Rarenest

LOIS MALONE 1929 - 2008

2008-08-14T13:23:00.011-05:00

My friend Lois Malone passed away this morning at 2:45 a.m. She was 79 years old.

The story of Lois is not every woman’s story but it seems to start that way. She was precocious and her unconventional beauty was joined to a simple, almost austere style unpopular at the time.

Lois preoccupation with world affairs led her to an extraordinary life of world travel, including brushes with fame and infamy. She left home at eighteen for a career in the U.S. foreign service that included stints in Panama, Karachi, Cairo, Beirut, Cannes, Washington and more.

Early in her career her wit, charm and beauty served government interests very well as she gathered intelligence at cocktail parties from South America to the Riviera. Scions of industry, senators, ambassadors and rock stars all succumbed to her warmth and charisma.

After retirement she formed a consulting group with her second husband, Joe Malone. Their clients were usually corporate and banking executives seeking entree into middle eastern affairs.

But staid Wall Street types weren't the only types who appreciated her contacts and skills.

She arranged for the Grateful Dead to perform at the Son et Lumiere Theatre at the pyramids near Cairo which sealed a life long friendship with the band members.

XXXX

The Dead called her "Nursey" because of the way Lois looked after them. The band knew they were always welcome in Lois' Georgetown home and spent a number of Thanksgiving dinners there.

XXXX

I recorded ten hours of video interviews with Lois three years ago and it's my hope to be able to produce a biopic on her life.

XXXX

I'll miss her.

XXXX

Lois' Washington Post Obit:

Lois H. Malone, nee Fleischhacker, 79, died Thursday morning, August 14, 2008 at her home in St. Paul, Minnesota, of complications from pulmonary vascular disease.

Mrs. Malone lived and worked in Washington for several decades of her eclectic career. An art critic and businesswoman, as well as a translator and editor, Lois Malone served in the United States Foreign Service in several Latin American countries as well as in the Far East before joining the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Born in St. Paul, Mrs. Malone attended St. Josephs Academy and continued her education at the American University of Beirut and at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Malone left Minnesota for the first time to serve in the U.S. Embassy in Panama, and then served posts in Buenos Aires, and Karachi, Pakistan. She remained in the U.S. Foreign Service for almost eight years, and left to join the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Senator Theodore F. Green.

In 1959, Mrs. Malone moved to Cannes, France, where she resided for four years and honed her cooking skills with Julia Child and Simone Beck. During her time in France, she developed her interests in the visual arts and learned French, her third language.

Eventually, her culinary expertise would lead her to the position of Executive Chef at the Immigration & Naturalization Service, where she cooked for dignitaries visiting from all corners of the world.

But it was her proficiency in languages and culture that led to her career as an editor and translator of articles and research papers written in French and English. She moved to Beirut in 1963, and would remain in Lebanon for the next decade.

She was the art critic for the English-language daily the Daily Star in Beirut, and would later become an art critic for several American publications, including the Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury.

In 1974 she began a career as a consultant for corporations and organizations working in the Middle East, and founded Middle East Research Associates, whose roster of clients would include an improbable range from Aramco to Martin Marietta to the Grateful Dead.

The rock band would credit Mrs. Malone as being the key player in arranging and producing a seminal concert series at the pyramids in Giza, Egypt.

Mrs. Malone is survived by her three children: her son Sean Harris, of Washington D.C., and her daughters Nicole Harris and Gaye Harris Correl (Stephen), by three grandchildren: Hailas Baatsch, Aisha Casas and Julius Correl, all of Portland. She is also survived by sisters Carole Basil, of Plymouth, Minnesota, and Judith Morrison, and her brother Thomas Fleischhacker, both of St. Paul. Interment services are private, but a Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mrs. Malone‘s favorite charity, Sounds of Hope, Ltd., 253 East Fourth Street, Suite 205, Saint Paul, MN 55101. Interment services are private, but a Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mrs. Malone's favorite charity, Sounds of Hope, Ltd., 253 East Fourth Street, Suite 205, Saint Paul, MN 55101.

Martinet: Costumes from French Opera and Theatre 1790

2008-04-24T21:14:00.007-05:00

Detail of Plate #1169 Diable

I met with a great gentleman to talk about cataloguing his collection of manuscripts, ephemera and books. He brought along a recent acquisition and I scanned a selection of these 18th century, hand colored engravings. It's just a remarkable set. They are meticulously and vibrantly water colored illustrations of costumes from the French theatre. This volume has over 100 but the original 11 volume set had well over 1500. The other amazing aspect is that they are all portraits of the actors who played the roles. Some images are "clickable" -- they enlarge to full size.

Petite Galerie Dramatique, ou Recueil de différentes Costumes d'Acteurs des Théatres de la Capitale [Small dramatic gallery, or Collection of various actors' costumes from the theatres of the capital], vol. 6. Paris: Martinet, 1790

#1169 Diable

#1579 Caroline

#1325 Mathea

#1317 Lise

#1338 Francine

Detail of #1338 Francine

Great Houses of Chicago, Mrs. Huxtable's "Terroir" & Financial Times Montage

2008-02-07T11:57:00.013-06:00

This post has three subjects that have a random, subtle relationship. I didn't plan it but they share ideas about the sense of place that surrounds a design.

The first is an extended review of a great and heavy new book about rich people's houses in Chicago. My review was originally published on the Society of Architectural Historians Chicago Chapter Blog - this version is more personal and wanders a bit.

The second is simply a recommendation that you buy the Wall Street Journal if for no other reason than to get Mrs. Huxtable's occasional essay - especially her recent exploration of context vs. destination and spectacle architecture.

The third subject is an image - the Financial Times widespread campaign that uproots all the world's major modern banks and trading structures (some imagined, I suppose) and plops them on an island.

Great Houses of Chicago 1871-1921

Susan Benjamin and Stuart Cohen

Foreword by Franz Schulze and Arthur H. Miller

9 x 12 inches, 334 pages, ISBN: 978-0-926464-39-8 •

$75.00 Acanthus Press

Synopsis: An essential reference tool for Chicago architecture, interior design, decorative art and history libraries.

SAH and Chicago Chapter members Susan Benjamin and Stuart Cohen have produced the most comprehensive overview on Chicago’s mansions, castles and residential fortresses.

This outstanding volume balances diverse sources and matches the pantheon of architects with those early patrons - the pioneers, nouveau riche and old eastern money. Nearly 350 sepia toned photographs, drawings, and floor plans are breathtaking in scope and detail. The visual content effectively evokes the muffled footsteps of parlor maids and rebukes by gruff railroad barons.

Rare figures of inhabitants intervene only occasionally; a child on a tricycle, Mr. Eliphalet Blatchford in his library but mostly the human presence consists of portraits above highly embellished fireplaces. The majority of these pictures were taken as silent documents of wealth and expressions of erudition but they evoke a surprisingly shaky, unconfident sense of style.

Even so, readers will derive a clear sense of each family’s private aesthetic and public facade. Interior design and decorative arts are as compelling as the structures. Paintings, sculpture, textiles, carvings, animal skins, all manner of souvenirs from grand tours and chotzkes galore - are piled in impeccable abandon.

It's tempting to search for the very few objects that found their way to the Art Insitute's collection.

The Editorial content is superb in providing the ontology of Chicago’s residential style, social context, family history and the sources of wealth.

Great Chicago Houses is also peppered with aridly amusing anecdotes. It makes a surprisingly entertaining read.

I was especially touched by the 1903 Julius Rosenwald House by Nimmons & Fellows and the authors' treatment. The book’s testimony to one of the greatest of Chicago’s early entrepreneurs and philanthropists is gracious and the house itself is uncomplicated but beautifully designed.

The strange sadness that pervade the book - especially for a lifelong Chicagoan - is linked with the number of demolished structures. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. These captains of industry built these palazzo's on the prairie to last. The quality of workmanship and materials was meant to echo the european structures that they saw on their trips. It was one of their frequent and futile, strikes at immortality. I wonder if they imagined that their children would inhabit the houses after them, shuddering from the capitalistic ghosts of their patriarchs or if they thought there would be tremendous competition to acquire their peculiar ornate newel posts (done - but in salvage yards).

For the great majority - their ghosts left with a wrecking ball within fifty or sixty years! They built with a sense of permanence and luxury that would institutionalize their memories but technology, location and that wierd, short cycle - 30 years after construction - when vernacular architecure becomes distasteful - killed a lot of them.

Chicago's growth continues -- inevitable, consistent and totally unrepentant in ravaging the past.

One note for the 2nd edition: while some photo dates are available in the Illustration Credits, label dates or indication of the probable range when the pictures were taken (circa) or even “date unknown” would provide an even richer context. Knowing if the varnish on the spindles is dry or decades old would add polish to this significant volume.

Below: Julius Rosenwald Residence: Demolished

Images courtesy of Acanthus Press.

Again, With Mrs. H.

Mrs. Huxtable's brilliant contruction in the Wall Street Journal includes an archicentric use of the word "terroir" and this ruthlessly correct phrase:

"None of this matters; superperfectionism seems stale and out of date."

As usual, I agree with every character she writes even though a good friend has admonished
not to idolize, deify or carve a pedastal - I can't help myself. Why don't we hear her.

It reminds me of what Frank Lloyd Wright said about Adlai Stevenson: "He didn't win because Americans don't like a thinking man in the White House."

The Financial Times Version of the Island of Doctor Moreau

Try to get a cab or a 2 bedroom vintage rental.

Random Images from 2007

2008-01-23T21:19:00.000-06:00

More Kitschmas

______________________________________

STREET ART

_____________________________________________

STREET FASHION

She won best costume - need a hint?

She travels from north to south and for most of the year, she took

an hour from North Ave. to Belmont.

That's right - she's the CTA's Red Line!

One of the judges said, "Does she smell like urine? That would be real."

Christmas with Howard in Hinsdale included...
Ruby trout...

And a sublime red in a Lalique glass.

Hope for 2008

MERRY KITSCHMAS: MY PRESENT

2007-11-29T00:36:00.001-06:00

PRThese are actual current or recent Christmas ornament offerred by lovely people on the largest internet auction site in the world. This is a virtual installation piece that I've wanted to do for the last couple of years.

The thing that spurred me on was the recent 23 million dollar sale (?) of Jeff Koons' "Hanging Heart". Koons appropriated this design from another designer and then Jeff made it big. Whoop.

I'm sure you'll find my endeavor a better, deeper and obviously cheaper art experience and a special Christmas parade of the tragic, hillarious, bizarre, immoral and gorgeous remnants of our century old capitalist and media sponsored rush toward dumping our year-end disposable income. Save the ECONOMY! Spend in December! I'm giving it away!!!!

The text in gold is my narative. The text in white is either a descriptive term from the seller or a comment made by one of my twisted friends in response to the images. Many of the images are low resolution but some of them are larger files and are actually quite beautiful. I've indicated which images have larger "click-throughs". Despite the tenor of the text, I do respect and admire the love people have for these ornaments.

The irony of this will come in a follow up posting in february.

xxx

THE NIGHT BEFORE KITSCHMAS

They come from subterranean worlds or lofty heights,

boxed carefully or in jumbled piles but rarely in between.

They signify a distant shadow of our national origin and the imaginary dress of our ancestors who were more often in rags - like the slaves that make them.

Secretly, with inner joy, they shout our handicaps.

And insure infirmity from mother to child.

They share secrets in plain site.

Their beauty belies their substance,

and courts obscenity.

Their love of nature is false and hidden.

But Everybody likes this.

Everybody cheers their anthem of love.

Because they confirm our similarity while defining our style.

And sometimes they provide some proof about something we know.

Things come out of storage in a jumble.

It is impossible to make sense all at once.

But types are sorted...

"MADE OF A BRITTLE RUBBER-LIKE MATERIAL"

and form a tribe.

By hook or by crook

through thick and thin

"MADE OF 'TAVERN WAX'"

we all come together to worship as one.

"completly unused - mint in box"

Our fears make us simple.

"Why can't you have fun?"

"The party's just started!"

There's always a moment when the one turns to tears.

Don't make us all sad now because presents are coming!

Good boys wear Prada.

Bad girls wear none.

Beauty becomes us,

As booties we buy...

'till beauty consumes us,

"Ben, the two of us need look no more

We both found what we were looking for

With a friend to call my own I'll never be alone

And you, my friend, will see You've got a friend in me (you've got a friend in me).."

and we're all just fried.

"I think this is a complete set of McDonalds McNugget Christmas Ornaments."

It's over too soon and maybe forever

"all are made of unbreakeable plastic - safe for kids and pets..."

We see ourselves fading back to the world.

We took ourselves out - now we're not mint in box.

---------THE END--------

CONCEPT AND CONTENTS k. bringe 2007

POSTSCRIPT & ADDENDUM

I ask you to think about the history of these objects - the line to market; the artist or designer responds to the trends and last years sales (pixies grabbing their knees) and they infuse aesthetic and champion their idea for resources to the company - who is rarely if ever the manufacturer. The company goes to the manufacturers in poor third world companies -with slave wagers. Prototypes are made. Formen are beaten. And the stuff is shipped back here. The consumers makes exquisite choices with their little money. They die and the family members and peers hating their decisions prompt the estate sale...

"Sometimes I think the Grandmother died and they took her good stuff. And then they threw the Christmas crap on the carpet and took a polaroid and shoved it on the auction site." --Previewer of the 2007 Kitschmas Bizare.

I liked these:

"MADE OF A BRITTLE RUBBER-LIKE MATERIAL"

STUDIO VISIT: MEGAN WILLIAMSON

2007-11-28T19:26:00.002-06:00

Megan Williamson talks about form in her garden paintings

Visiting artist's studios instills a sense of privilege that we should all seek and savor like fine wine or the last kiss of autumn. Think what it would be like to share a worn sofa with the comforts of Brancusi or Matisse - let alone Picasso who was known to start out with "a brief run through" that led to capturing people for ten hours and four meals.

When I host a studio visit I feel a little like an attraction - like Disneyland or the Eiffel Tower. And maybe my visitors feel like they've seen something and have been able to absorb the signs and symbols of a mosaic. Some don't but I also like the way it forces me to clean up a little - less of a fire hazard.

I visited Megan Williamson's detached studio in Wicker Park a few weeks back and it was such a pleasure. Her work and her approach to the way she engages the community are noteworthy - and nary an environmental hazard in sight - just beautiful art, comfortable chairs, delicious soup and a sensitive but deeply pragmatic artist.

A Wall of Megan's Studio

Megan's approach has various arms. It's organic in form, concept and delivery like a dendritic cell starting from her interior world to the community that will see the work.

Her creative space is a much coveted brick garage in the ever increasingly dense Wicker Park neighborhood. The late 19th century red brick house that fronts her studio includes those delicate incised carvings and details of the Aesthetic Movement that are not neglected in this three story survivor.

She is the muse of a structure that includes a son of middle school age, a husband who is both a work at home, self-described computer geek who has been "writing code since the eighties" and is also the love affair of Megan's life. And almost at the center of their lives is an unforgettable, mature but frisky standard poodle with a coat like your grandmother's Persian Lamb collar and a tender, disciplined disposition that knows to stop short at the carpets which provide a border for the forbidden zone. No dogs allowed.

Her plein air work runs the gamut - from a lot of

David Adler and Shaw designed gardens on the North Shore to...

Viaducts Near the Kennedy Expressway

Still Life

Her work has a common respect for the intuitive eye which sees thing through the lusciousness of paint and material. I think it's a graphic and material sensibility common with Matisse and Cezanne - where the light and the mind and the surface lead the hand and the brush to places that are unseen by a camera.

Garden View

On our way out of the studio, back to the house for a bowl of fresh soup and great bread, she opened a file drawer to reveal a group of hand made books. It great to hear about the "Please Respond" Series. She has been inviting artists to correspond with her through these stiched and collaged pieces. They are exactly what I love - heavily encrusted, spontaneous communications with a secret language like fragments of a broken mirror on a carpet in a luxurious room. And she should really be admired for rising above the egotistic isolation that most visual artists indulge in.

The "Please Respond" Project

I got my invitation to "do a book" in the mail today.

I look forward to a meaningful correspondence

with this great Chicago artist.

Visit Megan's website

MONUMENTAL STORMS

2007-11-21T22:03:00.000-06:00

SUMMER STORM AT GRACELAND -FROM A DISTANCE

On August 23rd a summer microburst storm traveled a surprisingly narrow but destructive path through the Chicago suburbs all the way to the Lakeview Neighborhood slicing through two historic cemeteries bordering Irving Park Road. Dozens of mature trees were toppled from their roots along with granite and marble obelisks and markers. Wunders Cemetery and Graceland were closed for days after the storm.

We were at the farm in West Virginia. The sign that something was wrong came from dozens of Lakeview kids' cellphones going off. It was immediately clear that the weather was dramatic but the people were OK. On the way home - we were confronted by images of overturned cars on the blocks where they live. The climate change seemed to come home.

But we got home and the trees were down - here's my coverage for the SAH Chicago newsletter:

John Notz, SAH member and Trustee of Graceland observes, “Many of the trees exhibited hollows or problems so they were weakened before the microburst. Occasional storms are actually good for the landscape as a whole because they remove disease. We’ve already performed almost all of the removal and repair.”

Founded in 1861 Graceland Cemetery’s history and monuments form a moving timeline of history with a concentration of form and function in Architecture and design. While many cemeteries suffer from neglect or deterioration, Graceland has a strong, effective system for preservation, planning and design. The list of Trustees of Graceland reads like the “Who’s Who” of Chicago’s cultural and political history. The Trustees take their responsibilities as stewards very seriously. And they all have rights of interment – a requirement of their position.

In the recent past the Trustees have worked with the estates and the community to design and erect appropriate memorials for neglected figures, such as the brother of English author Charles Dickens and William Le Baron Jenney (who designed a large section of the landscape). Upcoming projects include landscape improvements on the small island that contains Daniel Burnham’s remains and a sensitive restoration of the Arts & Crafts Style Chapel designed by Holabird & Roche. From simple blocks to ornate Gothic and Egyptian Revival mausoleums, over 150,000 interments have been completed and there is room for several thousand more.

William Le Baron & Elizabeth Jenney’s new memorial evokes a steel frame and was dedicated this summer - on the centennial of his death.

Louis Sullivan’s Getty Tomb overlook the marker for Daniel Burnham and his family.

Bruce Goff’s marker with raw glass – a favorite of the modern master.

Visit www.gracelandcemetery.org

Cells

2007-10-31T02:32:00.000-05:00

I am firming up theory that cell phones represent an evolutionary leap in social culture.

Last October, I visited the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. It was a bucolic autumn Saturday that stirred treasured memories of my early adulthood when we formed life long friendships, wandered from coffee houses to foreign films and savored that golden moment of walking toward a beautiful face you knew was the future.

That day in 2006 provided proof for a personal revelation of sea changes in cultural values that are shifting in the narrow bands of radio waves - all governed by cell phones. I was strolling with an old friend who is now on faculty in the University's Sociology Department. I remarked that there weren't very many students around. I naively inquired, "Is there a football game? Are they studying?"

"Sit down," she offered "You're going to want to hear this". Keep in mind - my friend benefits from two decades of observation within this academic community and she is a professional in the study of communication and social groups. She took a breath and explained that, over the last ten years an evolution of values has occurred.

A much larger percentage of undergraduates arrive with cars.

A large percentage of students live far from campus in newer, mid rise apartment buildings near the expressway. These moderately luxurious apartments often have small health clubs on the ground floor and a network of national chain retail and restaurants has sprouted up around them.

The University has encouraged this exodus from the campus borders - the rickety but charming frame houses of Urbana and Champaign that provided communal housing are being swallowed up by the campus. University urban planners aid the draft by providing free shuttle buses.

Keep in mind a large percentage of students grew up in the suburbs of Chicago - roughly two hours away.

HERE'S the shocking part for me and my generation: a large percentage of students go home for the weekend!

I was momentarily stunned and my stomach flipped a little. I thought of all the wonderful weekends I spent with my college friends, the parties and laying around on avocado shag carpeting redolent of hemp and keg beer. The wandering through farms and fields with new love and poetry.

"Why?! How?!" I gasped. She replied in a very circumspect and firm tone with two words: "cell phones".

She sighed and continued, "These kids have had cell phones from the age of ten. They are in constant contact with their peers and their families. Their thumbs have special callouses from texting. No question goes unexpressed. No experience goes unexplicated. If they are waiting in line - it is an opportunity to tell someone in their directory that they are waiting in line. Their solitary interior world has dwindled to sleeping hours."

"As a result they have formed much closer bonds with friends from grammar school and high school. And their families are much more integrated into daily life." At this point she admitted that kid's time in primary school is far more structured than ours had been and this also contributes to a dependency - a deficit of an interior world.

"So they go home as often as they can. It also helps that there is a ton more disposable income."

This revelation stands in contrast to my experience and that of my peers who are now 40 - 50 years old. We were dropped off on the curb of our dorms in August of our Freshman year. When we made it home for Thanksgiving it was a trek. Toll calls were reserved for Sundays or calls from the infirmary. The cell phone's ability to make the world smaller and fuse social - or class - identity is astonishing.

When new technology is rapidly assimilated into culture we often experience loss of civility.

The slapstick caricature of this moment is exemplified by the early appearance of the automobile. We have dozens of representations of late-victorians being rushed off the street by coughing, combustible engines. Fists are waved and skirts are spattered. The drivers move forward in lurches and bangs - usually oblivious of their invasion into pedestrian "frequency" - a slower, more deliberate wave form.

If this image of the Model T's effect is any indication - cell phones will triumph against my standards for civility in the public forum. Which brings me to my kvetch of the day.

This happens thousands of times, every day. You're in line waiting for a cashier and the person in front of you is being checked out and they are talking on a cell phone. The phone conversation inhibits the check out and here comes the defining moment - the cell consumer actually puts up a finger to an actually present cashier to shoosh them while they finish their conversation. I despise this phenomenon of social ignorance.

I am proposing a campaign to draw a line. Something like "Not on my dime" or "Cellular Civility Please". Starbucks represents a great forum for this sort of discourse and could actually provide positive reinforcement for their brand. If they could come up with a benign or humorous point of purchase card that would reinforce awareness, they would gain loyalty and provide a public service.

And I am not exclusively luddite. I imagine two outcomes from a common narrative. Two young lovers schedule an exciting liaison at a crucial moment in the development of their affection. The first version of the story has one of the lovers experiencing some delay without the ability to reach the Other. The second version shows how the love was saved by a cell phone.

Post script:

Hallelujah!!! This from the New York Times. Cell phone blockers for personal use. It's like magic with a flavoring of social justice.

I have to wonder how the FCC can extend their reach into private spaces - homes and businesses - this way. Isn't there a constitutional question of privacy, involved with my ability to control the methods of communication in my own environment? Aren't theatres being built with this blocking technology? A part of their logic in enforcing the illegality of these gadgets is the idea that the blockers can be used in criminal enterprise. Well so can cell phones and knives and duct tape, etc.

Aimee Mann at Park West

2007-10-26T00:09:00.000-05:00

WXRT, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Miller Beer hosted one in a series of artist showcases with Aimee Mann on Tuesday night at Park West. The series is glibly branded "The Craft". It was a great concert format. Three songs followed by fifteen minutes of interview on stage repeated four times.

Ms. Mann was astonishingly frank and eloquent about her life and creative process. She spoke about the "puffed up" nature of contemporary society and the silliness of the arts industry.

I wasn't familiar with her before but gonna buy the Magnolia soundtrack. Her album became the primary text of the film.

Park West is looking better than ever - smoke free and subtley evoking 1940's supper clubs.

Internet Stuff and Scraps

2007-10-19T23:29:00.000-05:00

My friend HSW said something profound in reference to our political disaster of a government today. He said, "We're all just sitting here talking about how crazy the country has gotten but it's OUR country. We're doing it - we're allowing them to define torture and rendition and allowing this to happen."

Here are two people who didn't allow it...

Heroe: Sugihara

Heroine: Andrée Geulen-Herscovici

__________________________________________________________________

To my chagrin, and with no prior notice, I am on Youtube at the same time that a really bad piece of my art is being sold on ebay. I donated the Ebay piece to the American Cancer Society auction during the very early '80's. It is bad art coming back to bite me. But it originally went for $250 so that's good.

Fall is here and Chief Illiniwek is gone! I actually worked on this logo as an undergraduate. Oren Johnson produced this and he was/is a brilliant artist. I helped cut the large films that were turned into the smaller version (this was before Photoshop or any major computer design). He had a studio in a farmhouse beyond Champaign. I would ride ten miles every morning to get there. I'm sure it's all condo's now but his serigraphy studio in the basement was extraordinary. I was a little concerned with the Chief then but we were more intensely fighting South African apartheid on campus.

Then, I remember talking to a really talented American Indian woman who started the great fight to get rid of this crazy Chief dingbat. She was recruited to the department of art and design - to diversify the program. She said, "I arrived and the head of the painting department invited me and my children to a basketball game. We got there and this guy - this "Chief" comes out and does this dance and I looked over at my kids and their mouths are wide open. I said to the faculty member, 'This is not good.' and he says, laughing, 'Come on - are you kidding? You know your culture is dead'." She said she had spent a lot of time trying to get her kids to see the authentic spirit of her people. This was not good. She sat out in front of the stadium with cardboard signs for months until others joined her. She had death threats. She did a great thing.
I would call her a warrior.

Graceland Cemetery was closed because of a microburst storm in August that tore down Irving Park Road toward the lake. The weather is becoming more extreme. No doubt Versace helmets will be available for spring.

Jake's birthday cake. Oh for a mom like that that bakes the cake and knows what's important.

The worst could be over. This is not a staged photo but a moment of Rick Santorum's life and I kind of feel bad about putting it up. On the other hand, he had no problem with trading in his "family values".

Bring the boys home. These are family values. Bring them home.

Mrs. Huxtable in WSJ on Early Soviet Modernism

2007-10-04T14:31:00.000-05:00

Mrs. H's new review of MoMA's photo show that documents dissapearing early modernism is classic Huxtable. The exhibition, book and her article demonstrate the importance of memory - that the early Soviet ideals included a place for new art and architecture and their influence on society. This period of bold utopian ideals embodied in design is still fresh and relevant. Unfortunately, freedom of expression was short-lived and it's a terrible shame.

Be sure to click on the slide show.

She ends the article with an account of visiting an elderly, forgotten master. This story within the article is a little slice of Pushkin. She rocks on and this is more rationale for an autobiography.

There is no mention of my favorite: Tatlin's Tower but a radio tower in the slide show embodies some astonishing constructivist features.

SAH Chicago Dual Subject Tour at U of I - Chicago

2007-09-22T01:48:00.000-05:00

The Society of Architectural Historians – Chicago Chapter invites you to join us for a tour and reception on Saturday, September 29th, 2007.

Dual Subjects: Netsch Design for the U of I at Chicago

& The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Collection at Henry Hall

Hosted by David Sokol and Keith Bringe

The tour kicks off from Henry Hall (click here for printable map), 935 West Harrison \

at 1:00 pm. A reception will follow.

Takamura Ko-un's Ram-ma from the Hooden – or Japanese Pavillion.

Collection: U of I - Department of Art History

RSVP to Keith at 708-358-1394.

Free for members of SAH-Chicago. $10 for non-members.

Take advantage of this special offer; join SAH-Chicago for a full year of great tours, receptions and events at just $25 for individuals and tour for free.
Download this form and bring it with you.

The tour will include a viewing of the Ram-ma - two monumental carved screens that were featured in the Japanese Pavillion, or Hooden in 1893. This popular and influential feature of the Expo exerted tremendous influence on Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the community. Unfortunately, these rare surviving 19th century gifts from the Imperial Government of Japan are in terrible condition and are in dire need of conservation and restoration. They were “rediscovered” in the early 1970’s – wrapped in canvas stored under the bleachers at Soldier’s Field. This is an excellent period overview on the Hooden including the Ram-ma. The Ram-ma were positioned at the level of a clerestory and served as ventillation panels.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U of I Tour Part 2: Netsch Campus Design

Walter Netsch original design for the U of I represents a watershed in the history of urban campus design. Netsch was inspired by the idea of a drop of water with waves emanating from a central court - or "forum". The design was visionary and was the first true expression of his Field Theory, but the political circumstances of the University's development and community response have combined to dilute the original vision. We will view surviving buildings and discuss the evolution of the campus. Read Betty Blum's "Chicago Architects Oral History" interview with Netsch (pages 191 - 218).

The Behavioral Sciences Building expresse a jump forward

in approach to academic form andd function.

Rock Steady - Greenspan on the Bushes ('s) Grasp

2007-09-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

It;s a revelation that a Friedman scholar, among the most trusted figures of the last millenium goes on record against the reactionary elite. And he praises Bill Clinton. Ouch, Rove. {Also. New Yorker, Page 45. Biggest Urbana Head.}

Once and always thank you Alan Greenspan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in a memoir to be released on Monday criticized President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans for abandoning fiscal discipline and for putting politics ahead of sound economics.
In his book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," Greenspan said he was surprised Bush was unwilling to temper his campaign promises with fiscal reality once elected in 2000, as previous Republican administrations had done.
"Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences," he said. The book was made available by its publisher, The Penguin Press.
"Much to my disappointment, economic policymaking in the Bush administration remained firmly in the hands of White House staff," he said.
Greenspan, now 81, was the second longest-serving chairman in the Fed's 93-year history when he stepped down in January 2006.
Praise has been heaped on the New York native and self-described "libertarian Republican" for overseeing the longest U.S. economic expansion on record.
Greenspan built his reputation as Fed leader with his calm handling of the stock market crash of 1987, the 1997-1998 Asian and Russian financial crises, and the economic turbulence that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
But he has also come under fire for policies that some say led to bubbles in technology and housing. His successor, Ben Bernanke, is coping with a prolonged housing downturn and credit-market turbulence.
Greenspan's long association with Republican administrations and his reputation for independence add clout to his criticism of Bush and of other Republicans who led Congress until 2006.
TAX CUTS AND SPENDING
Greenspan said Bush's combination of tax cuts and spending on the military and prescription drug benefits, while not "unrealistic" in 2000 after several years of federal budget surpluses, was not appropriate with growing deficits that returned in 2002.
The former Fed chair said he urged Bush to veto a string of "out-of-control" spending bills, but to no avail. He was told the president wanted to avoid antagonizing Republican political leadership.
"To my mind, Bush's collaborate-don't-confront approach was a major mistake -- it cost the nation a check-and-balance mechanism essential to fiscal discipline," Greenspan said.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said on Saturday the administration conducted "rigorous" analysis and that tax cuts sped up the U.S. economic recovery after the 2001 recession.
"Because Congress worked with us, vetoes weren't necessary. We're not going to apologize for increased spending to protect our national security," Fratto said.
But Greenspan said Republican lawmakers sowed the seeds of their political defeat in 2006 by abandoning fiscal prudence.
"They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose," he added.
A consummate Washington political insider linked to former presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before becoming Fed chairman in 1987, Greenspan also has been criticized for backing Bush's tax cuts plan before Congress in January 2001.
Greenspan said that position was balanced with a call for safeguards in case the fiscal situation deteriorated. But in his memoir, he ruefully acknowledged he underestimated how his words would be selectively interpreted.
"While politics had not been my intent, I'd misjudged the emotions of the moment," he said.
Fending off criticism that rock-bottom borrowing costs early this decade fueled the housing bubble that has caused a burst of foreclosures, Greenspan said the unusual risk of a downward price spiral was serious and had to be dealt with.
"We wanted to shut down the possibility of corrosive deflation; we were willing to chance that by cutting rates we might foster a bubble ... It was a decision done right," he wrote.
Looking at the U.S. economic future, Greenspan warned that to keep the inflation rate between 1 percent and 2 percent in coming years the Fed may need to force interest rates into double digits.
If the Fed succumbs to political pressure to keep interest rates low, inflation rates could rise to an average of 4 percent to 5 percent by 2030, and yields on 10-year Treasury notes would rise to at least 8 percent, he wrote.

Blogging Rationale: The Abrams Archive

2007-09-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

There are a few rules of blogging that have been proscribed during the recent history of the form. One of the cardinals is "avoid apologizing for blogging". This stems from the sullen voice inside our heads that shouts "nought is reading you and you're a pure egotist to spew your excretion into the interweb."

In contrast, I've had great confirmation of the power of blogging before but this instance combined subject, circumstance or context and result in a miraculous way and with extra juicy karma. I've been thinking about how to present it. I may be circumspect, because the experience is a work in progress.

It boils down to this; I have an old friend, who I love dearly and is truly rare among souls of women or men. I've written about Nancy Abrams several times on Rarenest. She is a journalist, photographer and spent a big chunk of her middle life living in small towns in West Virginia, which is contrasted by her early life as the daughter of charming, upward hoteliers in St. Louis.

To paraphrase an old Apalachian coloquial - she looks fabulous in evening wear at an art opening in Manhattan and she can piss in the woods. Or put chains on a Subaru. Or light a kerosene stove. Or make mouthwatering borscht, etc.

In her post grad years she participated in several photographic internships and fellowships - some as part of U.S. Government programs including DOCUMERICA. This was in the early part of her career which led to her settling near the Uptop Farm, which is where we met. She worked on small, microscopic newspapers in the hills and hollers. This is where we met twenty something years ago...

Here's where I put my thumbs under my arms: as a result of my blog entries and amazingly, while I was at the farm, a representative of the U.S. National Archive {National Records and Archives Administration (NARA)} emailed me to find Nancy. They have a group of her studies from the 70's. It seems they have been looking for her for awhile to develope a complete biography and to help contextualize her work.

It's at this point that the rationale for blogging becomes clear for me.

It's a great thing for a photographer to have any level of integration into the digital and literal documentary NARA empire. A casual search on the farm's locus parenti (nearest town - in this case - Terra Alta, West Virgina) only provides 4 photographs by one other, minor American documentarian: Walker Evans.

What the National Records and Archives Administration (NARA) doesn't realize is that what they possess now is a tiny fragment of a chip of a crystaline vision of three decades of rapidly shifting Allegheny culture because...get ready....

The unpublished Abrams Archive contains 30 to 50 thousand photographic negatives of everyday life, work, celebrations, society, landscapes and in small towns and valleys of northern West Virginia along the Appalachian Trail. Nancy has them in boxes.

I'm going to update this entry as things progress but I just wanted to get this down tonight. I'll provide more images and biographical text as they come along.

Nancy's life reads as the great American text. I am so glad she is starting, dawning toward some small recognition and integration. And this is only the beginning...She has always been a flourescent source of inspiration for the people around her.

Finally, the timing of this must have a personal and cosmic purpose. I'm as always filled with regret and longing when I leave the farm. I checked my email from a hotel room in Ohio on the endless highway home. For my first meaningful message to be so referential to the farm, such a positive message for someone I love and to be about images of a world I love, well it gives me hope in blogging.

Incidentally. most of the other blogging rules include apologizing too much.

West Virginia Fungi

2007-08-26T19:58:00.000-05:00

Just back from the Farm. It's been a wet month which made a perfect environment for a broad variety of mushrooms including the delicious Chanterelles.

The remarkable thing was the variety. I counted over 100 types with 50 varieties growing within a small area.

Heartache For Sale

2007-08-17T22:25:00.000-05:00

Starting Wednesday, August 22 this incredible piece of art will be auctioned through Ebay.
It will be auction number 230163017817 -- and this important document of prison life is all about the numbers. Here is a preview of the listing:

This is an original important, oil on burlap painting from one of the first "OFFICIAL" Stateville Art Shows. It measures approx. 29 inches wide by 37 inches long. This appears to be the original artwork that was used for a printed poster.

The artist is August G Mendez and I have searched on the internet for any reference to this artist with little luck. I checked and he is not currently incarcerated.

The subject is an intelligent and well-balanced hybrid of 1970's "supergraphics" and Mexican folk painting or textile design contrasted by an INCREDIBLE, monochromatic inset of the prison itself.

This guy was a good painter and smart, to boot.

If I were a critic I would say he successfully contrasts the bleakness of prison life against the beauty of freedom.

The color is amazing with very controlled mixing of hue and tone.

There are three forms of identification on the piece;

First - the artist has poignantly incorporated his prisoner number into the image: 66720.

Second: the verso reads, in permanent marker;
August G. Mendez
#66720
"Stateville Poste(r)"

Third: There is a deteriorated typed paper label on the side. All that is left is the number 66720.
CONDITION: The stretcher seems to have warped but I think the frame - which is cheap stained trim nailed directly to the stretcher - has caused this and it can easily be fixed (but I hope the high bidder will keep this material as a part of the whole - for archival purposes).

The framing has suffered some discoloration.

Also - there is a tiny drip of white paint near the lower right edge that I think could be removed with just a little work.

Shipping is high via UPS insured with special packing at $110.00. International shippers will pay actual cost per estimate before invoice.

I WILL BE OUT OF CONTACT FOR THE FIRST FOUR DAYS OF THE DURATION OF THIS SALE WITH NO ABILITY TO CHECK EMAIL AND WILL RETURN ON AUGUST 26TH . I APOLOGIZE IF THIS CAUSES ANY PROBLEMS.

On a brighter note: I'm leaving for the farm and that's gonna be a blast. My eyes get tired from looking at the mountains.

And there are some other Ebay auctions starting Sunday including some great turquoise McCoy

And original engravings from the 1st/2nd edition of Encyclopedia Britannica

(Pictured: "Eclipse")

Peace Tower

2007-08-09T00:53:00.000-05:00

I was invited to provide a piece for the Peace Tower project which is installed through October 1 at the Chicago Cultural Center. The Tower is really worth seeing and I am proud of Chicago for producing this in such a prominent venue.

The first Peace Tower was organized by Mark di Suvero in 1966 in Los Angeles and included works by Rothko, Lichtenstein, Judd, Golub and many others.

It was revived for the Whitney Biennal last year. Here is a wonderful website about the project.

Here is text from the Department of Cultural Affairs; "A Peace Tower project, created by di Suvero for this exhibition, will stand in the Chicago Rooms’ second gallery. In response to a call for participation, local artists, activists, veterans, military personnel and documentary photographers are now contributing artwork about peace and protest that will hang on di Suvero’s steel structure. The Peace Tower was originally created in 1966 in Los Angeles as a response to the Vietnam War, with 400 artists participating in the project. It was later re-created in 2006 for the Whitney Biennal in New York City as a response to the war in Iraq. "

My "Piece" is Installed Next to Skreneski's Portrait of Studs Terkel (I'm humbled on many levels). It's made with braille paper.

Peace = Justice, 2007, Braile New York Times Article on Deployment in Iraq with Collage on Board. 24" x 24"

I only had two days to complete the piece but I'm happy with the agit prop quality. Here's the verso (cut-out).

TEN DAYS UNTILL THE FARM

2007-08-07T23:31:00.000-05:00

Ebay Paper Dress Bonanza!

2007-08-07T01:34:00.001-05:00

Yippee!

This is amazing! I'm selling stuff on ebay and someone bid this paper dress up to $500! It must be a mistake. I've contacted the bidder in Greece but for the time being I'm imagining some wealthy woman who remembers her mother wearing an identical dress at an Easter party on Crete. Or maybe it's a hyper-allergic fashion model.

SOLD TO THE PELEPONISIAN FOLKLORE INSTITUTE IN GREECE for 510.00.

Here's some more good crap:

An 8 inch coffin from West Virginia

This mermaid has seen better days

WITHDRAWN FROM SALE FOR STRUCTURAL ISUUES.

Old Art: "The Light Was Yellow Officer"

2007-08-03T03:46:00.000-05:00

I found a bunch of slides of pieces I did on tar paper back in the late '80's. This piece was done on construction debris and I think it was 6 feet tall by 3 feet wide. I left it in an alley when I moved to 1322 North Wicker Park Ave.

Damien Hirst's Memento Mori

2007-07-30T00:46:00.001-05:00

Damian Hirst unveiled an extremely thought provoking artwork last week and the world shrugged. The piece which reportedly cost 20 million dollars to produce is comprised of the skull of a 19th century adult male that has been set with hundreds of high quality diamonds including a rare and fine light pink stone over fifty carats. The mandible was removed and recast in platinum and the teeth were inserted into the new precious grill. The asking price is $100 million dollars and supposedly there have already been several serious inquiries. I think it will sell - if the project isn't a hoax. Damian may want to be catchin' up with the Banksys.

Can the size difference be attributed to nutrition?

I hesitate to start a rant about values, culture, the decline of all civilization. It would only lead to a profound sadness about Lindsay Lohan and the Salton Sea. I predict there will be limited general interest in Hirst's latest work and I don't want to feed any scrap of gawking.

If his intention is reflexive of the grotesque consumerist culture, then well-done son.

Unfortunately, he has a tendency toward that Michael Jackson morbid acquisitiveness as witnessed by his offer to purchase the Walter Potter collection of Victorian Taxidermy for a million or so. Potter preserved dozens of freshly drowned kittens and bunnies in decidedly anthropromorphic settings like schoolrooms and tea parties.

So Mr. Hirst courts controversy with a clear eye toward the iconographic. I'm sure that the critical sensibility includes historic references like Hamlet, the crystal skulls, the Mayan cult of skulls, the Capuchin monasteries, memento mori, etc. etc.

But in this day and age with absolute environmental disaster and starvation detailed instantaneously from wide geographies I wonder if it isn't unwise - even for a renowned artist -to cater to self-indulgent and adolescent necrophilia.

We'll see how this plays out. I really hope these are Swarovski crystals.

More about Potter's Taxidynamic compulsions in this 'kids friendly' and really scary didactic piece.

And afterthought, full disclosure, relational - my Lover's Discourse project contains a deer skull (a natural death in the wilds of West Virginia, I hope). It illustrates Barthe's chapter titled "Ecorche (to be flayed)". Also present -- a silkscreen of a silkscreen of a silkscreen of Andy Warhol's skull and 19th and early 20th century engravings of ecorche. The difference? I would spend my 20 million on aid to the planet and fish my skulls from the back water of Salt Lick creek. I hate my self-righteousness at this moment. Maybe that's Hirst's point? It's still too expensive.

Formes et Couleurs Suite of August Thomas

2007-07-25T16:23:00.000-05:00

ART DECO COLORS

A friend dissolved his family's estate last year and it was enormous comprised of a century of collecting. He had lived with all this stuff for so long that he responded by paring it all down to just a few things and of all the thousands of objects he could have taken he chose this rare suite of twenty plates that exemplify art deco color and design in Paris circa 1921.

He had the plates archivally framed and they form an incredible gallery. Each plate has a number of sections - or decorative schemes. This would have been an invaluable guide for artists and designers. It's a revelation about this period especially in the use of incredibly rich color which are as fresh today as they were 86 years ago.

Pochoir is the meticulous print-making art of stenciling. Some of these plates have up to twenty colors so each stencil was applied and then the color needed to dry before the next color would be applied. Excuse the flash spots.

Tip Top Tap

2007-07-24T01:10:00.001-05:00

There's a mega-million dollar redesign at the Allerton.

Will the TIP_TOP_TAP re-re-re-open?

John Greg Allerton is sending us vibes from the shores of Kauai -

He hopes there's lots of love in this project.

Drowning Your Sorrows

2007-07-20T01:55:00.000-05:00

Ink on Cocktail Napkin on Board, 10" x 10", 2007

I was waiting for a friend at a bar tonight and doodling on a napkin with a felt tip pen and the drunk guy next to me wants my attention an' I ain't got enough to give.

But all of a sudden he came up with the most fabulous malaprop...get ready...

"You know, you can't drown all your art in sorrows..."

Yum. I asked him what his name was. "I'm Kenard - that's k-e-n-a-r-d."

Not like canard. Not at all. When I got home I fished both the quote and the drawing and pasted it to an old template board (above). This is my life.

Osborne's 1864 Diary - Daily Life in the Civil War

2007-07-15T13:58:00.000-05:00

The Osborne Diary: A Soldier’s Life

All Contents Copyright Bringe and Osborne O’Hagan 2007
Not for Commercial Reproduction or Sale

PREFACE

It’s been over a decade since I first discovered the Osborne Diary. I was house-sitting for friends traveling on an extended tour of Asia. I set up my bedroom in a unfinished attic in their house on the North side of Chicago. My friend’s beloved grandmother had recently passed away and there were bags of clothing destined for a charity resale shop. It happened that one of the bags had broken open and I was re-packing it when I felt something hard, small and rectangular in one of the pockets of a bathrobe.

The diary’s discovery was lucky and as soon as I started to turn the pages, I was hooked. My friend’s great, great grandfather’s voice came alive. His name was Elysha Augustus Osborne of Bedford Ohio.

One should keep in mind that the actual dimension of each page of this document is 3" x 4.75" with 10 lines for each daily entry and yet, in such a small space we get a vivid picture of the daily life of a civil war soldier. Through the repetitive and mundane acts of foraging, cooking and work there is a touching rhythm that developes. And, amazingly, the narrative creates four acts - so if things get boring for Elysha and his friend Ben, just wait and something will come along to spark your interest. I encourage you to read the whole thing which runs to approximately 10,000 words. The remaining redaction will be added as time goes by.

The history of the war between the states never captured my imagination, up to this point. I should say I’m not much of a war buff in general. But as soon as I delved into the lightly penciled manuscript I was captured. Elisha was an extraordinary and simply eloquent guy. Despite a terrible, disfiguring battle injury to his face (Saturday, May 14) which became infected and a lengthy recovery which included a trip home, he returned to the war.

Of special note was Osborne's deep friendship with another soldier named Ben Brinkerhoff. War forges bonds that are not easily undone and there is almost a spousal character to their relationship. Their reliance on each other is heartwarming. I found the entry for Sunday, February 7th especially poignant.

Elysha was an entrepreneur and his dealings extended to jewelry making - converting silver coins to rings - and repairing equipment and shoes. He also became a source of loans for other soldiers and would purchase goods like molasses, shoes or guns and resell them. Throughout the diary, these accounts are seen as lists with numbers next to them. Through this enterprise he was able to supplement his soldier’s pay and send money regularly to his wife. April 5th is a great example of his facility in making money into more money.

If I could not decipher certain text because of fading or graphite loss - or I made any spelling assumptions - you will see parenths like this {}. As time goes on, Elysha used empty space for accounts. At the end of these entries you will see this account material. My hope is that this information may provide scholars with additional information or confirmation of these soldier's locations on particular days.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude and love for the O’Hagan Osbornes. They continue a tradition of public service and honest hard work that is represented by this document.

Dedicated to the Memory of Dorothy Osborne.

Photograph inscribed in verso;

Taken Mar 8th 1907 At Orrville Ohio

Representing three generations

Elisha Augustus Osborne -

Yrs 74 Of Co. B. 103rd O. U. A - 62 to 65

Sheldon Culbertson Osborne - 46

Elisha Lynn Osborne - 10 yrs.

Hudson Ohio

Mar 6, 1910

E..A.O. 77

Friday, January 1, 1864.STRAWBERRY PLAINS
The weather is undergoing a sudden change, growing cold & freezing.Company B are on Provo guard at Major General Parks headquarters. I built a fireplace in front of our tent. The mortar froze as I put iton. Ben and I live alone now. No snow yet. Health good.

Saturday 2
Very windy and cold. Hard on soldiers. Ben Brinkerhoff went to see(Major, Mr?) Flockton of the 9th A. (G). leader of the band, 8 milesfrom here. Beck and Barnum stayed and slept in my tent for they had no fireplace.

Sunday, January 3, 1864.
On duty at 9 o'clock - Corporal of the Guard. Major General Grant came here by special train at 12 o'clock noon. I sold Beck a gold pen for three dollars. One large tent came.

Monday 4
At five o'clock this morning the ferry boat sank in the middle of the stream and drowned five men and five mules. Five men got out. I washed today. The 103rd Regiment (C.J.V.) crossed the river and encamped half a mile from us.

Tuesday, January 5, 1864.
Major Generals Grant and Foster were here today.

Wednesday 6
Snowed a little and only a little. We fixed our bed - put cedar boughs in and straw on top and made a good warm bed. I made soap - good soft soap.

Thursday, January 7, 1864.
I am on duty this day and night. The weather is cold and unpleasant.

Friday 8
My health is good. No news worthy of note, only the usual duties of a soldier - a little of this and a little of that. Cook and eat - when you have anything to cook and when you haven't look about and find something or go hungry.

Saturday, January 9, 1864.
I read a letter from Margaret (my wife). She's had a bad cold. The children were well.

Sunday 10
This is a holy day [Sunday] but how few realize it. We have the same duties to perform as any other day. Card playing and { ----jeof} are swearing goes on like any other day.

Monday, January 11, 1864.
I am on the 2 [to] 4 - Ben on the 3' - relief guards today. We did our washing also today.

Tuesday 12
The cars run across the new bridge this evening for the first time. The second Ohio cavalry started for Ohio today to join the veterans. I traded revolvers with Geo. {Leon} of the 2nd AVG and got five dollars to boot and a good navy.

Wednesday, January 13, 1864.
Ben went into the country and I put a new spring into Dyers revolver and some rivets for which he gave me a pair of moulds to fit my revolver and five rounds of cartridges.

Thursday 14
I drew a new blouse today. The 9th A.G. crossed the new bridge and encamped on the other side. The 4th A.G. is here also.

Friday, January 15, 1864.
Twelve rebel prisoners came in today. Some of them had nothing at all on their feet. Shoes must be scarce in the confederacy.

Saturday 16
The rebel General Vance of North Carolina and two of his staff and a lot of reb's brought in today - 40 in all.

Sunday, January 17, 1864.
I went to Knoxville with 40 reb's, six guards and Orderly Sheldon. The reb's were put into the jail yard. We quartered with the provo guards in a house upstairs.

Monday 18
Got up early and went out and bought eight sheets of ginger bread for 1.40 each - total 11.20. Missed the train and had to stay another night. Wrote a letter to my wife and one to Mary {Larelle}.

Tuesday, January 19, 1864.
KNOXVILLE
I went to the depo [sic] and had to wait til 2'o'clock for the cars.I sold my bread and went up town for more but could get none, so I bought 6.80 worth of tobacco. The cars stopped five miles from the plains and I sold my tobacco to the corpse [sic] and got home at dark or at the plains.

Wednesday 20
I got ready to go to Knoxville with prisoners but before we could get ready the cars left us. The reb's are not far off and threaten to attack us. Rails are piled under the bridge ready to burn when the reb's come.

Thursday, January 21, 1864.
BATTLE
Ordered to move. The reb's are coming so we pulled down our tents and moved over the hill and went back to get more things. I went on duty at 11 o'clock and the rebel began to fire on us from the other side of the river. I went to the guard house and took out 17 prisoners amid a shower of bullets. To [sic] of the prisoners and one of our boys {HBN}.

Friday 22
We encamped 8 miles from the plains last night. Beck and I went back on our Cap's [Captain's] horse and Beck on a mule to the plains to find the Co. [Company] Books which were left behind. Did not find them, but they were saved by the battery and returned to us afterwards.Marched to Knoxville and encamped on this side (of) the river near the city. Read a letter from {H. A. Laselle}.

Saturday, January 23, 1864.
KNOXVILLE
I bought ten plugs of tobacco for 1.25 and sold them to L. B. Page for 2.50. Pay day. Bought my canteen full of molasses for .75 (cents). Ben went to the city mill and Gillert gave him a little flour.

Sunday 24
Our brigade moved across the river and the 103 encamped on the highest hill in the vicinity. We have a fair view of the city and the river. Ben and I went to work and built a house and covered it with our tents. I drew a pr. [pair] of shoes - No. 9's and changed with co. J.[Company] and got a pr. [pair] of 7's.

Monday January 25, 1864.
We are far from water and down a steep hill. All are busy building. The weather is fine.

Tuesday 26
All quiet and at work. Some at one thing and some at another. My health is good which is a great blessing.

Wednesday, January 27, 1864.
A fight at {Severeville}. Two guns and two prisoners taken by our cavalry.

Thursday 28
Ben and I went to the city on a pass and got an iron to bake on and two plates and a keg to make a pail of.\

Friday, January 29, 1864.
We cleaned out our tent and repaired it. Health is good and I rejoice and feel thankful. Addendum in pencil; Cyrus Frederick 1-3 Wm. Beal 3-3 John Stoll 5-1-2

Saturday 30
I mended a pair of shoes and c.
Baker 8-1 Richards 9-1 12 10-2 11-1 Spicer 13-1-3

Sunday, January 31, 1864.
I wrote a letter to my wife and sent it by Chaplain Hubbard. He delivered his farewell address today. It was good. He is well posted. The weather is fine.

Monday, February 1
I carried some corn over to the mill and got it ground. Got 23 lbs. of meal to lengthen out our short rations.

Tuesday, February 2, 1864.
I {tapped} a pair of shoes for Tom Poole for 25 cts. [cents]. He found the leather. {W.} Green Co. K 149 1 Jacob Collins 2 Benhard Kuhau 3 Daniel McGloughin 4 Erastus Davis 5 David Asha 6

Wednesday 3
Got up early and had roll call - the first one for a long time. I did not get out in time. I went down to the bridge and made a shoe hammer and knife.
{J.} A. Goodrich 7 Thomas Haslett 8 Robert Johnson 9 John A. Fox 10

Thursday, February 4, 1864.
I read a letter from my wife mailed January 7th. All well at home.

Friday 5
Ben and I commenced to build a fireplace and dug out our house.

Saturday, February 6, 1864.
Finished our fireplace. Ben went downtown to get some nails and tins to line the chimney. Ben went on pickit in the evening. I read a letter from my wife containing her photograph - also a package of envelopes.

Sunday 7
I slept alone and rather cold. Ben came up and got his breakfast which I kept warm for him - corn bread and pork - very good for soldiers. Half rations of sugar and coffee. I went on pickit at 4 o'clock and relieved Ben at the Widow Bakers. We slept on her floor. The boys stole a keg of vinegar.

Monday, February 8, 1864.
Were relieved at 5 o'clock and returned to camp. All of Widow Baker's negroes or slave men has [sic] left her and gone into a battery. Nobody left to work the farm - only her little boy.

Tuesday 9
Ben and I dug out our house and made it much more convenient. I am well and hearty. Would like to go and see my family.

Wednesday, February 10, 1864.
Details are made every day to chop, and the woods are all being cut down around us. I read a memorandum from my wife. The weather is warm. We may have a long siege yet. Rebel signal lights were seen.

Thursday 11
I wrote a letter to [Reverand William] Campbell and one to Father Culbertson and two papers. Weather warm and pleasant.

Friday, February 12, 1864.
Cool and windy this morning. No rebels here yet to disturb our quiet. A flag of truce came in today to exchange prisoners. The 1st Brigade came over the river today. I read a letter from my wife of the 3rd. Ben went on pickit and I slept alone.

Saturday 13
I got up early and went to work to straighten up things in the tent. I saw the signal flags at work today. The regiment went out and had a general inspection, Colonel Casement said my brass looked [right]. I am well and on short rations. On guard.

Sunday, February 14, 1864.
No meeting to go to. No public worship. Shut out from all the comforts of home and civilization. Tis an awful life to live. I wrote a letter to Mary Dunham. Charles Brown and Henry Northrup are going home on a furlough from the hospital.

Monday 15
We had some hulled corn and pork for supper - no bread nor anything to make anything of. Rained all day.

Tuesday February 16, 1864.
KNOXVILLE
I got an order of {leapWitch, Hutch/nison} and went to the commissary and bought 16 lbs. of corn meal for 2 cents per lb. - meat at 14[cents]. Then I went over to the city and went to mill - found more guards there from the 104th trying to grind. I saw how it went and showed them how to manage and they gave me 7 lbs. of meal. Bought $13.00 worth of tobacco. Read a letter from my wife. Had read one of a later date.

Wednesday 17
Read a letter from my mother and spent the day in writing to my wife and Lester. I feel well for I can get out of debt.

Thursday, February 18, 1864.
KNOXVILLE
I {tapped} a pair of boots - one for Wm. [William] Dixon and one for Borman. Sold 1.00 worth of tobacco to one of Co. [Company] K. Have a bad headache. The prospect is good for a siege.

Friday 19
I mailed a letter to my wife and one to my (parents) then went out to sell my tobacco. Sold some to the 103rd and some to the 100th Ohio and the 4th {Tenn.} then I sold my revolver to Mr. Mercer of Co. {A.} 4th Tenn. for 16 dollars.

Sunday, February 20th, 1864.
I washed Ben's and my clothes. Heard some firing by the pickits. Our cavalry are after the reb's.

Sunday 21
Ben and I went over to Fort Sa[u]nders then down to the depo [sic] after dark. Saw a darky regiment. Rations are coming in freely on the cars.

Monday, February 22, 1864.
SPECULATION HIGH! HIGH! I sent a letter containing eight dollars to W. B. Salisbury and Co. of Providence, R.I. for a case of gold pens and a letter containing 2 dollars to {-.W.} Everett and Co. 111 Main Street Box 1614 for Union Pins and 50 cts. to F. Collins and Co. Cornwall {?}Half rations of sugar and coffee and a pint of corn meal a day and meat enough.

Tuesday 23
(Blank.)

Wednesday, February 24, 1864.
I went to the city of Knoxville and bought 15 dollars worth of tobacco. After I got back, while cooking supper, my new diary that my wife sent me fell out of my pocket into the fire and burned half up. I felt very bad about it.

Thursday 25
(Blank.)

Friday, February, 26, 1864.
I went over to town and bought memorandum. Paid 1.25 for the diary and .65 for a pencil and got two violin strings.

Saturday 27
I strung up my fiddle and Ben and I played together - he on his claronet[sic] and I on my fiddle.

Sunday, February 28, 1864.
MOVE.
Left to Knoxville at 12 N. [mile or noon?] and marched 9 mile on a hard {dry wad}. Encamped in the woods. Put up our tent and made a bed of leaves. Made coffee and had supper. Ben was detailed for guard duty. The 65th Ill. [Illinois] and 24th R. {3} enc. [encamped] on the otherside of the road. Has been a fine day but looks like rain.

Monday 29
Did not get up very early for it rained all night. Swallowed our coffee in a hurry and started at 8 o'clock. Marched on the R.R. [railroad] a part of the way. Arrived at the plains about noon. Waited near the river 'til near night in the rain to cross and then camped on this side. Had an awful rainy night. Were mustered for eight months pay.

Tuesday, March 1, 1864.
STRAWBERRY PLAINS
Rained all day. Ben and I lay abed nearly all day to keep out of the rain. In the evening I and Beck was detailed to go on pickit. Ben and Milo went with us. We slept in a barn and had a fire and dried our wet clothes a little. I did not sleep until after 2 o'clock.

Wednesday 2
The sun {eosi} clear and we dried our wet blankets and had a pleasant day. Ben and I went into the {Dr.'s} house and had a sing with the women. The relief came in the evening. We pitched our tent and stayed till morning.

Thursday, March 3, 1864.
Ben and I took Beck and Milo and left the pickit post and went out into the country to get some rations. We went six miles. Got some corn. Got it ground. Got a pail of honey and a sieve and two canteens of molasses and came home and put up our tents and rested from our labors.

Friday 4
We went and got some boards and raised our tents and built a fireplace -and so we spent the day. Fine weather and I feel well and healthy. I read a letter from my Wife mailed Feb. 24th. Shelly had a bad cold. The rest are well.

Saturday, March 5, 1864.
Ben went with a team after corn. And Co. B. went Pickit out about two miles. I was on one post with Caleb and Wm. (William) Cook and J.L. (Hitz).

Monday, March 7, 1864.
Cloudy morning. Eight men detailed to work on the bridge. Rained a little - I was in the tent nearly all day. I read a letter from my wife mailed Feb. 28th and one from Sister Mary Dunhamy of the same date. All are well. I put a letter in the bag for my wife.

Tuesday 8
Had a fine day. Ben worked on the bridge. In the afternoon I went over the river and got my fiddle. Bought an 8 string off a soldier for 20cts. and then sold the fiddle for two dollars. Then I bought 16 large plugs and 10 small plugs of tobacco for ($11.40) eleven dollars and forty cts. I drew a pair of socks by lottery. Sanitary socks. I drew a pair for Beck also.

Wednesday, March 9, 1864.
I worked at the bridge - made some auger handles and cut some threads on bolts etc. In the afternoon while trying to unhitch the rope from some iron in the river I lost my balance and had to jump into the river and I got wet up to my waist. Sold all of my tobacco for 1.00 a plug to the boys and trust til payday.

Thursday 10
The 1st and 2nd brigades left the Plain at 12 o'clock. Marched 13 miles. Ben and I and lots of others fell behind and we slept in a corn house. Had a good place out of the rain. (A.J.) Mills gave me his overcoat and I carried it about 6 miles and sold it to a darky for one dollar. Very warm marching.

Friday, March 11, 1864.
Encamped at Mossy Creek. Moved our camp across the R.R. and pitched our tents in Brigade line. After dinner I went up to the village and into the grist mill and across the creek back through the 9th (a. g. or c.) Weather Cool. Health good. I drew 2 pr. socks.

Saturday 12
Left our camp near mossy creek at sunrise and arrived at Morristown at 3p.m., warm and tired and footsore. Saw Maj. Gen. Scofield and Gen. Cox. In the evening I wrote a letter to my wife. Weather warm. Health good. Saw Mrs. Gilbert ( the miller's wife). She was very much pleased to see us. Had sold out.

Sunday, March 13, 1864.
Some skirmishing in front. We could see them firing. One of the 24th R. was shot in the head - not killed. The reb's lost - 7 killed and some prisoners and wounded. This was toward night. I forgot that it was the sabbath. I rec'd a case of one dozen gold pens by mail from Salisbury & Co., Providence, R.I.

Monday 14
We had Company and Batallion drill and dress parade. Some fighting reported in front today. Ben got back from Dyke's - like to have got taken by the reb's. Weather cool. I had Wm. (William Rump) clean my watch. Paid him 75 cents.

Tuesday, March 15, 1864.
Morristown
Cold and windy day. The 103rd went on pickit. Ben and I was on the reserve. Had a coldnight.
I went over to the mill to try and get some flour but could not.

Wednesday 16
Ben and I went down to David Noe's and got some breakfast and paid fifty cents worth of coffee (1/2 lb.) and fifty cents. Then I went to the mill and got 5 lbs. worth of flour for 50 cents. Then went to the house and fixed Mr. Raynolds clock.

Thursday, March 17, 1864.
In camp at Morristown we signed the Payrolls for 8 months pay. There is 5.65 due me on last years clothing. Washed my clothes (last night) at Rev. Stubblefield's house. Drew rations in the evening.

Friday 18
Got up at 5 o'clock and got ready to march at 7 {1/2} o'clock and started at 9 o'clock. We marched in columns by divisions - left infront - for three miles through the field then took the road. Stopped at Panther [Springs] for dinner (5 miles). Arrrived at Mossy Creek at 5 O'clock very tired and dirty for the wind blew a storm of dust.

Saturday, March 19, 1864.
MOSSY CREEK
We lay in camp all day and straightened out tents in line. And I wrote some and traded pens with Beck and ( )

Sunday 20
Got up early. Had roll call and policed the street. Then had company inspection all right. Went down to the creek and had a wash. The meat was dealt out and we got none on the acct of one shiftless orderly. There is an order granting furloughs again but it was countermanded this afternoon.

Monday, March 21, 1864.
The 103rd went on pickit this afternoon. Our reserve was near the cotton factory of Mr. {Feine}. There is quite a little village here called Lowell Town. The Mossy Creek has a finemill on it. The best or smartest women (make) 5.00 a week. They work from morning to night.

Tuesday 22
On Pickit. It commenced to snow about day light and snowed all day and at night. The snow was 8 inches deep. We had a very unpleasant time in the snow. We were relieved when it was just dark and went to camp and put up our tents and built a fire in front. Scraped the snow off our bed and made ourselves comfortable.

Wednesday, March 23, 1864.
Our shoes were frozen so hard this morning that we could not get them on. In the afternoon I went and traded 10 pens and holders for a lever watch. (H)eitz offered me $15.00 for it. The crystal was gone and it does not run. Drew hard bread this evening at 9 o'clock. Read a letter from my wife of March 7th.

Thursday 24
I wrote a letter - inclosed (sic) $5.00 for gold pens No.5-1 of gold -3.00 and No. 4-2 (paul) $2.00 to A. Morton, No. 25 Maiden Lane, NewYork. I also sent two pens to be repointed. Sister (Lane) was very sick with the Erycipedas in the head.

Friday, March 25, 1864.
I made a handle for my hatchet and worked at a ring made of a dime. Went to a grind stone and I and Roman did lots of grinding - hatchets and knives. [And] in the evening I wrote to my wife or commenced a letter. Sold (T.-J.) Ridik (V-er) a silver ring for $1.00. Pay day

Saturday 26
PAYDAY Rained last night. Ben and I slept very nicely last night. No crackers for breakfast. I read a letter from my wife and one from Rev. Wm. Campbell. We got 8 months pay this evening. Co. B. was the 2nd Company payed. I sent home 100 dollars by state agent.

Sunday, March 27, 1864.
MOSSY CREEK
A fine pleasant morning. The boys are paying up their debts. I rec'd of the Paymaster $109.60. I sold my watch for $16.00 to Tom Stokes. Ben and I walked out, up town and saw sights and had a talk of home and {such}.

Monday 28
In camp all day. I made a little saw to saw silver and (c.)I saw H. Hubbard and Geo. (George) Patterson in Shields Battery. I washed and put a pocket in my pants and went to bed with a very very bad headache.

Tuesday, March 29, 1864.
Rained hard all night. I got up in the morning feeling very well. I worked on my pants. Then we went on pickit. Ben and I built a good house of rails and covered it with Pine bough sand leaves.

Wednesday 30
ON PICKIT
I was on duty twice last night. I went down to Lowelltown to buy some silver and could not get any. I cleaned a clock for Mrs. Smith. The girls want some rings made. After we were relieved, Ben and I went to the river. I shot a fox squirrel and got four dimes. Letter from Wife of the 23rd.

Thursday, March 31, 1864.
MOSSY CREEK
I made (and) sold two silver rings for 50 cents each. We had a fine day. The sun shone bright and warm. I was on guard this night. Rained last night.

Friday, April 1, 1864
Marched at 8 o'clock in the rain and mud. Arrived at Morristown at 3'o'clock and went on four miles and encamped in the woods. Wet and cold. Ben got some flax for a bed and we slept well.
Marched 18 miles.

Saturday, April 2, 1864.
Left camp at 7 a.m. Marched 12 miles and encamped near Bulls Gap in the woods again. Ben got some clover for a bed while I put up the tent. Then we built a good large fire and lay down and took a rest.

Sunday 8
BULLS GAP
Went to the depo [sic] after noon. Heard some preaching by a chaplain at the 104th camp. The cars came in and went out while we were there. Fine day. Warm & sunny.

Monday, April 4, 1864.
SPECULATION (Ed. note: This is consistent with other location titles - in caps.)
Rained last night quite hard. I sold two silver rings - 50 cents each. Then Ben and I had a sing. I enclosed ($23.) twenty three dollars and sent it to A. Morton. No. 25 Maiden Lane, New York for one dozen gold pens and cases. Ben and I laid down before dark and when I awoke it was bed time so we spread the bed.

Tuesday 5
BULLS GAP
We had a rainy night.I went to a home nearby and gave two dollars for one of silver and got one quarter to make for half. I made two rings of it and sold mine for 50 cents and made one of another quarter and sold it for 1.50. Then went out and bought 1.25 more of silver - gave two for one. Sold a watch for (Lieutenant) Kennedy for three dollars and he gave me one.

Wednesday, April 6, 1864.
I made 3 rings and sold them - one to (J.) Irwin for two dollars and one to Shroeder for 50 cts. and c. (Change?) Pleasant day. I went up to the 63rd Ill (Illinois) and bought four silver quarters and sold them for 2.00.

Thursday 7
I worked at rings again and linked 9 dimes together for a watch chain for Lawrence of Co. K. 24 R. Sold Page a ring (for) 1.50. Ben and Poole and I went out and had a sing with some ladies. Had a piece of pie. Came home at 10. Our tent caught fire and burned badly and Ben burned his hands.

Friday, April 8, 1864.
BULLS GAP
We patched our tent the first thing, then got breakfast, then it rained. I made a ring of a quarter. Sold it for 1.50 to (J.T.) Ricker and finished three rings for a fellow in the 8th Tenn. for 1.00 I went to the 63rd Indiana and gave 2.00 for 10 dimes.

Saturday 9
I worked at rings and c. The day was quite pleasant.

Sunday, April 10, 1864.
I rec'd a letter from H. Morton New York containing two gold pens and silver cases. Sold one to (H.K.) Coflinger for 3.50 and one to C. Jones for 4. I wrote to my wife and read. Went to the depo when the cars came and got a Harper's Weekly for 25 cents. Rainy day.

Monday 11
I read two {quills} of good letter paper from home. And made three rings and sold them. Bought 1.35 in silver - paid 2.50. Ben is not very well. My health is good. 13 new recruits came to camp today from Cleveland.

Tuesday, April 12, 1864.
BULLS GAP
I went to the Division Blacksmiths and it rained as soon as I got back to camp. I pounded out five rings. Brightman came up with our blankets and the cooking utensils. I bought a revolver for 3.00 because it would not revolve which I soon fixed.

Wednesday 13
There is a great many getting sick here - bad water and low ground. I went to the Blacksmith's again and got a hammer and a punch made for a ring.

Thursday, April 14, 1864.
I was sick. I went out to drill and had to go in to camp again. Sold a ring to Stubs for 1.50 Ben bought 1/2 lb tea for 60 cents. Couldn't eat anything today - only drink a little tea. Read a letter from my wife mailed the 7th containing 10 and 5 centpieces in silver. My wife is not well.

Friday 15
I had a miserable night but felt better in the morning. Worked a little on a ring and fixed my revolver and c.

Saturday, April 16, 1864.
We moved camp about half a mile for our health's sake. I was not well. Went to the doctor this morning and took some oil and pills. Ben went and got some corn meal for (us) and in the evening we drew a few potatoes and some sour kraut. Felt quite (?).

Sunday 17
Got up late. Ben is sick and I feel better. Cooked some potatoes and cabbage and cornbread that was so good that I am now most well.

Monday, April 18, 1864.
I put a letter in the bag for my Wife containing $10.00. Ben and I are both unwell. We had a general inspection this forenoon by Lt. Knowles of Gen. Mauson's Staff. Made two rings. Sold one for 50 cts. I took a powder [medecine] and slept a long time.

Tuesday 19
I feel pretty poorly this morning. Later I worked some. Sold one ring for .75 cents. I feel pretty stupid. Ben went and got a pint of whiskey of the Dr. for our infirmities.

Wednesday, April 20, 1864.
I reads a letter from my wife (Apr 13) I got up early and built a fire and c. Finished up a black ring for a man and then went out to find something to eat. All I got was a little milk and some bread. Ben got 6 eggs and we cooked four for supper. I sold two rings for 3.00 I am on duty to night.

Thursday 21
I feel much better and can do some work. Sold two rings (2.50). Read a letter from my wife dated Mar. 31st. It was mis-sent. Ben went over to (Rev/Mr.) Alltons and sold the pork and traded the crackers for flour - a good trade.

Friday, April 22, 1864.
BULLS GAP
I received one dozen gold pens from New York. Sold two - one No. 5 and No. 3 for 4.50 and 3.00. Generals Scoefield, Cox and Manson viewed us on dress parade. I made two rings. Sold one to (H.) Bradford for .75 cents Ben and I went and picked some (greens) for supper. Baked biscuits for supper.

Saturday 23
I fixed a revolver for one dollar and sold a ring for 50 cents. Orders to be ready to march at 2 o'clock in the morning. Packed my knapsack and baked some biscuit to carry.

Sunday, April 24, 1864.
Left Bull's Gap at 2 A.M. - bright moonlight. I fell behind. Had a very hard march. Only two files were up with the reg. (regiment?) in Co. B. We arrived at camp two miles east of Greenville at 3 o'clock. Marched 23 miles. I was very tired and lame. Ben did not come. 7 miles from Knoxville to Greenville.

Monday 25
GREENVILLE
Left our camp near Greenville. I had to get a pass and fall behind. I kept up 8 miles then rested and went on alone and stopped at Leesburgh. 18 miles. I stayed at a good place - Mr. James Duvalts. I had a good supper, good bed and good breakfast. Then I started on - then turned back. Stopped at Mr. D.'s again.

Tuesday, April 26, 1864.
I left Mr. Duvalts at 9 o'clock arriving at our camp of the first night near Greenville. I and a man from Richmond put up a house and had supper and went to bed. (Ed. Note: Illegible- crossed out) Got up early. Gave the man a dollar and went to [?} We got a good dinner on the way.

Wednesday 27
We got up early and went to Greenville and got our breakfast from a poor widow's. Then we marched on the RR and overtook the teams at Blue Springs. I put my knapp sack on a wagon and rode some. Got to Bull's Gap before sundown. Ben was gone to Knoxville and Morristown.

Thursday, April 28, 1864.
(Notation in upper right corner: "20") I sent my Wife a 20 dollar bill. The first thing I heard this morning was our reg. coming into camp. We took the cars at noon and arrived at Knoxville before night (55miles). Left their [?] at dark and arrived at Loudon at 11 o'clock (29 miles). Encamped for the night.

Friday 29
LOUDON
We drew rations in the morning and started for Charleston. Marched 19 miles (that day); taking dinner at the Sweet Water Creek. Camped in the woods on the leaves. Had a good bed. Was very tired.

Saturday, April 30, 1864.
Started early. Walked on the track. I got 20 miles and Beck and I stopped, completly tired out. We rested an hour or two and went to a barn and slept. Got a little milk of the folks for our coffee and gave them some coffee.

Sunday May 1
Beck and I went on to Charleston and found the regiment and moved camp and cleaned it up. Went with Chaplain Hubbard to his room and got a package of Maple sugar from Sister Mary Dunham of Strongville Ohio. Chaplain preached in the afternoon. I read a letter from Sister Jane Boner of (A)ssian Liv. Co. N.Y.

Monday May 2, 1864.
(Notation-upper right: "20". - amount sent to his wife) We cleaned up camp and c. I sold six gold pens and fixed a revolver in the afternoon. I sent a letter to my Wife containing a 20 dollar bill and read one from her in the afternoon.

Tuesday 3
We left camp at 5 o'clock and marched 10 miles toward Dalton and encamped and took a good rest. Then I had to go on pickit out in the woods.

Thursday 5
On pickit 14 miles from (Dalton Hollow) Geo. on the K. & D. R.R. Were relieved and went to camp about 5 o'clock (illegible). Wrote a letter to Sister Mary Dunham. A pickit was shot this morning by a reb. I cut off a dress coat and made me a jacket. We were in battle line this evening.

Friday, May 6, 1864.
"20" The reg't (regiment) came back from pickit this afternoon and piched(sic) our tents in a new place and had orders to march early in the morning. I read a letter from my Wife and wrote one in answer and enclosed a 20 dollar bill. She had read my letter containing 10 dollars.

Saturday 7
We marched at daylight toward Tunnel Hill (?) Went six miles and laid low [?] for the day and night. Heard some canon(ading). Report says (Bugards) Gap and Tunnel Hill is ours.

Sunday, May 8, 1864.
8 miles from Tunnel Hill. We had Reville at 3 1/2, built fires dried out our tents and got breakfast. Marched a few (euds) and stacked arms. Moved forward again. Co. B. went (?) into the woods. Hard skirmishing and soon after, canonading. I wrote to Jane and Father and Mother.

Monday 9
BLANK

Tuesday May 10, 1864.
BLANK

Wednesday 11
We lay in camp on the road two miles from potatoe hill. Our cavalry went out to meet the rebels. A man came in on his horse shot through the knee. I helped to carry him. He belonged to the 8th (Torvill) Cav.

Thursday, May 12, 1864.
We left camp at 4 1/2 and marched to tunnell hill and on through the woods to the right.

Friday 13
BLANK

Saturday, May 14, 1864.
Wounded in the field. (at) 11 o'clock one of the 111th (?) Ohio was wounded; a ball in his foot. His leg was amputated on the field in a few minutes. There is seven generals in sight; Thomas, McLane, Cox, Manson, Scofield. We charged the works at 1 o'clock. Was wounded in the cheek at 3 o'clock.

Sunday 15
Ben came over to the house where I stayed and we got breakfast and then I went to the hospital and helped wait on the wounded. Several arms and legs were taken off. Such awful sights. I felt quite small. The fight is going on furiously.

Monday May 16, 1864.
The battle lasted all night. The reb's made a desperate effort to breakout. The firing ceased this morning. I went to the battlefield in the afternoon. Twas an awful sight to behold.

Tuesday 17
About 100 wounded came to the cars on foot - 10 miles. Also 10 ambulance loads that could not walk. Sargeant L. Prindle (?) and I (1) from Co. B. We () the cars at Tilton Station; Passed through Tunnell Hill, Ringold and Dalton and reached Chatanooga at midnight. Slept in the depo. Went 1/2 mile to the hospital in the morn.

Wednesday, May 18, 1864.
CHATANOOGA
Prindle and I got into an ambulance this morning and went to the General Hospital. Div. No. 8 had to wait in the cold for our tents to be put up. Three in a tent with good cots to lay on. My wound does not trouble me much. I washed some clothse [sic] and wrote to my Wife. I went to the (suttlers) and bought 1 lb. cheese - 50 cents, can milk -25 cents, 1 lb. crackers - 25 cents, paper and envelopes and 1 can blackberries.

Thursday 19
I sent a letter to my Wife with a pen holder for a gold pen that I sent her. I washed some more clothse [sic] and went down to the stream saw mills. There is six of them in sight .. all circular saws. Abe (Ruscue) is here and Caleb and Wm. Cook from our company.

Friday, May 20, 1864.
I got up with the colic [sic] which was very severe and lasted 3/4 of the day. My face is getting very sore on my lower jaw. I wrote a letter to my mother and father and sister. A lot of wounded were sent to Nashville today. I would like to go home and see my family.

Saturday 21
U.S.A. General Hospital, Division No. 8, 18th Ward My face is very sore this morning. We got up at sunrise or before. I shall have to keep pretty still today. I had a hard day of it.

Sunday, May 22, 1864.
I feel some better this morning and have taken a dose of oil. Now we are going to Nashville. The train starts at 2:40. We are in freight cars. Traveled all night and we're almost as far from Nashville as we had a hard time. We were fired on by guerillas.

Monday 23
We arrived at Nashville about 3 o'clock and got to the hospital at 4 o'clock all tired out and sick. I went to bed soon and rested. My face was badly swollen with a touch of the eryecipelas.{}

Tuesday, May 24, 1864.
Nashville General Hospital No. 19
I feel worse today and took some pills in the evening which relieved me greatly. Some went to Louisville today.

Wednesday 25
Had my face burned with iodine. How awful it makes a man look. Found Carrie McNair.

Thursday, May 26, 1864.
Am well provided for but not so in my face. Had a terrible night.

Friday 27
Felt not much better. Can't see much.

Saturday, May 28, 1864.
Felt badly.

Sunday 29
Nashville
I feel better today. Put on my clothes and walked around some and wrote this and {c}.

Monday, May 30, 1864.
BLANK

Tuesday 31
Left Nashville at 5 o'clock.P.M. Gallatin 6.0, Franklin KY. 8:00 Bowling Green 9:00

Wednesday, June 1, 1864.
Arrived at Louisville at 4:30. Took ambulance. Went to the river. Crossed in a boat to Jeffersonville and went to a hospital. Had some breakfast. Got check for my baggage and clean clothes. Feel pretty slim. I wrote to my wife.

Thursday 2
I feel some better. Had bread and molasses for breakfast. Baked beans and pork for dinner. Cold rainy day. We had fires and went to the store and bought a portfolio and paper and envelopes. Cost .70. Wrote some.

Friday, June 3, 1864.
I went to breakfast at 5 o'clock. Had bread and butter and coffee without any sugar. Sent a letter to my wife.I feel very strange. I went over to the tents.

Saturday 4
Nothing of interest happened here today. I am getting along very well. We had a meeting tonight.

Sunday, June 5, 1864.
I went to breakfast. Had bread and beef and coffee. I went to the {sutler} and got a pint of milk and some cakes and made out a breakfast. I bought a wallet. Paid .80 cents. I wrote a letter to my mother and all at home.

Monday 6
I feel some better today. My face is doing well. I bought a can of condensed milk. Paid 55 cents. We had bread and mollasses and tea for supper. Afternoon cool and rainy. No chance for a furlough for me.

Tuesday, June 7, 1864.
Jeffersonville, Ind.
Our army is doing well and things look favorable for the Union. I feel about the same today. Head not quite clear yet. I saw Dan Keef today in ward 9. The day was quite cool. I saw in the paper today of the arrivals at Nashville of Theodore Osborn 107 N.Y. Co. wounded in left cheek.

Wednesday 8
Everything goes on as usual. Nothing new or interesting. My name was taken for a pair of shoes. My face is pretty sore.I never had such an inclination to go to the store and buy things to eat as now. I can hardly keep away. Hundreds here have no money.

Thursday, June 9, 1864
Jeffersonville, Ind.
We had a hard rain with thunder and lightning. The ward master asked me today if I would like to go to my regiment. Icould not see going until I got some letters from home. Those that are like to be unfit for duty for a long time are being sent to hospitals in their own states. I am too sound to go. Read a letter from Rose. (?) was gone to Strongville.{Vertical overwriting}I went to prayer meeting this morning and led the singing.

Friday 10
Went to breakfast at the 2nd table. Had bread, cold pack and coffee without any trimmings. After dinner I wrote a letter to my wife. Then came orders for me to go so we got our baggage and marched to the river. Went on a boat and crossed to Louisville and marched about three miles to Park Barracks. Quartered in a tent.

Saturday, June 11, 1864.
PARK BARRACKS
We were cat hauled about. No one seemed to know what they wanted to do. We were formed into companies - [Fin..cott] numbering 89. Lame wounded and sick all together. Some companies were armed yesterday with Austrian rifles. My face is worse and I ought not to be here.

Sunday 12
My face has [erycipelas] in it and pains me and is much worse. They took names for artillery and I had a notion to go but my face was too bad. Had lots of beans and pork, bread and vinnegar for dinner. Quite windy today. Dr. [Dudley] dressed my wound and poulticed my face and was very kind. Said he would send me back to the hospital.

Monday June 13, 1864.
The Dr. (Dr, Dudley) gave me a ticket to go back to the hospital at Jeffersonville. We got into an ambulance and arrived at the hospital at 12 1/2 o'clock. They put me into the tents - Ward 3. I like the Dr. here much better. He talks like a sensible man. My face pains me very much. Read a letter from my wife. Strongsville.

Tuesday 14
Tent Ward 3
My face pained me all night. I have a flax seed poultice on it. It will have to be lanced I think. I wrote to my wife to come and visit me. The letter will go out in the morning.

Wednesday, June 15, 1864.
I [kept] around here and there. Went to Ward 7 and had a sing with Mary Abbott and another lady and a young Dr. He was too full of foolery to sing much. I had no trouble to keep up with any of them. They had the (jubilee).

Thursday 16
I got a pass and went downtown and bought me a hat - 2.50 and a pair of shoes - 2.00 and paid 5.00 for repairing my watch at (J. B. Goustond). Got back at five o'clock tired and stiff necked. In the evening a pail of lemonade came into the Ward and I bought it for.50 cts. and treated the boys. Read letter from Mother.

Friday, June 17, 1864.
I stayed at Ward 7 last night. My face pained me very much. Dr. of the 7th Ward told them to paint my face with iodine. Ward 3 The Dr. came along and said he would try to have me transferred to Ohio. I went to his tent at 3 o'clock and he made out my medical discipline list.

Saturday 18
Jeffersonville, Ward 7
I keep just about the same. My cheek pains me badly day and night. I suppose my wife has gotten my letter this evening. I had a sing with the ladies and others.

Sunday, June 19, 1864.
Inspection today at 10 1/2.
I brought my baggage up to Ward 7. I went to the [Strincery] hall at 3 o'clock and heard a sermon then I came back to the ward and had a sing with Massachusetts and Michigan and Wisconsin men. All good singers.

Monday 20
Jeffersonville Hospital
I got a pass and went to the jewelers and took him my watch again. Got back and felt worse. A heavy rain and sharp lightning and thunder at 2 1/2 and 3 o'clock.

Tuesday, June 21, 1864.
Jeffersonville, U.S. General Hospital
I looked for my wife this evening. I read a letter from her saying she would leave Cleveland at 2:25 Monday. My face was quite bad today. The weather is very warm.

Wednesday 22
Friends come. I look for Margaret here this morning. I sat up a part of the night last night. Lester and my Wife drove up to the door of Ward 7 at 9 o'clock. They did not know me.
Lester went out and engaged board at Mr. French's near by. I went and stayed at Mr French's nights.

Thursday, June 23, 1864.
We visited and went about to see the hospital and c. and Lester went to work to get me transferred to Cleveland and Dr. Sands reported favorable for me. Lester carried the papers back and forth and hurried things up as fast as possible.

Friday 24
The transfer was to be sent over this morning but it don't come so we wait and visit.

Saturday, June 25, 1864.
No transfer today.

Sunday 26
I spent the most of the day with my wife at Mr. French's.About one hundred furloughs came over today.

Monday, June 27, 1864.
Jeffersonville, Ward 7
We are watching anxiously for my transfer to come. Hurrah! here comes my papers at 11 o'clock. The boat starts at 12 o'clock. We must hurry up. One o'clock - onboard the General [Buck] and starting for Cincinnati.

Tuesday 28
Arrived at Cincinnati at 5 o'clock. Took the cars and went to Euclid Street Station and took the freight train for Bedford and got there before sundown.

Wednesday, June 29, 1864.
BLANK

Thursday 30
BLANK

Friday, July 1, 1864.
BLANK

Saturday 2
AT HOME
Father and Mother Osborn came over from Lesters. They got there last night. In the evening Eliza and Rose and I made some ice cream. Uncle Chauncey was up.

Sunday, July 3, 1864.
Went to church in the afternoon with Father and Mother, then went up to Lester's. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell went with us in the evening and stayed over night.

Monday 4
BEDFORD - AT HOME
At home with my family, having a very quiet time. My Father and Mother and Lester and Eliza and the children are here to dinner. I wrote a letter to the Ward Master of Ward 7, Jeffersonville, Ind. (?) The weather is cool. My health is improving.

Tuesday, July 5, 1864.
CLEVELAND HOSPITAL
I took the cars at Bedford at 8 o'clock and reported to the surgeon in charge at 9 1/2 o'clock.
I am in Ward D. Wrote to my Wife immediately.

Wednesday 6
Ward D.
I was in the yard all day. The day was a long one for me. I had several sings during the day. We live well enough here. We had a fine rain toward night.

Thursday, July 7, 1864.
It is raining now, quite hard. I made a written application for furlough, and in the afternoon it was[made out/approved] Time: 15 days.

Friday 8
Cool and cloudy this morning. My Wife and Rose and Shelly came in to see me. I got a pass for the day. I went to the city and got Margaret's watch repaired and after they left for home I bought a pair of pants and blouse and suspenders for 12.50. Got back at five o'clock.

Saturday, July 9, 1864.
BLANK

Sunday 10
I got a pass and went to the 2nd Presbyterian Church. Text: 2 Cor. 4th, Chapter 7th verse. After church I called on [Lient] [at the] Spencer's folks and got dinner and had a good visit. Saw Spencer's brother from Washington. I wrote to Ben B. and my wife.

Monday July 11, 1864.
I wrote a letter to [Mrs. B.F.B.] - Ed. Ben's Wife? of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and enclosed ten dollars and walked about from place to place as usual.

Tuesday 12
I got a pass and went over to the city and saw [A. Cody] and paid out three dollars and ten cents for tools and buttons to make rings with. When I got back they had me marked for the front to go tomorrow. I went to the Dr, and got my name struck off from the list.

Wednesday, July 13, 1864.
I got up early and went to work rimming out buttons. I got my furlough at four o'clock and started for home at five o'clock. I walked to the Charter Oak House and got a ride to the Plank road House and walked home. Arrived at nine o'clock.

Thursday 14
BLANK

Friday, July 15, 1864.
BLANK

Saturday 16
BLANK

Sunday, July 17, 1864.
BLANK

Monday 18
BLANK

Tuesday, July 19, 1864.
BLANK

Wednesday 20
AT HOME
We went down to B.d. (Whelocke) to dinner then I went to the factory and foundry then home we went. I went to the depo. We went to Mr. Chester Purdy's in the evening and had ice cream.

Thursday, July 21, 1864.
Margaret and I walked up to Uncle Chauncey and had a visit. Saw Mr. Follensby. Ella's beaux, Erwin, brought us home in the evening.

Friday 22
BLANK

Saturday, July 23, 1864.
I went to the foundry and made a rimmer and was gone until three o'clock. Sister Mary came from Strongsville to see me.

Sunday 24
BEDFORD
We attended the funeral of W.M. Hathaway's only child at one o'clock then Margaret and I went with Mary Dunham to Strongsville. We got there. Just back.

Monday, July 25, 1864.
Strongsville.
The morning was dark and [lowry] and it began to rain about noon. We started for home at 2 o'clock and got home at 6 o'clock - it rained all the way.

Tuesday 26
BEDFORD
I washed the harness and buggy and c. in the afternoon. I went with Margaret and Frank and Sheldon to [Osros] on a visit.

Wednesday, July 27, 1864.
I worked at home. Went to Lester's in the evening. He was gone to (Aurora).

Thursday 28
I went to the foundry and made a punch and engraving tool and c. Margaret and I went to Mr. [J.J. Cammeron] visiting in the afternoon. Saw Mr. Warner and Wife from Princeton, IL. Lester and wife went to Franklin to see Dr. Sawyers.

Friday, July 29, 1864.
CLEVELAND
10 o'clock I took the 8 o'clock train and went to Cleveland. Reported at the hospital at eleven. The surgeon in charge said all right - repost to your ward. I made a ring and sold one (.35)I met a lady on the street (Mrs. Billings) and she asked me in to eat some cake. Saw Mrs. E. L. Knowlton. Lake Street.

Saturday 30
CLEVELAND
I carried water to scrub with. I wrote a letter to my wife and worked at rings in the evening. About a hundred went to the river to swim.

Sunday, July 31, 1864.
I attended meetings at the reading room twice, and prayer meetings in the evening. I had a sing with four Ladies. They left before the meeting was out.

Monday, August 1.
I did not feel so well this morning. Took some medecine. Margaret came in to see me.

Tuesday, August 2, 1864.
I worked as usual. Sarah Bowman No 95 Pearl Street West Side

Wednesday 3
I got a pass and went down town. I went to the boat and found Father and Mother and Rose and Frank and Aunt Mary and Ella there. They are going to Buffalo on the boat.

Thursday, August 4, 1864.
We had Divine service at 10 o'clock. This is the day appointed by the President for Thanksgiving and prayer.

Friday 5
I sold my watch to Tom Stokes. Took a debt against A. Beck of 10 dollars and five dollars in cash. I made two rings today. Sold one for one dollar. Bought milk for supper.

Saturday, August 6, 1864.
I got a pass of 30 hours and got home at one o'clock.

Sunday 7
I was at home. Did not go to meeting.

Monday, August 8, 1864.
Monday morning. I had a very restless night with pain in my left elbow. Bought Orton's watch for 8 dollars. Got a cristal (sic) put in - 25 cents. I received a letter from A. Morton and wrote him by return mail.

Tuesday 9
I was in the hospital all day.

Wednesday August 10, 1864.
BLANK

Thursday 11
I got a pass this morning for 27 hours from 7 o'clock tomorrow. I filled my bed with straw.

Friday, August 12, 1864.
I took the morning train and got home about 9 o'clock. I found Shelly sick, but better. Mr. and Mrs. Matteson and Wm. and (Haley) Halbert.

Saturday 13
Bedford
I took the morning train for Cleveland and got to the hospital just before dinner.

Sunday, August 14, 1864.
I attended meeting at the reading room.

Monday 15
I was marked for the front this morning.

Tuesday, August 16, 1864.
I made six rings today.

Wednesday 17
I was detailed as one of the nurses in ward 8 and must go to work.

Thursday, August 18, 1864.
My wife came in with Mr. Campbell to Cleveland and she and Shelly came to the hospital and stayed all day. I rode home with them. I had a pass for 27 hours. The doctor passed me out.

Friday 19
BEDFORD
I was at home all day. Saw Mr. Comstock and had a talk with him. I gave James Wheelock a ring. He gave me a piece of thick gutapercha for five rings.

Saturday, August 20, 1864.
BEDFORD
Took the cars at 8 o'clock for Cleveland. Arrived at 10.

Sunday 21
I attended meeting at the reading room.

Monday, August 22, 1864.
CLEVELAND
I was marked for the front and will soon leave this place.

Tuesday 23
Left Cleveland
I was called up early to take the cars for the front. Grafton 7 1/2 Wellington 7.50 Rochester 8.5 New London 8.20 Shelby 9 A.M. Crestline 9 1/2(Galliob) 9:54 Cardington 10:35 Delaware 11:30(Swiss) Centre 11:43 Columbus 12:10 Left my wallet under my pillow.

Wednesday, August 24, 1864.
Columbus
I took the cars for Cincinnati last night at 9 o'clock and rode all night and arrived at Cincinnati at 4:15 this morning and went to (Lytte) barracks.

Thursday 25
We took the boat General Anderson and left Cincinnati at 12 noon forLouisville. Arrived at louisville at 12 midnight. Stayed on the boat till morning then went to Exchange Barracks.

Friday, August 26, 1864.
EXCHANGE BARRACKS, LOUISVILLE
We arrived here at 6 0'clock in the evening. 77 men were detailed for duty at Barracks No. 1 and I was one of the number. {cross out} I was on duty. Corporal of the 3rd relief.

Saturday 27
BARRACKS NO. 1 LOUISVILLE, KY.
I got a pass and went over to Jeffersonville. Saw Mary Abbott and Georgia.

Sunday, August 28, 1864.
I got a pass and went to Jeffersonville and saw some of my friends there.

Monday 29
BLANK

Tuesday, August 30, 1864.
I worked at rings. In the evening I took twenty darkies up to Taylor Barracks.

Wednesday 31
I was on guard duty 3rd relief.

Thursday, September 1, 1864.
BLANK

Friday 2
BLANK

Saturday, September 3,1864.
I was out and sold one ring and made two

Sunday 4
I was on duty. Had the first relief. It rained at night. The weather is very warm.

Monday, September 5, 1864.
I read a letter from my wife and sent her one and Rose one. Made two rings.

Tuesday 6
BLANK

Wednesday, September 7, 1864.

1. Eli M. Hilderbrand 252. Geo. Nagley 413. Jacob Blaze4. Zebulim Wolf 655. T. (Lirvis) 466. Wm. L. Flint 417. M. A. Look 378. Foglesonger 229. John L. Beck (crossed out) Sullivan 45

Thursday 8
13. Wm (Stein) 1210. Mole Blosan 2511. James O'Neal 12. Henry T. Pierson 27 Welch Sergt

Friday, September 9, 1864.
M. A. Look Hays 27 TRFortrey Multon Dunlop 4 Porter L. Lyberger 6 James Bradley 5 E. Marshall 71 T.R.

Saturday 10
I drew a pair of boots - 2.50 A knapsack - 1.85 One Pair Socks - .32 I was on guard. Had to lock the ball and chain on the prisoners at night when they go out.

Sunday, September 11, 1864.
I took a walk up to the old cemetery and wandered about very lonely.

Monday 12
I went with the guards up to the workhouse and took 12 prisoners up to Fort No. 4 - ten men and two boys. One belonged to the 40 thieves.

Tuesday, September 13, 1864.
I worked nearly all day. Made 5 rings. Burton 6-8 2-4 Wilson 8-10 4-6 Van Pool 10-12 6-8 Collinsworth 12-2 8-10

Wednesday 14
I sold 6 rings - 5.25 Bought a pocketbook for 1.50

Thursday, September 15, 1864.
M. A. Look 37 MI. R. Lewis 40 M (S) Joel North 70 B (S) John Abrams 42 B (S)E. Willard Peter Farrell 41 B Edward Hormel 48 B Friday 16 Reifsmiler Collingsworth (crossed out) Robison (crossed out) Williard (Maretay) J. R. Babcock

Saturday, September 17, 1864.
No. M. A. Look 1. C. C. A. Fortney 53 M 2. Hays 27 IR 3.C. James Bradley 68 L. B. 4.C. Peter Lyberger 53 B 6.C. E. Marshall 71 T R 7.C. McMahon 32 BR 8.C Henry Little {Joshua Garvin} .E

Sunday 18
Isiah 65 - 8 - 9
I leftMonday.

September 19, 1864.
$5I sent my wife five dollars in a letter.

Wednesday, September 21, 1864.
I have received clothing this year to the amount of $22.86.

Thursday 22
Left Louisville at five o'clock. Marched to New Albany. Crossed the river on a ferry. Took the cars from there at 9 P.M. Changed at(Meitchel).

Friday, September 23, 1864.
Arrived at (Odiva) at 8 P.M. Changed cars. Took the Illinois Central at 10 A.M. Arrived at Cairo at 4 P.M. Went to the soldiers home and got supper. Lay(ed) on the bench until 12 o'clock then went to bed.

Saturday 24
Cairo
Got up in time for breakfast. Went to the Christian commission room and wrote two letters - one to (my) wife and one to Sister Mary (D). Got dinner and walked out. Sold four rings. Lent Sergeant Gillett two dollars $2.00

Sunday, September 25, 1864.
Left Cairo at 12. We arrived at Centralia at 5:50.

Monday 26
We arrived at Louisville at 6 A.M.

Tuesday, September 27, 1864.

$10I sent my wife a letter containing ten dollars.

Wednesday 28
Lent Thomas Daugherty one dollar.

Thursday, September 29, 1864

I was on guard second relief. R. L. Hannerman Knoxville (Ill) Father of John W. Hannerman has the delyrium tremers [sic]. I read a letter from my wife.

Friday 30
I was on duty two days and nights. My wife started for Sparta today.

Saturday, October 1, 1864.
I let Vanbranken have my watch and seven rings to sell. I made two rings in the forenoon. Sold one ring - $1.00

Sunday 2
My knapsack was stolen last night (the following is crossed out) by S.S.Hippet 44. Il. I received a letter from Margaret and one from B. J. Wheelock

Monday, October 3, 1864.
$5 I sent my wife five dollars in a letter. Sold my watch for $25.Tuesday 4I bought a watch of T. Pierson for 17 dollars. Paid one dollar to get aspring in the case.

END REDACTION

My Ebay Auction of Antique Japanese Prints from Frank Lloyd Wright's Collection

2007-07-11T19:51:00.000-05:00

I’m selling a pair of beautiful antique Japanese Woodblock Prints that came from Frank Lloyd Wright’s own collection on ebay. The auction start tonight and ends on July 17th. The item number is 230151605778.

The prints were acquired from the estate of Helena Gervais McCullough in Oak Park in May of 2006 and their provenance indicates they originally came from Frank Lloyd Wright’s collection. The McCulloughs were hardware store owners and were friends of the Wright’s through the Unitarian Church. The story goes that they were exchanged for debt on hardware merchandise.

This estate was AMAZING in that they never threw anything away. Four or five generations of stuff was stored in this house. The attic was like a set piece including antique wedding dresses, porcelain and toys from decades past. They had this massive collection of glass slides and a big old antique slide projector that I had my eyes on. I missed the first two days of the auction and when I finally got there most of the stuff was gone. These prints were behind a door - forgotten.
I knew there was a relationship between Mr. Wright and the family and the framing was so consistent with Wright's choice from that period.

There's a contemporary letter from the estate’s executor attached to the prints recounting the family’s story that they were given in exchange for credit on a debt.

The framing, subject and the curious matting and condition all are consistent with the period 1898 – 1910 yukioe of the period and other pieces from Wright’s collection.

Print number one shows a male and a female actor playing with a ball. Dimensions are 10 inches wide by 31.6 inches long including the frame.

Print number two is 12.5 by 29 inches and shows a beautifully dressed musician adjusting hair while she balances an instrument – a traditional shamisen – or 3 stringed lute.

Japanese prints like this (also known as Ukiyoe – or “floating world”) were very important to Wright. He bought and sold thousands of them.

Good Business Model: Couture Jewels Designed by Best Friends

2007-07-09T17:59:00.001-05:00

Artists are allowed to "pop in" on each other's studios. and I used my privilege to see my friend Karla the other day. She's a brilliant designer whose medium is precious metal with the finest diamonds and gems. Karla has a great new book of her own beautiful designs.

It makes you feel good and a little proud when your friends are doing good work. Her business is called Best Friends Diamonds & Gems and her operating model is very different from your average jewelry retailer or designer.

XXXX

Karla's focus is to provide 100% customized service without any street profile. Her couture atelier is private and exclusive - no uninvited guests. If you don't know her or know someone close to her - forget about getting an appointment.

XXXX

She works with a lot of clients who have a seed of a concept or important occasions or family pieces in need of adaptation. She nurtures client's ideas and embodies discretion. Her brand is simple and traditional. It is as far from the enclosed mall franchise as Couture Chanel is from the Dress Barn. I like that she'll provide certification for conflict-free stones.

XXXX

It's been great to see her grow as a designer and as business manager over the last decade.

She was always a fantastic designer but resources -- great craftspeople and access to the best materials -- has grown.

Adaptation of a Papal Ring

Platinum carved to resemble wood grain with a great old family stone.

She's a fantastic designer who brings everything to the table.

But How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?

2007-07-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, over a greek salad with an art historian on the side, I was searching my brain for a great word. My brain responded today. The word is 'anastylosis'.

Anastylosis describes the somewhat controversial practice of reconstruction in archaeology, historic preservation and even can be extended to object conservation. It is a thing of degrees, a subject of quality and a slave to the time in which it occurs. It effects what we see on buildings, in art and culture in general.

There is a poem here somewhere. The Japanese idea of wabi-sabi is central to a romantic ideal of restoration.

My fascination with this subject runs deep because important preservation decisions have consistently been derived from passionate, intense, personal ideas as experts and amateurs defend their understanding of style and material.

Sometimes the temptation to express our individuality can easily corrupt the authentic. This is the nature of history.

Contemporary art often includes an element of decay to intentionally frustrate the whole industry of preservation. Think conceptual art.

Just to set the scene, I imagine 56 shards of a red and black Greek vase lying in pieces on a steel table. Eight pieces of varying sizes are missing. Old Anastylosis goes about gluing the original pieces together with duplicated replacement pieces then painting them to match by assumption of style. The conservator becomes a secondary artist in the process – sometimes centuries after the original artist lays down their brush.

xxx

The conservator continues painting lines across blank areas, interprets subject matter and aesthetics. A foot continues from the ancient leg to the modern toes, a face gets a modern nose but God is in the eyes and you can always tell from the eyes. Then the whole pot was varnished or rubbed with petroleum jelly (vasoline was a common gimmick to bring out the designs and in the last few decades "el marko" was used to touch up the Greek pots.)

The historical, moral and aesthetic consequences of this unpopular process have been exhaustively debated. But how interesting is a pile of fifty-two shards of an attic crater?

The contemporary compromise includes assembling original fragments and replacing the missing pieces with a neutral ground that can be easily differentiated from the original. All restorations must be reversible and with a material that decays faster than the original. The shape of the vase can reasonably be assumed from the existing pieces.

The exquisitely evocative settlement of Petra is an example of architectural anastylosis that is undergoing extensive revision as funds are raised for yet another restoration. The relentless hot winds of the desert reclaim the sandstone every moment.

Another Example: The Library at Ephesos

A Famous Example of Error in Anastylosis is the Laocoon

Restored Version. Note the Left Arm.

During the highest Renaissance, the fragments of this ancient masterpiece were excavated and they took 'em to the Pope. El Popo sought advice from artists and scholars about restoration. Passionate debates ensued. I like to imagine the characters of the day twisting themselves into the death throes they imagined a Hellenistic murder-by-serpent would require. The Laocoon was one of the most influential finds of the period – perhaps stirring souls toward a more mannerist ideal and then of course to the Baroque. Some contemporary dance group should intrepret Laocoon.

The placement of the arm on a “restoration” would be especially important. Everybody had an opinion. It was a passionate debate. Michelangelo had a good theory that would seem like a man scratching his back but Raphael was the appointed judge and he chose a more active, outward pose - the arm lifting up toward the sky - which was sculpted and joined to the original.

Skip ahead a few centuries to 1957. The original arm was found laying around in a workshop. It was turned inward toward the figure’s back. Michelangelo’s vindication expresses his deeper understanding of classical composition, human emotion, anatomy and the classical sculptural view. An unpopular truth.

Anastylosis continues in preservation communities and conservation labs everywhere, hopefully in a more justifiable and considered way.

The reason for this post was arriving at my favorite variation on this concept - wabi sabi -which is the best approach. Conservation and repair of objects in Japan have historically encompassed Zen spirituality. Ancient earthenware tea ceremony objects were fused with 23 karat gold. This idea has respected the history of the object. The origin, violence and truth are shown with an honest love.

Raku Tea bowl, 19th century, Dosai Edo period.

One more example, of great, contemporary architectural anastylosis - Eric Lloyd Wright and Joel Silver's restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Storer Residence in Hollywood. Don't disturb the residents but if you can see the restoration treatment of the concrete "textile blocks" up close - you'll suddenly understand. This was a diffcult proposition and the treatment is sensitive, evocative and appropriate. Each block was treated individually, respected for its history and repaired carefully with similar but not identical materials. Moss grows through some of the restoration making it one of the most romantic buildings in America. I wish I had a better photo of the exterior. Here's one from Great Buildings Online:

SAH Chicago tour of the Fine Arts Building

2007-07-03T01:17:00.000-05:00

The Society of Architectural Historians - Chicago Chapter provides access to exclusive, behind the scenes tours and experiences you can't get anywhere else and the annual basic membership is just $25.

Recent tours have included a reception at the Driehaus Estate on Geneva Lake, tours of William LeBarron Jenney's buildings on the centennial of his death - culminating in the dedication of a new memorial at Graceland Cemetery and we are cooking up a fall schedule with leaders in design in Chicago and exclusive tours. We usually wind up with refreshments and great conversation. Here are pictures from the SAH behind the scenes tour of the Fine Arts Building (the Studebaker) on Michigan Avenue.

Exterior of the Fine ArtsBuilding with minimal copper parapet (the original was 6 feet deep)

Main Hall where we waited for Art Films

includes incredible Faux Marbre and Mosaic

And here also - impresario Nathan Mason

The "secret" interior courtyard (venetian court) with fountain

The Studebakers saw the end of The Building's usefullness as a carriage showcase and entered into a deal with the Auditorium Building developers that included access through bothe buildings. This is a rare, early easement that continues to this day. The buildings are connected through unused halls like this.

Unfortunately, the large theatre is unused and is falling into disrepair.

Here's a fragment of it's cinematic past left untouched - waiting.

View of the Skidmore Bookends on a Clear Evening

2007-06-29T01:37:00.000-05:00

Chicago Skyline

East from Ashland down the Lake Street / Green Line El

June 2007

When you fly into Chicago across the prairie you can see the grid of lights becoming more brilliant and more effervescent and it makes sense like synaptic bursts or electricity running through a microchip.

On the ground you look around and raise your eyes and the idiosyncratic expression of design seems less visually rational - except for some views like this that includes the Skidmore "bookends" - the John Hancock Building to the north and the Sears Tower to the south. These two masterpieces provide goalposts for the meat of the city - the loop.

In Skidmore's office there is a gigantic model of the city with hundreds of structures color coded to express their extraordinary dominance over the landscape. It's either shocking or fantastic to see how much work they've done.

But here's the thing - they have never surpassed or attained the excellence of "the bookends" in their work anywhere in the world. And they just seem to slump further with stuff like the Trump Tower Chicago. I would never go so far as to refer to them as Skidmorons - like a recent critic pronounced but I do wonder...

They move toward a big cash design model and they've lost branding and cache. What is SOM's height? When did they decline?

Julie Thoma Wright - In Memorium

2007-06-22T01:14:00.000-05:00

Martha Graham to Agnes De Mille in a private letter:

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening
that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

If you block it - it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.

The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is; nor how valuable it is; nor how it compares to other expressions.

It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.

You have to keep open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.

You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.

Keep the channel open.

NO artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.

There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others…

From the New York Times:

Julie Thoma Wright, a founder and co-owner of Wright, the Chicago auction house that helped create the market for 20th-century modern design, died on Monday in Chicago. She was 49.

The cause was colorectal cancer, her husband, Richard Wright, said.

Ms. Thoma Wright, an interior designer, founded Wright in Chicago in 2000 with Mr. Wright, who was at the time a private dealer in collectible 20th-century postwar design. Ms. Thoma Wright’s vision for promoting the still-nascent field at auction contrasted with and eventually helped transform the traditionally dry approach at the large international houses like Phillips de Pury, Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

“She basically brought the concept of auctions into the 21st century,” James Zemaitis, director of 20th century design at Sotheby’s in New York, said of Ms. Thoma Wright. “From the first, the catalogues looked like fashion or lifestyle magazines..”

Auction prices for modern design now keep pace with prices for contemporary art. Ms. Thoma Wright was something of a design object herself, dressed in vintage Chanel or Hermès.

Julie Christianne Thoma was born Feb. 25, 1958, in Le Mars, Iowa, one of eight children. After graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in interior design, she moved to Chicago, starting a design firm, Julie Thoma Inc., in 1985. She met Mr. Wright in 1992; they were married in 1995. Returning to residential design that year, she started a new firm, Thoma Wright Ltd.

Her marriage to Joseph Pagoria ended in divorce. She is survived by her husband, Mr. Wright; a son, Nicholas, from her first marriage; her sons with Mr. Wright, Emerson and Adler; her mother, Gladys Thoma; her sisters, Gloria Ohlendorf, Barbara Espeland, Janet Higgins, Nancy Groetken, Glenda Lockard and Kelli Thoma; and her brother, Roger Thoma.

End New York Times

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I met Julie only a few times but the character and beauty of her discourse were consistent and simply extraordinary. The first time I met her was in the fall of 2002 during the third week of my tenure as director of Unity Temple Restoration Foundation. The separate, congregation had full control of some furniture and an important vase that had been sold well under market value by another auction house (than Wright). It was controversial and created a conflict and led to considerable bad press for the Restoration Foundation including a full page 3 article in the Washington Post. The historic preservation community was ‘up in arms’.

I didn’t know about it, but a former employee had authorized Julie to do photography of a Frank Lloyd Wright barrel chair on the east terrace of Unity Temple for a sale. This was a conflict with the idea of historic preservation we were trying to brand.

When I arrived at work I met the photo crew on the east terrace – the light was beautiful and the objects were perfectly lit and I thought, “Dear lord this is a conflict with what we are trying to do…”

I asked who was in charge and was referred to a leggy blond in Prada. Her fashion was subtle and present – a cream blouse, black pants and chunky shoes - like your best girlfriend from high school with some fabulous couture sponsorship. A turquoise necklace and just frank simple beauty.

I said, “We need to talk.” And we sat down on the steps. And here’s the extraordinary part and this is consistent with all my dealings with Julie and Richard; she said, “Oh my god – I understand this COMPLETELY.” Her ethical base and Wright's idea is about truth and beauty.

They spent serious money on setting this photo shoot up and she had the right to do it and she just just cut it off. She whispered to the handlers and they loaded up and left.

And I felt it so deeply. It was a tough time for me and after they had packed up I went to a corner of that masterpiece church and I really thought about her kindness – and her ethical approach to her work.

The next time I heard from Wright20 was a sort of safety check and they wanted to help with the restoration. They had sent some good money and it was my first check. It underwrote a tour of Seymour Persky’s collection so it was money that grew. The photo at the top is Julie and Richard in a common, happy pause.

I had just asked Julie if Richard was happy with the event and she walked across the room and put her head on his shoulder. I asked her to stop ‘necking’ and she turned around.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Postscript: I published this entry and I received an email within 20 minutes from a collector

saying that he is heartbroken and he asks the question about fairness and I say that we all share that grief and that question.

Mrs. Huxtable on Johnson's Glass House

2007-06-20T01:29:00.000-05:00

Moved this section to the earlier Mrs. Huxtable post....and edited heavily. If anyone saw the first version, please forgive me. I was experiencing a kind of blogorheia.

Parenthetically Back

2007-06-17T00:56:00.000-05:00

If you're wearing a paper dress, don't swing too much.

I got an email from a fabulous blogger who asked for me to post and it was that perfect "guilt is gelt" jolt. It's been a very busy month or two. I have a bad art construction of braille and glue in the "Peace Tower" revival that Mark di Suvero has heroically pushed through the Whitney to Chicago's Cultural Center.

I took a great trip to St. Paul for more interviews with Lois Malone and got some great background on her work to bring the Grateful Dead to play at the "Som et Lumierre: Theatre at the Pyramids; in the video she says, "I loved those boys but the first night they were - I don't know, they were taking something. The next morning I went to their rooms and said, 'Listen, there are a lot of people who worked on this and you played like s@*^t." She said they played beautifully the next night which led to a long friendship, bridging continents.

I stayed with my old friend Tom .... more about him later but here's a portrait....

I'm going to do a full profile of Tom and his tribal collection perfectly installed on the crest of St. Paul's Mississippi bluff (a fox ran across the bluff, there infront of one of the famous homes and stopped and we had a conversation for five minutes).

Tom's Incredibly Beautiful Tribal Collection - More to come.

You Can See It From Space - Update

2007-04-23T19:31:00.000-05:00

Read Part One Here.

On Sunday, I went back to the Desplaines River in the Forest Preserves. The wildflowers were really pretty including a few trillium. Decided to check on the river banks on the Maywood side.

And this is what we found - a new illegal contractor dump. Looks like someone had their bathroom done. The primary ingredients are drywall and masonite but there's also a sink and some chain link fencing in there. It's infuriating. People think they have the right to do these awful things. The property owners need to secure their property and control access to the river bank.

It's a U-Haul business that backs up against the river. Time to get on the phone with the powers that be and start getting some fences built. At least they can put some signs around.

The only thing that made me happy was a tribe of six turtles sunning themselves on some logs.

Ode to Spring - Scraps

2007-03-18T23:55:00.000-05:00

"Lot's Wife", 2005, enamel, salt and pastel on masonite
Cropped from original 10" x 10"

It's been a gorgeous couple of days and it has improved the mood beyond measure. Spring in Chicago is like having a plaster hip-cast removed. You feel physically lighter and more flexible. A troublesome itch can be scratched. Tasks pass more easily.

I'm leading a tour on William Le Baron Jenney for the Society of Architectural Historians - Chicago Chapter next Saturday. We'll have a reception at the end of the tour at the Columbia College Center for Book & Paper Arts which is located in his Luddington Building - one of Jenney's important works.

Today, we met with Bill Drendel who is the Exhibitions Coordinator for the Caxton Club and he gave us a tour of the studios at Columbia College. We saw an outstanding collection of historic vernacular wood type and bindings.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Being in the paper-making studio was nostalgic for me. I spent six months in 1985, making paper casts of a slab of the Parthenon frieze under Frank Gallo's supervision. It was a very independent project that took place in a freezing garret of Lincoln Hall at the U. of I. - Urbana.

Frank Gallo and me pretending to work. I remember he just said something hillarious.

Frank had a marvellous sense of humor and viewed himself as an outlaw artist. He had a wild sense of humor and really tested the boundaries of political correctness. He saw himself as bad but he was a lovable teddy bear. Here's his bio and here are good images of his work.

Frank's initial commercial breakthrough as an artist depended on a masterful casting of his female nudes in bas relief's in epoxy resin - material which has a lovely semi-transluscent property like ivory or human skin.

Copyright Frank Gallo

Tragically, the epoxy turned out to be extremely toxic and Gallo suffered permanent neurological damage but he prevailed. He bounced back in a big way by adapting his style to his new invention - paper casting. He also really promoted the whole idea that Universities could teach "paper" as a curriculum which led to programs like the Columbia College Center.

Gallo's paper cast from a frieze designed by Wright for Dana House

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mrs. Huxtable

2007-03-16T18:54:00.000-05:00

Photo Copyright Harry Heleotis

She Knows Moses...

Ada Louise Huxtable wrote a great Wall Street Journal article on the Robert Moses exhibits currently – and appropriately - scattered through Manhattan. If anyone knows from Moses....it must be Mrs. Huxtable.

For the majority of the 20th century and on, she defined the language relevant to architecture, urban development and planning which also informed the whole direction of contemporary historic preservation while saving important landmarks of old New York.

She continues to make us feel that she shares our pain when great buildings are annihilated and stands firm when mediocrity is proposed or executed.

And she negotiated a tricky course with grace; Mrs. Huxtable helped Americans to reconcile the idea that modern architecture must replace the old - even if this includes durable examples of a vernacular. Cities change - lets make it good change.

It takes courage to be the first at anything in a public discourse but imagine – a woman writing in the New York Times and getting in the public faces of thuggish developers, politicos (like Moses, himself) and perhaps even colleagues. She received a Pulitzer Prize in criticism because she carved such an impressive niche.

Huxtable's work is infused with a sublime sense of irony and Yankee wit. It’s not hyperbole to rank her zingers about design with Oscar Wilde’s. One of her book titles is “Kicked a Building Lately?”

Last year, it was my privilege to have cocktails with Mrs. Huxtable at her club - the Century Association. She was a fantastic hostess with incredible warmth and kindness. I could have spent days there – just the two of us - in those leather chairs sipping a special Amontillado.

The Club’s identity is wrapped up in the creative history of New York. Every surface seems encrusted with artworks and books - all produced by its members which have included the building’s architect Stanford White, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Winslow Homer, Morse, Dove and on and on. It was heaven. We laughed like crazy.

Stanford White

Samuel F. B. Morse

I asked her if there was an architect working today that she would compare with Frank Lloyd Wright in terms of originality and influence and without pause she declared, “Gehry. No doubt. Because you know – Gehry has a program.” We talked about his line of jewelry that had just been launched by Tiffany & Co.

--------------------------

In terms of her career (1963 – 1982) at “the paper” she stressed that Clifton Daniel was a heroic mentor - and she expressed a tremendous gratitude to him which proved a general point again - even the best acknowledge help.

She knows such incredible people and has seen such enormous change. When I brought up the idea of an autobiography she was completely dismissive in an authentic self-effacing manner. A tender light of shy vulnerability flickered in her eyes.

Here I must objectify. For any age - she has a gorgeous head and bearing. She reminds me of a Roman empress or a lady in a portrait by Ingres.

We lost track of time and left the club much later than planned. Some aspects of Manhattan will never change. Getting a cab on a Friday night remains a crap shoot. Throw in an oncoming rain shower and we rolled snake eyes.

I remember watching the cars zip by on 42nd Street, Grand Central Terminal behind herself and I was amazed that this woman, for whom every New Yorker owes a debt of gratitude, was going to hop a city bus. Just then a gorgeous gypsy town car pulled up. We negotiated two stops for thirty dollars – Mrs. H. to her Park Avenue awning and me back around to the site of another bloody preservation battle - Penn Station.

As we drove back to Park Avenue, patrician limestone façades rolled by mixed with newer glass walls the color of cheap sunglasses. Mrs. Huxtable gave me brief lessons about a few of the buildings. When we arrived she said something with such wistful sincerity that I’ll never forget it; “You must come back soon. There’s no place in the world like New York.”

Postscript: I read this over and I have to say that my awe produced a slightly memorial tone. Mrs. H. is still very much alive, kicking and writing a new book. She is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal (which should make us all want to subscribe).

June 2007 Addendum

OH OH OH Another Brilliant article.

A moment in time and some stuff (Although the National Trust is a capital sucker) that just makes ALH the most vital voice.

Mrs. Huxtable wrote independently on the Glass House and clearly after the NYT Celebutant treatment that appealed to those who would like to envision white powder and backward sexses in a portable petri dish.

She did this great treatment and overcame it all so to speak. I just think she gets better as she gets better. The glue is the idea of Johnson and Huxtable cocktailing and absorbing the view of the flora and fauna.

IN THE GLASS HOUSE.. IMAGINE; They're laughing the whole time. Think about the acoustics in a glass house.

I remember I asked Mrs. Huxtable why she hasn't published a biography and she just sort of fizzled kind of like "that's not what 'they want' or maybe what I would I do"? I don't think she thinks we want it. And we do.

Very, very much. I really think the BIG story is Mrs. H life - the span and scale and romance. It's not about structure - it's about language. I'd buy it in a book or a movie or a download on youtube. Good Lord. Give us the low down, nitty gritty love we deserve! Sign a heavy upfront contract and research the hell out of it but give us your pure overview.

Miscellaneous Stuff

2007-03-14T22:15:00.001-05:00

Untitled, Mixed Media, 2004

_________________

Let's Call it Funky-tecture

------------

Visible from the Eisenhower Expressway in Maywood. An eccentric mason has added on to a brick salt box with these wonderful follies and inventions. The tower is amazing with champfers on the clerestory and incredible windows.

________________

Pearl Fryar Topiary

Last spring I visited a wonderful place outside of Columbia, South Carolina. Pearl Fryar has really reintrpreted a vernacular and used his work to unite his community. The day that we visited was rainy and foggy which just added to the beauty of this place.

UPDATE: SEE THE FILM - "A MAN NAMED PEARL"

-------------------

The words "peace" and "love" are carved into the grass.

The Hoard Dispersed

2007-03-14T20:24:00.000-05:00

The Baby Grand Excavated

Final tally: four 30 foot dumpsters, 350 contractor bags, 25 filter masks, a couple dozen pairs of rubber gloves.

Staging for the Garage Sale

So Mrs. R. haunted garage sales shuttling paper bags of pottery, and chipped figurines back to her repository. Now comes the culmination - the re-distribution of the collection. I've always enjoyed garage sales and the camaraderie they engender. But I'l never look at them in quite the same way again.

Altar of the Dispossessed

The Croquet Party

It would be premature to sum up the experience of this project but there are little areas which seem clearer. Mrs. R's disorder is much more common than people think but there is such shame that it remains in the closet, so to speak. And I believe there is a general cultural disorder at the root. We have all been defined by what we have. We are the most acquisitive culture in the history of the world and we are indiscriminate.

Notes:

_____

Periodical and Information Hoarding

A friend spoke about his wife who had a specific variety of the disorder. She could not let newspapers or periodicals go. And it was necessary for her to read the papers sequentially and completly. People were so frustrated with her piles that she eventually rented a storage space.

______

Hoarding During Wartime

The same friend talked about the specific shame and alienation of hoarders during world war II. While people were rationed for essential nutrition and medicine, some people would hide supplies away. I think every family did this a little but if it was discovered that you had an unreasonable amount of something you would be shunned - or worse - driven from the community.

_______

Possibly Inherited Trait

Several times within the course of purging Mrs. R's hoard I've noticed her daughter slipping close to the behavior and several of this blog's readers have recounted stories about how their brothers, sisters, children or spouses slipped into the same destructive behavior. I'm not certain how Obsesssive Compulsive Disorder is structured within neurological biology but there is also - possibly a learned behavior.

_______

Finally...

Almost all of the care takers, family or friends who contacted me report that the hoarders, themselves don't seem to suffer specifically because of the hoarding. They are described as living in an alternate reality where there behavior is completly justified and everything has real value and the potential to be a treasure. There are certainly environmental and public health implications. And I think the saddest part of the whole equation is the fact that this disorder splits up marriages, families and friendships and deprives the hoarder of society.

Gawking on the Road

2007-03-03T13:56:00.001-06:00

"Gawking on the Road to Compassion"

Mixed Media (Collage including Columbian volcano postage stamp

with surreal airplane cancellation and a steel engraving of a nautilus - circa 1890.)

5" x 5", 2006, Collection of Julie Osborne and Tim O'Hagan

This is a continuation of the previous entry brutally titled "HOARDING".

We've made amazing progress cleaning out the house. A crew of three of us have emptied two bedrooms, the study, two bathrooms and more and we've filled three 30 foot dumpsters containing over 250 black contractor bags stuffed with waterlogged clothes and the ephemera of a hoarder's treasure. The bones of the house have slowly reappeared. Walls appear where they should be and they terminate in perpendicular corners at the floors and ceilings. There is a slight echo. Mrs. R's museum is empty except for the cases.

----

We've also filled dozens of 15 gallon plastic bins with treasures that could be considered salvage. The bins contain the objective booty of the treasure - the wheat from the chaf - which is comprised of porcelain figures from occupied Japan, milk glass and McCoy vases, at least four heavy cast punch bowls from those decades when punch was mandatory, etc. As we've worked we've tried to pull things of value from the sludge.

----

The other two helpers are named Anthony and Daniel. They are amazing guys - sweet, compassionate and hardworking. They saw something of a mitzvah in the work. They talk about Mrs. R. and her compulsion with respect and empathy. Admittedly, some gallow's humor circulates among us but nothing that isn't due to this crew who've taken responsibility for an evacuation. Undertakers deserve that ghoulish laugh now and then.

----

Yesterday, the wind and snow were blowing like Antartica. As we worked upstairs, the front door was blown open twice before we secured it with a 20 pound sack of salt. There have been ghostly thumps during this process - probably shadows of residual fears that provide sensations on the periphery. The incidents are announced with the same hushed phrase; "Did you hear that?" Ghosts make us pause in our work. Ghosts make us stop and wonder.

----

Around 1:30 pm, Daniel tugged at his mask and safety goggles, "Did you hear someone downstairs?" Shuffling noises were confirmed and we descended to the front hall where a stranger stood surprisingly well inside. His embroidered jacket and cap both said "Water Department". He was a workman from the village.

----

The water was shut off two months earlier when broken pipes froze and a glacier formed on the exterior of the house. When she was alive, Mrs. R. had a lengthy, running battle with the local civic bureacracy. Communitites need clear, practical policy to deal with hoarders and their families. As with any government intervention, there's a right way and a wrong way. Just cooked that blurb up. Feel free to quote.

----

With proprietary authority I asked, "Can I help you?" I landed in front of him - between the rooms and his 6 foot frame.

----

"I just saw your car and I'm with the Village and I wanted to see inside. So she died - right?" As he crained his neck he also entered my reasonable comfort zone. Around the male of our species this can mean many things. This time the transgression was a test for permission. Could he push his way through?

----

"No." I replied, "I'm sorry. We're working. And the lady who lived here was a friend." A little tension was building when he added, "I just wanted to check it out." He felt no need for politeness or compassion and he was tipping against civility. There was no concern for me as a friend of this poor dead lady. For him there was only the desire to enter a long anticipated freak show.

----

Casually and with no invention he let it blurt he said, "I just like to see how people could live like this." The phrase dangled mid-air like a huge yellow wasp. I couldn't summon indignation because that cold observation was part of my consciousness. In some ways I've been a gawker. I heard myself repeating these banal phrases as I worked him back out the door - back into the blizzard in the world and in his tiny mind; "It's a family matter and we're dealing with it. It's a sad situation. We're taking care of it."

----

I felt the shame and protectiveness that children of hoarders must feel all the time. After he left in his Village truck my temperature started to go up. I was furious and my anger was confirmed by Daniel. "That was bullshit, man."

----

We've all been gawkers on the road to compassion. Charity is filled with voyeurs. When we see tragedy, the mouth drops open a little and the neck muscles become elastic, fluid, spiral. The eyes awaken as camera lenses. The body braces like a tripod. I wonder if Buddha - during the earliest part of his journey to infinite compassion - didn't rubberneck a little.

HOARDING

2007-02-19T18:42:00.001-06:00

Important link:

Support for Children of Hoarders.

Within 30 minutes of posting this story I received an email from a wonderful woman who volunteers for this non-profit (501c3) group. They share information and support.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’m helping an old friend clean out her “family house”. Her mom died six months ago and was afflicted with a compulsion commonly known as “hoarding”. If you are squeamish about this sort of thing – this blog entry is not for you.

Garage with tons of furniture, boxes & wrought iron, 6 feet deep.

It is hard to describe the environment and images can’t provide the truly dark sensibility of this situation. My primary feeling right now consist of empathy for my friend who is a wonderful, bright and kind woman who I’ll call “Elle”.

As we work together clearing several tons of garbage from the house I am occasionally frozen, staring into a pile of shoes, for instance and I am suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of frustration with her deceased mother. I’ll call her “Mrs. R.”

It’s ludicrous and unfair to blame Mrs. R. as she was mentally ill. Without warning, the activity of clearing her mess elicits truly dark thoughts. As I stuff the thirtieth black plastic contractor bag with waterlogged purses, shoes and blankets, my mind tries to project into hers. The layers of newspapers, bills, receipts, broken pottery and cheap figurines, the tangled masses of synthetic blouses and polyurethane cherubim all seem to represent some enormous endeavor on her part – she was putting resources away like a squirrel but the objects are only symbolic. Very few of them have practical use or value. The collective jumbled mass in this typical suburban home becomes representative of Mrs. R’s consciousness.

Elle's childhood bedroom.

I want to understand my own consumption and collecting habits better. And frankly, I have a morbid obsession about this subject. Oprah has treated it sensitively and pretty well so there must be some zeitgeist brewing, too.

Understanding the hoarding compulsion may inform a perspective of materialism. I have sensed the global culture rushing toward a new era. In whatever new age that is coming, we will certainly have to live with less.

Elle has coped alone with her mother’s issues for several decades. Recently she observed, “I do believe that hoarding and the resulting response - clutter control, is on the upswing. My new theory is that our society is more fearful and isolated than it ever has been, plus consumerism is at an all-time high. So, the former provide the fertile ground for hoarding, and the latter provides the tools for those so inclined.” See? I told you she was smart.

The floor of Mrs. R's bedroom.

The study packed so tightly that the door was a wall of stuff.
Underneath all of this is a Brambach baby grand piano.

Consumption signifies safety and identity. What you own is who you are. What you do doesn't really matter - as long as it grants access to crap.

Mrs. R. was certainly expressing herself and defining her self-image through the types of things she stuffed into every corner. Mrs. R., an ivy league educated woman with a minor in art history hoarded a certain aesthetic. The hoarding compulsion formed a kind of text about who she was. There is a semiotic nature to the “museum” of this tangled and compressed “collection”.

An 1920's celuloid vanity set with silver inlays consumed by mold.

Approximately 60 contractor bags of contaminated material represents less than 15% of the total mass to be removed.
________________________________________

Day Four

This is my 4th day working on Mrs. R's bedroom and the first day that Elle didn't come. I'm trying to encourage her to stay away. The toxicity of the house aggravates her asthma and it has an acute emotional implication. When she comes to the house she will only stand in the entrance hall and only with the door open. She's done a lot but now she neds to get away.

It was a rough day because I got down to a level of stuff that predates the pipe bursting this winter - this is a level of water contaminated material that pre-existed the winter's damage by ten years. I would pull a handfull of clothing and find the stench of shit.

And I had to throw away two incredibly beautiful pairs of cat's eye glasses - pale yellow and cornflower celuloid and silver or marquesite jewels.

A strange deformed "hand" key chain.

When I was growing up on the south side I have an image of a sweet "crazy lady" called Garbage Granny. She lived in a two story house on 111th street in Mount Greenwood. For kids like me - especially for kids with a vivid imagination - Granny represented something romantic and fascinating. Her house was big and was supposed to contain the bodies of lost pets and perhaps even lost children. It was a ghost story fantasy combined with tin lithography and Saturday morning cartoon reruns. The primal fear always comes forward. Hanzel and Gretel. The Witch's hoard of candy and cake lures us toward an illusion.

None of our childhood dreams about Aladdin's cache or my personal treasure hoard - The Count of Monte Cristo - are represented or emerge from the filth of Mrs. R's house.

The garden filled with damaged cast concrete sculpture.

Mrs. R. spent hours painting the figures so the faces of the statues are sculpted in sliding layers of grey and white liquid pigments. It reminded me of this folk art church construction we came across in an antique store in Columbia, South Carolina. And again, the environment creates the very strong impression of being in the disheveled but potent mind of the person who created it.

A example of the compulsive "frosting" effect from a model church. Artist unknown (Columbia, South Carolina). 26" w. x 38" h. x 46" l.

Mrs. R. sought out tons of wicker, cast iron wall pieces - planters and benches. She had the idea of a garden in her mind and it was an overgrown, romantic place. So she created a dillapidated environment but somehow things got out of control - once the scales were tipped it all fell apart.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 5

Lover Triumphant

2007-02-18T22:07:00.000-06:00

Mixed Media on Plywood, Detail 36" x 24", 2007

Belated Valentine's Day greetings. It's been a busy week. Work on the Lover's Discourse took off and I'm helping a friend clean out her deceased mother's house. Her mother had a serious compulsion to hoarding. I'm fascinated with the process and the problem. I'm writing about hoarding as a symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and as a cultural phenomenon.

February is my least favorite month except for the 14th which is like a beautiful red cardinal in the brittle, grey landscape. I've always appreciated V Day but this year - with the Barthes project - it had a different flavor. The linguistic analysis of that state hasn't dampened my belief in the magic of love.

Howard's Brief Respite from the Cold

2007-02-06T23:59:00.000-06:00

Howard stopped in last night in the pouring cold and dropped off two tickets for the dress rehearsal of Cosi fan tutte tomorrow. How cool is that? He wouldn't take his coat off or scarf and he sat in the wingback and I had 2 minutes to sketch him. He was talking about the Lyric Opera's staging of this chestnut. He has a small super part as an injured soldier. I can't wait to see it. It's staged at the beginning of WWI. Edwardian dress in a great european hotel. The single reward for living through a midwestern winter is the arts in Chicago. The best.

"Howard in From the Cold"

Pencil on Paper, 6.75 x 6.75", February 6, 2007

I tried to upload this earlier and Google gave me a reject and instructed me to report the following sequence of numbers and letters when I submitted my complaint. I'm just wondering if anyone else thinks we're being led down a path to jumble land.

Here's the code they asked me to refer to:

bX-t8j6yl

Seriously. If I call Google Customer Support in Blog Land and I spend time talking about the loss of information, etc. how would you describe the phrase?

Ardis Said.

2007-02-01T01:27:00.000-06:00

"Rainbow Machine" by Keith Bringe, Tempera on Newsprint, 1969

Tonight I was ready to pull the digital plug on the blog when Ardis said she really enjoyed it and she liked where the wind was taking us... I think that's enough inspiration for anyone. Then I went to the stat's and I saw there were some French people and some people in India and some Africans looking. The internet could save us all. The internet's connection could save us.

Davema turned 50 & we got some perspective

2007-01-31T20:57:00.000-06:00

Heroes

They've both lived their lives in public service. They've saved many lives through direct action and policy. They would never think about it. When they get up in the morning they just go to work.

David's 50th at the Kabalah Center of Chicago

It was a rare experience to sort through shopping bags of someone elses life in pictures -

their individual recorded history really. This kind of review was usually reserved for the mortal end (memento mori). There is so much media now - so many camera's in life that a 50th birthday must be the best vantage for the SLIDE SHOW. Karen Adler asked me to distill the broth that is David Marder's vitae so ...

meet my friend David:

This is a great shirt with bad teeth.

Could Bar Mitzvah's encourage premarital sex?

But life is good and Davema thrived...
His luck increased and he took some time to celebrate

Julie - (JMB) - {Just More Beautiful....Every Day}

And Charlie (Charlene) Waters was there in my heart.

These two chicks stayed the night. Fabulous ..

AND ON SUNDAY WE REPENTED...

In the freezing cold among the very white dead beauty of

Graceland Cemetery

Roland Barthe's "The Lover's Discourse - Fragments"

2007-01-06T01:07:00.001-06:00

Illustrations for "The Lover's Discourse", Mixed Media, 2007

Some of y'all already know this but I'm working a lot on a project to illustrate Roland Barthe's 1977 linguistic masterpiece "Fragments d'un Discours Amoreux" (or as translated in 1978 in English "A Lover's Discourse"). Wooosh. What a muthful.

I wanted to start uploading images of the 'pages' this weekend but google was not handling the traffic very well at all. It's a potent but different kind of anger you feel when customer service collapses in cyberspace.

Anyway here are the early images.

I have committed to completing 22 of the 84 Fragments for a preview on February 14th.

They will evolve enormously over the year -- till next Valentine's day. I wanted to get one story of one Fragment down because it's just so:

I was looking for a toy boat on ebay and I came across the most EMO and particularly appropriate carved toy boat. It was really a couple of 2 x 4's cut up and carved then painted red and cream. It was just like the early ebay ad campaign. The whole story is an ad campaign and the LD project is all about the meme so...

Here's the quick story and I'll provide the archival material later -

The ebay Seller's notes include the info that the kid who made it died. I bid $5.99 and got it. I asked the seller if he could tell me more about the boy. He did in such a forthright way. The boy's name was Roger Alquire from Sioux Falls. He got in a car crash in 1962 on his way home from college. If that weren't enough our ebay buddy goes on, "His mother just died last winter. Her mind was going and some how (sic) she locked herself out of the house and froze to death. They found her in the back yard laying on the side walk dead..ok hope this helps, thanks Bernie" This whole story will live a new life in the Lover's Discourse.

Thrifting

2006-12-21T20:21:00.000-06:00

Salvation Army - December 2006

I can remember the first time I walked into a thrift store. It was on Archer Avenue near Marquette Park and I think I was 16 years old (circa 1979). I've been hooked on picking ever since.

The characters that took me thrifting the first time were a gorgeous brother and sister team. They were a few years older - 17 and 19 maybe - and reminded me so much of Cocteau's Enfants Terribles. They were buying costumes for a play.

I found a perfect pair of yellow and white striped Sulka silk pajamas and a huge, Harris Tweed coat for fifty cents. It was a revelation that one could acquire that much authentic 1930's glamour for one dollar.

Of course - those were the old days - when the babushkas were the only people caught dead in the thrifts. They only wanted the red polyester pant suits (wash and wear) leaving all the 1949 hollywood pleated waistline pants to us.

So this was my acquisition from the last excursion into the land of cast-off toys. He's been lighting my evenings with bejeweled cheer. I'm calling this illuminated, injected-molded, 40 inch, myrh-givin' beauty "Gaspar" because it sounds like breathing. He was $4.20 with working lightbulb.

I have resisted traditional Christmas decorations for a couple of years so Gaspar is a big step. Remember - it's not cool if it's actually on the lawn.

Otto Neumann Monograph by David Sokol

2006-12-21T18:27:00.000-06:00

David Von der Bronx with His Amazing New Book

David Sokol came over for lunch a while back and he brought a surprise - his new book which is a beautiful monograph on the work of an underappreciated German artist named Otto Neumann.

David is one of my all-time favorite Oak Parkers. He's originally from the Bronx and is proud of it but he literally wrote the book on Oak Park. He's been around in the Chicago art and museum scene including work at the director's level at Terra (alas - no more) and he has curated major shows for the Spertus Museum. He is the Director of the Museum Studies program at the U of Illinois at Chicago. It's very difficult to get a standard staple through his vitae and...he's a mensch.

The Neumann book is beautifully conceived, designed and crafted with the help of a new, local publishing concern. Prologue handled this project incredibly well. The company's principals are Alex Lubertozzi and Jennifer Barrell. I predict they will do very well in a difficult field.

Neumann's incredible draftsmanship compliments his emphasis on pleasing, interlocking forms and rhythm. In several phases of his work he experiments with an adventurous, direct use of color. Some of the figurative volume and restrained poses reminded me of Jorg Imendorf.

One interesting thing for me is the way Neumann's style responded to the zeitgeist of 20th century art. His "periods" evolve and break with the decades in a manner similar to other, better known europeans. But this gives an unfair impression that he was a copycat. Simply untrue. His take on the vernaculars of his day is always of incredible quality, craftsmanship and insight.

The other extraordinary aspect of his work lies in the dearth of recognition or critical writing. David's scholarship is the first. He explains that Neumann didn't work very hard at bringing his work to the public - because he didn't have to. The family's wealth sustained him which allowed him to save his archive.

The result of this fortunate economic encapusulation is the Neuman Estate which includes thousands of original pieces, woodcut, linocuts, lithographs and more. The Estate is responsibly managed by Neuman's nieces and nephews. Sokol observed, "They summed it up by saying, 'We want to do what is right for Uncle Ot's'.

Collectors should note that the book will stimulate critical interest in Neumann's work, life and techniques and will probably effect market value.

Open Mind

2006-11-30T00:36:00.000-06:00

"Open Mind"

2001, pen, with coffee and gouache on cocktail napkin, 4.75" x 4.75".
Doodles courtesy of dives in Chicago.

It seemed to go with yesterdays post.

The rainstorm is getting colder and tonight will be the end of a period of temperate weather including some 60 degree days. I ran out in the rain to grab this last floppy rose. I think this will be the last one for awhile and it smelled so beautiful - rare and fine.

Old Work will be New Work

2006-11-28T00:19:00.000-06:00

Ideal View, 2002, crayon on masonite, cropped from 10" x 10"

An old drawing I found today which is adaptable for a new project.

I found it for a reason. Art is cannibalism.

You Can See It From Space.

2006-11-26T16:20:00.000-06:00

I went for a walk/run/ride today to work off some of the gravy and pecan pie and started in the Forest Preserves which was lovely until I got to this area. The Desplaines River divides Maywood & River Forest and borders a beautiful preserve of indigenous oak savanah.

This Google satelite image (above) shows the area which is east of the Lake Street Bridge in an area loosely defined by the Cook County Forest Preserve. Unfortunately, there have been at least five cases of construction debris dumping in the recent past.

I'm going to do some research on private funding for clean-up and send this link to the local and state rep's. If anyone knows of a model for local waterway clean-up, please let me know.

And it looks like at least one municipality dumped a bunch of old light poles.

2006-11-24T14:11:00.000-06:00

Columbus Park Refectory - The Loggia

I get bored doing yoga in the same place so now I'm occasionally engaging in the practice in beautiful outdoor settings. I would like to call this Air Hatha. Anyway - it led me to the Jenson designed Washington Park on Chicago's far western edge. It is incredible lovely.

Insider Art

2006-11-20T00:30:00.000-06:00

"Stateville Art Show" 28" x 36" by Prisoner #66720

oil on burlap, 1970

Collection Keith Bringe

I found this piece of prison art at a junk store on the west side. It's only signed with a number and there is an official prison label, as well. I wish I knew more about it as I'm thinking about selling it. The colorful supergraphics belie the inmate's true feelings about the prison which are clear in the monochromatic guard tower and wall landscape inset. If y'all know any prison art collectors (violent prisoners creepy exploitive collections excluded) please let me know.

Studio Field Trip: Lloyd Natof Fine Furniture

2006-11-18T19:11:00.000-06:00

S L Natof Furniture is located in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood

Today I spent a few pleasant hours at Lloyd Natof's furniture studio. He is incubating a collection of beautiful pieces right now. We talked about his preference for veneers as opposed to solid hardwood and it seems we always spend one or two minutes talking about Lloyd's great grandfather - Frank Lloyd Wright. He doesn't wear his famous forebear's identity on his sleeve but he is involved and he is interested in the history - especially the approach to design.

Lloyd Natof working at Taliesin near Spring Green, WI, 2006.

Natof enjoys a lot of commissioned casework for clients that include the MacArthur Foundation and some of Chicago's best families but he revels in free-standing furniture. Lloyd currently has around twelve one-of-a-kind pieces for sale. Prices range from around $500 to $6,000.

Lloyd's portfolio holds pieces of superb and durable craftsmanship using luxuriously figured veneers in bookend layouts that have been stained or dyed with a playful pallette. Surfaces are hand rubbed and pollished. Yes friends, in most ways, Lloyd is old-school. People often remark on an Asian feeling in regard to details.

Lloyd observes, "Veneer got a bad reputation because people inherited their grandmother's bedroom set from the 1930's. The adhesives that were used back then were really affected by humidity so you had chipping and veneers lifting off. There are still some purists who insist on 'hide glues' but since world war II, there are many synthetic alternatives. They are much stronger." Ed. note: The term "hide glue" is not derived from the invisibility factor. Think -boiled down horses.

Lloyd sited a historic example of organic glue's temperamental side. When the Metropolitan Museum of art received a piece from the famous art deco master Emile Jacques Ruhlman "the furniture was kept in a van in the New York heat and humidity too long and the surfaces fell off. Off course, the museum just glued them back on."

Lloyd's use of veneer expresses his serious commitment to environmental issues. It's a simple equation. Rare species of wood are really beautiful. Studio furniture often uses rare species of wood. We can get hundreds of well crafted, durable and beautiful pieces from a single tree by using veneers. Isn't this a moral responsibility as well as a valid aesthetic? He has participated in a Chicago Furniture Designer's Association exhibition on the "greening" of furniture design. Natof puts it simply and elegantly, "It's a better use of a tree."

Lloyd Natof's left hand features a ruler tattoo.
"It works really well - I use it a lot."

S L Natof Studio - visits by appointment only.

Hotel Cassiopeia at the Court Theatre

2006-11-16T22:36:00.000-06:00

SITI Company's production of Hotel Cassiopeia at Court Theatre is deeply flawed but reveals moments of radiant poetry and surreal glam.

The title of the play is exactly the same as the title of a mixed media masterwork by American artist Joseph Cornell (1903 -1972). The work of art in question is a shadow box collage composed of found objects - a broken clay pipe, a metal rod supports a sphere that can roll back and forth, fragments of astronomical maps and cheap paint. These abandoned things are layered with such awed respect for their mystical power that the whole evokes a kind of longing and a deep desire for memory.

I have appreciated Cornell since I was a kid in high school taking classes at the Art Institute of Chicago*. Thanks to a pair of visionary Chicago collectors, AIC has the largest representation of this brilliant, indigenous American genius.

Cornell's contribution to our visual language is GREATLY UNDERAPPRECIATED. His shadow boxes, collages and even his short films have fostered so many imitations, homages and adaptations that long ago they made a seamless transition to background.

Cornell's layered, collaged style has been appropriated by soulless advertisers, lesser artists (myself included) and even some pretty good filmmakers with rarely a peep of credit or respect. It is my feeling that Mr. Warhol owed a bow to Joe Cornell, too.

And what makes SITI, the Court Theatre job so difficult is the fact that they attempt reconnaissance with Mr. Cornell, himself. The authenticity of Cornell's work and the lack of confessional details about his deep process provide too many opportunities to fail.

Scraps of Cornell's life are on the table: an insular family life devoted to a severly disabled brother and dependent widowed mother, idolatry of popular feminine characters - Lauren Bacall, ballerinas, waitresses. There's simply not a lot to go on and you know what happens when you assume...

Five Words for Posterity; "Too Much Gold Spray Paint"
Mr. Cornell was creating authentic stage sets in his work - imaginary platforms for rich imaginary characters. When repping an artist whose internal world and sense of nuance allows him to combine sand and newpaper in a stunning new level of shibui, you've got to get the "look of it" right. This was not accomplished at Court. The sets, material and lighting seem plastic, fake and tawdry compared to Cornell's brilliant sense of authenticity, romance and his elevation of the mundane to the divine.

Don't expect Hotel Cassiopeia's structure to jive with other plays and films about great artists. "Lust for Life", or in recent times "Basquiat" both had linear narratives. Hotel Cassiopeia presents fragments while grasping at every straw from the experimental theatre bale. One might say Cornell's work is especially prone to this approach but some sense of dignity and reserve is missing.

Regular Chicago theatre goers will no doubt draw comparisons to TMLMTBGB's production of "Boxing Joseph Cornell" which was a moderate critical success and a memorable creation. I believe "Boxing" succeeded because it did not attempt to imitate Cornell's visual style and steered clear of personal historiography.

On the other hand, at the Court production I fell in love with several actors. Ellen Lauren as, ironically, "the Ballerina / Lauren Bacall" lifts us out of this play and into Cornell's rationale for idolizing the divas.

Through January 8th.

Special thanks to Howard White - for the ticket.

*Another amazing coincidence today - after the play I saw my old teacher from those high school Art Institute classes in the lobby. Twenty-seven years ago Betty Blum taught me Museology (museum studies) through a State of Illinois Gifted Program. I was a sophomore and this class introduced me to the work of Joseph Cornell.

I've seen her a few times over the years. Betty is wonderful - funny and smart and after us dim, bratty kids she went on to work as the coordinator and interviewer for this amazing archive - The Art Institute of Chicago Architect's Oral History Project.

The Project is so important. Quite a few of the characters represented in the archive have since passed on to the big drafting room in the sky. Most of them are really entertaining especially an old friend of mine - Jim Ferris (1925 - 2002)- who was a compatriot of Mies van der Rohe.

Pointy Hats

2006-11-15T15:33:00.000-06:00

"Pointy Hat Archetypes - The Gang of Four"

2001, gouache on board, 7" x 7".

Since we're between two important 'pointy hat' calendar archetypes - Halloween (witches) and Christmas (Santa) I'm going to post this old attempt at a sober analysis.

Peter & Keith, Yosemite

2006-11-14T20:19:00.000-06:00

My old buddy Peter Rothblatt sent me a very funny present today. This pic of Peter and I was taken at Yosemite. It is one of my favorite photographs in the world...ever, period, well except that I'm wearing one of those neck snugglies that makes me look like I have a strange beard. Peter and his wife Mae are two incredible people. The gift and seeing the image made me think of this poem by William Butler Yeats:

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

1893

My Old Art

2006-11-14T19:29:00.000-06:00

In preparation for a new show of paintings I went through a bunch of old work today. It's an awful feeling - looking at old work. It takes great confidence or naivite (or both) to be a working artist. When you show your stuff to the world you open yourself to judgement, ridicule. Here is some old stuff -

"Farm Troubles", 1998, mixed media on paper, cropped image from 10" x 10" original.

"Gris-Gris Voodoo" 2001, mixed media, 2.75" x 6"
Doors Open

This is a miniature wardrobe from a small edition of 12 pieces.

"Backstroke" 1999, monoprint, 10" x 10".

"Double Profile", 1998, mixed media, 5" x 5".

"Julie's Vacation" by Nancy Abrams

2006-11-12T10:54:00.000-06:00

Nancy Abrams was born in St. Louis and has been a working photographer and journalist for more than thirty years. She spent most of her career in the Alleghenies of West Virginia so she has developed an amazing portfolio of hundreds of negatives that document the natural beauty and dissapearing traditional culture of mountain life. Nancy currently lives in Millburn, NJ and is attending the New School's writing program while she restores a 1950 Frank Lloyd Wright inspired house.

I met Nancy circa twenty years ago at he Uptop Farm near Terra Alta, WV. Her vivacious intellectual curiosity and sense of humor hooked me and we spent hours walking through the woods and baking around the fire at night.

This picture is so meaningful because it represents among the hardest working woman I know.
Julie Osborne is a Nurse Practitioner and mother of two from Chicago. More on Julie, later.

Nancy and Julie are sisters to me.

Belle

2006-11-10T15:14:00.000-06:00

I grew up on the far south side of Chicago. My neighbor lady was a woman named Belle Haims. She took care of me and really adopted me, in a way.

My mother said, "I brought you home from the hospital and Belle immediately scooped you up. She fed you for the first couple months of your life."

That always seemed strange to people but my mother suffered profound depression during her pregnancy with me and was probably grateful for the help.

And so Belle became a loving, constant and nurturing presence until she moved away when I was twelve years old.

It was an unusual relationship. I was culturally Irish and went to Roman Catholic grammar school and Belle was a Jewish mother of extraordinarily pure yenta-ness. I had Catholic guilt in the morning and Jewish guilt in the afternoon, with the fabulous, zaftig, over-the-top Belle.

Probably in her late forties when I was born, she was a very, very curvy woman who wore a sturdy girdle every single day. She had her hair done weekly - and the style was always a varnished variation of a helmet or a swoopy-do like Marlo Thomas on "That Girl". And it was always a monochromatic, unnatural color - most often blue-black but sometimes platinum blond or red-orange.

Belle dressed in the height of 1960's style. Her devoted husband Hyam "Hy" Haims was a "shoe guy" - a wholesale shoe salesman whose customers ranged from cheap stores on Milwaukee Avenue to couture houses on Michigan Avenue. Belle had dozens of pairs of the best, most outrageous shoes to match tight, sequined dresses in electric blue or embroidered shantung shifts in emerald green. Between Hy's business and Belle's family every week brought another big party - a bar mitzvah, wedding or anniversary to dress for.

She was the daughter of the head of the Rabbis that certified Kosher butchers so Belle really was a Jewish princess. She was a smart and big woman and she would rock me so tightly between her gigantic reinforced torpedo breasts and rock me singing "ahh-ah, ahh-ah, bay-bu-lah".

Belle treated me like a person and we had long wonderful conversations about the neighborhood or who was on the Mike Douglas Show that day ("It looks like Totie Fields gained some weight").

When I was twelve she and her husband moved away. There was a flight of jews from Chicago's south side to the near north suburb of Skokie in 1976. The neo-nazi's had moved into Marquette Park (where ten years earlier, Reverend King was hit with a brick). It was a hateful time and things were uncomfortable. We pretended like it wasn't because of those crazies. Belle would say, "We're moving to our retirement home."

I missed her but she would come visit occasionally and we would talk on the phone. She came to graduations - always shiny and with strangulating hugs.

Belle died suddenly during gall bladder surgery, when I was away at college. I went to sit shiva and the funeral home but not to the graveside service. I've missed her.

This is a true story. Thirty years later - yesterday to be exact - I was riding my bike through Forest Park - a suburb adjacent to mine. One tree lined street led to the next and I soon ran into a fence surrounding a cemetery.

As I circled around to the front, along a busy highway I got a strange feeling. I suddenly remembered when I was nine or ten years old Belle took me on a long car ride. We went to a graveside and placed rocks on tombstones.

Now, I had this strange deja vu feeling that this was the cemetery. The entrance appeared and the sign for "Jewish Waldheim". I pulled my bike up alongside the office. I went inside and there was a very nice woman. I told her that I thought that someone I knew had family buried there. I gave her Belle's family name. The nice cemetery lady's computer was already turned off but she called out to a colleague. After they spent a couple minutes searching through files I was getting ready to leave. I was unlocking my bike outside when the office people called out, "Oh yes. Here's your lady friend."

It was amazing standing there with the autumn light and decades floating like flecks of dust in the air. The caretaker gave me a map of the funeral plots with Belle's "address" written in ball point and an "x" and I took off on my bike.

Finding her grave was a surreal experience. It took around forty minutes of walking through rows, pushing overgrown weeds aside. The late autumn sun was coming directly from the west, leaving long shadows from the monuments. When I found Belle and Hy I felt such a sense of warmth. My eyes burned but I didn't cry.

The wonderful thing about Jewish tombstones is the use of small porcelain transfer photographs, often with protective bronze covers. I lifted the cover and there was Belle, exactly as I remember her (see above). I cleared off her tombstone and that of her husband, Hyman Haims ("My daily greeting in the driveway between our houses was, "Hi, Hy!").

I found some pebbles which is the custom - you leave pebbles so that the deceased or other family members will know someone was there. I lined them up above her picture. Then I heard a voice in my head - as clear as a bell echoing across the cemetery, "You call those nice pebbles? That one looks like tile grout."

I chuckled to myself. She had a great sense of humor. I miss her. The effect she had on my life is impossible to measure.

Postscript:

http://www.loggerheadsmovie.com/

Inside the Buddha

2006-11-10T14:40:00.000-06:00

This conservation x-ray of a bosatsu buddha is really fascinating to me because it is expressive of the artist's process.

What the viewer sees at the end is a carefully constructed smoothness but that very smoothness may be comprised of improvisation and piece work.

Click on the photo for a larger image.

"Un-natural Acts" by Frances Kenna

2006-11-08T18:39:00.000-06:00

One color stone litho on cream stock, 1981.

I just scanned this lithograph by Frances Kenna titled "Unnatural Acts". Its not numbered or dated but it's on a rough cream paper. It's obviously a drag queen.

I think she told me she saw this gal in San Francisco.

It's in terrible condition because it's been laying around the Uptop farmhouse for twenty years but it's clearly worthy of saving.

Frances is an artist and art teacher (you would have loved to have Ms. Kenna) originally from South Carolina. She lived the last twenty or so years in Preston County, West Virginia and a part of that was spent living in a barn. She does ceramics, as well as graphic work. One of my favorite Frances' pieces is a vase that takes the form of a cow's pendulous belly with udders.

Welcome to Rarenest!

2006-11-07T23:58:00.000-06:00

It's amazing to think that the dancing baby is passe, over, a relic of a bygone virtual world. It was a symbol of a new and real ethos of computer aided design and it caught fire as an internet icon.

Blogs galore, now. I've been enjoying them as a "lurker" for awhile and I felt it was time for me to get on the superhighway.

So here I come, kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

I wonder what will replace blogs because I know as soon as I've grasped the fundamentals of this communication technology - everything will change again.

It was the same way with 8-track tape players (I still miss the ka-chunk as my Simon & Garfunkle cartridge changed sections).

And then I collected cassettes by the shoebox - mix tapes that represented hours by the record player waiting for the needle to drop.

And I was so proud to buy a new CD player a few years ago.

Now it's all Ipods.

I'm a conflicted luddite.

I really enjoy technology and what it can accomplish but I am very traditional in my artwork.

We'll see where this blogging takes us.