Make It Magnificent

Enlightenment (2005) by Dale Chihuly, at the Mingei International Museum, San Diego

A new month is upon us and that means we can try anew to make this a better blog. ;-)

As long time readers may recall, I have a weird fascination with stairways. So, I was looking through my vast collection of staircases and I came across this one from the Mingei. Well, the stairs aren't the focus, but the Chihuly glass sculpture is certainly well worth a viewing.

And, while we're on the topic of glass, I'd like to celebrate the birthday of Debbie Harry, born on this date in 1945.

Debbie Harry, from Blondie's video for "Heart of Glass"

So, let's listen to some music.

Cityscapes: From Coronado Island

Downtown San Diego at night, viewed from Coronado Island

The San Diego Convention Center at night

San Diego by day, viewed from Coronado Island

Enjoy!!!

Alebrijes

Alebrije (1977) by Miguel Linares, on display at the Museum of Man in San Diego

Over the weekend, I took a trip down to San Diego. Since I was in the neighborhood, a quick visit to Balboa Park and some of its fine museums was on the schedule. There were plenty of interesting pieces on view, but, today, let's look at a few examples of Mexican folk art, the Alebrijes, colorful nightmare creatures given form in paper mache.

Created by Pedro Linares in the 1930s, these weird creatures were inspired by a fever dream, in which the grotesque critters frolicked within a dream forest and hallucinatory clouds. Throughout the bizarre vision, the creatures kept on repeating the nonsense word "Alebrije". So, upon recovering from the illness, Linares fashioned their likeness out of paper mache, brightly painted.

The tradition has since been passed on through the Linares family and has become a popular form of Mexican folk art, especially in Oaxaca.

Alebrijes by Ricardo and Miguel Linares, on display at the Mingei Museum

Enjoy!!!