A small sampling of art at The Children’s Art Gallery at Cauley Square

All of us who knew the Children’s Art Gallery were sad to see them leave Homestead, but it was an issue of timing that couldn’t be avoided. I’ve posted before about Cauley Square, the pleasant 10-acre parcel between Homestead and Cutler Bay with cute shops and a couple of restaurants. They were happy to provide a location for the Children’s Art Gallery and if you haven’t visited Natalie and Carlos there, you are missing a treat. If you aren’t familiar with the Gallery, the name can be misleading. They do indeed provide a wonderful environment for children (to include special needs) to express themselves artistically and to learn, but their love of art extends well beyond that. Aside from their own considerable talent, they nurture artists as often and in every way they can. (http://www.childrensgalleryartscenter.org)

The gallery has a range of mediums to select from and if you need a beautiful scarf, I would look there first. Some handcrafted jewelry is almost always available and there are other small gift items if that’s what you are looking for. The array of classes in different mediums is impressive and their Art and Wine Parties can provide something new to try. Have a piece of art to restore? That is yet another service to talk to them about. Their passion for art shows through in everything they do and if you want to help support the arts, spend some time on their website or make some time to visit them. At a minimum, you will feel uplifted being in the presence of a couple whose lives are devoted to sharing their love of art.

Beautiful scarves and other wearable art

Veteran’s Day Ceremony Homestead, FL Nov 2015

Serious and poignant content alert! Not that all Veteran’s Day Celebrations don’t have good things about them. They do, and it’s always heart-warming to see people out for more than just the cookouts and sales. The small town celebrations though have such a personal feel to them and Homestead is no exception. Part of the reason I think is that like here, as the names of those who have been lost in time of war are read, you are in the crowd with a relative or descendent in many cases. They are more than names – they are a part of the town that the crowd knows. You can often find some of the same names on streets, roads, or buildings within a few blocks of the Veteran’s Memorial. Granted, the fact that Homestead’s municipal history doesn’t date back before the late 1880s means the memorial begins at WW I. To towns where they possibly have a few of the French Indian War and certainly of the Revolutionary War veterans, they have more extensive memories to capture. It is the sentiment, however, of the recognition of these men and increasingly women who perished in time of war that is identical. It is a stirring tribute and a joined hope that perhaps one day we will cease to turn to armed conflict to resolve our differences.

I have written in Facebook posts and perhaps on the blog that few people desire peace more than members of the military. No, not the ones who embrace a culture of death, but the nations who understand, sadly,the expression, “if you want peace, prepare for war” comes from “Epitoma Rei Militaris,” by Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus). The Latin is: “Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.” (I found this on http://ancienthistory.about.com)

Although war and armed conflict does not come as quickly or as often as in the days when the words were committed to paper, it is still prevalent. Too many billions have been devastated throughout history, and I hope that somewhere in our future, our descendants will find a way to “beat swords into plowshares” in a meaningful way.

Snooks in Key Largo

First, my apologies for my lapse in posting. I’ve been significantly involved with the HCA Celebration of the Arts event that we had Friday evening and then Saturday which was to be my catch-up day turned out to be different than I had planned. I had invited a friend to come down for Happy Hour to be followed by dinner and an overnight stay since fairly large quantities of wine are the norm for these visits. As it turned out, there was a special two-part event at the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada (http://www.divingmuseum.org)

Bob Croft, who has been called “The American Father of Free Diving” is down along with his delightful wife of sixty years, and he was doing a book signing in the afternoon and a lecture Saturday evening. I couldn’t change plans for the evening, but I contacted my friend to see if she wanted to come down extra early, have lunch in the Keys and go with me to the book signing. The exact “where” of lunch was to be determined, although my friend’s preference is to always dine on the water if possible. Traffic was pretty jammed and there were a couple of drivers who were complete jerks (although I referred to them in other terms verbally), so we stopped at Snooks Bayside since by that time it was well past my usual noon lunch hour. It was hot of course, but a beautiful day and we were under an umbrella. We lingered in a pleasant lunch, then headed to the museum. That of course took longer than I’d thought, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and while traffic was better coming back, it was after five-thirty when we arrived at the house. And that is how a day gets completely changed, but on the other hand, it was a very nice change.

No photos, I’m afraid, but the performance of Victory Road last night as a collaboration of the Bowen McCauley Dance Company and Jason and the Scorchers was terrific. Loud, mind you,  but as high an energy level as you could ask for and it met all our expectations and then some. Not having been familiar with the band’s music, it was a genre – “punk rock meets country” that works well and the lead guitarist and Jason were the two on-stage while the other band members were in the orchestra pit. I didn’t ask the direct question, but I imagine that was something new for them. The show featured fourteen pieces with the dancers and then Jason and the band did two more as encore.

Although Lucy, the founder and director of the company, had collaborate with popular regional bands before, this was by far the longest production and I think the first time with a band that has an international following. The story line was of the small town boy that strikes out to follow his music, leaving behind those he loves and knows. The rejections, the success, the traps of drugs and booze, the final emergence of getting it all together. It is a familiar story to anyone who has ever had the dream and broken through all the obstacles that deter most people.

As someone said during intermission, it’s hard to know how Lucy is going to top this, but she’s pretty creative and it did stretch the dancers’ boundaries. We’ll have to see what the future brings.

Artist Monique Richter Working on a Mural

Goodness, the past few days got away from me. Saturday was spent doing a couple of different things, one of which was attending the grand opening of the Islamorada Brewing Company that I’ll post about later. In the process of this, there was a muralist working on the back wall in what will be the main brewing area. We happened to catch her when she came off the ladder and what a fascinating discussion it turned out to be. Monique Richter of Facebook https://www.facebook.com/richter.art.7, has been a water lover all her life. She currently captains for a private yacht and specializes in murals. In taking a peek at her Facebook page, the “About” section provides more detail and I’ll give you a peek if you want to check it out.

“Many local artists look to the water for inspiration, but few have gone to the lengths — or indeed, depths — Monique Richter has in search of creative guidance.

Armed with an innate love of art and an enviable skill with a wide range of watersports — surfing, wakeboarding, wakeskating, freediving, and spearfishing — Monique has traveled extensively to feed an insatiable passion for her chosen muse. She’s traveled as a professional wakeboarder for competitions all over the world, to places like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Europe, the Caribbean, and South and Central America, and recently worked as a first mate aboard a sport fishing boat that through the British Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, and Cuba”

It was a delight talking with her and I’ll post later this week about the actual Brewing Company and how much fun that was.

Victory Road Piece

For those that have seen this clip of a peek at the rehearsal for the upcoming Bowen McCauley Victory Road performance 10 & 11 April at the Kennedy Center, I apologize for being redundant. I say this isn’t exactly a “proud mama” post because it isn’t about our son dancing in the show as much as it is about Lucy Bowen-McCauley, the founder of the dance company and how this show came about.

If you happen to be new to the blog (and welcome if so), our son entering the world of professional dance came as a very big surprise and not without a number of concerns. He is both a member of the dance company and also Ballet Master for the Fairfax Center for Ballet Arts where he teaches.

Lucy is quite possibly the most astute individual that I personally know when it comes to how to keep a small dance company going strong for almost twenty years now and win continuing accolades within the region. Aside from her sheer talent and a driving passion, one of the things that she does is incorporate live music into her performances, even if it’s a single instrument such as a cello. She has also forged relationships with local symphonies and the dance company will sometimes be a part of a symphony’s program. Victory Road is the other side of that coin where she collaborates with a band that has a following. She choreographs pieces to their music and thus fans of the dance company and of the band attend the performance. Jason and the Sorchers have a wide appeal (apparently) and they were excited enough to want a longer show than she usually does. It has been over a year in the making and we are really looking forward to it. Here’s the link to the preview: https://vimeo.com/121897980