Artscape

Are y'all (that was for you, Lanetta) ready for some time traveling? Buckle up --- and enjoy the ride.

I am not sure what day we are traveling to, it has been so long that I forgot, but it is before July 21st.

I am now wearing glasses all of the time (it's weird, I know). Every time that I put my contacts in, my eyes get all red and irritated. I think my contacts just got worn out and since I do not have a spare change, I take what I've got.

Natalie and I went to a little diner called the Sip & Bite just around the corner from us. We had some GOOD food. Oh, and the reason? Just because we can. :)

Here is my Greek beef gyro that was smothered in a wonderful tzatziki sauce.

Also, I did need to try crab while I was here, so we shared a crab cake. See the seasoning sprinkled around the edge of the plate? That is Old Bay seasoning. It is a BIG deal in Maryland. It is used to flavor crab, but really, the people of Baltimore are so in love with Old Bay, that they put it on everything! French fries, popcorn, you name it.

Natalie got a salad with feta cheese on it. We were generally very satisfied with our delicious dinner.

It rains off and on and when it rains, which it seems to do so frequently, our little alley becomes a river! It is a little hard to actually see, but there is a lot of water flowing down our street.

It is really too bad that I did not have my purple rain boots packed with me --- you can guess what I would have been doing. I absolutely LOVE rain!

As we fast forward to Saturday 21, 2012, Natalie and I went to the large art festival put on every year by the city, it is called Artscape. Several blocks are shut down as numerous booths are placed in the streets for the weekend. 

First we drove into the Mount Vernon area and looked for a place to park. Since we got there around 9:30 a.m. and it did not start until 11:00 a.m. we got lucky. We found a great place to park in this neighborhood. Don't worry, some weirdo guy reminded us to lock our doors three times. I think what cracks me up about this that  only two blocks away we find a pleasant neighboorhood as you can see. It can be such a drastic change in a short period of a time.

By the time we walked the couple of blocks to Artscape, we had arrived a bit too early. Many people were scrambling to finish setting up their stands and doing all they could to deal with the unexpected rainy weather.

I took the opportunity to take a picture of the billboard I have seen but not had the opportunity to capture on camera. It is an advertisement for Smyth's jewelers but it uses the iconic symbols of Baltimore to do so: Natty Boh, and the girl on the Utz chip bag.
When it was finally "time to start," we were amazed at how few people there were. The rain had driven away the crowd. That was good news for us! We were able to see everything without the difficulty of weaving through the multitudes.

We saw so many interesting booths. I was amazed at the creativity the artists had. They ranged from painted wooden blocks, to garden trinkets and even clothes with unique shirt designs.

Some artists sold pottery. I liked this artist's style. Beside these mugs (which were beautiful) were lemon juicers, toothbrush holders, and dishes with a rough spot in the middle for holding oil and made to grind garlic into the center to dip bread in.

This artist was very handy with wire. I think I was convinced I liked his work as soon as I saw the neuron that is displayed in this picture. I mean, who would not want a giant brain cell hanging at the front of their booth?

He also did a wonderful job mixing colors. I thought this girl with the fiery hair was phenomenal.   

At one point, we tried to get a picture of both of us. If anyone decided to watch us I am sure it was a funny sight. We were jumbling two umbrellas around, trying to reach far enough, and hoping to keep the cameras dry. What a joke! I thought we turned out pretty good though, all things considered.

These are my favorites from my camera. I love Natalie's umbrella behind her.

We continued along and happened across a guy that does all of his art out of forks. Not spoons or knifes, but only forks. We looked around the things he had on display as he continued his work: bending forks into art. 

He said that he has deals worked out to get forks from suppliers. Some of my favorites from his work are the double stranded DNA from the picture above (I really enjoyed the biology themed art), the kissing fish in the picture to the left,

the person relaxing on a couch (to the left) and the octopus (on the right).

There was another booth that focused on the "Bugs of Baltimore." I appreciated that it was focused on something Baltimore related, but I was a bit more hesitant about the bug part. In any case, it was original.

This was also really cool --- a fish made out of computer parts.

Another stand had jewelry made from computer pieces. When I saw robot earrings, I thought of several girls from the engineering program at USU.

This guy had a display with all of his art from metal that he had bent using only his strength. He did not use any tools, but his body to shape the metal in the way that he wanted it. 

He even gave us a demonstration! It looked and sounded really painful.

There was a trailer, and inside was a classic view of old TVs surrounded by stacks of empty pizza boxes and crumpled chip bags. Movies on VHS were being shown. It was an attempt to gain support for VHS movies and not let them go out of circulation.  It was a clever way to set up such a display.

What festival would be complete without a Ferris wheel? Although it was not running, either because of the rain, or maybe it was just for show anyway, we enjoyed the sight of a carnival ride next to a stack of suitcases. I was happy to see some older looking suitcases, they gave the pile a touch of class.

Here is a viking car with golden wings. I am not sure what else to say about this car . . . the interior was covered in gems.

A giant dummy and the history of seat belts was also on display. I guess that is art . . .

This might have been a personal favorite. A knitted cover for port-a-potties. These are labeled for men and women, and complete with knitted toilet paper rolls spelling out "LOVELYARNS."

There was a large display of some rooms in a sequence, however, try as I might, I could not quite decide what they were for or what message it was trying to get across.

It had crates and fabric strung on wires, a small telephone stand, and lots of old things decorating the dead space. I liked it, but I am not sure what it was or why it was there. One "room" was like a jail space with a skeleton on the floor, another with a sign "Welcome to Wicherley Gulch," and yet another that said "Cultured Pearl Boutique."

A different display was all in black and white with a  piano at the center. Again, I was not sure what the purpose was, but I suppose that can be art. It made me think of some sort of cartoon nightmare.

I saw this giant ant and shuddered. How terrible would that be to have bugs this size? It is easy to compare size with that woman standing next to it.

Farther on was this wooden playground/stage; I am just guessing here. I thought it looked like it could be fun to climb on, but I have no clue whether it is safe or not.

Among the types of art, is included cars. Cars paraded through the streets, and then parked in one location for all to observe. It was astonishing how much work had been put in to each of the designs. There must have been some sort of contest for this many to be present. 

Here are a few pictures I captured, both of the parade, and later with the cars lined up on display.

I liked that there are aliens inside this during the parade. Everyone else just rode in the cars without any costumes.

This is unrelated to the cars, but I also got a free Natty Boh t-shirt, thanks to Natalie. There was a stand giving out the shirts and all you had to do was take a survey, but you had to be a Maryland driver. Natalie took the survey and gave me the t-shirt as a souvenir.

Also, the last thing that I feel I need to share about Artscape is that I sampled gator tail. It was breaded and fried. It was chewy.

On our way home, Natalie was kind enough to point out a drug deal. Yes folks, I have seen the real deal.

I hope everyone had a happy Pioneer Day on the following Tuesday! This year I realized just how much I took the 24th of July for granted every year of my life. What a wonderful day of celebration . . . and an excuse for a day off of work and school. That small Utah holiday is not enjoyed in any other state. To celebrate I ate some blueberries . . . that I bought at the grocery store. Okay, no pioneering spirit here, but I do appreciate those wonderful saints that started the establishment that I call home. Good old Utah!

Later that week after work, I decided to walk a different route home, since waiting for the bus would take me nearly an hour to get home (I can walk back in 20-25 minutes). I ended up seeing the missionaries refueling at the gas station. We chatted for a couple of minutes before I continued on my way. I liked my alternative route home, the longest stretch of my walk is down Chester street and has an elementary school, and nicer neighboorhoods surrounding it.

On Thursday, July 26th (I think), I went swimming in Patterson Park with Natalie. Since we got there later and had a limited time to swim, I pushed myself hard. It felt so good to be in the water, and it was wonderful feeling sore afterwards. I miss that feeling.