a grief support community here in Seattle that is a welcoming and safe place to express your feelings of loss. They have been wonderfully helpful and understanding to me. The reception, which is held annually, is called…

  • What I Love about Seattle, Washington

    I’ve been living in this delightful city for 2 ½ years now, and I have never been happier. It sort of feels like I went to bed in Florida and I woke up in the Land of Reasonable People. Not a day goes by when I don’t look around in awe. How did I get…

  • The Emperor Has No Balls

    I love art. I love satire. I love Seattle. So when all these things come together, I’m particularly thrilled. And oh, I was, when one of my faithful readers (waving at Linda!) pointed out to me an art installation that came to Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Cleveland. Called “The Emperor Has…

  • Creativity is NOT a Luxury

    As more and more public schools cut back on their art, theater, and music programs, I wonder about the deleterious effect this will have on our society. Without creativity, we would all be living in soul-sucking communist era apartment blocks. It would be nearly impossible to express new ideas. We would have relatively few ways…