They Flea From Me

This week's entries seems to have an animal-kingdom theme going, so I thought I'd keep it rolling with this item. I read about it at Dog Art Today. A full article can be read here, at the Web site for GoUpstate.com.

This is sculptor and artist Vivianne Lee Carey. Her latest installation, "Hair of the Dog," runs between now and June 26 at the Artists' Guild Gallery in lovely Spartanburg, South Carolina. Ms. Carey has spent a year studying real fleas and designing giant artificial ones from wire, metal, and tufts of dog hair.

According to the article, Carey's frustration with "pretty" art, along with the never-ending task of sweeping up shedded dog hair at home, led her to this latest creation. There are 56 giant flea sculptures included in the show, each with its own "personality." Ms. Carey has no reservations about her feelings for fleas. "I love them," she says. She mentions an anecdote in which an infestation of fleas saved a few Holocaust victims from being captured by Nazis. That's a great story, but I think the millions of Europeans, Asians, and North Africans who died horrific deaths caused by flea-transmitted plagues in the fourteenth through nineteenth centuries might beg to differ with Carey's assessment of the little buggers. Still, she agrees that ticks are pretty abhorrent.

Enjoy! -z
Photo credit: Tim Kimsey

Ready for His Close-Up

Birthdays gifts are always a dilemma for me. I always fret about finding the right gift—the thing that expresses my affection and also reflects the birthday gal or guy's personality, style, and taste. It's been a tricky thing this year, too, because finances. It occurred to me, though, that most of my friends are dog lovers and that they might appreciate drawings of their favorite animals. I love to draw, and, as you all know, I love dogs, so doggie portraits seemed a perfect way to say "Happy Birthday." 

So now when  a birthday comes up, I break out my charcoals and set to work. Above is a photo of Tony. It's a good one. Tony looks so regal and content. Below is my interpretation. 

I loved working on this rendering. Of course, it does not do Tony justice. Tony's black fur, with its reflections and ridges of old-man whiteness, was a real challenge, as were his eyes. As you can see in the photo, his right eye isn't even visible, but it seemed weird, even disfiguring, not to have one in the portrait. And it took me a long time to get the left eye to express Tony's insouciant stare. Do all artists fall in love with their subjects, I wonder? I was smitten with Tony after staring at his photo for more than an hour. Who's the good boy?

Enjoy!

-z

May I Have Your Attention Please?

First, some dog-related fun. This card, created by Christine Throckmorton, made me smile. Do all Huskies get through life with that sly grin? This one certainly reminds me of our Roma, though, for her, the quip would have to read "The treats in Siberia are miles apart; that is why the dogs are so fast." (For more about these beautiful cards and more examples of the artist's terrific dog art, check out DogArtToday, the artist's Etsy store, or the artist's blog.) 

Now for my announcement: I don't want to jinx anything, but I believe that I am on deck to start a month-long, full-time gig as a consultant at the University of Texas. I'll be helping prepare teacher certification materials for the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts. As most of you know, I've been out of work for months, and so this is a great opportunity—even though it means getting up in the morning, putting on clean clothes, and driving to an office, like most working stiffs. The downside for you, dear readers, is that I won't be able to post regularly. I know that you've come to depend on NBUT for that daily jolt of snarky, dog-related humor and timely canine-centric information. I hope you all will understand. The girls and I will, of course, still see you in the evenings at the Park. Ta!

-z

The Quotable Dog

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. . . . When all other friends desert, he remains." 

—George Graham Vest (1830-1904)

Art: Waiting for Master by Tom Heywood (1882-1913), found at William Secord Gallery: www.dogpainting.com/home.cfm

Dogs in Art: The Film

While searching for images of dogs for use here, I stumbled onto this video—Dogs in Art: The Film.  Created by Moira McLaughlin, it compresses more than five thousand years of dogs in art into a 3 minute piece. McLaughlin's beautiful and informative "Dog Art Today" blog has provided a couple of the pieces of fine art I've used in this blog. This entry identifies all the art works that appears in the film and their artists: 

http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/art/dogs-in-art-film-the-art-.html

Which is your favorite? I think mine is the cartoon Bassett Hound by Charley Harper. I actually have been to Pompeii, but the famous mosaic Cave Canem—Beware of Dog— was not housed amid the ruins, but in a nearby museum, which, of course, like most museums in Italy in summertime, was closed. (Chiuso! The only word I know in Italian). Instead, I saw the spot where the mosaic would have been. 

The dreamy music is a song called "Parlez-moi d'amour" by Charlelie Couture, performed by Mark Isham, from the soundtrack of a 1990 movie about American ex-pats in 1920's Paris called The Moderns, which critics mostly panned. That film has nothing to do with dogs, alas.  Enjoy the movie!

Ciao! --zia