Figuring History

I know, it’s Friday,  but Fiona has a party to attend so we are missing her!

We had a couple of errands downtown so since we had extra time, thought we’d go see the new exhibition at The Seattle Art Museum..   3 Black artists of 3 different generations painting history and some of the historical omissions, with narratives of Black America central to it’s past.  We knew it was multilayered and full of references and symbols we’d miss, so picked up the excellent docent tour.   Can’t say enough in a blip but here’s a 50 second video  and then SAM’s website to see each artist and an example or 2 of their work.   Worth reading about them if you are interested.   My blip is the most contemporary of the 3, Mickalene Thomas’s huge sparkly painting…her work just blew me away.   (I met a friend in the gallery so had her stand in the picture for scale…so fun to see you, J!)   Mickalene is a painter , a photographer, a collage maker , videographer and does large scale installations…  She has a textile collection  (some on the floor) and a “rhinestone library”.  She places all the little rhinestones with chopsticks mostly herself.  (You can’t appreciate the sparkle in this photo but there’s a part of another in an extra.)    We’ll bring the granddaughters back to see this!  and Yes, you might recognize Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass, now done with 3 self assured and fashion conscious black beautiful women.  The middle artist, Kerry James Marshall uses a lot of glitter in his huge canvasses grommeted to the wall like flags.    And the oldest, Robert Colescott has the most references to the past in his paintings, which copy and parody famous works.   ... I better stop.

One of our errands was to pick up the Guppyfriend, the bag to catch those microfibers, at Patagonia.  (the other extra)   It’s not inexpensive   $30.  I was happy to see it’s packaged in paper  ! but I had called to make sure they had them (they had 2!) and they put it away in a plastic bag on a hanger in the back!  We had a little talk about the absurdity of this and I was reassured that they reuse all those bags.   :-) ?  A really good article in the Guardian about the making of these by the company in Germany who manufactures Patagonia’s clothing… friend blipper Wendy in the UK ordered hers directly from them for less $!