Dusty "Huey" McHoover

Dusty plays with Stuart Liddel, Willie McCallum and Angus MacColl. Pipes and Sticks on Route  66 Tour in Lubbock, Texas

ART

AESTHETIC |esˈTHetik|(also esthetic adjective) concerned with

beauty or the appreciation of beauty: the pictures give great aesthetic pleasure.

• giving or designed to give pleasure through beauty; of pleasing appearance.

noun [ in sing. ]a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement: the Cubist aesthetic.ORIGIN late 18th cent. (in the sense ‘relating to perception by the senses’): from Greek aisthētikos, from aisthēta ‘perceptible things,’fromaisthesthai ‘perceive.’

RHETORICAL |rəˈtôrikəl adjectiveof, relating to, or concerned with the art of rhetoric: repetition is a common rhetorical device.

|• expressed in terms intended to persuade or impress: the rhetorical commitment of the government to give priority to primary education.

• (of a question) asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit information.

DERIVATIVES

rhetorically |-ik(ə)lē|adverb

ORIGIN late Middle English (first used in the sense ‘eloquently expressed’):via Latin from Greek rhētorikos (from rhētor ‘rhetor’) THEORIES|ˈTHēərē, ˈTHi(ə)rēnoun ( pl. theories )a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, esp. one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained: Darwin's theory of evolution.

• a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based: a theory of education | music theory.

• an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action: my theory would be that the place has been seriously mismanaged.

• Mathematics a collection of propositions to illustrate the principles of a subject.

PHRASES

in theory used in describing what is supposed to happen or be possible, usually with the implication that it does not in fact happen: in theory, things can only get better; in practice, they may well become a lot worse.

ORIGIN late 16th cent. (denoting a mental scheme of something to be done): via late Latin f

Smoke&mirrors

Just blow another smoke ring.

New Author

Would like to welcome Wanderer as an author to "Art Saves the World"

The Silver Tree of Valinor

THE SILVER TREE OF VALINOR

The metal shop was full wrought and the kings of Lubbock were establishing in the midst of the plains beyond the mountains their own city. Lubbock of many bells and whistles, brands and thistles. Before downtown there was a green canyon called Yellowhouse that is named MacKenzie and Brazos hollowed it and sat there long upon the green grass and sang of power, in which was set all her thought of things that grow in the earth. But there was thought in silence too that watered the canyon with tears. People of that time would gather together to hear the song of Brazos and they sat silent upon their thrones of council. In the Loop of Doom their spirits became numb and the Brazos sang before them and they watched and as they watched, from the canyon there came forth a slender shoot; and silence was all over the world in that hour; nor was there any other sound save the chanting of the Brazos. Under her song the sapling grew and became fair and tall, and came to flower and thus there awoke in the world the Silver Tree of Texas, of Lubbock, or Valinor, it makes no difference. Of all things which the Brazos made they have have most renown, and about its fate all the tales of the Elder Days are woven.

It had leaves of dark green that beneath were a shining silver shaped like gravy boats. From each of the countless glass flowers a dew of silver light was ever falling, and the earth beneath was dappled with the shadows of it’s fluttering leaves. The one was called the Chrome, and the Windy and many names in song beside. In several minutes the glory was waxed to full and waned again to naught; and awoke once more to life. Thus in Lubbock every day there came a gentle hour of softer light when the tree was faint and its beams mingled with the gold.

Passage a la the style of J.R.R Tolkien

Reflectng chrome branching structure resembling a tree on display at recent Lubbock Arts Festival. Designed by Artist Larry Prcin using donated chrome parts including Harley Davidson exhaust pipe, golf clubs with blown glass illuminated flowers on the tips of the branches. Mr. Prcin's art piece brought together several Lubbock Artists. The final assembly was pre-tested at before the final installation at Tornado Gallery with help from local artists Darin Leighton, Tony Greer, Larry Simmons and Hilton McLaurin. The glass flowers were blown at Sandstorm Glassworks here in Lubbock.

Public art can save the world, at least it's trying

BILL VOGRIN

To participate in Off the Couch:

Click here to learn more about Concrete Couch

To read about Off the Couch, click here

Visit the Community Built Associationwebsite

When artist Steve Wood and dozens of volunteers fan out across the region this week, they will be doing more than building concrete and ceramic tile benches, restoring trails, creating mosaics and playground marimbas.

They will be building relationships that span the entire community.

It’s all part of “Off the Couch,” a six-day “community building” project Wood is sponsoring through Concrete Couch, the nonprofit he founded to “humanize our world” by working with kids and community groups to create public art.

Off the Couch hopes to use the process of creating public art to break down cultural barriers and foster new friendships, greater communication and better understanding.

Most important, they want you and your friends to join them. For free!

“More than ever, we need to pull together and work together as a community,” said Wood, a Manitou Springs artist. “I think it’s important we connect with each other.”

And what better way to connect than by building something beautiful on a playground or in a park to be admired and enjoyed?

Beginning Thursday, Wood, his collaborators and volunteers will get busy.

Soldiers, civilians and school children will begin building a bench for a playground at Mountainside Elementary School on Fort Carson.

Manitou teens and folks from the Rocky Mountain Field Institute will begin restoration of area trails.

A mosaic will be created in downtown Colorado Springs.

Students and adults at Ute Pass Elementary School will build a marimba — kind of a large wooden xylophone — for the school playground.

And a design workshop will be held to brainstorm public art projects.

Volunteers are invited to participate, for free, in all those workshops.

“When we’re done, we’ll have something tangible to donate to the community,” Wood said. “A lot of cool things will be created by a lot of different people.

“That’s how we build community. Bring a lot of different people together. They develop bonds and friendships.”

Wood was inspired to host the conference after attending a national conference hosted by the Community Built Association, a California-based nonprofit founded in 1989 to help make better communities.

CBA members from several states will be attending Wood’s Off the Couch as participants and speakers at a day-long session of meetings on Saturday.

“Whether it’s enhancing a bus stop or a park or playground, the friendships that develop when people come together is really positive for your community,” said Niki Glen, a CBA board member from Tucson who is coming for Off the Couch. “This is people coming together to make their communities a better place. It’s really positive.”

http://www.gazette.com/news/-116304--.html

Lubbock Arts Festival in April 2012