The Sweepers
Wang Shugang
Cast Iron (2012)
Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas, Texas
The Sweepers
Wang Shugang
Cast Iron (2012)
Crow Collection of Asian Art
The Sweepers
Wang Shugang
Cast Iron (2012)
Crow Collection of Asian Art
The Sweepers
Wang Shugang
Cast Iron (2012)
Crow Collection of Asian Art
Banjo Player, Farmer’s Market, Dallas, Texas
(click to enlarge)
I seem to always be taking pictures of banjo players.
John Pedigo of the O’s. From a photograph taken at a beer festival, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas.
(click to enlarge)
and there is my favorite – the banjo playing woman singing on Royal Street in the French Quarter, in New Orleans
Banjo Player on Royal Street in the French Quarter, New Orleans
Banjo Player on Royal Street, French Quarter, New Orleans
Deep Ellum Art Park
Dallas, Texas
Mural in Deep Ellum Art Park, Dallas, Texas
Elotes, Farmer’s Market, Dallas, Texas
(click to enlarge)
I’ver written about elotes before. I don’t eat them very often – they must be about the most unhealthy thing in the world. They start with corn… which isn’t all that great – but then they add every thing that tastes good but is bad for you.
Then I get to add a bunch of hot sauce.
Nathan Trimm
Deep Ellum Art Park
Dallas, Texas
Nathan Trimm
Deep Ellum Art Park
Dallas, Texas
Nathan Trimm
Deep Ellum Art Park
Dallas, Texas
Artwork by Nathan Trimm
Deep Ellum Art Park
Dallas, Texas
As a small child I remember watching a linotype operator keying his machine and fascinated by his callused hands handling the hot lead slugs.
How does George R. R. Martin do his actual writing?
Using a separate computer for writing is brilliant. I wouldn’t go back to Wordstar – I’d use Wordperfect 5.0 – the best word processing program I’ve seen.
I like his rant against auto-correct – “If I had wanted a capital, I’d have typed a capital.”
I can’t argue with King Ghidorah at #1, but I would have ranked Mothra higher.
The only thing better than biking to work is biking to somewhere other than work.
I have no sympathy for Mesquite in this deal. I lived there, years ago, when the DART vote went down. Mesquite voted no. The reason I heard was, “If we get a train and a bus system, poor people will move here.” Wrong. Young professionals that work downtown and are looking for affordable housing will live there and take the train to work. And when the young profesionals move to other suburbs (with dense, transit-oriented development) what do you have left?
There are plenty of bad spots in Dallas. Here’s one that I particularly abhor. It would be a very useful route to get from Downtown/Cedars to the Santa Fe Trestle Trail… if it wasn’t a death trap. It looks like there are sidewalks and stairs too – don’t be fooled, they go nowhere… fast.
Leonhardt Lagoon, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas
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I made it a point on the Stop and Photograph the Roses bike ride to swing by Fair Park. I love the Art Deco architecture, sculpture, and murals there. Plus, there is Leonhardt Lagoon, with the incredible 1986 walk-on sculpture by Patricia Johanson, Saggitaria Platyphylla (Delta Duckpotato).
“The lagoon was in the middle of Dallas’ largest park with four major museums along the shore, and it seemed a wonderful opportunity to convert it into a home for native wildlife—ducks, turtles, fish, shrimp, insects—by cleaning up the water and conceiving of landscaping as food. The “sculpture” was thought of as not just aesthetic, but rather a means of bringing people into contact with the plants and animals and the water.”
—-Patricia Johanson
It’s interesting, but there really is a Sagittaria Platyphylla (Delta Duckpotato) – it’s a water weed. The only thing is, the real thing is spelled slightly differently than the title of the sculpture (one G, two T’s). I’m sure she did this on purpose – for something of this size, you want to get it right.
Saggitaria Platyphylla (Delta Duckpotato)
Saggitaria Platyphylla (Delta Duckpotato)
Saggitaria Platyphylla (Delta Duckpotato)
A pond in Fair Park. The red paths are part of a massive sculpture by Patricia Johanson. I have always loved those red paths running through the water, weeds, and turtles. A neglected jewel in the city.
Mural by Faile, Exposition Park area, Dallas, Texas
(Click to Enlarge)
The mural was decorated by non-hazardous waste drums.
As I was setting up the route for the Stop and Photograph the Roses bike ride I made a point to have the ride go by a couple of murals in the no-man’s land of Exposition Park between Fair Park, Deep Ellum, and the Farmer’s Market. One was a Marilyn Monroe by Frank Campagna and the other was a work by a pair of Brooklyn artists that go by the name Faile.
I had seen their mural work in Trinity Groves last year on the Dallas Contemporary bike ride. They had been commissioned to do this one on the other side of the city.
It’s interesting because it is a completely different style and feel from what I had seen before. This is a very realistic scene of a cowgirl and her pony taking a nap. I really like it.
Someone on the ride pointed out that the woman’s mask is sitting on the ground beside her horse.
FAILE mural at Trinity Groves.
FAILE uses the year 1986 in their work – the year of the Challenger Disaster.
A while back I went on a fun, educational, and very cool bike ride that explored some murals in the Design District and West Dallas that had been commissioned by the Dallas Contemporary gallery. At the time, they had a new project going, Inside Out – The People’s Art Project, where they set up a series of photo booths and had people come by to get their photo done. These were then printed bigger than life size and put up at various locations around the city.
I wanted to participate in it, but never was able to put it together – when I could get down to a booth and get my photo shot. I should have tried harder, but time slips.
Anyway, last weekend, on our Stop and Photograph the Roses bike ride, we ran across one of the Inside Out installations. It’s been up a while and it getting long in the tooth, the paper tearing and falling off the wall, the photos fading, time is taking its toll.
Somehow, I liked it even better that way.
Amanda Popken of Dallas Cycle Style
Chris Curnutt of Biking in Dallas
Photo taken during the Stop and Photograph the Roses bicycle ride.
I had seen the Dallas Eye Before – but have never been able to stop close by it in the daytime. We rode our bikes from the Arts District down to the little side-street Stone Place – a little known oasis in downtown. A long time favorite spot of mine – I remember it from when I first moved here. It, like everything else, has been up and down many times since then.
Unfortunately, we could not cross the iron fence that surrounds the orb. I guess they are afraid that if the uncontrolled public were allowed in, the unwashed masses, things might get out of control and someone might get poked in the eye.
The Dallas Eye,
Dallas, Texas
Bill Chance 