Camel Flask a Midcentury Icon of Hong Kong
TE asked, “What midcentury collectibles come from the famous place called Hong Kong?” TE recently found, in a local thrift store, a thermos tea or coffee flask, with distinctive rings …
Spontaneous Response: The Innovative Ceramics of Don Reitz
Chris Rupp, Curator at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, talks about the Spontaneous Response: The Innovative Ceramics of Don Reitz exhibit on View through November 9.
Benjamin Franklin’s Book, in Defense of Cougars, 1745
Dr. B. sends me a photograph of a little book by Benjamin Franklin titled The Old Mistresses’ Apologue, a 1956 printing of a letter Franklin wrote in 1745. I see …
Midcentury Cool Chord Organ
JS sent a photo of a Thomas Organ Company model C-12 “Multi-chord” mini organ, late 1950’s, manufactured in Italy. They made this little gem for tabletop performances, but you can …
RT Livingston and Kunsthalle for Music
Career artist RT Livingston talks about donating the entire archive of her life-work to UCSB and her installation remembering 9/11. Then artist and composer/musician Ari Benjamin Meyers and Abaseh Mirvali, …
The Art of Connoisseurship
Last week I met with a bank representative in charge of major collections of art about the options that collection offers the connoisseur in regard to financial planning. We call …
What’s a Temple Lion, and Why a Lion?
Apologies to FK, who sent me a photo of her Temple Lion sometime in the deep past. She asked if her Chinese ceramic was in fact late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) …
Gaviota Coast Conservancy & Bless Your Heart at Ojai ACT
First Phil McKenna and Joyce Macias share news about the Gaviota Coast Conservancy‘s “Coastal Legacy 2019” on September 21. Then playwright Richard Camp and actors Susan Kelejian and David Nelson …
An Early Boob Tube (1958) Folks Called the Cyclops
Since JP sent me a photo of a 1958 Philco TV set which looks like an incredible dinosaur, I found some quotes about inventions thought improbable in their time: Charles …
Confessions of a Misguided Maximalist
I received an interesting email from a Solvang reader, PF. “Elizabeth, are you a minimalist or a maximalist? Since you constantly write about the glories of STUFF, I fear you …