artist reference will be corrected and filled later.)
Our road trip started with jaunts near home.
Friday night was dinner at Penang. Penang, in Philly Chinatown is the
venue for many of the Drexel junta parties. Malaysian cuisine with its
Indian influences (roti, assam fish, etc) favors the Indian palate.
Vinayak, Harsha, Siddharth and Rashmi formed the dinner group. To our
surprise, a film shooting in Chinatown served as visual appetizer
before and after dinner. Don't know the movie, but caught a glimpse of
Jason Statham, which probably implies another car trunk escapade with
a Chinese girl.
Today (Saturday) morning we visited Bruce and Karen. Bruce volunteers
at the Foxchase fish facility. They live in Doylestown, an old Philly
suburb. Reached their house at 9.45am, conversed about the juvenile
problem in the city, a veritable "soap opera" per Bruce.
Bruce had a sumptuos treat in store for us.
The first was a visit to the Michener art museum in the cultural
district of Doylesdtown. Jean (or Jeanne - did not get the spelling)
is a retired librarian, currently the star docent at the museum. She
was an old friend of Bruces', and thus our guide through the museum.
She regaled us with the facts and fiction behind the paintings.
The art museum is housed in a restored penitentiary. Penitentiary is
the Quaker way of imprisonment, by penitence.
Though a small collection, the museum has the best of pennsylvania
impressionist paintings. This month, an exhibit of graphic comic art
is also running, with a stunning display of large "Pride of Baghdad"
poster. We did not spend much time in the graphic art exhibit, but I
saw displays of Eisner (god of the art form), R Crumb (the robust men
and women of old testament), Kutzman, and the making of a spread
illustrated thru the "Pride of Baghdad". By the way, "Pride of
Baghdad" is a poignant story of a lion and cub, which escape from the
zoo during the iraq bombings - the dad and son go on a quest to see
the horizon, which the captive cub has never seen.
Qt was mesmerized by a triptych painting symbolizing the circle of
life using, illustrated through circles, a beautiful portrait of a
cicada, and the lights of firework over the Susquehanna river.
Some more which were of note: Winter landscape done by the artist in
under a day in winter. A huge semi-circular painting, which was a peek
at the Delaware river through the tree line - a peek at an interesting
background through the negative space of the foreground due to the
japanese influences on the painter. A view of the sky and sea, which
was Bruce's favourite. A mischievous and scary bird, a miz of turkey
vulture and other birds, with an ill placed mouth which blended in
rather incongrously.
The next stop was a japanese room, a tribute to Nakashima (or
Takashima), a respected and accomplished wood artist (carpenter). He
designed the conoid chair, which with just two legs is surprisingly
stable, and the curve of the seat, though wood, is velvety and
comfortable. Qt had her zen moment. I should have quoted a koan to
complete the feeling! Nakashima tables followed the contours of the
wood. He did not cut away the outer wood layer, which is the sap. On
one side of the room was a low bench running all across the width of
the wall. This was designed to be Andy Warhols' dining table. It was
destined to be an art exhibit, and not a tabletop for a can of
Campbell soup.
In the lobby was a wooden seat, made by the person who also made the
desk in white house. The same desk made famous in the Life magazine
photo of the working president JFK, with his son playfully peeking out
from in between the legs of the table.
Karen and Jeanne proceeded to the restaurant while I, Qt and Bruce
visited a local church - Salem. Doylestown was home to Mercer, who was
famous for creating beautiful baked tiles. Karen gifted an imitation
to us earlier today. This church had tiles donated by Merces
decorating the altar. An elderly lady, with notes in her hand, talked
about the history and the tiles. Being tiles, the art is crude and
earthy, but they were beautiful and resplendent in the light.
Lunch was at Piper (Lime?) Tavern. It was a quick affair as we had to
drive to the airport. The food was great, all american, in an antique
setting. We bade goodbyes to Karen and Jeanne. Bruce drove us back to
his home. We drove to the airport, returned the rental car, checked
our luggage and caught the flight to Denver, and then on to San Jose.
I write this on the flight to San Jose. Pilli will pick us up there.
Thanks to Bruce, Karen and Jean for a wonderful time. It was great
experiencing smalltown americana.
