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What Was New: February 26, 2002Carmel, Alamo City, Art, Alamo Square, San Francisco(Gregory Melle's Web Diary / Blog)
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February end: I recently spent much of my free time scanning 940 old slide photos. This is the end of stage one for an oft-postponed multi-month project. I have always thought of these What Was New pages as just a temporary web page fix. As I get my old photos scanned -- and if I ever find some extra free time -- I will be creating a wonderful permanent set of web pages. (Yeah right).
So little news is good news. I still expect to be back in Vancouver for a multi-week or multi-month period by the middle of March. California flag waving and craziness is getting to me. I find the people here to be surface friendly but have had great difficulty in getting below the surface "How Ya Doin" greeting. I am certainly not bitter in any way though. My current job will look great on my resume and my finances are far better than they were a few years ago.
It will be good to get back to somewhere that is almost normal and semi-sane. I am returning to a province where the government spends millions prosecuting a politician for receiving a $10,000 deal on back porch construction at the same time that police let a couple of mass murderers operate with impunity for decades. I will enjoy wandering the lonely back roads of a huge province where 90% of the population lives in tiny corner of the area as the ruling government attempts in every way to make the vast empty corners less comfortable and less welcoming.
It will be good to leave a state where the population votes for the state prosecutors, the public defenders, the tax auditors, judges and the school superintendents. A place where they all scrabble for the multi-million dollar sums required to win election in March for their term start in January.
I will enjoy being back in a country where almost everyone casts votes for a vast legislature all dependent on the whims of one supreme leader. I look forward to a land of normalcy where a vast wealth of land, minerals is protected by a tiny military and a few hunting rifles. I prefer this to living in a country that now spends a larger portion of the world's entire military spending (about 35%) than any other country in history has spent.
And most of all -- of course -- I will love to return to a country where half of the world's greatest team of the world's best game on ice play for teams of the world's most powerful "democracy."
The third weekend in February was a President's Day Holiday here. I drove down to Carmel-by-the-Sea on Saturday for a lovely day visit. A highlight on the way was a lunch stop at the South Texas Barbecue in Castroville. It was authentic and delicious. Castroville is also famous as the "World Artichoke Center."
I quite enjoyed my afternoon visit to Carmel. This is a tiny exclusive village two hours drive south of San Francisco. On my previous visit in November 1999 I seem to have caught a day when most of the Art Galleries were closed. On this past visit I was quite surprised at the quality of the art on sale. I was told that this is biggest dollar sales per square foot art market in the world! There are many small galleries in a few square blocks. Nothing too challenging but the selection is much better than that found in San Francisco.
Highlights were the Atelier Carmel -- which has a startling selection of European prints and paintings; William Karges Fine Art -- having a great selection from early California painters and the Winfield Gallery -- which has a nice selection of more contemporary pieces. I bought a small piece of pottery. It paid far less than the art works that I saw priced far higher than my recent real estate purchase.
In January, after two months, I finally finished reading a thought-provoking book on the Clash of Civilizations. I will soon write a summary and my thoughts on another page. Let me say here though, that a book explaining the events of the past six months certainly grabs my attention.
I was thinking that someone reading my web site probably thinks that I live some sort of studious ascetic life interspersed with periods of international adventure. In reality my life is much more ordinary.
I enjoy travel, but my big adventures seem to happen just once a decade. While I have done some interesting well-paid work, I have spent more time at jobs such as busboy or construction labourer than I have spent working at things creative or intelligent. I probably spend more time thinking of sex than art. I spend about as much time watching television as I spend reading books.
When the opportunity for novel experience is presented I generally have a look. Some of these experiences have broadened my horizon but that does not mean that I ignore the simpler pleasures of life.
Knowledge is not always comforting though. A life of faith, acceptance and ignorance would be much easier than a continual struggle of asking questions and seeking uncomfortable answers.
In mid-January, I made yet another visit into San Francisco. This time I used my photographic talents on art and architecture rather than people and nature. I sat in Alamo Square and waited for the perfect cloud light formation.
Taking good photos is often the simple art of making good choices. It is amazing to sit in front a scene like this and watch so many people grab thoughtless snapshots that could have been taken by almost anyone anywhere. In this case I had a hard time picking my favourite view so I present several versions. This is one of the most photographed in the city. It is perhaps the only spot were old painted Victorian homes are the foreground for a distant view of downtown San Francisco.
Next I present a couple examples of the scenic variety that makes San Francisco so special...
I also spent a couple hours at in the Legion of Honor art museum. It is a better collection than I remembered. They seem to have one or two of everything. One Van Gogh, one Rembrandt, one Gainsborough and a lot of Rodin. I was once again impressed with the finesse of the European artists in the time between the Renaissance and the Impressionism. While we honour the iconoclasts, we should not forget that more classical craftsmen were also making great art.
I was struck by these terra cotta creations by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. They are thumb sized miniature sketches titled The Four Seasons. They might have been created as an afternoon's throw away effort; but the creator's skill took a lifetime to acquire.
