Wheelchair Ice Skating, anything you can do...

A couple years ago, Liz Carr wrote a very good article on the BBC Ouch web site called Cripples on Ice*. She discusses her experience ice skating in her wheelchair. 

How easy is it, I was wondering, to find ice rinks where people in wheelchairs may go to skate? How do you get this information? Is it just understood or assumed that persons with disabilities may skate? I looked online to find ice rinks whose web sites noted their wheelchair policies. 

Will you visit a seasonal holiday ice rink or a year-round ice skating facility? It's best to check before visiting.


If you're in England, you're in luck. The best I found for site information is Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, UK. They have a clear site link to info and a telephone number for more information. The ice rink at London's Natural History Museum has policies and a calendar of wheelchair sessions on their site. The Winchester Cathedral Rink spell out their policies. 

Winter 2013-2014 it continues to be difficult to find wheelchair skating info on rink web sites. If there is anything about accessibility, chances are you'll find their tech information for reading the web site itself. Telephoning or emailing a venue close to you seems to still be your best option. This post is originally from 2009. Please share information for your local ice rink if they have policies on wheelchair, accessible ice skating and we can add it to the page.


Wheelchairs are allowed on the ice at the Hampton Court Palace Ice Rink in Surrey in all but the last session of the day. The same is true for the Tower of London Rink. This wasn't all of the UK ice rinks that noted wheelchair ice skating information, just a sampling. ** Please double check on all information, if you can find contact information. As mentioned previously some of the info is from 2009. I've provided the best links available.

Visit the National Ice Centre's site. It includes a page on disabled inclusion ice skating.

Finding information for US ice rinks was much more difficult. 
The Colorado Springs Sled Hockey Association (CSSHA) is a sled hockey program in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Finding athletic programs was easier than finding mentions on ice rink web sites about any policies they might have pertaining to disabled users.

I found a site that talked about Reno, NV's Rink on the River. The rink is said to have sledges available so people with disabilities can join in the fun. Sledges are sled/skate devices that permit a seated person to maneuver across the ice using short poles. This didn't seem to be mentioned on their own site, but the rink doesn't open until late November.

Boise's Idaho IceWorld was welcoming wheelchairs and adapted recreation equipment on the ice in 2008. Couldn't find this on their 2009 or 2013 page but it may be there. The Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, VA had been offering free ice time for clinics and tournaments, working with groups of people with disabilities. Cannot find this information in 2013. Please call or look deeper into their web site to find out.

If you're in New York, The Schenectady County Recreational Facility has information under Skate Aids. "Upon request, we have permitted wheelchair access on the ice. Those in wheelchairs must be accompanied and propelled by an adult."

Sharks Ice, official practice facility of the San Jose Sharks, California has public skating times including beginner skater periods, Bucket Sessions. "Buckets are used to assist new skaters to enhance their experience at Sharks Ice." This is the closest I could find in the south bay area to anything at any ice rink about accessibility. Again, I would phone to ask. Maybe chairs could be used during this time?

The summer of 2010, Pleasanton, CA was to get a new ice rink should with have special needs programs for physically and developmentally disabled children and a "disabled hockey program providing sled hockey for disabled persons." I can't find working links to this ice rink.

Check out Dublin Ice Land in Dublin, California. They discuss their facilities' catering to all who want to skate and one group they particularly mention is blind skaters. "For over 35 years, Dublin Iceland has promoted skating to people of all ages and abilities. Today, the rink continues to be a hub for recreational skaters as well as Olympic hopefuls."

There are other disability issue articles online in regard to US rinks. This was information about rinks' becoming more accessible to wheelchair patrons who would be watching events and need ramps and proper wheelchair seating.

A few times I came across a video that someone had posted on various 'joke' web sites. The video was described as "Wheelchair Skating. Guy ice skates in his wheelchair."  


A 2001 Wheaton, IL online newspaper article exemplifies online discussions I found about the safety of wheelchairs on the ice.  

Though it should go without saying, all skaters, those with or without disabilities are expected to follow rules and be courteous to others.

Please share any information on wheelchair ice skating so everyone can benefit.

2009/December from Comments, Southern California: Orange County Ice Palace allows chairs on ice as long as they sign a waiver and someone is pushing them at all times. Westminster Ice also allows chairs on the ice, stating that the ticket is the waiver. 2013/14 Note: Looking online I cannot confirm this information for this year. Be sure to call or email first.


Thank you so much for the contribution!


Wheelchair Weddings: I'm looking for additions to my article on disability-friendly, wheelchair weddings. This page is being updated to be re-posted. If anyone has a story, venue, etc to suggest, please stop by. Thanks again.

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*Cripples on Ice, Liz Carr

Images:  Liz Carr from Ms. Carr's article on the Ouch Blog
 
Skating image from Somerset House Ice Rink

A few Northern California Day of the Dead / Día de los Muertos Celebrations

Day of the Dead / Día de los Muertos Celebrations

select northern California locales

10/29 Hayward The Art of Remembrance Curator's Tour, Hayward Area Historical Society
10/31 Alameda 10/31 Autobody Fine Art

11/01 Oakland Fruitvale Ave & International Blvd

11/01 & 11/02: Santa Rosa Old Courthouse Square

11/01 & 11/02 Sonoma, La Luz Center party
11/01 San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild/Teatro Aztlan Park Center Plaza Downtown SJ

11/01 Sonoma Community Center is part of the fun

11/01 Watsonville Plaza

11/01 San Jose Museum of Art Free day of activities

11/01 Gualala Arts Center

11/01 Palo Alto Arts Center

11/02 ends: Petaluma, Cultural Arts Council Gallery

11/08 ends: Sonoma County Museum, Displays of altars

11/18 San Francisco, 6th annual Mole to die for tasting contest
11/20 ends: San Rafael, Art Works Downtown

11/21 ends: San Francisco, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

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Image from San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild

For information purposes only. Not affiliated with any of these events.

Fregosi Emerald, The Munsters Halloween Special, Tuesday Flashback Feature

The Munsters
The Fregosi Emerald
February 10, 1966

It's a Halloween special edition of my Tuesday Flashback Feature. We reminisce about TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

Eddie (Butch Patrick) finds an old ring in the attic and gives it to Marilyn (Pat Priest) as a birthday gift. Grandpa (Al Lewis) claims it's the Fregosi Emerald, a rare and cursed gem which causes bad luck to the wearer. Later, he says he won the emerald from Jack the Ripper in a poker game.

Marilyn has a disastrous date. Lily wears it and has a disastrous time preparing breakfast. Herman (Fred Gwynne) still doesn't believe and he puts the ring on himself. It gets stuck and anything he touches will explode. In this episode Grandpa refers to himself as Count Dracula.

The family goes to Detroit to see the only remaining member of the Fregosi family, the head of Amalgamated Motors. When Mr. Fregosi sees the ring, he's scared. They go into a laboratory hidden behind the wall of his desk. He mixes a special brew and recites and incantation. The ring falls off of Herman's finger thus removing the curse.

Fregosi claims credit the failure of the Ford Edsel. The family returns home and later Eddie finds another jewel, the Nathanson ruby. It's much worse than the Fregosi Emerald. Grandpa tosses it out the door and it lands accidentally in Herman's mouth.

... This is far from the only cursed piece of tv jewelry in popular culture.

The Munsters ran for two seasons on CBS (1964-1966). Herman (looked like Frankenstein), his wife, Lily (a female vampire); their son, Eddie (a werewolf) and Lily's father/Grandpa, Count Dracula. Lastly there was the black sheep of the family, their niece, Marilyn, a young and beautiful blonde. The family lived in Mockingbird Heights.

A version of Mockingbird Heights (The Munsters Theme) came out by Henry J. Fregosi and the Transylvanians (featuring The Crosstones With Tim Marazita). The information was sketchy, but Al Lewis may have been part of this production. More info is available, including it can be downloaded in MP3 format from Amazon.com for $0.89.

Get yourself some spoooky old radio Halloween shows on MP3.  This Halloween scare the pants off your friends and family with this collection of some of the best and scariest old time radio shows. This calliope of fun is comprised of all different horror and suspense series as well as a number of Halloween specials from a number of comedy shows.

Each Tuesday, we'll feature a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources & will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included. I'm always interested to hear your memories.

In the interest of supporting fellow artists, I'll be featuring a few shops where the pieces tie into the general theme of the featured story.

Want to dress like Herman Munster or Frankenstein for Halloween or a Masquerade party?? Find some ideas for your Munsters Costume!

The Green Hornet Movie Collector Dark Chrome & Enamel Ring is an Officially Licensed The Green Hornet Movie Gift Collection. It is curse-free!

Have happy and safe holidays!

Read The Munsters and the Great Camera Caper from 1965, Whitman. People will envy your choice of reading material!




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* Cable channel, WGN America aired this episode of The Munsters as part of their Halloween special on Friday, October 30th.

It's what's inside that counts: The art of organs & innards takes guts

These artists let it all hang out. The work is anatomically familiar. It represents our internal organs often used as a metaphor for something greater. Some of the pieces are more literal. As in other posts, the artists aren't limited to any specific themes in their work, but this is one motif where they've all found some form of expression. 

Artists create their pieces in a multitude of media. Molly Uravitch works in ceramics. (left)

Annette Messager: "Inflating-Deflating consists of around thirty elements, mingled internal and external human body parts: arms, lungs, foot, stomach, organs, etc. all made of painted parachute fabric. 

"Here our body is isolated in fragments, which mix and go through each other: the brain meets a breast, which is friends with a stomach, which in turns brushes against entrails. There is an interweaving of the inside and the outside, jungle of skin, organs, fluids and immersed body parts." (image from ArtNews)

London Jewelry Week June 2008 saw a model in the Swarovski fashion show decked out in a bodysuit featuring sparkly stylized versions of the body's organs. 

Artists mentioned earlier in this blog delve into the world of that which is typically left unseen.  

Ela Bauer's jewelry features the use of some  unconventional materials and forms that evoke images of what's beneath the surface. Some of Sandra Ono's  sculptural pieces utilize acrylic fingernails to create that aura of something organic. 

Psychiatrist Karen Norberg in Cambridge, MA knitted an anatomically correct model of the human brain using 100 percent cotton yarn. The woolen brain is nine inches at its longest not including the spinal cord at the base. 

From The Telegraph: “It was a labor of love. For me, there were two humorous aspects. One was simply to undertake such a ridiculously complex, time-consuming project for no practical reason. 

"The second was the idea of making a somewhat mysterious and difficult object - a brain - out of a cuddly, cheerfully colored, familiar material like cotton yarn.”

The Jacobs Gallery (Eugene OR) 2009 Mayor’s Art Show Best of Show Award went to Marjorie Taylor's textile piece, Warm Glow or fabric MRI: Bill's Brain.

A wearble sculpture by German artist, Sindy Butz is titled Butterflies in the stomach. The piece utilizes glass, metal, zipper slides and may be manipulated.
Word is that small-scale pieces of artwork are hot in interior design right now.

At Skin Bag, you can get those little organ purses you've all but given up searching for. (image below)

GIANTmicrobes are stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes. Sections include Maladies, Venereals, Menageries and Infirmaries. A White Blood Cell is available as a plush doll in two sizes or in miniature form in a petrie dish.

Feel that grumbling and gurgling inside telling you to get something like this for your very own?

Women's Sourpuss See Through Me Dress has an anatomy theme with bones and anatomical hearts. Sourpuss dresses have fun prints and different styles. They get good customer reviews

Anatomical heart necklaces come in different metals, materials, sizes and prices. Nice gift idea for the medical student or the writer in the family.

Gothic Heart Be Mine Apron by opheliasart
See more aprons from zazzle.com.

 Kate & Anna McGarrigle's chemical love song, Nacl [Sodium Chloride]is available for download in MP3 format on Amazon.com.

"...Then unsuspecting chlorine felt a magnetic pull. She looked down and her outside shell was full! Sodium cried 'What a gas, be my bride, and I'll change your name from chlorine to chloride!'" Ah, love.

If you want to participate and learn even more check out this traveling show. The Grossology Museum Tour may be coming to a location near you. 

Hey Mister, Are You Tall?

Some would say that I'm vertically challenged. Others would say I'm of average height. While either may be correct, I don't usually concern myself with the situation one way or the other. I have trouble getting things down from high places for many reasons. You find alternate ways to accomplish tasks.

I was thinking about a very small group of male celebrities who seem to be quite tall. It was definitely time to try to find out how tall they actually are. Someone had get this info and put it on a list somewhere. As often happens, coming up with an online consensus wasn't easy. All heights given are approximate.


6' 8"  Richard Moll, Bull on Night Court
6'8   Chris "CJ" Jacobsen Chef, appeared on Top Chef
6' 7"  Penn Jillette
6' 5"  Jackson Galaxy, Cat Daddy, My Cat from Hell, Animal Planet (not confirmed)
6' 4½" Stephen Fry
6' 4"  Garrison Keillor 
6' 3"  Tom Rush
6' 2½" Hugh Laurie 

The list could go on and on, including more guys and celebs from the past. Women of course should never be excluded. There are other general lists around of people's heights if anyone is interested.

Developing a Backbone: Bones & Spine in Art and Craft; Breakables & Plush

Continuing with the current Anatomy in Art miniseries, this episode deals with something I wish I knew less about: The spine and bones in general.

An artist has his or her own motivation for each piece created. For some, the act of creating art is therapy. Unfortunately, we can't really go out and get Version Me 2.0, this time with the kinks worked out.

Artists, beaders and jewelry makers incorporate snake vertebrae into necklaces, pendants and earrings. Sometimes they're there as an artistic component in a piece that makes a statement about a health condition, health care, their organic value, in a memorial piece. Sometimes they're included for aesthetic reasons. 

You can find a vendors statement explaining how and where items items such as vertebrae, feathers, etc. came from before an artist/crafter makes a purchase. Maybe you'd prefer something simulated.

Here decided to focus on artworks where the bones are made out of a material that's fragile or breakable. Also included are works where the bones are soft or plush, some are crocheted for instance.

A piece by Siobhan M. Egan from eMotion Pictures: An Exhibition of Orthopedics in Art is a great place to start. “Doctors always described my discs to me as jelly doughnuts with the jelly coming out. The image always stuck in my head, so I decided to illustrate it in a photograph.” Seems like doctors like to use that metaphor.

Corbi Wall Decals Whale Bones in Antarctica
Peel and Stick Removable Graphic Where you exercise, do yoga, physical therapy

"[Franklin] distorts glass into organic vessels, connecting forms into anatomical structures that echo the vertebrae, ribs and arterial vessels that line the lungs. Painting phosphorous on the interior of tubes and later filling them with neon or argon gas produces the subtle effect of overlapping and intermingling colors, which heightens the sense that light is an animate and fluid force within the sculptures." Art Lies Quarterly 

k2o by Karen Ko Gold Spine Necklace 

In 2008 artist Ian Crawley created forms from using sticks, branches and other natural materials. Have you attended the Altered Barbie exhibition in San Francisco?

Metalsmith Molly Epstein has created Vertebrae, a glass-filled nylon neckpiece made with rapid prototyping technology. 

"It drapes down the wearers back, echoing the vertebrae within, and able to be customized to the wearer by the addition of more bones." Epstein's is one of several necklaces, items of wearable art and more that I found that drape down the back. Their design may subtly or more directly represent the spine.

Artist Shanell Papp created Lab, is a realistic life-size model of a human skeleton and organs. The pieces were crocheted by the Canadian artist over an eight-month period.

Moon Raven Designs - Human Vertebrae Adjustable Ring - Bronze or Silver Plated White Bronze - Jewelry with an Edge Inspired By Nature It's available in different materials, sizes and shades of metal. Take the symbolism for luck and make a statement.

Chiropractic Giant Spine Parade Costume - 1 segment
Make a statement, keep up your posture

 

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Anatomical Hearts: The beat goes on in art and craft

We heart art and crafts. The art world isn't squeamish about showing off the

Vintage Heart Illustration Pillow

inner workings of what makes them tick. Illustrators have been working in the art of medicine since at least the time of Leonardo da Vinci's Anatomical Drawing of Hearts and Blood Vessels.


You may have heard about the Slow Food movement. A Smart Art movement is bubbling up as well. There are puzzles, plush toys and a lot more that are totally or partly for the purposes of teaching. They help us learn about the workings of, in this case, the human heart. 

Heartland, The California Museum of the Heart
in Rancho Mirage is an interactive voyage towards heart health. You can actually walk through a large-scale model of the heart. This includes a textured wall which shows components of human blood. By touching a button, visitors can light up the various cells and hear about their form and fucntion.  

Artists and crafters are inspired by this human organ perhaps above all due to the vital role it plays in the body and its symbolic significance. 

Lyndie Dourthe's Boutique is in France, and it has an online presence as well.  Among the items available are intricately sewn anatomies, including eyes, ears, an open mouth complete with tongue and teeth and an assortment of hearts.

Are you homeschooling your kids or running a daycare facility? Maybe you'd like to help out a teacher. There are budget friendly heart models available. Human Anatomy - Heart

You can turn on your own heart light with a big-hearted designer's shade I love / I heart heart anatomy Hanging Pendant Lamps (above) or start from scratch on your own. 

Would you could you if you could use heart-shaped soap, chocolate molds??

Anatomical Heart Watch Sleek has many options on style and color
For Heart Health awareness
by ManhattanDaisyDesign
View additional Wristwatches

You can get your company logo imprinted on them and hand them out at your next event. Just picture it -- you're on edge, time is short, fingers are aching from too much keyboarding. You end up squeezing a ball that's in the shape of a human heart in your fist. Memorable.

Queen of Hearts Necklace by dianalevinart

For your favorite tattoo artist, the one who's a survivor, a med student, an artist.



I Heart Guts is "the brainchild of an anatomically obsessed illustrator who loves internal organs and all they do."

Information on heart health is available from many sources. Here it is from WebMD and The American Heart Association.

Here are a couple of organizations dealing with organ donation. Some of the other sites I visited offer links of this kind, and I think it's a good idea to consider.

Touring musicians, wildcats & more- baby boomer music info

Here's a short list of musicians, including some favorite folk singers, who are currently on tour. Extra goodies at the end of the page. :)

David Bromberg

Alice Cooper
 

Kris Kristofferson

John McCutcheon

Tom Paxton

John Prine

Ginny Reilly and David Maloney

Peggy Seeger

For good measure, I'm adding these:
Penn & Teller will be appearing in a few Southern California venues and a one-time gig in New York in early November. (This info is the last I heard!)

The Wildcat Adventure is in the San Francisco area... Say hi to a serval?

As stated already for the blog in general, we're not associated with any of these sites or events in any way....

Lost & Found, Andy Griffith Show, Tuesday Flashback Feature

This is part of my Tuesday Flashback Feature. We'll reminisce about TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

The Andy Griffith Show
Lost and Found
Jan. 24, 1966

Aunt Bee is known for a signature simple strand of pearls. In this episode, she loses an antique heirloom brooch that had belonged to her Aunt Martha.  The family searches and searches. Deputy Warren surmises that the jewelry was stolen. She receives a insurance settlement and uses the money to purchase a new garbage disposal. 

No sooner has the check arrived and the disposal is installed than Bee finds the missing brooch. She's wracked with guilt. Later, Warren and Goober drop the newly-found brooch down the garbage disposal and it's mangled!

Jack Dodson, insurance agent Ed Jenkins in this episode, is making his first appearance on the show. In a later episode called The County Clerk, he returned and begins playing the regular character, Howard Sprague.

This episode has an inconsistency which fans have caught. A few shows back, in Aunt Bee on TV, the Taylors go to Hollywood and Aunt Bee wins prizes on a game show. After returning home and learning she'll have to pay a substantial amount in taxes on the prizes, she sells most of them. The garbage disposal was one of the prizes that Aunt Bee said she just had to keep! 

In the episode where she loses her brooch, that disposal has vanished and she is buying another one.

Bee, by the way, does actually spell her name just that way, Bee. That interesting fact has been verified by astute fans who've noticed her name on the credits and as it's been seen written out on the show itself.

The kitchen sink has been a very hazardous place for jewelry on television as we, uh, may see on future Tuesday Flashback Features.  

Andy Griffith's Lost & Found episode was in January 1966. Another popular tv show had an episode that was similar. Theirs would air later that same year. Who know what was written or filmed when. As they say, you can't copyright an idea.

Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) was the widowed father of young Opie (Ron Howard) and sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina. He works with Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts). Later, his deputy is Warren Ferguson (Jack Burns). Aunt Bee Taylor (Frances Bavier) lives with Andy, helping to raise Opie. The show ran 1960-68 and had spin-offs, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. and Mayberry R.F.D.

Each Tuesday, we'll feature a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources & will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included.

I'm always interested to hear your memories and am looking for other jewelry-themed shows people may suggest to add to the list.

In the interest of supporting fellow artists, I'll be featuring a few shops where the pieces tie into the general theme of the featured story.


My Squidoo classic TV 'Hairy Situations' Friday series has a page about Aunt Bee's Crowning Glory, when Bee's blonde wig upset the whole town.


This episode was called Lost & Found, and here are a couple of brooches on Etsy that utilize Found objects.

Want to dress like Sheriff Andy Taylor for Halloween or a party? Find some tips on assembling the costume that's right for you!

Wearwolf's Shop has a one of a kind Recycled Repurposed Flower Brooch created from recycled metal including soda cans. (image above) 

An assemblage brooch, The Reabsorption of Milk Teeth, can be found only at Fancifuldevices's Shop.

Like anywhere else, the community that is Etsy has in it plenty of folks who still remember and are inspired by The Andy Griffith Show.

Stop by londonwoodworks's Shop and you can pick up your own framed and signed andy griffith scrollsaw art. 

The place to hang out in town was Floyd's Barber Shop. MJMH2O's Shop has original watercolor by Michael Joe Moore.

You can get that warm and fuzzy feeling at kellibeans's Shop when you see the Aunt Bee Cooking Goddess Matryoshka Softie Doll. (image above) 

For that cuff link collector in the family, Bellamodaartist's Shop has a pair of genuine Barney Fife Cuff Links by Jamie Riley. (image above)

*TV Land was scheduled to show the Lost & Found episode Tuesday, 10/20 in some areas.
 

Until next week... Don't take any sour pickles. 

And if you get one, you'd better nip it in the bud!

Aunt Bee image from TV Land web site

It's Spreading: Some New Viral Art That Could Grow On You

It's spreading. I'm talking about artwork that is depicting disease, virus, the breakdown of society and the human body. Artist Lauren Kalman has a new series in progress replicating skin disease using acupuncture needles, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, gold and silver. From her web site:

"My work pulls from discourses centered on the imaged body, consumer culture, body aesthetics and illness. In my projects, through the production of personal objects, photography, video, and performance, these divergent discourses are visually linked."

Renee Prisble Una says, "I create work that explores impermanence and fluctuating connections from the viral to the social. I use my work to explore liminal states. My installation work explores each space specifically, using a minimal touch and concepts of community, connectivity and meditative space."

Among the materials she's used in her large-scale installation pieces has been glazed stoneware, mirrors, safety pins and plaster. One, titled Orange Jelly, 2009 (right), utilizes sweaters, zip ties and poly-fil.

Mitra Fabian is, as her web site explains, "a sculptor and installation artist working with atypical materials such as tape, glue, various office and scientific products and even window blinds." I talked a bit about Ms. Fabian in a May 24th blog post on Tape Artists.

Fabian uses these materials to create pieces "often mimicking the appearance of tumors, magnified cells, or mold. These materials often perform as a skin – their translucency captures light and plays tricks on the eye: breathing, swaying, or slowly and quietly growing."

Masako Onodera creates pieces in the form of jewelry and sculpture. Her materials include fibers, plastic grapes and balloons.

"My work is the apparatus to awake viewers and wearers of their own bodies and evanescent life. In my work, I present grotesque, and peculiar, but oddly appealing simulated body parts of appendages, representing rampant, uncontrolled growth and decay. They are both sensual and strange, and suggest an experience of the body that is altered by the tactile and visual characteristics of the object. ....

"When my work is not on the body, it is merely a self-contained object and seduces a viewer’s curiosity with its peculiar and unconsciously familiar form. When it is on the body, it doesn’t decorate the wearer to show one’s status, but identifies the wearer as a living human being."

Trained as a physician in Hungary, Timea Tihanyi is now creating artwork. A work created for the installation window space at the Seattle Art Museum Gallery in 2008 was Tihanyi's attempt at addressing desire, and the push and pull of attraction and repulsion. It is created with felt sculptures, thread and mylar.

"Why is our physical body being both attractive and repulsive at the same time? Why are we equally fascinated and disgusted with it?

"In my work I’m pursuing these questions of attraction and repulsion when it comes to the physical. Glistening surfaces of the polyurethane rubber recall wet innards; smooth powdery whites of the porcelain are like cold laboratory instruments or dry bones."

None of these talented artists' work is limited to specific themes or materials. They are all allowing themselves to explore artistically subjects that may have once been considered taboo.

Lauren Kalman's exhibition, Blooms, Efflorescences and other Dermatological Embellishments was at University of Massachusetts Lowell Gallery.

Her work was  included in The International Exposition of Sculptural Objects + Functional Art at the Chicago, Navy Pier.9.

Renee Prisble Una's work is currently at Northeastern Illinois University Fine Arts Center Gallery in Chicago, IL.

Masako Onodera's work was seen at the International Museum of Surgical Science Gallery late 2009 and early 2010.


Amy Davis Roth, who creates under the name of SurlyRamics, creates amazing, intellectual and thoughtful pieces in ceramics. You can get a wide assortment of pendants, for instance, with sayings and scientific symbols on them. Find the color, size, shape and expression that fits your style. 

Ms. Roth created custom order of ceramic coasters with a representation of the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in mammalian cells. They're beautiful. That which can only be seen microscopically may mimic what we see on a grander scale, in the night sky.

Images from the Artists' respective web sites, links above

Halloween changes in store, Days of the Dead plans

Changes are in store, pun intended, for my Etsy shop, ImagineMDD. The Halloween holiday is a good time to mention them since they're coming soon. I'll be adding some vintage holiday and event-themed memorabilia to my stock. 

I've been a collector for years and am ready to offer some of my goodies to other collectors out there. 

Aside from gathering, photographing and preparing items for the shop, there are other things we do this time of year. We have an annual family celebration for the Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos where we prepare a shrine to family members who've died.

One of my favorite books about the tradition has always been The Days of the Dead: Mexico's Festival of Communion with the Departed, by Rosalind Rosoff Beimler. You can get a terrific dose of both crafty goodness and information from The Crafty Chica.

Some more jewelry will be added to my shop, perhaps for parties or just to be that special cheer-me-up piece. Some special pieces are coming that are meaningful in different ways. Changes and additions to the shop will be announced here.

Now everything's cool, Drac's a part of the band
And my monster mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you...

--Monster Mash

October 16th, Happy Day for your boss, however you spell it!

October 16th is the day to salute your supervisor. Take your lead to lunch. See

Punctuation Cover
for iPad, iPad Mini

if you can cheer up the old chief. Apparently this US holiday was started back in the late 1950s and has become something of an international phenomenon.


What I've been avoiding saying is probably obvious. It's the official name of this dignified day. As a wordie, I'm intrigued by rogue punctuation, and the crazy apostrophe is buzzing around our Bosses about now.

Google the October 16th holiday and on page one you may see it called Boss' Day, Bosses' Day, Boss's Day and, my personal favorite, National Boss Day or simply Boss Day.

Why are there so many different names and different ways to punctuate it? Is there really one correct way?  Does anyone care anymore? Will anyone notice? Maybe, maybe not, but I thought I'd look it up if only to refresh my memory. The information I'll give here is as good and valid as the sites that I visited in the time available. I'm certainly not perfect when it comes to punctuation.

Okay, hold on tight to your steno pads.... 

Turns out that there's no easy answer for this. First we have to answer one burning question. How many bosses are you talking about? The same as Secretaries' Day vs. Secretary's Day. No one thought that was going to pop up in the middle of this, eh? That was back in April and has now, by the way, merged with Administrative Assistants' Day.

If it's just one boss, it's trickier because I found US college and university English sites saying that either Boss' Day or Boss's Day is ultimately acceptable. The vast majority of them in this case do prefer one over the other.

Happy Boss's Day!

Respect Apostrophes shirt 
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If we're talking about the national holiday and including all of those magnificent managers out there, you could do it differently still. How many of us are answering to more than one boss anyway? :-)

Happy Bosses' Day!

The prize goes to Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. Their English Department's Online Grammar website just happened to have exactly the information and example we wanted: 

"(one) boss's bad mood
(more than one) bosses' bad moods"

....What an interesting way to put it.

Content Writing Research Tools : Online Writing Labs Online Dictionaries : Grammar, Homeschooling English : Punctuation for Article Writing

Empress Carlotta Necklace, Dick Van Dyke Show: Tuesday Flashback Feature

This is part of my new Tuesday Flashback Feature. We'll reminisce about TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

The Dick Van Dyke Show
Empress Carlotta's Necklace
Dec. 12, 1961

Maxwell Cooley (Gavin MacLeod), the cousin of Alan Brady Show producer Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), is in the jewelry business. He sells Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) what is claimed to be a replica of a necklace once given to Empress Carlotta by Emperor Maximillian. Rob thinks that this would make an ideal gift for his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore).

Laura, who very much dislikes it, pretends to love the necklace. She can't bring herself to tell him how she really feels. Embarrassed to wear it, she even suspects that the necklace may have caused Empress Carlotta to go mad. Rob invites his parents to see the necklace and his mother has a surprising reaction.

Faux Leather Folding Storage
Ottoman Bench Black Foot Rest

Each Tuesday, we'll feature a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources & will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included.

I'm always interested to hear your memories and am looking for other jewelry-themed shows people may suggest to add to the list. 

Rob Petrie, the head writer of The Alan Brady Show, is married to Laura Petrie and they have a son, Richie. Other regular characters are Alan Brady, himself and Rob's coworkers, show writers Sally Rogers and Buddy Sorrell. There's also the producer, Mel Cooley, who's Brady's brother-in-law.

Would you like your own ottoman to cleverly dance around each time you return home from work? This one is large and a space saver since it can also be used for storage. Nice looking foot rest. What size would work for you? 

This show aired in 1961. Gavin MacLeod, who played the jewelry salesman, appeared in a regular role on McHale's Navy, airing 1961-66, where he was crew member Seaman Joseph Happy Haines. He took to the seas again later in The Love Boat having risen in the ranks to be Captain Merrill Stubing. Perhaps most notably here, MacLeod would work in the 1970s on the Mary Tyler Moore Show as Murray Slaughter.

While Laura may have been embarrassed to wear the Empress Carlotta necklace, there are some different items available that are sure to please.

There are Infinity Scarves in different materials for all weather. Be ready for a cool night if you're going out.

Miracle Sweeps London Flask
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Original Babysitter Shirts or even Baby Bodysuits 
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Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore have been prolific television icons.

Just remember: You're gonna make it after all....