Jonas Gerard is another Asheville based artist I think you will enjoy getting to know. In a city of arts and crafts, he is a stand out as a fine artist. He work is dramatic and lively. Click on the arrow on the photo for a video clip of Jonas and his work.
Asheville is not a large town, it is a small gem in the Blue Ridge Mountains that draws a mixture of mountaineers, tourists, ecologist, musicians and craftsmen. Take a peak and learn about this wonderful city. Just click on the arrow.
Asheville North Carolina is the heart of some of the finest arts and crafts in America. The mountain heritage is strong with people who originated from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany..as well as the American Indian influence. Basketry, pottery, weaving, iron and metal work, beading, glass art, and many other crafts have been handed down from one generation to the next. Another area we will talk about later is the influence of early England on the mountain music. T
Highwater Clay provides clay for many areas in the Eastern United States. My studio in Florida orders from them as well. They offer classes and workshops year round in pottery. The teachers are highly skilled and offer a variety of techniques.
If you are in this are or want a vacation in a beautiful part of the world and take pottery classes then this is definitely a wonderful place to do so. Click on the highlighted words above and it will provide you with a direct link. If you do decide to take classes please let them know Rabbit's Moon Studio sent you...and let us know your experiences. It is so beautiful here and there is so much to do, you will not be sorry for the coming!
The good news is the Southern Highlands Craft Fair is this weekend. What a wonderful surprise! I will go and peruse for us all and have many post about artists, craftsmen and their work.
This is a museum of American Art and looks to have an excellent collection. Chattanooga looks like a wonderful town with a strong public arts program and a river arts district. As we are driving through, I have marked it a must see to come back to and do a review of arts for the blog. Chattanooga is not to far from my Asheville studio for a long weekend. Check out this link for the Hunter Museum until we can do more posts for this area. Will be on the road tomorrow driving through the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains.
MARDI GRAS(click) Click on arrow and turn up sound
When I first came to New Orleans I thought Mardi Gras was one big parade, only to learn it is two weeks or more of parades all over the city. It is wild and wonderful. The beads are bigger and better than anywhere, and they throw more. They even throw whole bags of unopened packages of beads! People are free here to express themselves however they want and the do! Drinking is a big part of the fun, and everyone is walking up and down the streets with a drink or offering someone else one. Of course in New Orleans Mardi Gras is just one parade among many...from the Irish Day parade to the Irish Italian Parade and more and more. If there is an excuse to party New Orleans can find a way!
John Besh, chef and restauranture, talks about how Hurricane Katrina effected the food culture of New Orleans. The largest natural disaster to ever effect a major American city. He talks about stewardship and being a leader to restore the food traditions of a great city.
BBQ shrimpis really not BBQ at all! No one quiet knows how it got its name, except for the red color, but with a little butter, what a dish!
I thought it would be fun to share some New Orleans with you. As I get ready to leave tomorrow I am trying to leave you with a lot of last minute things about the Big Easy I think you would all enjoy.
The first is a Chef's recipe for Jambalaya, a favorite Cajun dish.
And here is the famous song Got have Some fun Down on the Bayou
This is a fascinating video on all the different dialects in New Orleans, it is down to neighborhood by neighborhood, it tells about class and origin in the most amazing ways. I think you will find it as interesting as I did. There is even a Brooklynese dialect in the Irish Channel area..that is where the yat come from...where yat, who dat,...
The more I learn about this wonderful city the more I am amazed.
Click on image, turn up sound from you tube Everyone here has their gumbo recipe, but Dookey Chase does it best and right! Check out the video on Dookey by John Besh, a New Orleans Chef, talking about the best gumbo in the city.
Food Channels Man versus Food highlight Mothers Restaurant in the French Quarter. What was special about it was we were there during the filming. It was a surprise when the filming crew came in and starting taking pictures...all of sudden we were part of the show. My partner Ann's Father was having his 89th birthday and we had gone to celebrate. It became even more special when Adam came over to interview Andy. They took out most of the interview, but you do see Andy in his little hat and mustache eating a big bit out of Roast Beef po boy with debris! As we are here to tend to Andy's passing and estate this week, running across this video was bitter sweet. It was a great day and Adam was so personable with Andy. It made him feel very special. The food at Mothers is cheap and awesome. It is a must if you come to New Orleans.
Well, there is one thing for certain, in New Orleans food is an art form. From the worker to the executive, food is such an important part of the culture that a chef would have to be very brave to serve ordinary food. It is just not accepted here, the most common person in New Orleans has a highly educated palate. On the food channel Adam goes to different areas looking for good food where the locals eat. He found these BBQ shrimp at one of my favorite restaurants in Metairie/New Orleans, Deannie's. I have not had their BBQ shrimp, but I have had Drago's, Mr. B's, Pascale Maneli's..Each is different and all delicious. I thought you would enjoy it if I threw in a recipe of two in this city of the best food in the United States. Go ahead and argue, yours is better, but only after you come to New Orleans first.
This is really a neat old film showing New Orleans during an earlier part of its history. For a country that is only 236 years old as the United States is, having a famous city that has been around since the 1700's is quite amazing. 6 flags have flown over this city, of the different nations that have occupied it. It is so wonderful to get to peak in to the past like a time machine and see this glimpse of a city becoming what it is now.
As artists we observe and use all our senses to absorb things around us. We can be in the moment or walk backwards or forewords in time-it is our gift that we are hyper observant so we can offer that back to others in our unique forms of expression..be it visual art, writing, drama or music or dance.When I walk the streets of New Orleans I can sense earlier times, a thousand images come at me in waves as I look from wrought iron filigreed balconies, to layers of generations of lives lived breaking through pealing paint, and peaking through gated gardens into lush waterfalls of confederate jasmine hanging over antique brick walls, the velvet humid evenings and misty nights, and somewhere there is music...always there is music...playing echoing down Bourbon Street To Royal and back to Canal Street. What work will this come to life in for me as an artist. I must first absorb and process, then it will be born from an idea into a creation.
Though Louis Armstrong was thought to be the first soloist of the Blues, Jelly Roll was known as the first composer of the New Orleans' Blues. There is a wonderful historical fiction book on New Orleans in the early 19oo's that weaves Jelly Roll into the story...it is called Jass.
We ate breakfast by Jackson Square today, up early to run errands. Stanley's, as in Tennessee Williams play, STANLEY!!! I had oysters on poached eggs with canadian bacon and an English muffin and hollandaise sauce...oh my!!!! It made me want to break out singing! A good cup of strong French Market coffee with chicory on a rainy day was perfect. Char-broiled oysters and a salad for lunch/supper at Drago's and a stuffed snow ball....I will just be rolling out of New Orleans on Thursday.
A Continuation of our look at music as art in New Orleans, the epic center of Jazz.
Dixieland, which was developed in New Orleans, is one of the earliest styles of Jazz music. The style combined earlier brass band marches, French Quadrilles, ragtime and blues with collective, polyphonicimprovisation. While instrumentation and size of bands can be very flexible, the "standard" band consists of a "front line" of trumpet (or cornet), trombone, and clarinet, with a "rhythm section" of at least two of the following instruments: guitaror banjo, string bass or tuba, piano, and drums. from Wikapedia
I am a visual artist and often see my world from that point of view, but all forms of art are expressions of the human soul and in New Orleans there is no end to the forms of expression of the spirit. I thought I would post a few of the musicians and music festivals that are particular to New Orleans and Louisiana. One of the liveliest types of music in the area is Zydeco. It is called a folk art and comes from Southern Louisiana in the Cajun area down in the Bayou. Its origins are from the early celtic and French tunes to the 1700's that immigrants brought with them from their home countries. Buckwheat Zydeco is one of the most popular zydeco bands in Louisiana. So lets continue on our virtual tour of Rabbit's Moon Studio in New Orleans...for in a few days we are on the road again to Mississippi and then to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
The longer I am here and breathe in the scented jasmine, and feel the soft velvet humid summer nights caressing my skin, and hear the beat of city of jazz, lively and constant, I realize that this city is an art installation....the art of food, music and culture. One cannot just observe in New Orleans, though you may try,....no, you become a part of this mysterious city, it draws you in and holds you tight.
I remember when Hurricane Katrina damaged the city so badly, there were those who thought it couldn't and shouldn't be rebuilt, but they didn't realize New Orleans would never even consider their thoughts...it was here, it will always be. It is the impossible city, a city built where no city should be, but is. If you can ever come do and you will leave with a part of your soul forever changed. New Orleans with love, Betsy
was an artist I became aware of as of late in New Orleans. From looking at his work and subject matter I was sure he was an African American Artist, but he is not. He is a white artist from Chicago who moved to the South. He was originally a window dresser for Sears in Chigago, when he moved South he began his career as an artist. I think it says one is never to late to become an artist. This is a style of art I would like very much to find the roots of . I see it a good bit in this area, art with words and a collaged or assemblage approach. So my question is why more in this area...where did it originate from? So there is a bit of research on my part to find out. Much of outsider art is mixed media and includes words. New Orleans is such a mixture of ethnic backgrounds that this approach could have originated from many sources and it may not truly be from Louisiana alone, but the complete South. Don't miss the orange sentence that says " The Preacher on the woman's role."
HIDE AND SEEK Smithsonian Museum a expose on gay influence in the history of art
This video is an excellent and eye opening discussion of what one might call the "elephant in the room", referring to gay influences in art history. Art historians and curators for years have avoided talking about what is so obvious in the works of known artist that were gay and many that were not known as gay, but closeted. When one looks at the work with fresh eyes, it is just like, wow...how did I not see this! Grant Wood, the midwest artist, and Thomas Eakins who painted wholesome scenes...with a second look, it is quite amazing. This video is well worth your time.
Thomas Eakins Wrestlersfrom google image
Thomas Eakins Bathers from google image
Thursday, July 5, 2012
WELCOME PALESTINE TERRITORIES! WE KNOW HOW DIFFICULT IT IS FOR SOME OF YOU IN THIS WORLD TO HAVE ACCESS TO A COMPUTER AND A NETWORK. WE SO APPRECIATE WHEN YOU DO MAKE CONNECTION WITH YOU AND HONOR YOUR LOVE OF THE ARTS!
Palestinian Ancient Embroidery from google image
A GREAT ARTIST IS ALWAYS BEFORE HIS TIME OR BEHIND IT. Edward Edward Moore
The Roof top of Gaudi's Batllo house in Barcelona photo by elizabeth Gordon
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.
Wood Carving for Printing by Sean Starwars photo by elizabeth gordon
ON THE ROAD AGAIN Rabbit's Moon Studio will be on the road again Wednesday. We will be going back to the Big Easy (New Orleans) for a week, travel through Mississippi for a few days, and then on to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for a longer period. So it will be a virtual trip for you as well. We will be sampling the art and culture of the South as we go. Get packed and ready, ROAD TRIP!!! Americans do love a good road trip.
Miro Mobile in Barcelona Museum photo by elizabeth gordon
Print in Miro Museum
Feeling at home with Miro Elizabeth Gordon
Me loving Miro's Work
Ann with Sculpture
Miro Sculpture
Miro Sculpture
Overlooking Barcelona from the Miro Museum Gardens photo elizabeth gordon
Miro Sculpture in Museum Gardens photo elziabeth gordon
Front View of Miro Museum
View of Barcelona from the top of the bus riding down the mountain
Well, at least his art visits Washington D. C. this July and August. There is an exhibition of Miro's work at the National Gallery of Art(CLICK)! I am so excited I love Miro's work and I love the way he talks about creativity. When I visited Barcelona a few years ago, not only did I fall in love with Gaudi's architecture (click) but also the art of Juan Miro. We went to his museum in Barcelona situated on a high hill (more a mountain) over looking the city and port. I had intended to spend an hour or two and leave. We spent the whole day, looking at his work, eating at the cafe, browsing the gift shop, and watching films of Miro talking about his art and creativity. I can not tell you how it made me feel, it was almost as if someone finally said the words my artist's soul had waited a life time to hear. It was everything I felt or thought about art and creating, everything I had been searching for, for a life time. It was almost like hearing someone speak my language and I had been in a foreign world before. I felt so at home with his words and his art, it was difficult to leave. I long to go back to Barcelona, what a city that attracted such world famous artists. So below I will include information about the exhibit in Washington(click here) and photo's of the trip I took to the Miro Museum in Barcelona. I hope you will go to see the exhibit and I hope if you have a chance to travel internationally you will go to Barcelona...see the Miro Musuem, Gaudi's architecture and there is also a Picasso Museum. So much in one city.
WOW! 25,000 views since August. A new bench mark for us here at Rabbit's Moon Studio! We never thought when we sat down with a computer one day this would happen and we are so thankful for all of you who read our blog and who have become members. There is a special treat waiting for members who have been so loyal this year! We thank you from the bottom our hearts!!!!
THERE IS SOME SO ICONIC ABOUT THESE PHOTOS. LET IT GET A BIT HOT, SCHOOL IS OUT AND AMERICANS ARE ON VACATION. ON SUMMER NIGHTS, WHEN IT IS HOT, NEIGHBORS GATHER, LITLLE LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS, TEENS, AND FAMILIES TO GET A SNOW BALL, STUFFED OR NOT, ICE COLD SLURPPY SWEET AND STAND OUT THE HOT HUMID NIGHT EATING AN ICE COLD TREAT TOPPED WITH WHIPPED CREAM OR DRIZZLED WITH CONDENSED MILK.
close up of flavor syrup choices photo by elizabeth gordon
Summer Night America photo Elizabeth Gordon
I could have lightened the dark areas more in the photos, but somehow it lent to a bit of mystery I always feel in New Orleans. I love the glow of the flood light and contrast with the light and dark areas. It is almost like a beacon glowing out of a dark night beaconing all to come light a light house calling boats to safety. I recall so many summer nights when I was a child my family went to get ice cream or a snow cone on a summer night. There is such a feeling of freedom when school is out and one gets to stay up a bit later . My Father owned a little drive in and hamburger place that had amusement rides in Mississippi when I was a child of 4 and 5. My Mother taught school, many a night she would take me to go help Dad after work and I would fall asleep on a bench looking out at the night, the ferris wheel and all the people having a good time. It was always a bit mysterious to me.
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