RJ in Tennessee

Time,
the great destroyer of all delights
(as Sheherazade once put it)
has demolished the shrine on Erie Avenue.
(depicted here in 2008 )


And now,
I have finally gotten up the courage
to visit the scattered fragments
still on display in Johnson City, Tennessee,
before, once again,
they are scattered even further.

(By the middle of August,
everyone in the family there
will have relocated
to either Guam or Houston)

Above is the glorious entrance
to Eric and Sam's condo,
with two pieces from the 1950's,
"Samaritan Woman by the Well"
and "Eve"

The painting is by RJ's friend,
Bill Leonard.









What a statue!

Eric and I
seem to have the same
preference
for these earlier pieces
which are bit more idealistic
than what followed,
and were made while we were children.

I happen to think this "Eve"
is one of the great pieces
of 20th C. figure sculpture.

But I'm also fond of the relief
since we all once used it
to hold hats, canes, and dog leashes.








In the stairwell
there's a wonderful relief
from the 1980's
introducing that theme
of young women and animals
that RJ would pursue
until the day he died.

Beautifully lit,
it's also one my favorite pieces.








Above the front door
is one of RJ's forays
into oil painting
in the manner of Titian.

It's too bad
he never ventured into making mosaics.
(he tried almost everything else)







And just like Eric,
I love the little animal carvings.

(the beautiful young woman in the photograph
is our mother,
the pouting little girl next to her
is Eric's grand daughter, Aleaa)

















Here's a nice display case
with a small version of Roebling
flanked by portraits of Eric's two daughters.










The monumental-sized version of this
has really had a life of its own
as a public monument
despite the fact that RJ was only offered the commission
after the original sculptor had turned it down.





Here's Johanna as a child.







Here's a carving from the 1940's
that used to hang
in the hallway at
our grandparents' home
in Columbus, Ohio.












Here's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
roasting in their fiery furnace.

(I hadn't noticed this before,
but they appear to be a bit older
than the boys who appear in the story)

This piece hung above the
some living room furniture
for at least 40 years.

The bust depicts my brother, Eric.
(for some reason, he has two statues
of himself in his home,
but none of me,
just as I have two statues of myself
but none of him)










Most of the pieces at Ashleigh and Jason's house
had already been packed away into the moving van,
so I didn't get to shoot
their most prized possession
(a large wood relief of a horse
that used to hang above the sofa
in Cincinnati).


Here's one of his carvings of Chinese characters
beneath an engraving of the orgy
associated with worshiping the golden calf.





Over at my Mom's house,
also soon to be vacated,
here's a portrait of her from 1967,
on the bed next to Chao Feiyen
the Pekinese whom I had named
after a character
in my one and only book of Chinese literature.






And, finally
here's the family portrait
from the 1960's
including myself
out on a limb
in the last time
I would ever wear a suit,
all posing in front
of the Ohio River
as it bends around
Eden Park in Cincinnati.

The painting is flanked
by busts
of MJ, my brother and I.
and a small figure of RJ
as done by Tom Tsuchiya

MJ Recalls

DICK

MJ Miller

2/10/11

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." Dick borrowed a jazz expression and made use of it in all he sculpted, painted and drew. Probably the most well known statue was the one of John Roebling by the bridge that crosses the Ohio River. The arms and the coat really swing. Another one that swings is the figure of a father and two children in the back of Temple Emanuel. The children are climbing a helical curve that represents the first ten books of the Bible.

Dick's first commission actually didn't have much swing to it. That may be because of the limitations of space. It portrayed two saints each with his own niche on the outside of Hinkle Hall, a residence for faculty of Xavier University. That was followed by several commercial commissions.

The description of Dick in his high school year book was fairly accurate:
"Dick was never known to refuse a friendly argument, especially with teachers. He makes it a practice to know both sides of a thing so he can argue no matter which side you are on." Miss LaBrant, a counselor, recommended that Dick and his parents visit Olivet College in Michigan. Dick's father was on the faculty of Ohio State University in Columbus. This was not a major trip. And they went. When they arrived they were escorted by the College president who introduced them to the artist in residence, Milton Horn. Dick was impressed. He said later that he never heard anyone make sense of art the way Milton Horn did. To quote Dick, "Here was this short, fat guy with a beard who never finished high school who talked about art and his large commission that made extreme sense"

He was fascinated by light; the way that light came from windows or overhead light from fixtures. He used to claim that museum curators knew nothing about light. In his house, which he shared with me, there were no lamps. It was all overhead fighting. If the light was not on, you could not see the carved reliefs, nor could you read. There were two small wood reliefs in the living room, the wood panel less than 1/8 th inch deep. One was Jonah and the Whale, the other a group of skulls. You could hardly see the figures unless the overhead light was on.

When computers came in, of course we had to have at least one. He used it to plan his statues and he also used it to "paint" pictures. Another thing he used it for was to create a web site. He started his web with the following:

"Receiving the muses' call, delighting our eye, shaping our myths, and placating our nightmares, what more could we want?"

************


and I might add:

*I was about four when R.J. was working on those Jesuit saints for Xavier University,
and since Mom was working, Dick and I walked down Reading Road to the studio where I spent the day trying to pop air bubbles in the clay he wasn't using.

*The era is long gone when a university professor would introduce an art program by "talking about art and his large commission" (instead of how he could help the student realize her own creative potential )

*MJ does not refer to "our house", but "his house, which he shared with me"

*Though not intended as such, this does serve quite well as MJ's last testament. She had a series of small strokes a few months later that carried her into those shadowy lands that lie between life and death, and never wrote anything again.

Jesus and Johnny Bench

Jesus can forgive your sins,
but
could he ever throw runners
out at second base?

So, now Tom is

making a statue

of the

greatest catcher in the history of baseball

as well as

the savior of the world.


"Tsuchiya, 38, who recently returned from a visit to Bench's home in Naples, Fla., said Bench liked the idea of being featured in the throwing motion but "tweaked" Tsuchiya's portrayal slightly from being in the cocked motion to being in mid-motion.

"I agreed with what he said," Tsuchiya said. "(The alteration) emphasized his powerful arm even more than I had. We've also got his feet in the position that shows his nimbleness and quick footwork back there. ...There's a grace and elegance to him (behind the plate) that all the great athletes have."


Next up?

The rest of Big Red Machine.

Except -- perhaps for Pete Rose,
about whom one reader commented :


"Please don't put up a statue of Pete Rose unless it portrays him playing roulette in a prison cell"

Carin Performs in Music Hall

I was first taken to Music Hall
on a 3rd Grade field trip
and have been enchanted
ever since.

Now Carin Hebenstreit
has added her portrait
of Paavo Jarvi
to it's hall of fame.





where it hangs beside
her earlier portrait
of Max Rudolph
(he was the conductor
when I was in grade school)


Here's the story from the All-about-Paavo blog,

and

here's the story from a local journalist.





So, now the question is....

what do you think he's conducting?

My guess is that
it's something slow and stately
by Brahms,
while Max Rudolph
seems to have been doing
the Ride of Valkyries
by Wagner.




Here's a better image of it.

Now, it's feeling
a bit more like
he's conducting
Stravinsky