John Baeder, Prout's Diner, 1974. Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia.

AUGUSTA, GA.-Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats along the Way: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by John Baeder, the first major traveling exhibition solely devoted to the work of this important contemporary realist, remains on view through March 9, 2008 at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia. “This exhibition enables us to bring to our community and region the work of an artist who is justly renowned as one of America’s preeminent realist painters,” said Kevin Grogan, director of the Morris Museum of Art. Organized by Morris Museum of Art curator Jay Williams, the exhibition includes forty of Baeder’s painstakingly rendered oils and watercolors, spanning the period 1974–2004, Baeder’s work documents the roadside eateries he reveres—diners, taco trucks, and barbecue dives. His depiction of them captures the pulse of America in a bygone era....More

This friend of mine comes up with the most awesome jingles... not all original but amusing nevertheless.. here is a tasteful sample:

See Saw

Mr. See owned a saw,

And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.

Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw

Before Soar saw See,

Which made Soar sore.

Had Soar seen See's saw

Before See sawed Soar's seesaw,

See's saw would not have sawed

Soar's seesaw.

So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.

But it was sad to see Soar so sore

Just because See's saw sawed

Soar's seesaw!

The Octopus

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs

Is those things arms, or is they legs?

I marvel at thee, Octopus;

If I were thou, I'd call me Us.

Ogden Nash

The Perfect Husband

He tells you when you've got on

too much lipstick

And helps you with your girdle

when your hips stick.

Ogden Nash

The Guppy

Whales have calves,

Cats have kittens,

Bears have cubs,

Bats have bittens,

Swans have cygnets,

Seals have puppies,

But guppies just have little guppies.

 

Ogden Nash 

The Jellyfish

  Who wants my jellyfish?

I'm not sellyfish!

--Ogden Nash

FRYE Art Museum has been next to my workplace for the last 5 months and I didn't even know. I finally figured I should venture out with my new friends in Seattle and check out the place. Starting with the Cafe for lunch which turned out to be not so pleasant an experience because the food wasnt all that, I did enjoy the lemongrass Dry Soda, so that is something to write about.


FRYE Museum

I saw a brilliant exhibit here, called HUG which just for the shock value is worth more than most works I have seen, it is so disturbing that it makes it very effective.

Hug: Recent Work by Patricia Piccinini

September 22, 2007–January 6, 2008

Fantastic, hyper-realistic sculptures of customized life forms are featured in Hug, the first U.S. survey of work by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini. Informed by recent advances in and complex questions raised by genetic research, Piccinini’s sculptures, photographs, and video installations examine the precarious relationships among animals, nature, science, and technology.

The artist has long focused on the representation of humans and animals, emphasizing the capacity for manipulation and enhancement through biotechnological intervention. Her artwork explores potential, often ambiguous, interactions between humans, animals, and human–animal hybrids. For Piccinini, humanity bears physical and ethical responsibility for experimentation with the natural and the artificial; her artwork challenges us to embrace, for better or worse, the unanticipated consequences of those investigations.

Piccinini represented Australia in the 2003 Venice Biennale and has exhibited internationally. Solo exhibitions include those at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand.

Hug: Recent Work by Patricia Piccinini is cocurated by Robin Held, Frye chief curator and director of exhibitions and collections, and Patricia Hickson, curator, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa.

Bodyguard

Undivided

Next I went for a Lecture on Pagliacci, which was a preview discussion on the Opera. I really enjoyed learning about this Italian work which iconized the Sad Clown forever.

Pagliacci By Ruggero Leoncavalio - Jan 12 - Jan 26

“Laugh, Pagliaccio, and everyone will applaud”—but the laughter turns to tears as the clown becomes entangled in a fatal love triangle. Pagliacci has been a favorite of audiences since its premiere in 1892.

Synopsis

PRELUDE

Two mimes, Comedy and Tragedy, open a trunk. Tonio, a member of an itinerant touring troupe, emerges. Tonio tells the audience that though they are seeing a play, they should remember that actors, even clowns, are real people who suffer and live lives of agony as well as joy.

ACT I

The curtains rise on a village in Calabria where the town greets the arrival of the players: the leader Canio, his wife Nedda, and two other clowns, Tonio and Beppe. Canio invites everyone to their performance that night, and the villagers invite him to have a drink with them. One man makes a crack about Tonio having a chance to seduce Nedda. Canio, instantly serious, tells him that nothing relating to his wife is a joking matter.

When he leaves, Nedda is at first frightened that Canio might know something of her activities, but then she is entranced with the birds and sings of their freedom. Tonio listens to her carefree song and, consumed by desire, begs her to love him. She treats him as the clown in their play. When she realizes that he is serious, she turns nasty, eventually striking him. He furiously leaves her just as her lover, a townsperson named Silvio, rushes in. Despite his passionate pleas, Nedda refuses to elope with him immediately. Frustrated, Silvio becomes angry. She finally agrees to leave Canio, and they sing rapturously of their love:

Tonio, smarting from Nedda’s rejection, returns and sees the lovers. He rushes off to the village to get Canio. The two lovers plan to elope that night, and Canio comes in just as he hears Nedda sing that on that night she will be Silvio’s forever. She does not use his name. Canio screams and chases the younger man who escapes. Tonio laughs at the furious Nedda; when Canio returns, she refuses to give him her lover’s name. She goes off to prepare for the show; Beppe tells Canio that he must prepare as well.

Thinking of Nedda’s betrayal, Canio sings of his suffering—that he must play the clown although his heart is breaking.

CIRCUS INTERLUDE

Canio dreams of his younger days with the circus.

ACT II

The villagers are eager for the standard play: a young woman, married to an older man, is in love with a young man. She plays at being nice to her husband but really seeks the young man, and in the end the husband accepts the situation. The play opens with scenes of Nedda with Tonio and their happy romance. Canio, as the clown, enters just as Nedda sings the exact words he heard her say to her lover an hour or so earlier. It is too much. She desperately tries to keep him in the play, but after two or three more moments, he explodes, telling Nedda that he is serious. The crowd is rapt as he sings, “No, Pagliacci non son.”

Nedda tries for a few moments to bring Canio back to the play, but all he can do is to demand the name of her lover. She finally explodes, crying that she will never tell him. Blind with rage, he stabs her. Silvio breaks from the crowd; Canio sees him and stabs him. The opera ends with the immortal line, “The comedy is over.”

After a weekend in Greenwood, Indiana where I spent most of the time with my cuz hanging out either on his green garden swing (in the living room) or driving around to his office, the mall or Indianapolis city center - Monument Circle it was time to come back to Seattle and get on with m SPA getaway for New Year's eve this year.


Monument Circle - Indianapolis

Semiahmoo Resort is located at the tip of a mile long natural spit which juts into Puget Sound, forming the entrance to Drayton Harbor and framed by Semiahmoo Bay at Blaine, Washington. The Resort is within view of Peace Arch Park at the U.S./Canadian border and is less than an hour drive from Vancouver, British Columbia. The two-hour drive from Seattle - whether you choose the direct route along I-5, or the more leisurely option on world-famous Chuckanut Drive - will reward you with one the of the most scenic stretches of highway in the Pacific Northwest.


Got a very nice Winter Massage Special: Invigorate yourself with an energizing hand and foot scrub! Scented with delicious ginger, nutmeg and orange, this scrub makes a wonderful treat during those dry winter months. Included in a one hour Swedish massage.

On New Year's eve we watched Finding Nemo in the Children's Auditorium and then sat around in Packers with the DJ playing a bizarre mix of 'I am to sexy for my Car' to some country and some hip hop. The next morning the had a very nice Brunch at Pierside. This place is probably packed in the weekends and summer but for New Years it was just the perfect getaway, away from the crazy parties and drinking...

On the way back, we stopped on the state park near by which had a real scenic view.