Yesterday morning I was in Tuscaloosa and volunteered for a little while at the Alfred Dunner clothing giveaway for those affected by the tornadoes last month. Alfred Dunner brought 32000 (!!) items — blouses, pants, dresses — and those who brought their identification as a disaster victim were treated to a shopping spree with their own volunteer personal shopper, able to bring home several outfits. How great is that!? Reuters sent out the story. Distribution continues at Central High School through June 14 each day from 10a-7p.
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(above: a ‘real’ Clementine Hunter at the B’ham Museum of Art)
William Toye plead guilty in federal court on Monday to conspiracy to sell fake Clementine Hunter paintings; he admitted that he had painted many of the fakes himself. This is a conclusion that many, many people had already come to for some time now, but it’s good for this to finally be over. Basically if you have any interest in purchasing a Clementine Hunter painting today, you would want to do so — perhaps only — if it had been authenticated by Shelby Gilley, who passed away in early 2010. Sentencing for Mr. Toye will be September 7th.
The US Attorney was quoted, “Ms. Hunter was a gem not only for the state of Louisiana but for the art world of this country. This case is extremely unfortunate in that this defendant preyed upon the best of what our art community has to offer. It was all motivated by greed. We hope that this case sends a message of the importance of protecting our artists and the those who are patrons of the art.”
Garden and Gun had a really nice article about this subject with the Toyes last year.
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The Tennessean ran an article about Leonard Piha’s new exhibit at the Arts Company gallery in Nashville.
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New world record for Rube Goldberg machine by this year’s Purdue team:
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Lately I’ve been researching the idea of doing a ‘living wall’ here at our home, and found in some searches that GE sponsored the living wall representation of Van Gogh’s painting, ‘A Wheatfield, with Cypresses’ in Trafalgar Square — it’s up right now. The press release is here, and pics are here.
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If you’re a fan of kitsch, here’s the kitsch-queen’s home, in a slideshow at the NYT.
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Love these modern-y WPA-ish posters on etsy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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The Alabama Historical Commission with Alabama Trust for Historical Preservation has released the list of ‘Alabama’s Most Endangered Sites for 2011’ (it’s a PDF).
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This month’s Tapestry on B’ham public radio features two *wonderful* pieces — one about the deli lunch in Greenville, MS with lots and lots of people Av knows, and the old Venz Rabbit Hutch restaurant in Logan, Alabama that I went to as a child.
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Fun to think about: literary figures who should be tweeting.