Blog On, John Donne...

Just in case anyone thought the reason I've neglected the blog is that I was overly sad about Steve Jobs, rest assured the real reason is we were on a three-week, 6,500 mile road trip to the States. We talked about going back over Thanksgiving, but Patty wisely suggested we head out now, since we weren't working and the weather was bound to be better than in late November. She was mostly right. Anyway, we're back from seeing family and friends in Iowa, Texas, and Illinois.

Nothing says "U.S.A!"like monster trucks.

Everything was rolling along nicely. Beautiful vistas, especially in Banff and the parks in B.C.

At about the 6,000 mile mark, the weather started to turn.

White trees and white knuckles.

But the weather eventually cleared.

And we saw bears.

The trip wasn't without beer. This was a particularly great brew pub in a city in Saskatchewan that rhymes with a female body part. For those of you who are geographically or anatomically impaired, it's also the capital.

Patty swears that this huevos rancheros was the best breakfast she's ever had. My Texas breakfast burrito was also quite good. What's unusual is that this place, the Big Bend Cafe, isn't in Texas at all, but in Golden, B.C., a couple hours outside Banff. We kind of also fell in love with Golden and thought we might like to move there, next year or so, when the global economy collapses.

Steve Jobs

February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011

Steve Jobs changed my life's trajectory when I discovered the Macintosh in 1986, while in law school. Macs, with their intuitive WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) interface and ease of use, let me see that law school wasn't for me—that I could use this tool to become an inveterate and irreverent teacher, muckraker, creator and trouble-maker. Macs enabled me to spend, but not waste, twenty years having fun and being creative, in a profession that stifles fun and loathes creativity. Thanks, Steve

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

With all it's diversity, Vancouver has some businesses whose transliterations make for some interesting reading. What is that outfit next to the Fox Adult Cinema?

Why, it's Wang On Blinds.

This is quite the diversified business, never mind the name.

Cremations AND tire disposal? This isn't going to be good.

This one's just cute.

For lunch, since it was in the neighborhood, we stopped back at Campagnolo Roma for a little salad and biancoverde za or, as Matt Campbell would say, weed pizza. 

Home is Where the Art Is

Today, I'll continue the apartment Tour de Art beginning with a little more hallway, the bathroom, and continuing on to the office and bedroom.

This is a family portrait from the early 1960s (perhaps 1963). The smiles of the toddlers and kindergarteners are genuine; we're obviously proud of our dental work. Working one's way north, the smiles become increasingly forced and Alison and Susy don't seem particularly enamored of their child-rearing responsibilities; Mom's wondering how and why she popped out seven kids; and Dad can't wait to get back to grad school in Syracuse. Remember also, this photo was pre-Xanax.

Photocopy of an amazing Chinese artist introduced to me by Philip Chen. I can't recall the artist at the moment.

Cats Who Love Rat Dancing print given to us by Pat and Barb McClintock.

Man With a Magnetic Personality, by Gibsons, B.C. artist Sa Boothroyd. Given to me by Patty a decade ago. This is my other portrait.

Drawing by sister Trish, looking out her kitchen window in Bisbee, Arizona.

The office (1).

The office (2)

Wonderful Cuban folk art given to us by Pat and Barb after their Friendship Force visit to Cuba a few years back.

Neolithic points collected during fifty years of farming by my grandfather along Damon Run, near the village of Spring Creek, in Western Pennsylvania. He mounted them himself on green felt, in a case he made.

Office (3)

Nostalgic Japanese sepia paintings from the early 20th century. Dad had them in his apartment in Plano, Texas and I absconded with them during a visit.

Abstract Expressionist Batik by the Indonesian artist, Amri Yahya, purchased with student loan money while in law school at the University of Iowa, summer of 1986.

Bedroom (1)

Bedroom (2)

Calendar ad for Beiping Beer (1930s) bought in Xi'an in 1999; calligraphy given to me by my tutor, Mr Tang, at Beijing University (1989).

Three pieces from the Yunnan School of Art, by the artist whose name I need to get. Purchased in Dali in 1996.

Painting by well known Yunnan artist Fang Kelin (方克麟), purchased in Dali in 1993 (gouache on paper).

The Art is, Well, Hung

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It's good to finally have everything properly framed and hung.  Today, you'll get a tour of our apartment as well as a peek at our art.

Today, I'll start in the living room and kitchen, and then meander down the hallway.

This Naxi calligraphy deserved a better frame and so I reframed it. I also found a frame for the little note written by the artist, Mr. Lu.

This hangs between the door and the window, in proximity to the work calligraphy explains. Thanks for the suggestion, Patty. Apparently I did have time to frame it, after all.

And here is our living room and kitchen. Those are skylights in the kitchen and they make the place quite bright.

I must say, this is my favorite piece of art we have. Like much of our art, it's from Yunnan Province. It's a representation of a Naxi (Nakhi) fertility rite. The artist, Yang Guangming (杨光敏), has developed a fair bit of renown, winning some sort of gold medal in Paris, as well as a few other accolades. The last time I visited her, she was no longer selling her art, content to simply let it increase in value. She and her husband Neeman, who owns a gallery and resort in Dali, flew to Detroit a few years back to give birth to their first son so he could be a U.S. citizen. Anchors away.

This piece was bought at Neeman's gallery in Dali. I can't recall the artist and his signature is so spare and abstract as to be unreadable. He was a friend of Neeman's, though, so I should probably send him an email and find out. We have three other pieces by him which you'll discover tomorrow.

These are Chinese stone rubbings and they were given to us by Jim Majure. Thanks, Jim. Maybe you can tell us more about them, eh?

My sister Trish drew this picture of our house in Des Moines. Thanks, sis. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a reflection-free shot of it to give it justice. 

This spoon is also the work of Yang Guangmin. She gave it to me as a gift when I visited her in 1994 on my first China trek with students.

This is actually a trivet but we keep it on the wall because it's more of an art piece to us. Om sweet om...

Here's the orange chair, Judy,  underneath the Chris Vance.

We bought this Chris Vance from Chris Vance, at the Des Moines Art Fest, in 2008.  It's entitled, One More Saturday Night, and is one of two paintings we have that Patty considers portraits of moi.

Our capacious hallway was quickly covered in art and such.

Patty was aghast when she discovered I'd packed these thrift store pieces, but I think they work rather nicely with the god-awful paint.

The hallway from the other direction (with just a glimpse of dysfunctional family Damon on the right.

We bought these Manuel Salas prints from the Santisima Art Gallery in Albuquerque in 2006. I would have loved to have had the originals, which were done in colored pencil.

Paintings by my sister Marty. The one on top is clearly identified as a Tai Ji (太极) symbol; the one below, uh, not sure, but I call them cheek prints. Danke, sister.

A pencil drawing of Johnny, and a mirror, both by Trisha.

Photos I took in Monument Valley in 1995, when a trailer was a remarkable sight. It's sad to pass by these days as the housing bubble wasn't kind to John Ford's beautiful backdrop.

A poem given me by Marty from a show in Las Vegas.

This is a San Francisco de Asis shadow box by Johnny Salas (no relation to Manuel), also from the Santisima Gallery in Albuquerque.

Tomorrow, the office and the bedroom.