🙂
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged beauty, colors, Inspiration, mystery, nature, Photography, urban landscape, water | 1 Comment »
I finally found the leaf, curled but not crumbled, at the bottom of a bag. It survived the trip from South Carolina through three states before returning to Massachusetts. It came from a tree in my uncle’s yard originally planted by his wife. One day at the kitchen table she mentioned making a cup of fig tea. I’d never heard of such a thing.
She pointed to the tree outside, wide canopied with dark flat leaves, and said it was too bad we hadn’t been visiting when the branches had been weighted down with fruit and the birds were all about. She sometimes made a jam, she said, but this year she just pulled off some leaves to dry and make tea. As I snapped off my leaf, I promised to photograph it as it dried and then its final journey into tea. She laughed.
I think this leaf has a bit more drying to do and until then makes a fun photographic subject.
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged family, figs, green, Inspiration, leaves, nature, Photography, tea, trees | 1 Comment »
Trinity Church in the City of Boston has produced a new guidebook that highlights and explores the art and architectural features of this historic gem. The 48-pages feature information about the principal makers of the building, its design and construction which primarily took place between 1872-1877, interior and exterior decorations, and much more. It is a visual treat with reproductions of original sketches, early watercolor paintings, as well as interior and exterior images by many fine local photographers. I am honored to have two photos in this book including this detail from John La Farge’s Purity stained glass window.
As noted at the end of the publication, the guidebook is dedicated to Edward Earl Duffy (1960-2012), a Trinity Church parishioner and tour guide who loved the building’s art and architectural legacy. The book is available for $11.95 in the church gift shop. Enjoy!
Posted in Inspiration, Photography, Publication Updates | Tagged architecture, art, churches, Inspiration, John La Farge, Photography, Purity, stained glass windows | 1 Comment »
and the sand shapes the water. A view while crouching in the sand at Revere Beach. Available as blank notecard here.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged beauty, Inspiration, nature, Photography, physics, Revere Beach, sand, stationery, urban landscape, water | 3 Comments »
Walking through Belle Isle Marsh is not a traditional escape into the wild. Logan Airport is nearby so passenger planes fly overhead continuously. Stare into the distance and in one direction, over the marshy land, you see the glittering cityscape of downtown Boston skycrapers. In another direction you see the candy colored houses of residents who live nearby. It is a well-attended, and well-tended, state park located in East Boston. I tend to visit late in the day on a Sunday for about an hour which once led to the creation of this book, One Hour in Belle Isle. After the recent long journey it was a treat to return to this familiar place. To see autumn unfolding in the salt marsh. And yes once again for about an hour.
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged autumn colors, beauty, Belle Isle Marsh, Inspiration, nature, Photography, salt marsh, urban landscape | 4 Comments »
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road | Tagged beauty, birds, colors, Inspiration, landscape, nature, Photography, South Carolina, Sumter, Swan Lake Iris Garden, travel, water | 1 Comment »
When in Sumter, South Carolina, I missed the irises in bloom but the swans were in full force. The city’s Swan Lake Iris Gardens is the only public park in the U.S. to feature all eight swan species. The sun shone bright this particular day as this trio floated by.
Learn more about the park via this link: http://www.sumtersc.gov/swan-lake-iris-gardens
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road | Tagged beauty, birds, colors, Inspiration, nature, Photography, Swan Lake Iris Gardens, swans, travel, water, waterfowl | 2 Comments »
reflections of the changing leaves
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road | Tagged autumn, beauty, Inspiration, landscape, leaves, nature, Photography, reflections, Swan Lake, travel, trees, water | 2 Comments »
My earliest memories of my uncle are of a dapper man from New York visiting his big sister (my mother) in Virginia during the summers. He would hang out with my dad drinking my dad’s homemade wine. Then in later years I remember that we would receive beautifully printed Christmas cards that were unlike anything my younger brother and I had ever seen. Several decades have passed since then. My parents have passed away. He’s since moved from New York to settle in South Carolina. Now that travel is difficult for him visiting him was the primary impetus for my recent southern travels.
Uncle Freeman was a silkscreen printer in New York who, while employed at institutions like American Image Editions, printed the works of Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, Robert Indiana, Ed Paschke and many other artists. Once he’d learned the art of screen printing he informally taught others including Isabelle Collin Dufresne, known as Ultra Violet. A signed copy of her memoir sits on his bookshelf. “She was famous, right?” I asked my uncle. He said, “She wanted to be.”
When we went to visit my uncle, now 80 years old, I was anticipating an interview where I’d collect tawdry details of Warhol and his parties, the lowdown on the New York arts scene of the 80s and 90s, and so on. But my uncle, ever the gentleman, would only chuckle or smile as we queried him relentlessly. He did share some of the prints he still has in his possession and would describe the techniques used to produce the colors and shading on the page. His wife, who loves butterflies, mentioned accidentally cutting up a Salvador Dali screen print because she was so intent on obtaining the butterflies at the top of the page she did not notice Dali’s signature at the bottom. The altered print hangs quite lovely on a bedroom wall.
It was the art on the walls that kept drawing my attention in my uncle’s modest home. A few screen prints hung, but mostly the walls were lined with canvas paintings. I began to notice artwork outside as well, paintings on trees and wooden panels. Finally I asked who did all of the paintings and he said, “I did.” His wife pulled more from under a bed and those tucked away in closets. As for when he did them, he said the majority were done while recovering from prostate cancer. As he received treatment, “I couldn’t do much but I could paint.”
He shared no rhyme or reason for his subjects. “Just whatever came to mind and whatever pens and paints I had available.”
Birds seemed to be a favorite theme.
And then there was Obama. Born in the south in the 1930s, having experienced the realities of racism firsthand, Obama’s election meant a great deal. “I have a better painting of him,” he said as I gazed at this one on the wall, but we never got around to finding it.
He hadn’t painted before the cancer, he said, and he hasn’t really painted since his recovery. But I have encouraged him to do so. In fact I suggested a subject.
In the evenings as we sat down to dinner he would make his way slowly to the front door and open it wide. For the first few days that we visited, there was nothing to see but then the final evening, he said, “Cynthia, come over here.” And there they were, this magnificent flock of birds flying overhead, filling the sky with their dark silhouettes. They all seemed to settle in one far distant tree. My uncle said, “Sometimes there are so many in the canopy they turn the tree into a square.” “That’s it!” I said. “That’s what you should paint next. The birds in the sky.” He listened patiently as I described my vision but in the end he just shook his head and chuckled. 🙂
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road | Tagged art, art therapy, beauty, birds, family, Inspiration, nature, Photography, prints, silk screen, silkscreen, storytelling, travel | 1 Comment »
While traveling in Sumter, South Carolina it was my pleasure to visit the Temple Sinai, founded as a Reform Jewish Congregation. The history of Sumter’s Jewish community dates back to 1815. The first Jews who settled in Sumter were Sephardic and came from Charleston, SC. The current congregation was formed in 1895 by the merger of the Hebrew Cemetery Society and the Sumter Hebrew Benevolent Society. Construction of the congregration’s present temple was begun in 1912 and completed in 1913.
A feature article in the March 1913 Sumter newspaper The Watchman and Southron notes “The Temple is situated on the corner of Church street and Hampton avenue and is an imposing structure of red brick with domed roof … The architectural lines are simple, but the proportions are so good and so well harmonized that the general impression is one of beauty, allied to strength and permanence. As impressive as is the exterior of the Temple, it is the interior that is its chief beauty and glory …”
In terms of architectural style the brick building is Moorish Revival. Eleven stained glass windows grace the interior. Ten of the windows are 5 feet wide by 20 feet high and their shape mimic the building’s moorish towers, each a tall window illustrating a story surmounted by a half-window with further decorative detail. The eleventh window is round and is located high on a back wall. While the specifics of the window designer and makers are elusive, the windows are thought to be handmade in Germany. Installation began in 1912 as indicated in a local newspaper article from September 1912, “The beautiful stained glass windows of Temple Sinai have arrived and are being placed in position.” One month earlier, the same publication had noted, “The work is winding up on the new Jewish synagogue in this city and it will be only a short time now before the remodeled Temple Sinai will be one of the most beautiful places of worship in the city.”
At age 95, Sumter native Robert Moses, a descendant of one of the first Jewish families to settle in Charleston and then in Sumter, is one of the last active members of Temple Sinai. As part of an educational presentation, he describes the windows as late Victorian in style, with rounded tops and interlacing borders giving them an eastern/Moorish look. Known as drapery glass due to the folding of the glass to add depth and color, the brilliant blues have cobalt added and gold was added to brighten the reds.
Each window depicts a scene from the Old Testament including as described in a 1913 newspaper article:
The Test of Faith, involving Abraham and Isaac …
The Blessing – Isaac Blesses Jacob …
detail from isaac blesses jacob
detail from isaac blesses jacob – the ark on ararat
Jacob’s Dream …
detail from jacob’s dream
Vision of Moses when he sees the burning bush …
Moses on Sinai with the Ten Commandments …
Moses on Nebo overlooking the promised land which he is forbidden to enter …
Moses Delivering Laws to Joshua …
Samuel Before Eli …
detail from samuel before eli
Elijah in Solitude …
detail from elijah in solitude, also known as elijah and the ravens
David the Shepherd Boy …
and Solomon at the Dedication of the Temple.
Members of the Moses family were kind enough to allow me entrance into the Temple to photograph details of the windows and share just a bit of the history of people and place. The windows of this place are unique for their pictoral illustration.
Temple Sinai is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, or to inquire how you can help preserve this historic structure, contact Temple Sinai, 11-13 Church Street, P. O. Box 1673, Sumter, South Carolina 29151 or call (803) 773-2122.
Sources and Additional Reading
(1) “House of Worshop of Jewish Congregation to be Dedicated on March 28th, ” The Watchman and Southron, March 8, 1913.
(2) The Watchman and Southron, September 21, 1912.
(3) The Watchman and Southron, August 10, 1912.
Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities – Temple Sinai
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged architecture, art, beauty, faith, Inspiration, Jewish history, judaism, Old Testament, stained glass windows, storytelling, Sumter, synagogue, temple, travel | 9 Comments »
Words + Images 