Oregon Art Beat

I haven't had much posting time this week: Jamie and Catherine have been here since Saturday and I've wanted visiting time when not at work. They had planned to camp this week, but it turns out that they do have "enough sense to come in out of the rain" after all. Today they are heading down to the California Redwoods as there appears to be a break in the weather.

Last night Catherine prepared us a feast of Indian dishes. And an apple pie.

For those in Oregon or who get OPB, I got an e-mail from Mark in Eugene yesterday:

"I thought you might like to know that Ken will be one of the featured artists on Oregon Art Beat on OPB tomorrow evening at 8:00 pm. Ken hasn't seen the footage yet himself, but he expects that Sweet Pea and Cosmos will be appropriately recognized as the capable studio assistants that they are."

Ken is a talented potter. Mark and Ken are owned by two Cardigans.  Sweet Pea is a Stratus/Inca daughter and Cosmos is aHunter/Alice son.

Update: From opb.org

Episode 1102: Thursday October 15, 2009

Sculptor Kenneth Standhardt

Kenneth Standhardt makes ceramic vessels that look like woven baskets – and he makes all his designs with a can opener. He spends hours making each tiny mark by hand – and the result looks perfect.
On the web:

StandhardtStudio.com

Here it is for those not fortunate enough to get OPB. To be Cardigan related: Cosmos has quite a bit of air time.

Sculptor Kenneth Standhardt

  Kenneth Standhardt makes ceramic vessels that look like woven baskets – and he makes all his designs with a can opener. He spends hours making each tiny mark by hand – and the result looks perfect.

Sunday Special

Reading List

October 1st  is “Banned Books Day”.  The American Library Association maintains lists of by year of the ten most frequently challenged books.

On the most recent list (2008) I find:

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

The Kite Runner along with Hosseini’s equally masterful A Thousand Splendid Suns are two of the greatest books I have read in recent years. The description of “unsuited to age group” leads me to realize that those protesting books have most likely not ever read more than the description on the jacket.  The central character is a young boy in Afghanistan in parts of the story, but the intended “age group” is adults.  For those who wish to learn what life is like in other countries and clutures: read.   And for a view of what life can be like for Afghan women in a repressive society, read A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Other favorites of mine that have appeared on recent lists:

2007
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Reason: racism

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Reasons: homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit

2006
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicity, and unsuited to age group

Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

I should make it a point to read every book on the list.