Twenty-plus years of documenting the South's vernacular art, visionary environments and traditions….plus modern art exhibits, Faulkner and Eudora, and This Week's Various. Welcome.
This is the “Dome of a Home” at Pensacola Beach. The home’s shape helps it deflect a lot of the damage from incoming storms – there’s a lot more about it at their website. Oh! And you can rent it for vacations, too!
This is the Spaceship home on the beach, which is a Futuro house – there’s more about Futuros here.
Once we left New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, we headed over to Pensacola for a day, and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on the beach. This is our room:
We had a nice lunch at McGuire’s, which is my favorite place there, and then supper at Flounder’s, which is owned by the same people. It was really-really good, too! We were going to play putt-putt, but the place was closed – I think because it had been raining – so we just spent our time enjoying the beach!
Av and I went to Ocean Springs to see how far Shearwater Pottery had gotten to reopening at its original location (which was devastated by the hurricane) – there was a sign that they were open right now at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center at 1600 Government Street in town.
This is a pic of the building:
Upstairs in one of the former classrooms is the Shearwater Gallery – here’s Av paying for everything!:
We bought these four egg cups – I love the shape of these, and that the glaze (and shape/height) is different on each one:
This is the marking on the bottom of each egg cup:
I asked what glaze this is, and the nice lady that helped us said that it somewhat resembled “Sand & Sky” but that all the glazes are different now and mostly don’t have names yet (they’re working with a new kiln, too).
I love it and am so happy that they’re open. They’ll reopen the shop at their original location in late January or early February, so I can’t wait to go back then too!
Av and I went to the Mississippi coast and New Orleans for a couple of days this week for some meetings, and we stayed at the Hollywood Casino Hotel in Bay St. Louis. This hotel used to be the Casino Magic, but after the hurricane, it changed ownership. The last time we stayed here was January of 2005, and when I just looked at the pics from that visit, it looks as though the rooms must have not been damaged by the storm, because everything looks pretty much the same.
This was our room:
I saw a press release for the Raw Arts Festival 2007, which is going to be held in New York. The last three years it has been in either Spain or England, and the promoters are holding it up as an alternative to the annual “Outsider Art Week” which is put on by the American Folk Art Museum there.
The list of featured artists for the Raw Arts Festival includes someone from Mississippi – Joe Moorman. Joe grew up in the Mississippi Delta just outside Greenville, and he has this wonderful insight of not only growing up there, but also of growing up LDS (there’s a section on his website of artwork drawn from that experience here). My favorite piece of his has to be this one of him flying with a catfish under his arm, right back to Mississippi.
I have really vivid dreams too, but I would be so tickled with myself if I dreamed of flying with a catfish!
I looked on his site to see where his art is available, and it was only in October of this year that he decided to start selling. He writes:
“Like most artists, my preference would be to give away my paintings to whoever appreciated them the most. However, I am seeking representation by a reputable gallery so that I can work less and paint more, and thus I must charge a minimum price that is in line with the professional marketplace.
Any offer of $1000 or more will be accepted for most artwork provided the piece in question isn’t one that my wife and I have decided to keep. Please keep in mind that the process of selling art is extremely stressful for artists who are making art primarily for personal reasons and not the marketplace.”
Since it’s Chanukah, I made latkes for supper – they are *so* easy and yummy!
My guide is that one potato will serve two people – so this recipe is based on four people/servings:
Ingredients:
2 regular-size baking potatoes (I leave the skin on when grating)
1 medium yellow onion
2 eggs
4 tbsp. flour
salt and pepper
olive oil for pan
First, I grate the potatoes in my Cuisinart, then grate the onion:
In a large mixing bowl, I add to the potato/onion mixture the two eggs and flour. I stir that up really well, then add olive oil to a skillet to get that started (when I do this for a party, I use two skillets plus an electric skillet, then set the ones that are done on a paper-towel-covered cookie sheet in a 225* oven to keep them warm until all the latkes are cooked). The skillet should be put on a medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot – it must be hot – I just lift out of the bowl a large spoonful-size amount and gently add to the skillet.
One of the secrets to really great latkes is to make a nice mound in the middle of each latke (so they are nice and potato-y when you bite into the center), but to also have potato strings on the edges (so they have that great crispy bite).
I salt and pepper both sides pretty generously. After just two or three minutes when they have a nice golden color on the bottom – I peek underneath them with a spatula first – I flip them, then let them cook until they’re a nice color on the other side:
Have a paper towel-lined plate ready for them.
Yum! Happy Chanukah!
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