Ornamentodeux (My Other Blog)

I hopped the train to New York last week to check out art shows at some galleries in Chelsea and the Whitney Biennial. It’s always fun to go to New York with my friend Christa who knows all the best shows and galleries. She also knows much more about art than I do-not that that stops me from having opinions. José Maceda’s Ugnayan, Music for 20 Radio Stations (1974/2026) José Maceda and Aki…

Give me a nice Spring weekend and I hit the streets to check out events within walking distance of my South Philadelphia home. That’s what I did this past weekend, The first place I went was the 900 block of Market Street to check out the newly-opened pop-up shops. Market East in Philadelphia has had its ups and downs ever since I moved here. Currently, its experiencing a down. This has been…

My love affair with pottery and ceramics continues, but I am taking a breather from turning out functional ware. I’ve posted before on making ceramic beads and jewelry. I wanted to try something new, however, so I decided to make beaded key chains. I love this yarn! I’ve given away all my yarn except for one ball of multi-colored silk yarn that I frogged from a hat I bought at a thrift shop. I’m…

Have you lost your beading mojo? It happened to me. I got it back and learned some things I’d like to share with you. I’ve recently gotten back into seed beading after being away from it for a few years. Beading was really popular about 20 years ago and I hear it’s making a comeback. That’s the way it is in the craft world. People go crazy with a certain craft ( remember rubber stamping and…

I saw an exhibit at the Baltimore Art Museum recently called American Sublime. The exhibit consisted of 38 of Amy Sherald’s works from 2007 to the present including her widely publicized portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor. American Sublime had been sold out, extended, and sold out again so I was glad I could get tickets. But it became obvious to me when I saw Sherald’s work in person…

Anila Quayyum Agha is an American artist, born in Pakistan, whose uses Islamic geometric motifs, as a starting point to explore the relationships between gender, cultural identity, and civilizations. Her work explores harmonies found in geometric patterns along with the “shadows, ambiguities and dark spaces between them.” Agha’s work is not confined by traditional materials or expectations. She…

Walking through an historical site can feel surreal. If you’ve ever visited a Civil War Battlefield, you know the feeling. You walk into a scene you learned about from a teacher or a book and, you can’t quite relate because the history seems so distant. Or maybe you do connect because of something personal: someone you knew, family stories,or a past experience. Over the years I’ve had the chance…

Philadelphia has a strong musical legacy. It’s always been known as a musical town. Its tradition of Soul music, Doo Wop music, a Jazz tradition that goes back more than 100 years. The Philadelphia Folk Festival is one of the oldest events of its kind in the United States. And while the Philadelphia Orchestra is not the oldest orchestra in the United States, (that honor belongs to the New York…

I recently, Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets, at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.  Aside from enjoying the art, I learned a lot of things I never knew about Rousseau—the self-taught French painter best known for his lush jungle scenes. Some things I didn’t know. Henri Rousseau Worked as a French Bureaucrat Before he became an artist,  Rousseau worked as a bureaucrat in the French…