Bloggery 101

The Yavapai College campus is much prettier than the last time I visited. Much greener, with big beautiful trees and new landscaping, not to mention that a huge central staircase and solid expanse of cement between buildings was gone, to be replaced by curved ramps and plantings.

A fellow blogger, Susan of As Your World Changes, had organized a series of class discussions of social networking sites for newbies and asked me to talk with the group about blogging. They had already been introduced to Twitter and Facebook; it was time for them to meet up with Blogger and Wordpress.

The course was part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, an unusual participant-directed program at the college. As the OLLI website explains, our "learning groups" are discussion groups conceived, created and facilitated by our own members, who volunteer their time. There are no tests, grades, or college credits associated with our groups. Topics have included regional and international history, current social and political issues, the worlds' religions, fairy tales and writing your life story. Want to talk about dreams, or study the opera, movies, art or ballet? This is your chance. If American Indian art and culture interest you, stop by. And don't forget current economic issues, astronomy, our founding fathers, the Middle Ages, and Prescott's beginnings.

And so here I am, trying to compete with the strange light emitted by a computer projection system. I learned a lot prepping for the meeing. F'rinstance, Technorati has counted some 133 million different blogs since 2aughtaught2, adding that 1.5 million blog articles were posted in the past seven days and 900,000 in 24 hours. This presumably does NOT count the 72 million Chinese blogs. Wikipedia has a reasonably good entry about blogs, their history and pedigree, but I discovered that old, nearly forgotten About was the best reference I could find covering the blogging phenomenon.

Here's the student volunteer who manned the computer projection keyboard.

And some of the students, several of whom are quite interested in starting a blog. They are all on their own. I had it easy when I started out. After all, the dotter (OmegaMom) already published her own blog, was an IT person quite comfy with the Internet and she set me up, complete to a blog reader (Bloglines) and traffic counter (Sitemeter).

Susan Gerhart (far right), who organized the class series, here talks with other students at the end of the session.

Note: The Old Fat Man was mighty pleased to read about this type of learning opportunity. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute programs are found nationwide; check here to learn more.

Rocks in an iron cage

Rocks in a cage -- how else to describe the unusual "multilithic" entrance to Yavapai College, our local community college. Certainly is an effective way to create a monument.

Neat view of the landscaping, which, in turn is quite neat.

Of course, the big question is what kind of rocks are those and where did they come from. Certainly not local; I don't believe we have that many reddish stones in the entire Prescott area. From a distance, I speculated a volcanic origin, but now, looking at the close-ups, my guess is sandstone trucked in from quarries up near Ash Fork. Either that or a spray paint job, which I kinda doubt.

Even with a bright sun, the rocks still match the rust of the wire cage holding them. Also, sandstone continuously gives off a reddish dust, which would help maintain a uniform color cast to the entire unit.

During my walk through the college sculpture garden, I spied a retaining wall also using caged rocks. However, in this case, the stones look like river rock; the only red is from the rust. I wonder, just incidentally, how long that wire will hold up. The LH and I were shocked at how fast iron rusts in the arid desert air; credit cold nights, which lead to early morning dew. And rust.

Linkage: Read all about it -- the dotter was quoted in the New York Times! Speaking of news -- what with a big election, the recession and swine flu, we havent been treated to any UFO reports for some little time. A remedy can be found at All News Web. For a fascinating potpouri, click on over to Environmental Graffiti; for superb scientific photography, the site to visit again and again is Photo Synthesis.

The new sculpture at Yavapai College

Don't know when this new sculpture first made its appearance at the entrance to Yavapai College, but it certainly wasn't there when I visited the school's sculpture garden last fall. I breakfast once a week at JBs with friends, which is why I discovered this very American Indian looking fellow; he's quite visible from Sheldon Street.

A closer look at the sculpture.

I had assumed that this was strictly metal work, but a zoom-in reveals that the center post is wooden. Can't furnish any details as to the sculptor's name or studio or location -- I tried The Google, but no dice. My fault. If I were to produce my posts during the day, instead of late evening, I could simply ring up the PR department at the college and ask.

Monday Morning: I did it! Called Yavapai College; the sculptor is Dick Marcuson, who at one time was on the art faculty. Other college/sculpture news: I'm sad to report that the collection of junkyard horses at Prescott College, which had grown to three, is now down to a single, lonely beast.

A new arts and crafts show

This time, the tents were pitched over at Yavapai College -- on the sidewalk next the performance hall and down the hill in the sculpture garden. Logical since the sponsors were Friends of Yavapai College Art.

The Skull Valley bolo tie and rock art guy was there as were members of the Mountain Artists Guild.

All manner of crafts -- and a mysterious hand reaching under the necklaces! A muchly tattooed lady, known either as Sally or Betty, also resided with the beads.

About the time I was admiring the dolls, I got the old "no pictures" call. It's really hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that there are people out there so bereft of ideas that they copy the real artisans' work, but apparently that is the case.

However, my neighbor's son allowed me to photograph his paintings.

The most civilized aspect of the entire show -- a table of goodies for the tired, famished and thirsty. The picture here is a reflection in those remarkable big glass doors of the performance hall. Note photographer.

Down in the sculpture garden, the booths were less crowded together ... and the photographer was more welcome!

I got a kick out of the cactus made from welded horseshoes. Then one look at the fibre arts booth and I wanted it all!

Jewelry Guy's arrangements certainly caught my eye.

So -- how to call it? I'd say this show was an unexpected and welcome encore to the summer scene at the Square. The setting is a very pleasant change and there is plenty of room for more artists and craftsmen. Now all that is needed is a lot more publicity!

A walk through the sculpture garden, I

One look at the granddaughter posing with this frog told me I had to spend more time than a cold, pre-Christmas Nutcracker intermission allowed to enjoy the sculpture garden at Yavapai College. I had that chance Saturday, which was a sunny and warm fall day. The amphibian Leaps and Bounds is the creation of John Skurja of Skurja Art Castings. FYI, the garden is on the southwest side of the performance hall.

Community Gothic is a dour contrast to the cheerful frog. It seems to me that this uptight family would be much more comfortable in winter than in warmer times (below). The pamphlet guide to the garden suggests viewing Richard Marcusen's sculpture at night when the work casts dramatic, enlarged shadows on the wall.

Just before I photographed Helix by Tom McClure, a mother had to shoo her little boy off the big, bright aluminum piece. I can see that it would be a temptation to any lively youngster!

This abstraction is Seated Woman by Michael Anderson. Curious -- from the angle below, I get it. The cold winter picture above, taken from the other side, shows merely one more modern sculpture.

A piece of me said, "come on now, you can't be serious" when I first saw this array of flagstones. But I followed the instructions from creators Rebecca Davis and Roger Asay and walked through and around the runes, took pictures -- and kept taking pictures! It was hard to make a selection for this post.

Color is beginning to develop on the side faces of The Gathering, a fountain formed from copper by Gary Slater. It is the centerpiece of a pleasant circular arrangement.

As you can imagine, the wind is a necessary partner to the three whirligig towers in stainless steel and copper, created by Lyman Whitaker. I especially liked the view that suggests that they might be one with the trees. More views below.

Though not part of the sculpture garden, there were two art works on the back side of the performance hall as I continued the walk. The plaques above are dedicated to Viola Jimulla, a past chieftess of the local Yavapai Indian Tribe.

And I know nothing about this creation which features wood and a lot of gears. But it is certainly eye-catching.

And, finally, I couldn't resist creating a sculpture of my own with the camera. In reality, the object above is a microwave dish atop the building. There's more to the garden than I've had time and space to present here; it's a lovely example of desert landscaping, which will have to wait for another post.