Blown glass

On my visit to San Francisco’s deYoung Museum last August I revisited some of the blown glass pieces I had seen previously, in 2019, and spent some time getting a better look. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with some of the pictures I shot with my phone on my earlier visit; this time I used my Canon SL2, and I think […]

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Violence, deconstructed

I think that once you’ve seen one of Al Farrow’s mosaic sculptures you’ll never quite forget it. That was why on my visit to the deYoung Museum in San Francisco last August I suddenly found myself experiencing a strange feeling of deja vu; it took me a few minutes to realize why. His intricate pieces are both jarring and thought-provoking, […]

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Serious Moonlight

I first learned about the artist Chiura Obata (1885-1975) during my visit to Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum back in September 2018. I shared some images from that visit more recently, in October 2020, showing some of his drawings and other pieces (including the one above) that particularly impressed me. So I was very happy to discover Moonlight, a large piece […]

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The Adventure Continues… Mammoths

I have to admit that until this morning I had no idea there was more than one type of mammoth. When I heard the word ‘mammoth’ I’ve always thought of the wooly mammoth — like the 30,000-year-old specimen discovered this past summer frozen in the Yukon’s permafrost. However, watching this episode of California’s Gold, originally aired in November 2004, I […]

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Textures in stone

Franklin Simmons (1839-1913), Penelope, 1896, Marble Gift of the Daughters of Penelope, an International Hellenic Women’s Organization, to the Fine Arts Museums of San Fransisco on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Daughters’ founding by Alexandra Apostolides in San Francisco on November 16, 1929. The donation in honor of Hellenism was made possible by the vision of Mrs. […]

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