IT'S TIME FOR KUCINICH!

Dennis Kucinich has been one of my favourite figures in US politics since my first months in the USA. He has been gone too long! Now it is time! Several archived posts on him are accessible from the Label Cloud in the sidebar.

TRIP SNIPS

On the way to Columbus we spent a few hours in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I'd been told this was a lovely arty little town. I had the wrong idea in my mind - or else the town has changed over recent years. It's really a hippie little town - a real throw-back. We got there around 10.30 am and found nothing, but nothing opened before 12 noon, hardly anybody was up - the odd barefoot coffee drinker, a stray cat or two (and the place smelled of cats!) I wasn't exactly disappointed though, the town's heart is definitely in the right place.

(Clicking on the images should bring forth bigger versions)

Good to see the Peace Flag flying in Yellow Springs, Ohio!

 Yellow Springs has stuff!

 And some other stuff!

 And the right ideas!

 More good ideas

On the way back we had an overnight stop in Paducah, Kentucky - my kind of town, especially the "historic downtown" area. It somehow brought to mind how turn of the century France might have looked. The town's name, Paducah, is a tribute to a friendly Chief of Chickasaw Indians, Chief Paduke, whose people lived and hunted in the area until the Jackson Purchase of 1818.

There are several unusual arty stores in town, a big theatre, some interesting restaurants and a very pleasant atmosphere in general. The city sits on the confluence of two rivers: the Ohio and the Tennessee. There's a "Wall Wall" of scenes of the city's past, along the riverfront, with plaques of explanation beneath each one.

 Part of the Wall Wall

 A scene of Paducah's main street in the 1940s -  from Wall Wall

 Outside an arty store with a stainless steel sculpture - anybody's for  $8500!! (Not me - the sculpture!)

 A light lunch at Shandie's - the Stuffed Portobello was delish!

On our "extra" day we visited Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This lovely view is a few miles outside the town, along with a couple of antique stores, so we simply had to stop! Eureka Springs itself, though very pictuesque, is in full tourist mode - too much so for our taste, even if we could have found a place to park the car - which we couldn't. so we drove on to enjoy some equally beautiful scenery.

 View from inside an antique store

Mike will recall my "Black Magic Woman" Austin Productions 1972 piece. The sculpture below, also an Austin Productions piece, was spotted by my husband in an antique store in Columbus. I wasn't with him at the time - I was confined to hotel room near the toilet after suffering a bout of what I shall call Ohio Revenge.
Husband told me the piece was on sale for $65. I'd not have paid that much, but might have tried a haggle or two.

 Another  Austin Productions piece

Arty Farty Friday ~ William McVey, Sculptor

Curiosity about a photograph of a sculptural relief found among the husband's vintage collection led me to investigate the work of sculptor William McVey. The photo, below, comes from a large collection of negatives husband found in an antique store in Wichita Falls, Texas some years ago. The professionally stored and listed collection of hundreds of negatives, grouped into two sets, had seemingly once been the property of an American airforceman in World War 2, stationed in England in the mid-1940s, returning to Texas when the war eneded. Husband scanned the collection of negatives which turned out to be mainly of aircraft and English airfields, some personnel and scenery - the 2 sets can be seen, on multiple pages, at Flickr HERE and HERE.

That photograph was among the second set of later dated negatives, taken after the photographer had returned to the US. From other photographs the location can be established as on the campus of University of Texas, Austin - at the Texas Memorial Museum.......The sculpture can be seen in the modern photo (right). The figure supporting the map of Texas is "an Atlas figure named Texas Natural Resources, shouldering the wealth of Texas rivers and forests." (See HERE).

I searched for information on the sculptor and found the name: William McVey.

From Texas Archival Resources Online

William M. McVey was born in Boston July 12, 1905, spent his boyhood on a farm near Worcester, Massachusetts and moved to Cleveland, Ohio with his parents in 1919. He later said that he could not remember a time when he was not drawing and modeling. After graduating from high school in 1922, he attended the Rice Institute (later University) in Houston, Texas on an athletic scholarship from 1923-1927, ....took courses in the department of architecture, including art.....transferred from Rice and returned to Cleveland’s Institute of Art to study sculpture, graduating in 1928..... went to Paris, where he lived from 1929 to 1931 and studied at the Colarossi, Scandinave and Grand Chaumiere academies . (He later recalled that when his borrowed funds ran out, he became an official tour guide in Paris to earn money.)

McVey returned to the United States to launch a career as teacher and sculptor. In March 1932 he married Leza Sullivan, a ceramist and textile artist; they had no children. McVey held a number of teaching positions, including assignments at the Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio State University, Detroit’s Cranbrook Academy of Art, Houston Museum of Art, and the University of Texas at Austin. During World War II he served in the Army Air Force both in the U.S. and in the Philippines, earning four battle stars and the rank of major. In 1953 he returned to the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he became head of the Sculpture Department.

McVey’s sculptures are found coast to coast and include portrait busts along with architectural sculpture.......

McVey died in Cleveland, Ohio on May 30, 1995.

Some snips from a piece by Faye Sholiton HERE (Images added).

Bill McVey, as professor and artist, aimed for accessibility. His goal, he said, was “the presentation of the sculptural idea in a form acceptable and meaningful to the intelligent layman, without sacrificing quality.”

Few artists have left as many monuments on the American landscape as sculptor William Mozart McVey. His nine-foot bronze Winston Churchill (1966) greets visitors to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Not far away, six statues sculpted by McVey between 1967 and 1974 can be found in the porch and crypt of the National Cathedral. His memorials to Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie (below) and the heroes of the Alamo were the centerpieces of Texas’s centennial in 1936.

His stone and cast bronze animals that reside in many of the nation’s zoos are as beloved as any of the caged ones.

But it was in northeastern Ohio that McVey left the greatest body of his work. Among his 48 pieces of public sculpture: the 16-foot Long Road aluminum wall relief (1962) for the now-defunct Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights: a line of people which stops above a wing-shaped bar; beneath are 10 figures in a family or social grouping - depicts Jewish people searching for equality and security through the ages. Man Helping Man (1974); and the seven-foot bronze Jesse Owens (1982) in Cleveland (below):

....and the bronze monument to his own wire-haired terrier, McDog (1985), at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

..............His achievements in sculpture were surpassed only by his achievements as a teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Many artists call him their spiritual father...... For those who knew him, however, Bill McVey’s greatest legacy was the gift of laughter, which permeated every aspect of his life and art. Churchill’s bronze cigar sat in an ashtray; a terra cotta bird struggled to hatch from a ceramic egg McVey had fashioned; and a handmade sign over the door read: "BE ALERT. WE NEED MORE LERTS."

William McVey depicted the zodiac too - in a sun dial at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Brief note on his astrology:
His natal Sun and Neptune lay in sensitive Cancer. Neptune (creativity) links to Mars in Scorpio and Saturn in Pisces via two trine (120*) aspects, and that forms a Grand Trine configuration - harmonious circuit. Neptune's creativity blended with the energy of Mars and hard strength of Saturn - it translates well to the way a sculptor manifests his/her artistic urges, for the work of a sculptor has to be more physically demanding and energetic than that of a painter weilding only paintbrush and pencil.

Venus, planet of the arts in communicative Gemini conjoins Jupiter in late Taurus - here I see another connection to the way this artist communicates his artistic urges - via solid Earth-related materials.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

During the past week, when we were away, I didn't follow news stories as avidly as usual. On several occasions I was reminded by well-meaning Americans that Queen Elizabeth II was visiting the USA. I am no fan of the royal family though, so those kind reminders fell upon stony ground.

In the absence of world news then, some thoughts on our trip. No astrology this time, except to say that in "Aquarius Papers", astrologer Robert Wilkinson's site, I found a list of zodiac signs for the founding of each North American state (Sun, Moon and ruler of Sun).
We drove through:

Oklahoma - Sun Scorpio, Moon Aries, Mars in Aquarius
Missouri - Sun Leo, Moon Capricorn, Sun in Leo
Illinois - Sun Sagittarius, Moon Aquarius, Jupiter in Capricorn
Indiana - Sun Sagittarius, Moon Virgo, Jupiter in Gemini
Ohio - Sun in Pisces, Moon Gemini, Jupiter in Libra
Kentucky - Sun in Gemini, Moon in Libra, Mercury in Taurus

I'm not at all sure about states having "signs", I believe astrology works in flesh and blood, not in concrete and clay - but what do I know !? Oklahoma's Moon matches my own and the ruler of its Sun is in my own Sun sign. My natal Mars is in Oklahoma's Sun sign too! Perhaps Okie-land and I have more in common than I'd realised!

My husband's younger son was our guide and entertaining companion during a long weekend in Columbus, Ohio. He has lived in the city for many years and loves it. He describes Columbus as "a small town boy's big city, with enough culture to satisfy, and enough traffic to challenge but not quite enough to kill".



We visited several sections of the city, each with its own distinctive style: German Village, which originated with the establishment of a German brewery. A Victorian quarter with architecture very reminiscent of many northern English cities. Downtown with its skyscrapers, and some outlying shopping malls filled with what HWK jnr. describes as "retail gluttony".

An unexpected pleasure for me was exploring The Thurber House in Columbus - boyhood home of one of my (already blogged) heroes, James Thurber. My fingers could not stop from caressing his old typewriter keys, in spite of the warning "Do Not Touch".


An opportunity to hear some live jazz in a surprising venue pleased both HWK snr. and jnr. A Methodist church advertised 'Jazz Vespers'on Sunday, featuring the Mark Flugge Quartet. It turned out that the quartert includes saxophonist and music professor Dr. Michael Cox who was a college friend of HWK jnr. It seemed strange for such a non-religious trio as we three to attend church, but as my husband remarked " If church was always like this, I might reconsider". We had surmised that the quartet might play jazzy versions of sacred music - we were wrong. We were treated to "A Tribute to Stan Getz", with "Night and Day", "Girl from Ipanema", "Desafinado" and other favourites, easily appreciated by a jazz dummy like me. The Pastor thoughtfully combined the music with readings from Psalm 150:
"Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre,
praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute......". We didn't quite get to the tambourine and dancing though!

One enormous difference between Columbus and our home area in Oklahoma was the food. We had several wonderful meals in Columbus. Oklahoma has culinary graffiti, Ohio has culinary masterpieces, even in modest and unpretentious cafes!

On Monday the drive home began, via a different route in an effort to avoid the storms and floods reported to be affecting parts of mid-America. I was able to add yet another to my list of "have-seen" states. Kentucky - a very green, beautiful and peaceful state, not unlike Ireland I guess. We stopped for a snack at an Irish restaurant and bar in a tiny township called La Grange. The food was absolutely delicious! I'd have loved to sample every item on the menu!

A little further down the road, near Kentucky's border with Missouri at Wickliffe, we found an archeological site and exhibit in an area where the Moundbuilders - Mississippians - had lived over a thousand years ago.

What happened to the Mound Builders of Wickliffe? For centuries, the Native Americans built and maintained elaborate sacred earthen mounds in western Kentucky near the place where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet. Mound Builders lived across much of North America, but were concentrated in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Everywhere they settled, they built earthen plateaus.But suddenly, in the 1300s, the Mound Builders who lived in what is now Wickliffe, the county seat of Ballard County, just vanished.

The Moundbuilders' constructions, as described in the exhibit, seemed to me to be like a much more primitive verson of the Mayans' pyramids. Perhaps the two peoples were related aeons ago. The Mississippians are certainly the ancestors of almost all Native American tribes.


On reaching the north-eastern edge of Oklahoma on Thursday we decided to stay, rather than drive on for several more hours, to reach the south-west of the state. Overnighting in Bartlesville, threw up another surprise. The only skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is situated there. Bartlesville is a medium sized town, "built on oil". Frank Lloyd Wright, renowned American architect and designer was commissioned by a company who manufactured oil pipelines in the 1950s to design and build "The Price Tower", it was later taken over by Phillips - another oil giant. There's an opulent mansion owned by the Phillips family in town, but we hadn't enough time to explore further.

We ran into just one storm in Oklahoma, in the middle of nowhere. All we could do was stop on the roadside and hope that a tornado didn't appear and force us out of the car to lie down down in a muddy ditch! But the storm passed uneventfully, and it was "Home again, home again, jiggety jig!" But not before slipping into another dimension here:
Ceres was closer than I'd realised!


Finishing on a starry note - a copy of a James Thurber drawing which appeared on a wall in the office area of the Thurber House. The original large pencil drawing, somewhat tattered, is framed and hangs in an upstairs room, its title is "STARS"
(Photographs by HeWhoKnows snr. -they may enlarge if clicked upon)

"Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car"

Transiting Jupiter, planet of travel, is still hanging around my natal Venus in Sagittarius, and North node of HeWhoKnows. Another adventure coming up! We are off to Columbus, Ohio to see my husband's younger son, who I have yet to meet in person. As E.B. White said,(above) we'll get there in a car.

Bill Bryson's comment about Ohio, in his Book "The Lost Continent", isn't too encouraging but I'll not be disheartnened:

"In the morning I awoke early and experienced that sinking sensation that overcomes you when you first open your eyes and realize that instead of a normal day ahead of you, with its scattering of simple gratifications, you are going to have a day without even the tiniest of pleasures; you are going to drive across Ohio."

Bill Bryson's books are a joy . He's American, his wife is English. They have lived for long periods in both America and the UK. His observations about the two countries always ring bells for me. He's a Sun Sagittarian with Mercury in Capricorn. Mercury (writing planet) is square his Sun's ruler Jupiter(publishing planet and planet of travel). His writing discloses a wry sense of humour combined with shrewd observation and candid commentary, which results in a very readable and entertaining style.

We're bound to discover plenty of interest on the journey, which touches five states. One visit en route is already planned: an Air Museum in Dayton, Ohio, where HeWhoKnows hopes to see a Lockheed SR.71, also known as "Blackbird", a reconnaissance aircraft. My husband has a "thing" about aircraft. Odd really, because he has not a single planet in an Air sign or Air house. Aircraft? I can take 'em or leave 'em - but I'd prefer to be a passenger, rather than gawping at one marooned on the Earth. It'll be an interesting side-stop though, as a trade-off he can accompany me around a few upscale stores.

HeWhoKnows is the first male I've known who actually enjoys shopping. He will even search through rails of bras to help me find my size. Neither my Dad nor my late partner would have dared to venture among rails of bras, or within 100 yards of a lingerie department! I put this characteristic down to his kingly Leo Moon and Leo Rising. He's not imperious in any way, quite the opposite, but he has very few inhibitions. His own wardrobe could be accurately described as "random". On one occasion, last fall, I remember him answering the doorbell, wearing some enormous fluffy slippers which look like lion heads, and a clown wig (he uses it to keep his head warm). The person at the door turned out to be a Republican candidate campaigning in the November 2006 election....who backed off immediately!

Anyway....