I live in the downtown core of a busy city in a neighbourhood filled with apartment buildings. During the day, I only see lines and grids and blank windows – people and their homes are shrouded in anonymity. But at night, through lighted windows, I can sometimes see the warmth of family life and community around me. Although many of us spend our days in the noise and bustle of the city, we have the pleasure of coming home, which to me, is a place of serenity and light.
About Diana: I started drawing to quiet my mind a couple of years ago and found that I liked it. I share some of my explorations with drawing and painting on my blog: https://asmuchcake.com/
Sheldon Strober was born in Delaware Township, NJ and currently resides in center city Philadelphia.
I have bought, sold and refurbished nearly a dozen houses. I loved working and living in them. They delivered challenge, comfort, beauty as well as handsome profits. Each project was a loving experience in which I cooperated and interpreted historic architecture and detail while integrating mechanicals and technology of the present.
About Sheldon: Sheldon Strober seeks to express personal memories and current perceptions on the many aspects of his environment, and attempts to open these thoughts and feelings in an interactive process with the viewer. He exhibits in numerous solo, juried and invitational show in the Mid- Atlantic region. His awards and honors include listings on the Bucks County Artists Data Base at the Michener Museum, Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship, and N. J. Best Practices in Art and Education Awards. Strober is counted in the permanent collections of the Michener Museum, the Hunterdon County Courthouse and library, and Teachers College, Columbia.
Alice Sudduth was born and raised in Monticello, GA and currently resides in Davidson, NC.
I haven’t moved a lot in my life. I’ve spent most of my life in the southern US, mainly in Georgia and North Carolina. Most of my life I’ve lived in houses that are adjacent to wooded areas and I find that besides the neighbors I have I also think of the natural world around me as part of my neighborhood. There are lots of ways to stay in touch with family near and far. But I love being able on a daily basis to see and hear the non-human creatures that enrich my world. I can’t separate the idea of home from the idea of family, and I don’t want to separate them from the natural world.
About Alice: Alice is a retired psychotherapist. Since retirement she has been enjoying playing around with art, connecting with nature, making music and trying to stay out of trouble.
Karen Muldoon was born in Philadelphia, PA and currently resides in Hampton, VA
When I was young, home was always where my mother was. I took a long cross country trip in my 20s and when people asked me where home was I said “New Jersey” even though I had never lived there. My family had moved there while I was away. Later, when I married home was wherever my husband and I were together. We had a sailboat and sailed to many different places. Wherever we were together was home. So to me home is not so much a place as it is where I am with people I love. Hence, the sailboat and the couple in a heart.
Above the entrance of the now defunct Lit Brothers advertising a courtesy service. Photo by Carmen Martino
While there are chain departments stores that you can find in almost any city, there are those special local/regional ones that define an area. Where I am originally from, there were not only wonderful larger local department stores but some smaller ones as well. The larger department stores I am speaking of are Strawbridge & Clothier, John Wanamakers, and Lit Brothers. The smaller stores, and less well known are The Blum Store and Nan Duskins. If the names of any of these retailers are familiar to you then you are most likely from, or have spent a fair amount of time, in the Philadelphia area.
High above street level, this sign for the Blum Store with their elegant logo of a gloved lady’s hand holding a parasol, has weathered time.
One of the older Belk’s locations somewhere in the Carolinas
Off and on we enjoy visiting Salisbury, NC, a small city/town approximately 40 miles from where we currently live. Salisbury is place rich in history and home to a wonderful main street and fabulous cultural facility called the Waterworks Visual Arts Center.
On a fairly recent visit, I heard two sounds that, not to be corny, resonated with me. Both sounds took me back years in time.
Salisbury, NC
The first sound was church bells. When I was a child growing up in Philadelphia, the church bells rang a few times a day and the melody that played around dinner time is especially memorable to me, not just because it meant “get home” but because it was a lovely tune. I have since learned most church bells are now generated via computer, often several states away from the actual church. Quasimodo would have to be retrained or find himself unemployed.
The second sound was something that I completely forgot about: people in a wedding party beeping their horns. I asked some people younger than myself if this is something they ever heard or heard of and it was not familiar to them. The main reason probably stems from the more recent tradition of holding the wedding and reception at the same location.
Another source of sound that, for me, conjures up feelings of familiarity and comfort is the radio. Where I grew up, there is a 24 hour news station on the radio. Their slogan is “you give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world”. Aside from their slogan and very catchy jingle, the sound that was always sort of comforting to me was this strange typewriter like sound that was a constant “taptaptaptap” in the background of the anchorperson’s voice. I am including a live link below (you may have to sit through a commercial) but if you listen to the actual newscaster, you will hear that sound in the background. KYW Newsradio link
Out of habit, and possibly a bit of nostalgia, the last time I was in that area, I put on KYW waiting for that “taptaptap” and the comfort it was to bring. Oddly, after two plus years away, I did not find it at all comforting but rather irritating. When tuning into other stations I had listened to, DJ’s voices that once were like family seemed strange. On my way home, when I approached an area where I was able to get my current stations and heard the voices that are now part of my everyday life, I found myself thinking “home at last”.
Although I knew this all along, my friend Claudia defines herself as a life long resident of suburbia. The profoundness of this did not strike me until I read the statement on the back cover of her latest collection of poems. How could I have been so blind as to the meaning of this? The majority of Claudia’s art, both written and often her visual art as well, are somehow intertwined with suburban living.
On the other hand, I have pretty much always been a city dweller. Maybe that is why Claudia’s world as a suburbanite was not apparent to me. I have also realized that not only do the landscapes of suburban, city, and rural residents differ but the way in which people behave also vary greatly. I can think of countless examples of behavioral differences but will spare the readers such details and bring up one that very recently came to my attention.
Last week I received a book from my friend Nellie. The book is titled A Firefighter’s Journal: Thirty-Seven Years on the Firegrounds and in the Firehouses of Philadelphia. My father was a Philadelphia Fireman. One of the things that the author, Robert John Marchisello talks about is how, as a child, he recalls making the sign of the cross whenever he heard a fire siren. It occurred to me, after reading this, that I, too, often find myself making the sign of the cross when I see an emergency vehicle. I never thought why I did this or even thought much about it at all until reading this book. It occurred to me that this is not only a behavior of city people, but a very specific sub-set of city people: Roman Catholics. Possibly only Roman Catholics of Italian descent (that I will need to check).
What types of things and behaviors characterize where you live?
This is a piece I have worked on off and on since last summer. For those of you who do not know me, I work as a vegetable farmer for a small commercial farm. The above work is an artist book consisting of four parts. Each part folds out into a section of three pages. I have not yet made the slip case for this book but will post it when it is complete. This work was printed by hand using black ink on Rives BFK and backed with a cream color Unryu paper. Each section, folded, measures 5 x 7 inches.
Off and on I have studied voice. I do not know the technical name of the techniques used by my instructors, but I would guess classical training might be a fairly accurate description . The last time I decided to take voice lessons, I wanted to try a different technique but did not know who to ask. It occurred to me that not long before, I heard an interview on public radio with Art Garfunkel about different aspects of his voice. One thing he said that stuck with me, and I am paraphrasing here as this was several years ago, was that he wanted to make a beautiful sound.
So in my quest for a good singing technique, who better to ask than ol’ Art himself? Since not too many people with the name Garfunkel are out there with websites, it was fairly easy to find an official site for Art Garfunkel. Now I know what you are thinking and I bet it is this: Art Garfunkel has better things to do than answer your dumb question. Yes, he does. And that is why he most likely has a staff of people who answer dumb questions on his behalf. If he did not anticipate such questions, he should remove the “contact” button on the site or at least set up a separate contact button specifically for annoying questions.
So I put together a brief and respectful email to Mr. Garfunkel, asking about any preferred technique and throwing in a reference to the interview on NPR so I at least sounded like a level headed, respectable person because we all know that if you say you heard something on NPR, it reeks of pretense and credibility. If it didn’t, people would not always cite NPR as a source, right? ” Oh, I heard on NPR that squirrels eat fried eggplant?” …You did? Well it must be true if you heard it on NPR”! Anyway, I have digressed.
Well it is several years later and yesterday, while listening to a live version of Scarborough Fair, it occurred to me that Art never responded to my inquiry. Of course I still went and studies voice again. And with a teacher who did not teach in the so-called classical style. But I guess I can’t help wondering, more so than whatever technique Art would have suggested, is whatever happened to my email?
When I moved to the south, I left behind what is known as Trash Can Snowstorms. Now some of you reading this know exactly what I am talking about but for those of you who do not, an explanation is needed. A trash can snowstorm is when you shovel out your car and then reserve your spot with your trash cans (lawn chairs are also acceptable). Is it illegal? Yes. Is it enforced? No. Do you dare move someone’s trash cans and take the spot? Not if you value your life and your car.
Trash Can Snow
This is what I would call a trait of the cultural landscape; something you only see in particular geographic locations. I now have access to a whole new group of cultural landscape imagery. The first one I noticed here is the School Rock. I do not know if this is a southern thing or a North Carolina thing but it seems that all schools have a giant rock out front that is continuously painted with the name of some student highlighting something about that person: a birthday, a sporting victory, etc. Fortunately, my friend Erin’s son, Cooper, just had a birthday and they photographed the rock they painted so you can see what I mean. As you can guess, Cooper likes baseball.
School Rock, Lincoln County, NC
I am going to continue to look for new cultural landscape images but want to share a favorite one from my past life: the sneakers on the electrical wire. Are there cultural landscape signs where you live? What are they?
anniepodart.com 