That’s right–the night before Ash Wednesday I’ll be giving a talk at Holy Family’s St. Joseph’s Center in South Pas. Here’s the flyer: LENT WITH SAINTS AND ARTISTS: Selling All We Have to Follow Our Passion Heather King came from a blue-collar New England family, excelled in school, imagined God as a cold, distant, high-school […]
CULTURE
THE LAMENESS OF SINGLES AWARENESS DAY
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column (which in fact is not in defense but rather a critique of) begins: Let me say up front that I am not one of these people who feels oppressed, discriminated against and marginalized by the mere fact and station of another’s existence. That you’re a man and […]
HAPPY ALMOST VALENTINE’S DAY
“When I finally got wind of how things were, I wanted to be sure. And I was mad. Why should everyone know but me? I found my mother upstairs in my bedroom, butting new white sheets on my bed. ‘I want you to tell me where babies come from,’ I screamed. And I made her […]
THE STORRIER STEARNS JAPANESE GARDEN
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Located at 270 Arlington Drive in Pasadena and comprising two acres, the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is a hidden LA treasure. The pond-style stroll garden was created in the 1930s by Japanese immigrant Kinzuchi Fuji for his patrons Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns. After their deaths, […]
ALEXANDER GIRARD AT THE PALM SPRINGS MUSEUM
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Through March 1, the Palm Springs Museum is featuring “A Designer’s Universe,” an exhibit based on the multi-talented twentieth-century artist Alexander Girard (1907-1993). As the Museum points out: “Alexander Girard (1907–1993 in Santa Fe) was one of the most important and prolific designers of the 20th century. He […]
“OUTSIDER” ARTIST JAMES CASTLE
DEAF SINCE BIRTH, IDAHO ARTIST JAMES CASTLE LEFT AN ASTONISHING, 70-YEAR OUTPUT OF DRAWING, ASSEMBLAGES AND TEXT PIECES.
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SUNDAYS LIVE AT ST. JAMES
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: For years during the 1990s when I lived in Koreatown, I’d attend the Sunday afternoon Bing Theater classical music concerts at LACMA. After almost a quarter of a century, the concerts have now moved a couple of miles east, to St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire […]
“ALL THINGS ARE PHOTOGRAPHABLE”
“I look at the pictures I have done up to now and they make me feel that who we are and how we feel and what is to become of us just doesn’t matter. Our aspirations and successes have been cheap and petty. I read the newspapers, the columnists, some books, I look at some […]
HUMMINGBIRD IN UNDERWORLD, A MEMOIR
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: Deborah Tobola is known as a visionary pioneer in the field of arts in U.S. corrections. She is a graduate of the University of Montana, and has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Her prose and poetry have won […]
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Last night, while searching for an Albert Dürer composition entitled “Strange Bird with Scroll,” I came across a whole cache of interesting stuff. The above seems especially apropos for today, January 1, Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. Here’s the bird. And another bird. And here’s a self-portrait of the artist at 22, […]
DUST MOTES AND CIGARETTE SMOKE: A PAINTER WEIGHS IN FROM BROOKLYN
I’ve been going over my posts from the last ten years. This was first published on December 24, 2013. I liked it so much I’m giving it another go. Wishing you all the joys of this wondrous season. From a reader: Heather, Painted some snow-filled pots two days ago in my icy backyard. Beforehand I […]
FRENCH FRIES AS MUSE
From an interview in Insight, the magazine of The Sisters of Life, with Dr. Michael J. Brescia, Executive Medical Director and co-founder of Calvary Hospital, to talk about his experiences at the Catholic palliative care facility and hospice in the Bronx. I heard that you were responsible for a famous invention. I joined the VA hospital in […]