Sunday, February 17, 2013

Should I Stay or Should I Go

As computer technology develops and becomes more and more complicated, always at its heart is something very simple, very basic, very beatiful; a switch.  On. Off.

Friday, February 15, 2013

The First Thanksgiving

In fifth grade we had to do paintings of the First Thanksgiving.  Of course it was all about Pilgrims and Indians and turkeys.  These illustrations were your standard tempera paints on manilla paper stuff.  Well, at one point I accidentally dripped some flesh-colored paint on the end of a Pilgrim's boot.  It looked funny so I made it his toe and added a flap of boot that his toe had broke through.  I was so amused, I painted an arrow  sticking out of his hat.  For some reason, that painting disappeared.

Well about three months later I got my first baby-sitting assignment.  My Mom was called in to discuss my "problem." At that time my brother was about a month old.  Mom, a Registered Nurse, would come home from working the midnight shift in the emergency room at Edgewater Hospital and my Dad would go off to work downtown.  This particular morning she had to stop off at school first to discuss my problem with the school psychologist.  My Dad could (or maybe would) not stay home with my baby Brother until she got home, so I had to watch him.

When my Mom got there, they pulled out the painting.  Apparently my teacher and the administrators at Stone School were disturbed by what I thought was just a funny work of art.  They also told her about my drawings of tornados and flaming car crashes (I watched a lot of Speed Racer in those days). Bleary-eyed from being awake for almost 12 hours, her response was something like, "YOU HAD ME COME IN HERE FOR THIS?!!"

They already had put together an extended program of psychological evaluation and treatment and needed her signature to get started. She stormed out of the meeting and came home.

I went to school late that day and was scolded by the teacher, who knew I was going to be late and why.  I was in trouble anyway.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Alley Studies: A Trip Through Chicago’s OTHER Street Grid

Alley Study 4 with L Train
Chicago is famous for its large grid of streets. It’s a sort of framework on which the city is built. Based on the United States Public Land Survey, there are eight blocks to a mile with a major thoroughfare every four. These blocks are either laid out in full (long blocks) or halved (short blocks).

However, there is another network of roadways that is almost as large and somewhat more interesting. A secondary lattice of alleys, offset from the streets is where the burg takes care of its dirty business. It’s a place where garbage is collected, parking is accessed and power is delivered. It is also a place where many acts that aren’t meant for public view are carried out.

For children growing up in Chicago, the alley is a playground. There are games that are designed for it. Lineball, a linear version of softball uses the cracks, garage edges and phone poles to mark off areas that determine whether a ball’s bounce is a single, double, triple or home run.  Hitting the ball in a yard is an automatic out. Touch football with just a few guys is just made for the narrow confines of the alley.  There are also appliance boxes to play in and garage roofs to climb.

The sign on the front door says “DELIVER ALL GOODS IN REAR.” That means groceries, coal furniture and other large items go down the alley.  There was a time when the knife sharpener and the fruit & vegetable salesmen would announce their presence in song. Ice and milk were also delivered via the alley.  Carriers pushed wooden carts filled with the morning newspapers. Many of them had metal wheels that made a deafening racket as they rolled along, often at a jog.

The alley hasn’t changed much over the years. However, one can still find the occasional concrete ash bin. Perhaps the observant could even spot a 55 gallon drum or two being reused as garbage cans.
Before plastic bins, these were ubiquitous. They once contained fluids as diverse as banana puree and machine lubricant. Gone, though, is the distinctive sound of an empty can hitting the ground after it was emptied into the back of the refuse truck. Toward the end of their existence they had aluminum lids, compliments of the mayor, that would crash around the alley with the wind.

The alley holds together the social fabric of the city. People are more likely to know their neighbors from across the alley than across the street as they are usually closer and not cut off from each other by a busy street. It’s a place to hang out.

The alleyscape exists on a more human scale. Vehicles and pedestrians share the space much like a medieval street in modern Europe.

It is this relationship of alleys with the city that has forever made an impression on me and inspired me to make these drawings – a tribute to the Chicago alley.

From the book, Alley Studies: A Trip through Chicago's OTHER Street Grid, a collection of alley drawings, ©2012 William Dolan all rights reserved.

Please go here to find out more and to purchase the book.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

I'm Back

I walked away from blogging for a while while I focused on the art blog I'm involved with, NeotericArt. Well, for the most part, I've exhausted everything I wanted to say about the art world.

Since then, I've been occasionally been writing extended Facebook updates.  It seems to me this would be more of an appropriate venue for that.  It's also a good place to archive those thoughts. Therefore, in the next week or so, I'll be moving those posts over here. After that, I'll be writing more frequently.  I do have something to say that I can't or that I don't want to say through my art.

I will also add a link from the navbar on my site so more people can find this.  As it is now, spam bots are the only visitors that this blog gets.

In any case, it's good to be back.