Can I Walk There?

Friday, January 10, 2025

Femmes et Fleurs --- Day 14/15

Walk: Hood

Distance: 4 miles

Ciwt's long awaited amaryllis flower has arrived!

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Distracted in California --- Days 14/13 & 14

Walk: Hood

Distances: 5.5 miles, 4 miles

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Adultlike --- Day 14/12

Walk: No, drive to Point Reyes

Distance: n/a

So every once in a while Ciwt works on being 'adult' with her finances and updates her will. And every time she does it seems to take a bit more energy to get those signatures on the page, Today was was that day. She feels good to have it over with but now she's up for some comfort food (or a lollipop reward) and good old harebrained activities.

Monday, January 6, 2025

Arrivederci, Remarkable Ones --- Days 14/10 & 11

Walk: Hood

Distance: 4 miles

Bernard van Orley (Flemish, ca. 1488–1541), woven in the workshop of Willem and Jan Dermoyen, Brussels (Flemish, both active 1520s–1540s), The Sortie of the Besieged Imperial Troops from Pavia, and the Rout of the Swiss Guard (detail), ca. 1528–31. Wool, silk, gold, and silver thread, 165 3/8 x 350 in. (420 x 889 cm). Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples. Image courtesy of Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte

So, this Friday Ciwt and the de Young Museum will be saying 'Arrivederci' to a remarkable set of tapestries. What Ciwt knew about tapestries before seeing the Battle of Pavia masterpieces at the de Young and taking in the lecture by our Director, Thomas Campbell, is what most people know. Virtually nothing

We are all to be excused for our ignorance because widespread study and display of them is extremely limited. Most important tapestries were loomed in High Renaissance years (ca 1400 to 1600) so the treads of all but a few have deteriorated. Their primary use was as wall coverings to insulate castle walls. So their sizes range from large to enormous making proper storage challenging in terms of room and temperature control. Then those same sizes make it difficult or impossible for musems to find wall space for exhibiting. Many of them were carried from place to place as royalty traveled to be hung ostentatiously and awesomely on visiting castle walls. Enroute they may have endured battles, weather and other hazards to their condition. Oh, and they were staggeringly expensive with only a few having the wherewithall to commission and own them, so the museum worthy ones were scarce even during Renaissance times.

For these reasons alone, the de Young's exhibition of the Battle of Pavia tapestries is rare event. It marks the first time this group of seven, each about 27 by 14 feet, has traveled from its museum home in Naples, Italy, to be shown in only three North American museums. The deYoung is its second venue. When it closes here, the exhibiton will go to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston then back to Italy. If you can get there before they are returned, Ciwt encourages you to do it; they are considered among the most remarkable works of art - not just tapestry art - ever created.

Even if you are one of the few who will get to the exhibit, you will likely be overwhelmed by the amount of information they carry. War and weapons history and military strategy, then European history and royal personalities. Following these are architecture, urban development, fashion, articles of daily life, politics, technology (yes, even then), class distinctions, even humor - and of course the art and craft of tapestry production.

If you find any of these fields interesting, Ciwt recommends watching Thomas Campbell's talk on the Tapestries of the Battle of Pavia. He is one of the world's foremsot authorities on tapestries and has a talent for conveying his knowledge in a way Ciwt finds enjoyable, interesting and informative. The YouTube link to it is below.

For now Ciwt says again 'Arrivederci. Thank you for expanding Ciwt's art horizons. You will not be forgotten.'

Tapestries in their Naples home museum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5QZo7Q5xHU

There are also several excellent videos on the de Young Museum site for the tapestries

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Amaryllis Baby --- Day 14/9

Walk: Presidio and Hood

Distance: 5 miles

So Ciwt's gift amaryllis arrived a bit after Thanksgiving. Since then the weather has been cold (for San Francisco) so she has been watering it just a bit and carrying it to the warmest room each evening. Even with all that tending, she's been looking at the shriveling leaves at top and feeling concerned her amaryllis baby was ailing.

But on today's walk she looked in the window of a flower shop near her home and saw, shriveling leaves and all, her plant is well and on its way to flowering. Wonder what color it will be?

P.S. The flower shop she mentioned, Bloomers, has been serving the finest homes and occasions out here for decades. If any of her readers ever want to send a special arrangement to a local friend, you can count on them.

Friday, January 3, 2025

Iphone Can't Do It --- Day 14/8

Walk: Not sure (rain, cold, 2025 new bookkeeping matters)

Distance: n/a for now

Ciwt's iPhone camera can't capture the intensity and liveliness of Amy Sherald's paint. And, really neither does the camera SFMOMA's photographer used for its website shots of its her portrait show: Amy Sherald: American Sublime. But then no camera ever completely captures the living, breathing personhood of actual individuals.

Sherald though, comes as close as humanly possible. And the presence of her portraits is arresting and moving. If you can get to SFMOMA - or New York's Whitney Museum or the Washington, DC Portrait Gallery where Sherald's show will travel - Ciwt strongly urges you to do so.

She was nearly stopped in her tracks when she first walked through the show. She could have photographed every portrait. Each one was alive and deeply touching. Sherald's aim is to capture her subject's essence, their unique and sublime humanity, and she does just that.

She chooses just the right model, outfits them in clothes that speak, paints them in grey skin tones (they are all black people) that bypass their blackness and go right to their essence. She paints them big and most powerfully she paints them in intense colors that arrest you and call to you at the same time. She paints them looking right at you and hangs them low so you, you the viewer, aren't just looking at the people; you're communicating with them at the same level. You know them, their aliveness and feel for them and with them as a human being. It is quiet extremely skillful magic.

The rooms at her show are hushed; viewers stand and look often for extended times. This doesn't often happen.