Tag Archives: nature

July 28, 2016 · 11:00 pm

Tacoma Focus: Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace at the Museum of Glass

Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington

You can steam bend pieces of alder wood to create beautiful and haunting images. The artist team of Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace offer various compelling examples such as enigmatic birds. Their outline frames are positioned so the light casts intriguing double shadows. They beg you to ask endless existential questions. We were so lucky to view them and a wide assortment of other artworks reviewing the careers of Kirkpatrick and Mace. This show is on display through September 6, 2016 at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass.

Birds formed out of Alder Wood

“Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace: Every Soil Bears Not Everything” exemplifies what the Museum of Glass is all about. Kirkpatrick and Mace met as students at the Pilchuck Glass School in 1979, at the height of the studio glass movement, and have been creating compelling work ever since. Known for their oversized fruit and vegetable glass sculptures, examples of these begin the show. We then move on to works utilizing various unconventional, or understated, materials such as alder wood.

Oversized Fruit Sculpture by Kirkpatrick and Mace

There is an overall calming and introspective nature to this show. I don’t know that being calm is as essential a prerequisite for an artist as making daring use of unusual materials. I will say that, while glass can certainly be shattered, and we can definitely get cut by glass, the overwhelming quality of glass, the quality we seem to seek out the most in glass art, has to do with states of serenity and quiet contemplation.

Alphabet Animals

Kirkpatrick and Mace consistently invite us to enter a meditative state. Whatever the medium, each piece seems to raise more questions than provide answers. Or perhaps the overriding answer is that we can only see so much. Nature will only reveal itself so much. We are left to understand as best we can. And, through art, we can attempt to express our limits.

The limits of our vision to understand nature.

The limits of our means to process nature.

The limits of our means of expression.

The Museum of Glass is located at 1801 Dock St., in the heart of Tacoma’s Museum District. For more information, visit the website right here.

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Filed under Dale Chihuly, Museum of Glass, Museums, Tacoma, Travel

Tagged as Art, arts, Dale Chihuly, Glass, nature, Philosophy, Pilchuck Glass School, Tacoma, Travel, Washington state, Writing

November 28, 2014 · 11:24 pm

Review: Earth Runners and the Earthing Movement

Roy made himself comfortable by the fireplace. “You should get on with sharing your findings on those Earth Runners.”

“You’re right,” I said, “Now’s a particularly good time, don’t you think?”

“Well,” Roy nodded, “anytime is a good time. Now is a very good time. I’d add it to your burgeoning holiday gift coverage.”

“You’re right! No time to lose! I mean, considering how many people are still not aware of Earthing, tapping into the earth’s healthy energy. Thomas Jefferson’s regular morning routine was to dunk his feet in ice-cold water. He knew his feet were portals to jump-starting his mind and body. I can’t help but think that, if Jefferson tried on a pair of Earth Runners, he’d quickly pick up on the craftsmanship and design and would wholeheartedly approve! And when it comes to Earthing, Jefferson would have been a big fan too.”

“Alright then, get on with it!”

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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: EARTH HOUR

We here at Comics Grinder appreciate creative promotions and this one is at the top of our list: a very unique light show over London to celebrate “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” in theaters May 17, 2013, as well as honor Earth Hour. What is Earth Hour? Well, that is the World Wildlife Fund‘s annual observance to help generate awareness of conservation. As the WWF website states:

WWF’s Earth Hour is a unique annual phenomenon that focuses the world’s attention on our amazing planet, and how we need to protect it. At 8.30pm on 23 March hundreds of millions of people will turn off their lights for one hour, on the same night, all across the world in a huge, symbolic show of support.

To find out more about Earth Hour please go to: www.wwf.org.uk/earthhour and Facebook.

Here is a press release about the magical Earth Hour event, March 23, 2013:

Star Trek Into Darkness
Earth Hour

As the UK prepared to go ‘into darkness’ for WWF’s Earth Hour held in the UK this evening, Paramount Pictures is pleased to announce its support with a special ‘Star Trek’ themed light display.

This amazing light show by Paramount, in conjunction with Ars Electonica Futurelab & Ascending Technologies, saw quadrocopters fly into the night sky, forming the Star Trek federation logo beside Tower Bridge on a scale never seen before.

The event coincided with WWF’s Earth Hour at 8:30 pm. Along with key landmarks such as Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and The London Eye going dark, the quadrocopters turned off their glow in support of Earth Hour. To signal the end of Earth Hour at 9:30 pm the quadrocopters reformed the Star Trek logo above London’s skyline.

About WWF: WWF is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organizations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than one hundred countries. We’re working to create solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature can thrive. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, tacking climate change and changing the way we live. Find out more about our work, past and present at http://www.wwf.org.uk Last year over 7 million people in the UK took part in WWF’s Earth Hour. This unique global phenomenon encourages every corner of the globe to switch off for one hour and includes iconic landmarks such as The Houses of Parliament, the Sydney Opera House and the Taj Mahal.