Perhaps this is a false memory, but around the time I was in high school, a local art show largely consisted of paintings. Today, most of what I find at them are not paintings. There is pottery, jewelry, various kinds of clothing and hats. And there are photographs, a good percentage of which seem to be digitally enhanced.
That is, most art shows are actually crafts shows where participants are there to sells their wares.
Capitalist swine that I am, I think there’s nothing very wrong with artists and craftsmen trying to earn a living, and the only way to do that honestly is to sell your labor or the fruits thereof. As Trump might say about a starving artist: Sad!
My problem (not necessarily yours, but MINE) is that I don’t find crafts displays very interesting. In part that’s because I’m almost never in the market to buy crafts, so therefore I’m not as mentally engaged as I would be if I had something in mind to shop for. Another factor, again a highly personal one, is that the arts that interest me the most are those that I have done: basically, graphic arts.
The recent arts fair in Edmonds, Washington at least had a room devoted to (mostly) graphic arts that were judged and where prizes were announced. I found that interesting for the reason just mentioned. Unfortunately, only a few of the participants really knew what they were doing.
The big annual Bellevue show is coming up in a month. It features a huge amount of crafts. I’m not sure if I will attend.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Sunday, June 11, 2017
When a Good Bagel Was Hard to Find
Not all bagels are created equal. Twenty years ago I ate a few Noah’s bagels, but their consistency reminded me of Wonder Bread. Better than egg bagels, but not by much. The local Noah’s is now an Einstein Bros. (same company, actually), and the plain, as-is bagels (my preference) are fine.
In 1969 when I was in Philadelphia to take my Ph.D. written exams, I stayed with a kind grad-school buddy and his wife. For some reason, decent bagels were hard to find in West Philly. We had to drive way out to a place on City Line Avenue to find them. Preserving them meant putting them in the freezer, and thawing them meant the oven or perhaps a toaster. The result was a hard crust, not the firm crust of a proper bagel.
By the late 1970s, I could buy Lender’s frozen bagels in Olympia supermarkets. Using a microwave oven, they could be thawed without creating a crusty surface, so the result was passably good.
During the past 20 or so years several sources of decent bagels have appeared here in Western Washington. Rather than stockpiling some in the freezer compartment, when in a bagel mood I visit Einstein Bros. at the University Village QFC store, buy one, and munch it while having my Starbucks.
Life is good again.
In 1969 when I was in Philadelphia to take my Ph.D. written exams, I stayed with a kind grad-school buddy and his wife. For some reason, decent bagels were hard to find in West Philly. We had to drive way out to a place on City Line Avenue to find them. Preserving them meant putting them in the freezer, and thawing them meant the oven or perhaps a toaster. The result was a hard crust, not the firm crust of a proper bagel.
By the late 1970s, I could buy Lender’s frozen bagels in Olympia supermarkets. Using a microwave oven, they could be thawed without creating a crusty surface, so the result was passably good.
During the past 20 or so years several sources of decent bagels have appeared here in Western Washington. Rather than stockpiling some in the freezer compartment, when in a bagel mood I visit Einstein Bros. at the University Village QFC store, buy one, and munch it while having my Starbucks.
Life is good again.
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