Unhealed Wound – Page 93 – Passion for Art, Movies, and Culture

Inuit Art: Fusion of the Arctic and the Pacific

Written by diana on October 14, 2013. Posted in Art, Unhealed Wound. 3 Comments on Inuit Art: Fusion of the Arctic and the Pacific

Inuit art has always had a profound impact on my aesthetics, almost as much as Japanese art. The humor, minimalism, and abstraction in form combine in an original way. On a recent visit to the Musée des Beaux Arts in Montreal, I had the memorable experience of viewing perhaps the best collection of Inuit art in the world. What is not well known is that the Canadian printmaker, James Houston, who had trained in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printing, brought his technical skills to Cape Dorset in 1957 to encourage local Inuit stone carvers to learn etching, engraving, lithography and...

Michael’s on the Hill–A Green Restaurant in the Green Mountain State

Written by diana on October 3, 2013. Posted in Restaurants. 2 Comments on Michael’s on the Hill–A Green Restaurant in the Green Mountain State

We were delighted to dine at Michael’s on the Hill last week while we were on the East Coast. Located in Waterbury (on the Stowe, Vermont border), this small restaurant in a charming turn-of-the-19th century farmhouse captivated us from the moment we sat down. Their vegetable garden provides some of the produce for the menu, emphasizing the farmer-chef connection, aka farm-to-table. The ambience is eclectic: New England antiques with bold black and white woodcuts (3’x 4′ prints) on several walls in a dining room with dark wood beams and molding. The menu changes seasonally...

“Mud”– Channeling “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Written by diana on September 18, 2013. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. No Comments on “Mud”– Channeling “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

With its meandering pace, Mud embodies a Southern culture known for doing things slowly, drifting along the bayou languorously like “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” John Nichols, the director and an Arkansas native, grounds his film in authenticity through superb casting (including local teenagers), location, and a script centered on a believable coming-of-age story. From gravel to mud to the swampy river, this feature film reminded me not only of “Beasts of the Southern Wild” but also of the Mark Twain novels, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. And that is probably...

“In the Moment”–Japanese Art from the Larry Ellison Collection

Written by diana on September 4, 2013. Posted in Art. 4 Comments on “In the Moment”–Japanese Art from the Larry Ellison Collection

The current exhibit (June 28-September 22) at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco introduces sixty-four exceptional art treasures, mostly screens and paintings by acclaimed artists from the Momoyama through the Taisho periods (roughly sixteenth through early twentieth centuries). All of the artwork is from Ellison’s Japanese architecturally designed estate in Woodside. With a retired museum curator as his advisor, Ellison’s collection is extraordinary in vision. The artwork includes Buddhist religious art, humorous illustrations of folk tales, and floral and...

“SaltWorks” –Return to the Sea

Written by diana on August 27, 2013. Posted in Art. 3 Comments on “SaltWorks” –Return to the Sea

Last Sunday, August 25, the Monterey Museum of Art was filled to capacity. See the YouTube video clips to get a feel for the community response , both here and in an older YouTube video of Charleston, North Carolina where Yamamoto teaches , if you didn’t get a chance to be there yourself! The line went out the door to see the the closing of the Motoi Yamamoto exhibit SaltWorks” (see my earlier post dated July 3 for the review of the exhibit). The participatory experience for those of us who had the opportunity to disassemble the artwork was popular, especially with...

“We Need to Talk About Kevin”–The Bad Seed

Written by diana on August 20, 2013. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on “We Need to Talk About Kevin”–The Bad Seed

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” is an unforgettable portrait of the baby from hell, and as such this film may not be meant for a lot of viewers. Kevin comes into the world as a very difficult, “challenging” infant. The unconditional love between mother–Eva Khatchadourian (played to perfection by Tilda Swinton, a BAFTA nominee for this role) and child (as a teenager by the talented newcomer Ezra Miller) just doesn’t happen. In the delicate and intricate mother-child bonding requiring a mutuality of response–pick up the crying baby, baby stops...