Month: April 2016

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Saint Francis

Saint Francis statue tied to a tree
Saint Francis statue tied to a tree

There is an old horse path that runs through the undeveloped part of Durand Eastman Park. It’s a beautiful trail that hardly gets any use although it did get a lot of attention when Bulldozer Man drove part of the trail with his earthmoving moving equipment about five or six years ago. Not a park employee or anything, just a private citizen, he atempted to clear the trial again for horseback riding. Some alert woods-walkers notified Larry Staub, the director of the Monroe County Park system. At one point this path skirts a cluster of homes and this statue stands behind a house at the edge of the woods. The base rotted out and he was laying down for a while. I probably have a picture of that on this blog somewhere. I keep track of that sort of thing.

We always had a statue of Saint Francis in the house when I was growing up and I have one today near my desk. My youngest brother youngest brother was named after him. The Paton Saint of animals and the environment, he is one of the church’s favorite saints and is usually pictured in a brown robe, sandals and a rope belt with birds on his shoulder. Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, he is the patron saint of Italy. He is reported to have received the stigmata during the apparition of Seraphic angels in a religious ecstasy making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ’s Passion.

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Drawing

Steve Piper abstract drawing at Little Theater Café in Rochester, New York
Steve Piper abstract drawing at Little Theater Café in Rochester, New York

It’s snowing and it is beautiful. Who cares if it is April? The “Sights & Sounds” opening is over and it’s still daylight. All is right with the world. My sister was there and a couple of cousins from farm country so I spent quite a bit of time talking about family rather that art. There was plenty of arts speak though and music this time because the five artists showing are also musicians. Thus the theme of the show.

There was very little surprise in the music but Steve Piper’s drawings were a revelation to me. He’s known for and has made a living with his photos but but his drawings are each little worlds unto themselves. I hope you can get down there this month to see them.

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Enough

Lake Ontario shoreline at Durand Eastman Beach
Lake Ontario shoreline at Durand Eastman Beach

You would think it would be enough to walk to the lake and look at it. You would think that would be enough for the day. The sensation can be overwhelming. It is about a mile away from our house as the crow flies but our Moves app had us at about three and a half miles round trip. We took the path through the woods and then followed the winding shoreline of Eastman Lake.

Nighttime had us down at the lake as well. We caught two sets by Rich Thompson’s Quartet at the new Pythod Room on Lake Avenue in the old beer bar next door to Mr. Dominic’s. They did a beautiful version of Miles Davis’s “Eighty One.” That was enough for me.

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It Doesn’t Matter

Ten Models from Crime Page paintings by Paul Dodd mounted as one piece for Little Theater Café show
Ten Models from Crime Page paintings by Paul Dodd mounted as one piece for Little Theater Café show

So far, Peggi and I have managed to live our whole adult lives with only one automobile. It doesn’t usually present a problem but tomorrow we have a yoga class and I need to be downtown at the same time to drop off the artwork above. We will manage.

WXXI’s Evan Dawson is a real pro. He does his homework before the day’s interviews so he is completely comfortable with his subject and able to both deliver and roll with the punches. I have no idea what this show sounded like but it was a pleasure being there talking about art with some good friends. There is a podcast but I’d rather trust the memory.

For some reason Evan picked up on the sentence in my bio that says I take daily walks in the woods, mentioning it when we were introduced and then working it into the show as we discussed creating. I loved how he got around to the Robert Frost poem and the real point, that one road wasn’t better exactly, that both hold promise.

Evan moved around the table seamlessly weaving the five artists/musicians into the wide ranging conversation. For a moment the whole thing seemed to go off the rails when Jaffe, former member of the Fugs, Monk enthusiast and longtime keyboard player for Colorblind James experience, talked about someone giving him some white powder to drink back in sixties. It was a turning point of sorts for him as he stayed up for two weeks and almost died. Both Evan’s and the engineer’s eyes lit up and their mouths were wide open. It was brilliant live radio.

The tintype portraits at Genesee Libby Photography in the Hungerford Building looks like the ticket for tonight’s First Friday romp.

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