Gwarlingo

01/30/2022

Driving through east Cleveland, you might stumble across the abandoned Warner and Swasey Observatory nestled into the edge of a residential community. Constructed in 1920, it was abandoned in 1980 when creeping light pollution had long since prevented it from serving its function of astronomical research. The building’s shell, with the telescopes taken away and an obliterated roof, has instead become a favorite spot for local graffiti artists and photographers. The observatory, which for years could only see the night sky when an operator opened the ceiling for a telescope to peer out, now has unfettered access to looking up into the universe. I share photos from my recent trek there to add to the many such collections online.

riving through east Cleveland, you might stumble across the abandoned Warner and Swasey Observatory nestled into the edge of a residential community. Constructed in 1920, it was abandoned in 1980 when creeping light pollution had long since prevented it from serving its function of astronomical rese...

01/09/2022

I recently had the pleasure to be reminded that beautiful artworks are not the sole domain of museums and galleries. Finding myself in a friend's basement, I was introduced to this gorgeous, fantastical painting by her half-uncle leaning against the wall. Shimmering shades of gold paint capture Walter James Lewis's ("Louie's") self-portrait from 1968. Read more at https://gwarlingo.com/2022/louie-and-baccus-in-1968/

11/28/2021

“He’s In the Silent Service—Are You?” and “In an Air Raid What Motorists Must Do” and “Help Britain Finish the job!” along with “See the Glories of the Milford Track” and “Winter in Oslo Norway.” See this week’s Gwarlingo find after the jump…

Tucked away in a rural corner of America just at the edge of the woods sits a small, unassuming red house. It is a house like any other, decorated tastefully and well kept--with one very unusual feature. The ceiling, from wall to wall throughout, is plastered with stunning World War 2 era posters.

11/14/2021

Ever wanted to see Russian Suprematism dance and bop around? To music? Us too! This week’s Sunday art share…

11/07/2021

This week’s find… Cimabue and Giotto; Superman; Jesus (many Jesuses); a beloved poodle Clare; a lovely diagram of a flower arrangement; Hegel’s concept of Geist; and a timeline from 10,000 BC to the space medieval gothic era of 40,000 AD. Read (and see) more of Tom’s tombstone after the jump.

At Cleveland's Riverside Cemetery, you’ll find the grave of Thomas “TOM” Joseph Baran. Well, technically just the headstone as Tom is presumably still alive and kicking. An engraved headstone speaks (literally, it is written on) of art and aesthetics, noting Cimabue and Giotto. It also has pic...

09/27/2021

This week's Sunday Poem by Ada Limón and a writing prompt.... as noted by James Crews, "a deeply moving reminder of all the times in my life when I wasn’t aware of what someone was giving up to take care of me, to offer something I needed."

I find this poem by Ada Limón a deeply moving reminder of all the times in my life when I wasn’t aware of what someone was giving up to take care of me, to offer something I needed.

09/20/2021

This week’s Sunday poem…

From the mud in her hands,
the bowl was born.
Opening like a flower
in an arch of petals,
then becoming a vessel
both empty and full.
…

Click through for the full piece, and thank you Heather Swan and James Crews.

The practice Heather Swan refers to in the last stanza of “Bowl” is called kintsugi, which in Japanese means literally, “golden joinery.” Yet this drive to highlight the cracks in something—what some might call its failures—goes against the message most of us receive throughout our lives...

09/19/2021

This week, we wondered what would happen if we erased the lines of a paint by number. In a sense, it becomes a truer form of itself—the numbers are literally all you have to paint by. At first glance, it might resemble an ocean chart or blueprint, a document which needs a key to be deciphered. If we add a title—Lighthouse, Tree, and Ship with Cloud—shapes might start to emerge from the page. We are curious what would happen if we handed out these versions of paint by numbers to people as an alternative to their traditional form? Wonderful things? Maybe! As my art studio neighbor recently told me, “It’s not that I’m opposed to coloring books or coloring inside the lines… I just want them to be my own lines!” Read more at https://gwarlingo.com/2021/a-paint-by-only-numbers/

07/04/2021

Happy July 4th!

One type of American roadside signs is those that have fallen into disrepair or become partially disassembled such that where there was once a sign, all that remains is a window to the world behind it. The “frame” of the sign, which previously kept some name, symbol, or slogan, now holds the spa...

06/20/2021

A poem for Father's Day this year, by James Crews

All I Want

Two decades without him, and all I want
is one of my father's plain white T-shirts
draped over the back of a chair after work,
to trace the map of grease-stains and islands
leftover from his dried-out sweat.

To feel it peeling off his back as he asks
for another massage, and to give it this time
with full knowledge of how much pain he's in,
without counting down the minutes
on his bedside clock.
To see that jade cross
dangling beneath the band of his V-neck
as he bends to tend the tomatoes, to ask
why he dug it out of a flea market box
and started wearing it those last months,
rubbing the stone when he thought
no one was looking.
To lift one of his T-shirts
out of the closet where I keep them, and feel
my hand reaching through the cotton weave
to work the knots from his aching back
one last time.

One of the basic questions we can ask ourselves is this: Who or what am I not appreciating right now? When my father was still alive, I seldom took the time to notice those work-shirts he’d shed as soon as he got home, draping them over the kitchen chairs. My father worked long hours as a maintena...