Happy Halloween!

From the exhibit REMEMBRANCE, celebrating ten years of Dia de los Muertos.

Art Folk Gallery

Walk This Way...

Sweet Peas Garden Shop Homewood

The Artist's Hands

Birmingham jewelry artist, Emmanuel Cooper

Art in Avondale Park, 2012

Birmingham Rouge - Railroad Park Reflection

Today I join James' Weekend Reflections!

Anticipation

Last Saturday at Art in Avondale Park, the kiddos had a grand time decorating their own pumpkins to take home.  

Ballet On The Grounds

Sanspointe Dance Company performed Dances Across the Line at Railroad Park last Sunday.  Open to all that were there enjoying the fabulous October weather. I love seeing public art like this in my city!

Brilliant!

Artist Jonathan Brilliant took about 60,000 wooden coffee stirrers plus a bagilllion coffee cup sleeves and wove this amazing free form sculpture WITH NO GLUE!  The exhibit named In Tension, are on display in a deserted drug store on the corner of 20th Street North and 3rd Avenue, till Friday when it will be dismantled into a pile of......wooden coffee stirrers ( to be donated for more art projects).  I found it both fascinating and impossible to photograph in order to give the feel of size and shape of it all. We were allowed to stand up inside and it was really great fun. Read more about Brilliant's other creations here .  Oh and how long did this take to create you ask?  Just 4 days.

Heads or Tails??

Avondale Park

Little Boys + Water =

FUN at Railroad Park.

Meet Ira Chaffin

Renowed sculptor Ira Chaffin calls Bimringham home and last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting him in his Chaffin Carousel Carving School (www.irachaffinsculpture.com).  He's moved from being above Dave's Pub in Historic Five Points at corner of 20th Street South and Highland Avenue South, to 1/2 block away in lower level of Hassinger Daniels Mansion, 2028 Highland Avenue South, which he and his wife are restoring.  It is a wonderful Victorian 1898 home they're converting into a Bed and Breakfast.  He apologized for the present state of his carving studio due to the construction,  but my friends and I didn't mind a bit.  We spent a delightful hour getting a tour, which included much of his work, as well as pieces from his carousel animal carving school as well (www.chaffincarouselcarvingschool.com).  Today's posting is the Artist and two of his sculptures.  There will be many more photographs to come!

Curls and Smiles

A perfect fall afternoon on the playground!

Gone Fishin'

This little guy was trying his hand at fishing in the lake at Avondale Park during Art in Avondale Park last May.  Luckily he had someone lending a hand!

ART IN AVONDALE PARK

TODAY 10-4

Singing The Blues

Singer, guitarist and songwriter Debbie Bond will be appearing in the amphitheater at Art in Avondale  Park on Saturday as part of the terrific lineup of musicians.  Debbie is also "co-founder and executive director of the Alabama Blues Project, an educational non profit to preserve Alabama's rich blues heritage."

Come bring the whole family for a full day of artists, children's art and fun activities and hear some great music. (10-4)

Camo

The Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue has been roasting peanuts since 1907.  They roasts them all day long Monday through Friday.  Folks come from near and far to buy them in the old fashioned paper bags. Sometimes they're still warm.  It's hard to get out of the store before you start cracking those shells.  A bird buffet.

Memories

I was shuffling around in my archives the other day and found this photo.  It brings back bittersweet memories in several ways.  I was meeting my friend Sara for coffee to help her plan a trip to Paris.  She had a marvelous trip with her husband and daughter not long after.  We lost her last  year and we all miss her a lot.  That morning we met at Forest Perk Coffee in my neighborhood.  They've closed recently.  I'm grateful for this photograph, that brings back the memories of that special day.

The Faces of Art in Avondale Park

Art in Avondale Park is near and dear to my heart.  Our art show is coming up this Saturday from 10-4 at the beautiful newly renovated Avondale Park.  This event is geared toward families so there will be a lot of fun, free activities for the kids plus some great art for everyone.  Our event last May was a huge success,  so today I share some of the smiling faces with you.

Artist At Work

Christopher Champion made his beautiful glass pendants and beads right before our very eyes last Saturday at Sweet Pea's Garden Center's art show in Homewood

Since June 20, 2008 I have had the pleasure of being part of the world wide City Daily Photo.  The brainchild of Eric Tenin whose Paris Daily Photo was my inspiration to take the leap into blog world, it has grown to staggering numbers as more and more bloggers joined our group posting a photo of their city every single day!  It's a huge time commitment but I'm sure most will tell you it's worth it for the experience of making friends all over the world.  Today marks my 1,611th post!  It's also the day that the new City Daily Photo portal will be up and running. By visiting the link here, you can see thumbnails for all the photos recently posted and go directly to that blog.  The portal has been down for some time and is now being hosted by Julie and Peter, two Australian bloggers who have done a terrific job.  I'm also pleased to announce that my Paris Through My Lens blog will now be a part of the CDP group as well!

I hope you will visit the other daily photobloggers around the world every day and tell them I sent you!

The Pillars

The Pillars gospel sextet has been singing together for a long time. Four of the six are original members.  They will be appearing again this year in the amphitheater at Avondale Park next Saturday as a part of Art in Avondale Park.

Hanging Out at Art in Avondale Park

From time to time for this next week, I'll be posting photos from last year's very successful Art in Avondale Park show last spring.  We have another one coming up on Saturday, Oct. 20th from 10-4 so come on out and meet the artists, hear live music and let the kids do some fun activities as well.  It's a show for the whole family.

Today, vintage jewelry by my talented friend Christy Turnipseed. Here company Li'l Seeds feature jewelry made from old maps, sheet music, books...just about anything! I have Paris maps and Métro maps pendants myself!

Downtown Reflected

Spotted on 20th Street North

And on that note, I join James' Weekend Reflections!

Dominique

Nancy Jones teaches dance all over this town.  I photographed a class she held at the Alabama Ballet and caught dancer Dominique going through the stretches.

Skipping Off to Lunch

Liberty Park Elementary

High Tech

Promethean Boards are as common as spiral notebooks and No.2 pencils in our schools these days.  I had the pleasure of visiting the Vestavia Hills City Schools last spring as part of a photography assignment for the Chamber of Commerce's Vestavia Living Magazine.  Getting back into the classrooms was one of my favorite sites.   I've been retired for four years and things have changed in that short time.  

Act of Congress

Last night I joined my fellow members at Independent Presbyterian Church and other friends from around the area for some good BBQ and some very fine music.  Birmingham's Act of Congress, just home from an international tour for the State Dept. was the star but Delmar Hill's BBQ, that he smoked on the premises all day was the icing on the cake.  The whole event was sponsored by IPC's Young Adults to benefit a terrific new program. AWE,  The Art and Writing Experience, is a new after  s chool program that will reach third grade graduates from our STAIR program.  Through the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, these students will experience dance, drama, visual arts and writing twice a week this school year!

Life Imitating Art

Sometimes the viewer is as interesting as the artwork.

I attended the opening of Remembrance last night at Art Folk Gallery. It's a marvelous group exhibit celebrating 10 fantastic years of Dia de los Muertos.  Curated by Wendy Jarvis, it's one you won't want to miss.  I will have more photos to share.

Remembrance

Art Folk Gallery

1731 First Avenue North

October 8-26

Perhaps...

I should have saved this to post closer to Halloween!  Fog made Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper, even more mysterious.

You Can Toot Your Own Horn...

or have metal artist Reuben Halpern turn it into another piece of art!  I captured this great lamp at Naked Art Gallery recently. They have many more terrific pieces by Reuben as well!

BADP On The Road - Auburn, Alabama

This past weekend I attended a Kappa Delta reunion in Auburn, Alabama.  A very good time was had by all 350 of us.  The main event was held at the Jule Collins Smith Museum in Auburn.   Amber Lustre, the exquisite chandelier by Dale Chihuly was so amazing I think I might have taken one zillion shots of it before I could quit. It arrived at the museum in 600 pieces and workmen on cherry pickers placed each and every piece on the metal shaft.  It was stunning to view in person.