Port of Portland

My travels today took me on a tour of Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland.  The picture above shows shipping containers stacked four high in the yards of T-6.  We rode around the port facilities on a bus.  It was a little disappointing not to get out of the bus, but we did get to go under the huge cranes they use to unload these containers. It seems that all the cargo coming into T-6 is either in containers or is automobiles.  The Ccontainers are standardized, but each company that uses them owns their own containers and the chasses (plural of chassis) that are hooked up to truck cabs. The different colors of the containers indicate the company that owns them.

There wasn't much port activity because it was a Saturday and because no ships were coming in, but it was still very interesting.  There was a lot of security and it seems you can only see it as part of a tour.  I went with a Meetup Group called Uniquely Portland.  It was my first activity with that group.

I also made a new friend, Andy.  He and I paired up for car-pooling.  He is a young man who has just been in Portland for a few months, having moved here from Germany.  His English is great, and it was fun to have company for the ride.

MISSISSIPPI PIZZA

Today, my travels took me to North Portland's Mississippi Avenue to see Mary's band, Succotash, and eat pizza with some friends.  The band was great, the food tasty, and the company fun.  Mary is on the right in the picture.  Her bandmates are Allison and Joe.  More information about the band can be found at www.succotashband.com.

It was especially nice because today would have been Howard's 84th birthday.  With a "tear in my eye" and love in my heart, I enjoyed hearing the band sing "Good Night Irene" in honor of Mary's dad and my beloved late husband, Howard.  Lots of other good music, too, but that was special!

Mississippi Avenue is a fun neighborhood.  I saw lots of other restaurants, some nice shops, and a huge recycling center where you can take stuff you don't want and buy stuff you do--mostly for home remodeling.

RED

I had a big treat today when I went to see the Tony-award winning play about Mark Rothko, Red.  There are only two characters in this play---Mark Rothko and a fictional assistant, Ken.  The dialogue deals with the big issues about such as why an artist makes art, why Rothko worked big, the meaning of color, and the "life" of the painting once the artist brings it into existence. There really were more issues, but this is a blog--not an essay...so I share with you the ones I thought about on the way home.

Rothko has Portland roots because he emigrated here from Russia when he was 10.  He went to high school here and studied art at the Museum School, which is now the Pacific Northwest College of Art.  His first exhibit was at the Portland Art Museum PAM).  I give them credit for knowing his work was important, even then.  PAM has survey show going on now.  I am organizing a group for docent-led tour.  

The time frame of the play is the 60s when Rothko was working on a series (which he called murals) of paintings for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York.  Eventually, Rothko withdrew the pieces from the restaurant and returned the commission.  

I felt privileged to see this thought-provoking play.  Although Rothko is someone I may not have wanted to know personally, I never tire of looking at (and being with) his huge confrontive, and yet also comforting, works of art.  They do seem to have their own presence.  The viewer is almost forced to interact with them rather than just looking at them.

As a performance, the play has some unique elements.  Ken actually stretches a huge canvas and he and Rothko give it a base coat of red---of course!  It was a powerful demonstration.

I'm glad I went.

Art I bought in Cuba

I had a couple of objectives on my trip to Cuba.  One was to paint a mural, which didn't actually happen...but I am OK with that.  It was to be in the artist community at Muraleando.  We did glaze some tiles that will be part of the mural eventually.  I just feel that means I have to go back!   

The other objective was to connect with Cuban artists.  That was very successful.  I bought four pieces of art from artists who I really care about and who I want to keep as friends.  Oh, and the art is very fun!

Here's a very colorful acrylic painting...with collage elements by my dear friend Nivia.  She is really a wonderful artist and we have established some e-mail communication.  I am pretty excited by that.

I also bought a "portrait" by one of our guides, Victor.  It is interesting, and he explained the allegorical implications of the woman's hat being a home on her head and the fact that leaves for hair indicate she is still growing.  There is more, but it was pretty complicated.

Yoan was one of the very special people I met.  He is a ceramicist, and helped us to glaze the tiles.  He also became a good friend and helped me with transportation of a carryon that had been filled with art supplies, Yoan made sure I always had a good seat for various presentations.  I think he particularly liked me because I brought some high quality ceramic glazes and he got to keep what we didn't use.  He also gave me a little ceramic dish, which I will write about on the Plum Gallery blog, but this is a lithograph print I bought from him.

Nivia's husband made a lineoleum print I especially liked, and so I brought it back.  I love the way the chicken uses a saddle to ride the fish!

Hope you enjoyed a little Cuban art.  I do.  It always cheers me up.

My Trip to Cuba - Part 2

My favorite thing in Cuba was Muraleando.  It was such a great experience to see a community where "art rules."  I wanted the above photo of me with a "mood selector" in Muraleando because it is one of the few things I had seen on the internet about Muraleando.  The arrow was missing, but my mood was "amistoso"---friendly.  Muraleando is actually part of an area called Lawton---please don't ask me to explain that!   Several years ago, people started painting murals in this neighborhood to make it look more lively.  The idea caught on and thrives.  

A couple of years ago, Manolo (who is kind of the executive director of what is going on) had an idea to take an abandoned water tank in the neighborhood and clean it out and turn it into a gallery/classroom.  It is called "El Tanque."  This is a view of the structure, with the courtyard in front where there are art activities, dancing and music.

On the inside it is a gallery/classroom.  Below is a picture taken on the inside on the day that we glazed some tiles made by a previous group.  On a future trip, the tiles will be incorporated into a mural.  

I hope to return to Muraleando, and work on murals.  During the month of April, people come from all over the world to work on them.  An obelisk outside documents countries that have participated.  Countries are listed on all four sides.

If you want to see more pictures, check out my Picasa album, Trip to Cuba December 2011.

My Trip to Cuba- Part 1

I took a trip to Cuba in December and have been so busy since I got back that I haven't been able to catch up and make posts on my travel blog.  I had no internet access during the trip.  When I came back, it was time to get ready for Christmas, then New Year's, and then the Rose Ball...all keeping me busy and in touch with people I love.  There will be more than one travel post about Cuba, because we did and saw a lot.

Now's a good time to reflect on what I saw.  I cannot forget Havana.  It was once a beautiful city, and parts of it, such as Old Havana, still are. It has a Spanish colonial style.  Very classic. This is the Capitol:

But we also saw a lot of crumbling buildings.  It was surprising to realize people were living in buildings that had already started to come down.

We visited David's friend Richard.  This was David's fifth trip to Cuba and he had met Richard on a previous trip.  To get to Richard's apartment, we had to walk up a spiral staircase without a hand rail.  The first time we did it was in the dark, so I didn't even know what it was really like.  I didn't realize that it was propped up with a two by four until we came back on another day when there was more light.  I took some pictures:

When we did get in the apartment, it was very small--I think less than 200 square feet--and very sparse. Four people live there--Richard, his wife and two children.  I got the impression that they are a fairly typical family.  Despite their challenging living conditions, they were very happy and welcoming people....as were all the Cubans we met.

I learned that the Cubans have a great love of children and family, and they really don't seem to be concerned about material things. I noticed that there is virtually no advertising.  There are billboards, but they have mottos encouraging people to support others in their community or to value education.  Some had pictures of Fidel and quotes from him.  I got the message that humanistic concepts are valued more than things.  More later.

Thanksgiving at Camp Westwind

One of the really great things about marrying into the Rondthaler family is Thanksgiving at Camp Westwind on the Oregon Coast.  It is a little north of Lincoln City and from the beach you get an iconic view of Cascade Head....shown in the photograph above.  I have always cherished the fact that, when you walk on the beach where I took this picture, you will know anyone you see.  At Thanksgiving, our group "owns" that beach.

Of course, Thanksgiving is all about the food....and the Black Mountain Thanksgiving does not disappoint--especially in the pie department.  There are a lot of people, because there are several families involved.  The annual celebration evolved from a group who went to Black Mountain College in North Carolina.  Gradually, as they moved to Oregon, they formed a group that decided that Thanksgiving was THE holiday to celebrate and they would celebrate together. That was about 1950---they have done it ever since, without missing a year.  Now, their children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren are there.

There were four turkeys,and almost 80 people for the Thanksgiving dinner.  I loved catching up on the news of Howard's daughters and their families.  Here's a picture of his beautiful and very loving daughters:

Mary Rondthaler, Elizabeth Rondthaler Jolley, and Catherine Rondthaler

This is how it looked right before Thanksgiving dinner: