Shadow art in the French Quarter

how lovely to be a woman

Lara in CMJH's Kids on Broadway. Sweets!

a pinch of psychedelic

During the kids’ Snow Break last week, we chanced to visit the Denver Art Museum’s Psychedelic Experience exhibit. Dozens of groovy rock posters from the late sixties, mostly advertising shows at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, were on display, occasionally retro-enhanced by black light. More interesting to the kids, however, was an adjoining exhibit where ancient artifacts were displayed in a seemingly authentic sixties pad. There were LPs (how they laughed!) and record players, a giant console television, magazines from the era (first man on the moon was a big hit), shabby furniture covered in tie-dyed material, and a couple old-fashioned telephone booths with rotary phones. One by one, the kids went into the graffiti-covered booth and closed the door, sat on the bench and tried to figure out how to dial the phone. Seriously, it wasn’t obvious to them.

The terms LSD and psychedelic were ubiquitous throughout the exhibit and the kids asked me their meanings. I think I was able to explain LSD satisfactorily but had a hard time defining psychedelic, although I know psychedelic when I see it. It turns out that today is a birthday of sorts for both LSD and psychedelic, a perfect time to answer my own question!

From Today in Literature:
LSD was first synthesized on this day in 1943 by Albert Hoffman, and the psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond coined the term “psychedelic” on this day in 1956, by way of a poetic exchange with Aldous Huxley. Huxley had enthusiastically volunteered himself as a guinea pig for Osmond’s drug experiments and, after some initial reluctance, Osmond had agreed — he said he didn’t “relish the possibility, however remote, of finding a small but discreditable niche in literary history as the man who drove Aldous Huxley mad.” The two felt that a new word was needed to capture the nature of the new experience; Huxley offered his coinage in rhyme:

To make this trivial world sublime,
Take half a gramme of phanerothyme.

Osmond replied with his improvement, and entered Far Out history:

To fathom hell or soar angelic,
Just take a pinch of psychedelic.

The Jean Ciavonne Poetry Contest

When Devon and I realized that the contest deadline was upon us, she grabbed a pen and pad and ran off to write her poem. "The theme is music!" I yelled after her. Ten minutes later she handed me her finished product.

"Devon, come on. Don't you think you should spend a little more time on it?"

"Nope," she said, wearing her best how dare you question the artist? face.

We submitted it. And she won!


Music is My Heartbeat
by Devon

when I hear the beat

I get to my feet

'cause I just can't stop

the urge to hop

I got rhythm deep down inside

this is somethin' that I just can't hide

twistin' and turnin' on the dance floor

got to keep movin', I need more

music moves my soul

like jello in a bowl

music moves my spirit

everyone can hear it

my feet are skippin', barely touchin' the ground

my jivey jumps bring people around

they gather together to see my moves

they're all watchin' to see my grooves

music makes me feel so free

for music is a part of me

Star gazing redefined

On my walk today, I noticed something that looked like a tiny planetarium on a neighbor's deck.

"Is that a planetarium on your deck?" I asked, half kidding.

"No," he replied. "It's a telescope."

"Really? Like a Celestron?"

Smiling, he shook his head. "No, not like a Celestron."

Check out what my neighbor does in his spare time.




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Of Boobs and Barbies

This is an artist's representation of the 32,000 elective breast augmentation surgeries performed every month in the United States.

Check out Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait for more amazing statistical artwork!

And thanks to my chum, Jacques, for bringing this to my attention!




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Peace Art Project Cambodia

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their guns into iconic arts of peace. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. — Isaiah 2:4

The power of imagination

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Ancient Costa Rica for sale

The kids are still on Christmas break and are starting to show definite signs of cabin fever. To stave off a domestic implosion, we took a trip up to the Denver Art Museum yesterday. The DAM recently opened a spectacular addition designed by Daniel Libeskind, the architect whose design was chosen to rebuild the World Trade Center site. But I had an ulterior motive. I'd recently read about the DAMs 16,000-piece assemblage of pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art, including one of the world's largest collections of Costa Rican artifacts, nearly 2,000 items, donated to the museum by Denver businessman, Frederick Mayer, and his wife. I wanted to check it out.

My Eric and I are planning a visit Costa Rica. Although not much is known about pre-Columbian Costa Rica in comparison to the high cultures of Mexico and South America, recent excavations have uncovered numerous artifacts, including jade carvings. Jade is green and pretty and shiny, perfect for an art lover of my caliber, so I wanted to see it for myself. Call it a bit of research before hitting the craft markets in Sarchi!

Sure enough, we lost ourselves in a huge room filled with thousands of artifacts. Stone, ceramic, textiles, gold and, oh yes, jade. After an hour or so, we'd barely made a dent in the pre-Columbian collection. Vowing a subsequent visit to the Spanish Colonial galleries, we left to collect the kids before their art experience became Night-mare at the Museum.

As always, looking at ancient artifacts leads me into lofty reverie of past worlds and bare-chested warriors. But this time I couldn't help but wonder about Jan and Frederick Mayer as well. Certainly amazement and appreciation for their commitment to art and to philanthropy. But really, how on earth had one couple managed to collect this much art from a small Central American country? And why aren't many of the beautiful pieces residing in Costa Rica, teaching and providing inspiration to Costa Ricans? Especially because Costa Rican pre-Columbian history is not nearly as well-documented as that of its neighbors.

Costa Rica has taken significant measures to protect its natural environment from exploitation. Nearly 20% of the land is set aside for preserves, parks or refuges of some sort. But after my trip to the Denver Art Museum, I'm thinking that perhaps Costa Rica should endeavor to protect other national treasures, especially art created at the hands of largely unknown ancestors, from passionate and well-meaning American oilmen.

I will visit the museums in San Jose and let you know how they measure up against the breathtaking Denver Art Museum, with its encyclopedic collection of pre-Columbian Costa Rican artifacts--and hopefully return with a few shiny jade replicas of my own!



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