Art Walk on McCormick

After reading a big write-up in the Courier, I decided that I should take a gander at what was happening in the so-called McCormick Street Arts District for the 4th Friday Art Walk. The short walk extended from the sign above near Gurley Street to the sign below at the Willis Street end. Of course, I had to show up early, as it would have been dark at opening hour (6 p.m.), though I'm sure I missed a lot, including fire dancers.

The action included thrift shop and collectibles as well as art: Ripple Repeats (above) and the House of Plenty (below).

The real art action had been organized primarily by Eye on the Mountain Gallery, which featured huge panels assembled and painted by Kingman artist Mikel Weisser.

An example: a conquistador among the barren Mexican mountains (above, below). Weisser told the Courier that he works with found and cast-off materials, as well as left-over paints.

More of his work. The street showing was organized because the gallery was too small to really hold and highlight Weisser's big works.

The main feature was a five panel description of the stages in a mountain sunset. The panels were distributed among the galleries and shops taking part in the street fair. Number one is above, the subsequent panels follow in order below.

I have to admit Weisser's art is more likely to get my vote than his politics, which you can read about at his blog "from the left coast of Arizona." Read it here.

Horsies -- junkyard & otherwise

How's this for a bad dream: to be offered my choice of one of those t. rex sculpts you can see out on Iron Springs Road -- or one of Gene Galazan's junkyard horses. I'm sure I would dither and dither until the genie or wizard gave up on me and withdrew the offer.

However, the point of this post is that finally the granddotter had a chance for a close look at the equine pair over at Prescott College. As I may have mentioned in the past, the little one is absolutely besotted by horsies. Has been, for years.

She definitely liked the Galazan critters. I'm pleased -- she's not a stickler for realism as so many kids are.

Unfortunately, she missed out on Shingles, over at the True Value hardware emporium. Just goes to show that you can find one of almost anything at a proper hardware store! And, yes, I'd settle for Shingles if offered.

The Granite Dells Monster

With a driver at my beck and call last week, I finally captured an image of the iron monster who resides on the east side of SR89 in the middle of the Dells.

And a monster indeed. His fur is made of chains. He holds a piglet to his chest, prior to devouring it (below). He joins the other highly visible if not sanctioned iron men about town. (Not sanctioned = non-public art work, possibly created by individuals who might not be credentialed artists. No committees, no grantsmanship -- just the whim of an individual property owner. I like that. It could be me, if someone would volunteer to make me an iron man, monster or critter.)

The two other iron men that I'm acquainted with: above, the one-armed cowboy with a top hat out in Forbing Park and, below, the suave chromed gent at the front of the Electric Hog on lower Granite Street. These guys rate high on my list of favorite art about town.

Streamside spirits

This slight tale has its beginnings last week at the Salvation Army store, where, out of the blue, a nice gent behind the counter decided that the Granddotter was the right fit for a pair of shiny black tap shoes. Only two bucks. Who could resist. We got to talking. He mentioned that he had carved a dragon and another sculpt to be found by the side of Granite Creek just behind Coffee Roasters.

Next thing you know, even before I managed to get over to the site, Warren of Touch Wind was up from Tucson and had posted some excellent pictures, especially considering how difficult the lighting is creekside. There was the impressively tall dragon, carved (chain saw, Dremel tools) from a big cottonwood stump still rooted in place.

To give you an idea of the size, the Granddotter posed between the creature and the remainder of the stump.

She explained to me that both of the claws (above, below) were at the end of the dragon's wings. I especially like the claws digging into the earth; former roots, I would venture.

I noticed this former stump nearby had been carved out, tho why, I do not know. Perhaps to provide wood for the dragon's teeth and fangs.

The Tree of Life is on the upper bank, looking out over the parking area behind the arty McCormick Street cottages. The entire piece is carved from a big stump that still supports a smaller living tree.

The woman is holding a masculine mask overhead. You can see the remaining part of the tree behind the mask (below).

Below the woman's belly button, which is a sun symbol, are all sorts of critters, with those that fly at the top. Next come a variety of land animals (below).

At the very bottom are sea creatures. Jeff Grabish is the artist who saw the possibilities in these two stumps and turned them into a remarkable pair of streamside spirits.

Granddotter does the library

As I mentioned yesterday, the house is now full! Grandchild #3 is now here, tagging along after the teen-age pair. But this morning, the dotter and I took her over to the library to meet Tippy in person (she's had a letter with pictures of the various persona that Tippy has worn over the year). Doggone, she was disappointed. She expected Tippy to be much bigger! Maybe like the dinos she met out Iron Springs Road a couple of years ago. That's what comes of cropping in on one's pictures -- the subject looks bigger than life! Now I happened to like Rodeo Tippy, ready for a week of big doings.

On the other hand, the Blue Hair Challenge caught her imagination. The idea is that if 1000 kids/teens sign up to read 15 minutes per day every day until the end of July, the children's librarians will show up in blue hair at the final day celebration. She signed up, even though she won't be here for the finale. (FYI, the Challenge is already over-subscribed.)

And then proceeded to do her 15-minute read.

Next, I just had to show off the horney toad and the lion. I think the lion was a bigger hit with the dotter than with the GD.

On the other hand, the little bronze girl in the garden really scored. FYI, she reports that there were no words in that book, just lines running across the pages.

Compass critters

Equipoise, a sculpture at the Highlands Center for Natural History out the Walker Road in the forest. And what a problem for the picture-taker. At least at the hour we were there this morning in the bright, bright sunlight! What I really needed was a grey overcast day to separate the art from the forest detail. The sculpture is by Heather Johnson Beary, who also created the library's recently unveiled giant horned toad.

The best way to view the piece is critter by critter. Here is the horned toad, who faces south.

Fish faces west. The photographer in the background, BTW, is friend Bob, whose animal pictures often show up on this blog (including that wonderful baby javelina.)

Raven is pointing to the east. I wouldn't mind having a replica of him on my desk. I wouldn't mind having a live raven tame enought to call on me periodically, for that matter.

Badger, the fourth of the quartet of local animals, is looking to the north. I had no idea there was such a fine sculture, until this morning. My regular Thursday breakfast crew ate at at the Lynx Lake store/restaurant this morning -- and friend Patty said that she and Bob had a big surprise for me, whereupon they drove to the Highlands Center and Equipoise. I certainly thank them for the excellent surprise!