This time, art from old encyclopedias, architectural art, and an appeal to add art to your post-holiday shopping and giving plans.
Books as Art — In a Different Way
Cara Barer says, “Books, physical objects and repositories of information, are being displaced by zeros and ones in a digital universe with no physicality. Through my art, I document this and raise questions about the fragile and ephemeral nature of books and their future.”
It’s more than that, though:
As This is Colossal puts it: “With cracked spins and crinkled pages, the manipulated objects reference the relationship between the natural and human-made as they evoke flowers at peak bloom.”
As a book designer, I’m glad that the titles used aren’t something a designers labored over but rather mostly instruction manuals and old encyclopedias. Either way, they’re a beautiful way to make commentary.
“Photographic escapades in arcades and colonnades”
Liberty Station, San Diego by Keith James
Few scenes set my photographic heart aflutter as does the view down a long covered walkway towards a distant, barely visible vanishing point. As a self-confessed symmetry addict drawn to architectural images in black and white, photographing these vistas scratches a deep creative itch.
Keith James, MacFolios
His article is well-illustrated, informative, and speaks to my heart: I love a good arcade — although, in some cases, I feel like an entry or exit makes the point:
Vassar College Chapel Arcade, September 2021
This is not the first time I’ve admired Keith’s work. His “Architecture Meets Sculpture in Black and White: the Interplay of Light and Form” was great work. Both articles are highly recommended.
Artist Sunday
For those of you in the United States, this weekend is the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s also that most American of traditions: a shopping weekend. I have spent recent years boycotting Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and am encouraged by the emergence of Giving Tuesday. Here’s something to add to that list:
Photographer Chris Sherman developed the concept of “Artists Sunday” in 2019, after noticing a bump in sales on that day in November. “The idea struck,” Sherman told Hyperallergic. “What a great time to patronize artists — during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.”
In 2020, Sherman launched the project alongside Cynthia Freese, a fellow artist who has also spent extensive time on the boards of arts nonprofits. On a dedicated website, Sherman and Freese provide artists and arts organizations with free marketing materials to promote the event. Now in its third year, over 4,000 artists and more than 600 towns and cities across the country have signed onto the initiative, which takes advantage of special events and partnerships (with nonprofits, individual artists, and businesses) to spread the message.
An unintended postscript to the recent photostroll, and another in the lengthy list of places you pass through without stopping — except, this time:
Signs of White FlashShell Motor Oil
While tiny, Fickling Mill in 2022 is eye-catching, thanks to this building at the water crossing, and likely represents exactly what the name advertises — the location of a former mill of some sort, driven by the power of the water of Patsilinga Creek.
Patsiliga Creek Over the Fickling Mill Dam
We were there late in the day, hence the fading-yet-still-golden light:
Windmill Decor and Patsiliga Creek
Only nine photographs, but posted as a dedicated gallery. Enjoy your virtual photostroll — and thanks for visiting.
The county seat of Talbot (Wiki) was the primary destination of our recent photostroll, another of those places that are often passed through without stopping. A small, poor town — and county — its rich history absolutely deserves a home here amongst the galleries of Georgia.
Monroe Street Storefonts, Downtown
Founded in 1828, Talbotton was a center of education for the area; its architectural splendor reflects a wealth no longer present. Even the later courthouse (1892) is a beautiful structure:
Talbot County Probate Court, 26 Washington Ave.Talbot County Court Tower #3
There was one structure in particular that I wanted to visit: the Zion Episcopal Church, an 1848 wooden item, painted dark brown with white shutters:
Historic Zion Episcopal Church, Circa 1848
Unfortunately, Georgia’s early- and mid-century legacy survives intact. From the Zion Church’s Historical Marker:
The choir loft at the east end of the structure opposite the sanctuary, above the narthex, is flanked on each side by a gallery, where slaves worshipped prior to the conflict which many believed temporarily destroyed Southern culture.
Georgia Historical Commission, 1955
The church is still beautiful, it’s still beautifully preserved and maintained, and I’m glad that we can, in 2022, look at it in the historical context it deserves.1Read more about Zion Episcopal and its place in Talbotton here.
Zion Episcopal Church (Window Detail #2)
See the church and all of Talbotton — 34 photographs in all — in the new gallery here.
Thanks to Gerald for a pleasant Sunday of fine photography.
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Read more about Zion Episcopal and its place in Talbotton here. ↩︎
Despite the leaves pretty much, well, leaving us, yesterday was too nice a day to not do a photostroll — or three, in our case. First up: Sprewell Bluff Park. Located in rural Upson County on a lovely bend in the Flint River, the park has long been one of those places that was driven by and not visited.
Flint River from Sprewell Bluff #1
Glad to have fixed that! Better still, it’s more than just a bluff with a view:
River and Tree in Afternoon Sun, Sprewell Park (#2)Cairn on the Riverbank, Sprewell ParkFlint River Shoals at Sprewell (#2)Bluff Base, Flint River
As it’s technically located there, the Thomaston gallery has grown by nineteen photographs — check it out. (As always, once in the gallery, click on any photograph to start a slide show.)
Stay tuned for Talbotton and Fickling Mill, which will be posted as soon as possible.
As most of you know, I’m not a huge fan of photography competitions. Like I did last year, though, there’s an exception for this one: not because it’s better than some — there’s still the problem with rights, methods of compensation, etc. — but because it’s so up my alley. (Pun intended.)
If you’ll pardon the cliché, great architectural photography is more than the sum of the building’s parts. These great shots show just that:
Cycling Under the Circles, Berlin, Germany, by Marco Tagliarino (Exterior)Shapes of Soul, Milan, Italy, also by Marco Tagliarino (Interior)
Entry photographs are divided into six categories: Exterior, Interior, Sense of Place, Buildings in Use, Mobile (with Bridges being this year’s theme), and Portfolio (focusing on the theme of Transport Hubs).
Glass Floor, Tokyo, Japan, by Tom Ponessa (Buildings in Use)Architecture 1, location not listed (but pretty cool, IMHO), by Stephane Navailles (Bridges)Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, China, by Kangyu Hu (Transport Hubs)
The small city of Milledgeville, on the banks of the Oconee River in nearby Baldwin County, is a favorite for photography. In this case, Gerald and I stopped on our way home from Sandersville, and spent some time wandering the historic district.
Aged Signage, 101 W. Mcintosh St., Circa 1911Fall Color, First Presbyterian Church (#1), S. Wayne St.(Extended) Weathervane, Old Courthouse Building, 201 W. Hancock St.
I especially liked this gate:
Gate and Stairs (Going Up), 129 S. Wayne St.
We were these the day after (part of) the Deep Roots Festival, which meant some street decorations lingered:
In this edition: Hummingbirds, the UK’s 2022 Landscape Photography of the Year 2022, a potential new logo treatment from Honda, and something just in time for Halloween.
Who Knew: Hummingbird Edition
Wow.
Taken when the creatures are mid-flight and beating their wings at incredible speeds, Spencer’s striking photos capture sunlight as it filters through their feathers, emitting a full spectrum of color. The opalescent phenomenon is caused by diffraction and transforms their limbs into tiny, ephemeral rainbows.
This is Colossal
Let’s set aside for the moment the time and energy get these photographs and just celebrate that Australian photographer Christian Spencer worked to get these shots. Better still, there’s a book:
Like the typography in addition to the photograph, too. Thanks to This is Colossal for pointing us in this pretty wonderful direction.
New Honda Logo?
This hasn’t been reported anywhere, so I don’t know whether there’s a shift ahead for Honda (pardon the expression), but…:
This is a photograph — well, graphic — of the 2024 Prologue EV. Note that instead of the classic “H” seen on every Honda since I don’t know when, the name is spelled out.
Speaking of slideshows on The Guardian, they had a great subject just in time for Halloween: “Cinema’s unquenchable thirst for vampires celebrated in posters.”
A classic.A future classic — scary-great.
Unquenchable thirst, indeed. Enjoy.
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The aptly-named Dragon’s Back is in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Black Mountains, Wales. Take a walk. ↩︎
As promised yesterday, there’s more from Sandersville. This time, the City Cemetery, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
Sandersville’s City Cemetery National Register Sign
Some beautiful statuary within:
Not all of the plots are marked with statuary, but some have beautiful markers.
Sandersville the site of a skirmish on Sherman’s March to the Sea, and according to the official history, probably took place in the cemetery grounds itself.
A plot marker in marble, together with the U.S. and Georgia flags.The St. Paul AME Church, seen through the fall foliage.Long-leaf pine is typical of this area, and provides some lovely shade.
An enjoyable time on a beautiful fall day. See all of the photographs from Sandersville in the updated gallery here.
![Beautifully Briefed, Late October 2022 [Updated X2]: Translucent Hummingbirds, Honda, Landscape Photography, and … Vampires!](https://www.gileshoover.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/BB-late-oct-2022.jpg)
