Gary Blanchard
beloved, local musician
We drove out there on Wednesday evening, stopping at Joe's Diner in Lee, MA for dinner. (More about Joe's Diner will come later.) Got settled in and rested up.
Thursday morning started with me falling in the shower. I ended up using my cane for the day, and it slowed me down a bit over the weekend, but it is feeling better every day. After going out for breakfast we decided to go to Stockbridge, MA for the day. We started at the Norman Rockwell Museum. There I discovered that Rockwell did magazine covers from about 1919 to 1963; he also did a number of paintings in the later 1960s reflecting the Civil Rights movement. There is a beautiful painting from the late 1960s of Main Street in Stockbridge; other than the cars and a few store names, it looks much the same now. I also found out that his famous picture of the runaway kid at the diner counter with the policeman was based on Joe's Diner in Lee. In addition to Rockwell's work, they had an exhibit of Fantasy art from the past to the present. One of the artists in that show, Ruth Sanderson, is soon to be a guest on Creative Connections. They had some neat sculpture there as well, though I was too sore to see much of it.
From there we went to Main Street in Stockbridge to the site of Alice's Restaurant.
Friday we decided to go to Mass Moca, the Museum of Contemporary Art. I like it much more than Carol, though she did like some of the work there. They had some stuff from Laurie Anderson, though some of it was closed due to Covid.
Saturday we went back to North Adams to check out the smaller galleries there. We were going to the Eclipse Gallery and Artists lofts when we found a place across the street that looked intriguing. Kent Mikalsen had some great sculpture and paintings.
We bought a poster of one of his paintings.
Kent says he is interested in coming out our way to be on Creative Connections. It will be nice as he is as good to talk to as he is at his art.
At the Eclipse Gallery, I really loved this painting.
Sunday morning we went through some New York backroads and discovered the Circle Museum. This is an artist's property filled with acres of metal sculpture.
Today I was able to get in the studio and record the new song; very simple with voice, guitar, and bass.
Thursday morning started with me falling in the shower. I ended up using my cane for the day, and it slowed me down a bit over the weekend, but it is feeling better every day. After going out for breakfast we decided to go to Stockbridge, MA for the day. We started at the Norman Rockwell Museum. There I discovered that Rockwell did magazine covers from about 1919 to 1963; he also did a number of paintings in the later 1960s reflecting the Civil Rights movement. There is a beautiful painting from the late 1960s of Main Street in Stockbridge; other than the cars and a few store names, it looks much the same now. I also found out that his famous picture of the runaway kid at the diner counter with the policeman was based on Joe's Diner in Lee. In addition to Rockwell's work, they had an exhibit of Fantasy art from the past to the present. One of the artists in that show, Ruth Sanderson, is soon to be a guest on Creative Connections. They had some neat sculpture there as well, though I was too sore to see much of it.
From there we went to Main Street in Stockbridge to the site of Alice's Restaurant.
Friday we decided to go to Mass Moca, the Museum of Contemporary Art. I like it much more than Carol, though she did like some of the work there. They had some stuff from Laurie Anderson, though some of it was closed due to Covid.
Saturday we went back to North Adams to check out the smaller galleries there. We were going to the Eclipse Gallery and Artists lofts when we found a place across the street that looked intriguing. Kent Mikalsen had some great sculpture and paintings.
We bought a poster of one of his paintings.
Kent says he is interested in coming out our way to be on Creative Connections. It will be nice as he is as good to talk to as he is at his art.
At the Eclipse Gallery, I really loved this painting.
Sunday morning we went through some New York backroads and discovered the Circle Museum. This is an artist's property filled with acres of metal sculpture.
Today I was able to get in the studio and record the new song; very simple with voice, guitar, and bass.
