Horn Island 25 TONIGHT!

Woops -- got it wrong. The opening is tonight, Saturday, from 6-9 pm. I'm on autopilot, thinking openings are always on Fridays. Too much time in the regular gallery world. MCA is bucking the trend, so come on out tonight.

Horn Island 25 art opening this Friday

Memphis College of Art leads a group of students to camp an d paint on Horn Island every year. It's off the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, and it's the island where Walter Anderson spent so much time painting. Some day I'm going to go paint there myself. In the meantime, the exhibit of work from this year's trip is up at MCA, and the opening is from 6-9 pm Friday, Sept. 10th. It's always an interesting exhibition -- I love seeing what different artists do with the same landscape. These works are by Jason William Cole, one of this year's students, and they really caught my eye when I ran across them on facebook. He's nicely allowed me to share them with you here.

Come on out to one of the coolest parties of the year tomorrow night and see all the work in person.

Birds and Bees extended

The weather is lovely, warm enough for the budgies still, so the excellent Birds and Bees exhibit has been extended for a bit. Take advantage of this opportunity to get over and feed the birds one more time before fall nips the air.

Families in the Park

I love holidays in the park. Merlin and I saw several families out at 8:30 am already setting up their cook outs --- claiming their favorite picnic tables, spreading the table cloths, firing up the grill, setting up the games. It's great to see several generations together out enjoying the park and making a day of it.

On our way home we ran into friends, also out with the whole family and new dog to go explore the Old Forest and look for spider webs. It's so festive on the days when everyone is home and can come and hang out and enjoy the park the way its planners hoped it would be enjoyed.

Green Space Benefits

Elmore and I were walking home from Golden India last night and took Cooper into Overton Park. We crossed Poplar, stepped on to the golf course, and immediately felt the temperature drop several degrees, just entering the fringe of the golf course. It was like we stepped through an invisible curtain into a different ecosystem. It's amazing how different it is walking in the park than walking on the city streets.

Wedding Vine

A neighbor just told me this vine is called Autumn Clematis, but I always think of it as wedding vine. It blooms in the park (and around Midtown) in the late summer. It was blooming in the month leading up to my wedding, when my planning was kicked into high gear, and it felt like the park was celebrating with me. Now every year it reminds me of that time and heralds my coming anniversary.

The great thing about walking in the park every day is that you become so tuned into the minor signals of seasons, the constantly changing quilt of nature. What is happening in the natural world becomes entwined with your everyday life. How lucky we are, in the heart of the city, to have a forest to walk in every day.

Shell kicks off Thursday

It's the Raul Wallenberg concert Thursday night at the Shell, its kick-off for the fall season. Should be both a fun and meaningful night with "Tear Down the Walls", a Jewish contemporary music group as well as an interfaith gathering of synagogues, churches, and clergy of numerous stripes.