As you walk around your town, be sure to closely observe the details of your environment. 

You never know, there just might be a special message for you...

Photos in this blog are messages I spotted on a couple of my walks.  One of them was on the bottom of a concrete wall, easy to miss, and what a gift if you didn't!

What positive messages would you leave for someone to find?

Are you ready to explore installation art? 

Installation art may be located in museums, galleries, outdoors, or other places.  Size, structure, and materials can vary.  It may be temporary or permanent.  Some may be site-specific.  Buildings, art monuments, and public sculptures can also be considered installation art.

As a result of artists trying to break away from the restrictions of gallery space in the late 1960s and 1970s, some installation art was specifically built in nature and with natural materials.  This art is known as Environmental art, Land art, Earth art, or Earthworks.  An example is Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” (1977).

Very early precursors of contemporary installation art include Stonehenge in England and the Mississippian Mounds in the United States created by the American Indians in the 13th century in places such as Oklahoma, Alabama, northern Georgia, and Illinois.

Marcel Duchamp’s Ready-mades such as his “Bicycle Wheel” (1913) and “1,200 Bags of Coal” (1938) can also be seen as forerunners of more contemporary installation art as the pieces allowed viewers to make contact with them as well as see and experience them from different angles.

More recent installation art includes Claes Oldenburg’s
“Clothespin” (1976) in Philadelphia, “Typewriter Eraser” (1999) in Seattle, and “Bedroom Ensemble” (1963) in Canada; Anish Kapoor’s “Marsyas”(2002) created for the London’s Tate Museum; Walter De Maria’s “Lightning Field” (1977) in southwestern New Mexico; Christo’s and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates” (2005) in New York City’s Central Park; Rachel Whiteread’s “House” (1993-94) in East London; and Andy Goldsworthy’s “Midsummer Snowballs” (2000) placed in different areas of London. 

Click on the bookcover (affiliate link) at the beginning of this blog to find out more about Goldsworthy's gigantic snowballs.

For more examples, check out one of my earlier blog postings.

And many thanks to Coursera's "Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques" with instructor Anna Divinsky.  I loved this class and it's fun sharing what I learned in my blog posts with you. 

And Amy's life is full of the same challenges many of us face--miscarriage, divorce, losing a job, financial arrears, moving back to live with a parent, loneliness, and trying to find fulfillment
in a world frequently oriented towards superficiality, "just getting along," and greed.

In crafting a new purpose for her life and imperfectly implementing spiritual principles, Amy becomes a crusader against the corporate corruption of her employer, Abaddon Industries.

And while how much her actions actually result in a "greater good" is debatable, she is a catalyst for change in her own life and those around her.

The series is written by Mike White and stars Laura Dern, Mike White, Luke Wilson, Diane Ladd, and Timm Sharp.

Thank you to all those involved in creating this bold, innovative, provocative, and moving series.  Once again, HBO doesn't disappoint.  It continues its role in providing groundbreaking entertainment that ultimately helps to shift the course of what we watch and how we look at the world.

Click on the above cover to learn more (affiliate link).

In the mood for some poetry?  

Recently, I was introduced to C.P. Cavafy's poem, "Ithaca."  The poem is a good reminder to me to savour my life journey for it's through my attitude and my experiences that I gain the true wealth of my life.  

And by keeping this perspective, I can limit my disappointment if I find that my final destination is not everything I envisioned it to be. 

As the real reason for the existence of the final destination is not about capturing a peak experience, but inspiration to keep moving forward on a path of learning and of growth.

Thank you, Mr. Cavafy, for this beautifully-written reminder!

Even apartment dwellers can have their own parcel to farm…in Seattle!

Over forty years ago, the concept of an individual allotment of land within an urban community garden or “P-Patch” was born when a city councilmember and a group of neighborhood activists wanted to find a way to maintain some farmland within Seattle. 

The “P” commemorates the Picardo family whose farm became the first P-Patch.

Now, there are over 82 of these community gardens spread
throughout the city.  Within each P-Patch, individual garden plot sizes range between 40 and 400 square feet. 

Need a pint-sized urban get-a-way?  Visit a P-Patch for 15-minutes or an afternoon.  Find a location here.

Or maybe you're ready to get your hands dirty?  Find out more here.