EarthMo 2023 - the Zombie apocalypse

     SEATED FIGURE,  1916 Artist: Alexander Archipenko (Ukrainian 1887-1964) I ventured to ask the museum employee in that room to help me find the woman's head.  She was surprisingly helpful.  From a front view, she helped me identify the bumps and curves on the sculpture most likely to be the head, shoulder, and arm.  But the nicest surprise was when she walked me behind the figure and from just the right angle I could make out a bump which was probably a breast.   =====   SEATED WOMAN (THIN NECK), 1961 Artist: Henry Moore (British, 1898-1986)   This lady used to sit in a little alcove.  Now they've moved her out into the wide open space of the upper level of the Pei building!  I love both the Pei and the Meiers buildings.  One can move the artwork around to create new impressions of them and they do.   =====   =====    

 One of my favorite places in Des Moines, Iowa is morphing into something else.  I don't know what yet.  But being a reluctant of change, in a certain way, I am grieving. So that is why I haven't visited the art center in a while.  Because the director of many years has left and I'm afraid the Des Moines Art Center will lose some of it's magic.  Nevertheless, last week, middle of December, no snow, I went and walked around outside it, and took some pictures.    Animal Pyramid by Bruce Naumann 1990 Des Moines Art Center, commissioned (click on the picture for full screen view)  --- The sculpture is bronze and has that blue color that bronze turns to when it oxidizes.  This is an eye-catching image.  You see these animals that at first look like deer, stacked up on one another.  It is a surreal, "abstract" work of art.  It must have a political/philosophical message. The sculpture seems well-placed, somewhat appropriate, a collec...

 Last week I visited the Barnes and Noble in West Des Moines, the one on University Avenue (4550 University Avenue), the one that is not at Jordan Creek Mall.  It was only by chance that I came to know this store existed because I was invited to a coffee clache for Red Cross volunteers that met at the Starbucks cafe located in that Barnes and Noble.  I was a little starry-eyed on that visit because I didn't know any of the bookstores in Des Moines were big enough to have an escalator. I found that the bus stopped only a block away!  I was delighted.  I made it a day.  I went in with enough money to buy a couple of books and sit and have breakfast.  It was an early Christmas present to myself.   The Starbucks Cafe is situated so you see it right when you enter the store.  It has a large picture window that allows you to look out over the parking lot and a gigantic store called...   They only offered a couple of herbal teas so I went ...

Happy Birthday to Betty Jane Mosell, who lived to the ripe old age of  90 years old.  Born in Chicago, Illinois, Betty ended up living, going to school (Valley High), marrying, and working in DES MOINES, IOWA.  A large part of her life covered a century, 1900-2000.  That is a lot of Des Moines history.  She was a Southsider, living in the same house for many many decades. I woke up this morning trying to remember the various jobs the woman had throughout her life.  There are those who say that one of  the virtues of hiring somebody from the Midwest is that they have a very strong work ethic.  I don't know if that's true anymore, but when I look at my parents and myself, I guess it holds true.  Over her lifetime my mother had more jobs than you can shake a stick at.  Think back to the day when many people were dirt poor but worked hard.  Think of the popular TV shows like The Walton's and Little House on the Prairie . I was a middle...