CathieSkinner's Blog

I like Jennifer and Jason’s books the best. Jennifer is an excellent nature photographer and I thought her photographs were absolutely amazing. I also like the way she designed her layout for the book- the sepia, black and white photos and the few she decided to do in color all worked well together in the book. She chose a perfect font that worked well with the feeling of the book.It is a beautiful book.

I also liked Jason’s books. His drawings were original and different. He has his own unique style  and I really enjoyed looking at his book and his artwork.

I attended a lecture featuring Winona La Duke on November 18th for my Arts in World Cultures class. Winona La Duke is internationally known as a speaker representing the Ojibwe activist and writer, founder of White Earth Land Recovery Project and the Program Director of Honor the Earth. She is very active in promoting environmental issues. She shared several stories of how she has made a difference. One of my favorite stories was how she and her children went to Canada and got some sturgeon fish and than smuggled them across the border to her reservation. She restocked the lake with the sturgeon that had been there originally. Now, several years later, the lake is filled with an abudance of sturgeon. She was an impressive speaker and her advice is ,” Do it- just do something to make a difference.”

I went to the MOPA in Balboa Park on September 18th, 2009 to see the Ansel Adams and Jo Whaley Exhibits. Ansel Adams has always been a favorite of mine. The interesting thing about this particular Ansel Adams exhibit is that I saw photographs I have never seen before as well as some old favorites. Some of the amazing photos that I have not seen before included; Blac Moon , the Hernandez, New Mexico and the Tetons and Snake River. These were all incredible photographs and it was the first time I had ever seen them. There was also a photo of Georgia O’Keefe and Orville Cox. Apparently, Georgia O’Keefe and Ansel Adams were close friends. Georgia O’Keefe is one of my favorite artists and New Mexico is one of my favorite places. Ansel Adams had a career of 60 years and produced a remarkable body of work. I would consider him one of the original conservation photographers as he documented many images of America’s wild places, national parks and its great mountain ranges. There was also photographs of the Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II. I wasn’t aware that Ansel Adams had documented this aspect of our history. The photographs are gripping and truly capture the feelings of the people he photographed.  Not only did he take incredible nature photographs; his photos of people are amazing too. I bought the book, “Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs”, which is a collection that  surveys his development as an artist, of the themes and subjects that represent the personal style he developed over his long career. In addition to the Ansel Adams exhibit, I saw the exhibit, “Theater of Insects”, by Jo Whaley. This is an artist I had never heard of before. Her work was very interesting as well as unique and original. She photographed insects and butterflies and created beautiful collages. For example, one of her photographs was a butterfly on a sheet of music. In her artwork, science and art are united. She calls her work, photographs of narrative fiction. In her work she creates, carefully crafted, theatrically staged sets and in doing so allows us to see insects in a new and different way. Since I am interested in doing collage as an artform I really enjoyed her photographs.

Last night I watched The Year of Living Dangerously ( for my Arts in World Culture class) with Mel Gibbson, Linda Hunt, and Sigourney Weaver. It is about a news reporter in Jakarta, Indonesia- a civil war is brewing. He plays the character Guy Hamilton and is involved with Jill Bryant a British attache. There are many close calls with the conflict brewing around them all. Linda Hunt plays a dwarf  named Billy Kwan. She has the most amazing voice and narrates alot of the film. Music and narration play a big part in building the theme and story. Billy is murdered in the end for showing a sign supporting the wrong side. He is thrown from the window. In the end, Guy barely escapes with his life and makes the plane leaving the country that has Jill on it. Another complication in the store is that Guy wants to write a story with information that Jilly gives him in confidence. It was a very good movie and I loved Linda Hunt’s role in the film.

Last night I watched the movie the King of Masks which is a Chinese foreign film that deals with the harse treatment of women in the Chinese society. It is about an elderly man that has a talent for changing masks quickly and entertains people doing this in the street. He wants to pass on his craft so decides to adopt a little boy. He buys a boy but it turns out to be this amazing little girl, Doggie. He is upset when he finds out she is a girl. There is also a theater man- a homosexual who would love to learn his craft but he can only teach a family member and only a boy. Several sad things happen in the story- Doggie accidentally burns down the boat they live on, then she is kidnapped and put with another kidnapped child that is a boy- she escapes with him and takes him to Wang. She knows he wants a grandson. However, he is arrested for kidnapping the boy. Master Liang helps get grandfather out of trouble. He finds out about the problem from Doggie. In the end, Wang decides to take Doggie back and teach her the craft of mask changing. I simple loved this delightful story!

!!

This past weekend I watched the movie Pow Wow Highway. It is an older film about an Indian tribe in Montana who once again are having their land assets stolen by the government. In order to get politically active Buddy Red Bow off the reservation so they can pull a fast one over the Indian community, they frame Bonnie Red Bow in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (One of my favorite places on earth) Buddy needs to leave to help his sister and this also gets him out of the way. He asks his friend Phibert Bono to give him a ride to Santa Fe to rescue his sister. Philbert is very spiritual and very connected to his Indian traditions and religion. Buddy is angry and a fighter. They both approach life very differently. Along the way they learn from each other …. Funny, sad and poignant. I enjoyed the film.

.

This weekend I also watched Whale Rider for my Arts in World Culture class. I saw this movie several years ago and really liked it then. I liked it even better this time. I always feel so sorry for Pai, the little Maori girl who has to prove herself to her grandfather that she is really the true leader. It is about gender bias in traditional roles and how this Maori group finally accepts a brave little girls strength and wisdom to be their leader. It is pure magic!

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Modern Art in La Jolla. I saw an exhibit by Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp. I have to admit I was a little disappointed because it was such a small exhibit. I was expecting alot more for some reason. However, the work was very selective and interesting to look at, especially Joseph Cornell’s Pink Chateau. I am especially interested in him because he does collage and that is an art form I am interested in pursuing.

Last night I watched the movie, Once for my World Arts in Culture class. It was such a sweet story about two people, an Irish guy and a Check girl that spend a week writing songs. She plays the piano. He plays the guitar. You never find out their names. Most of the movie is in lyrics. By the way I ordered the soundtrack. Both have other lives that they cannot leave behind, so they end up leaving each other behind but not before he buys her a piano and sends it to her. They never get to say a formal goodbye. It’s a tear jerker!! I really liked it though.

This is my panoramic. I am printing it tomorrow. I really am happy with it. I especially like the seagull on the right side of the panoramic. I was hoping the seagull would be in the picture and it was!!!