STL DPB IN NEW YORK - JACKSON HEIGHTS

Jackson Heights, Queens, has more different ethnic groups than any other zip code in the United States. (The borough and county of Queens has more than any other county in the U.S.) Our group stepped off the train and could immediately smell the curry cooking. It's Indian, Pakistani, Nepali, Tibetan, Mexican, Ecuadorian, Colombian, Peruvian and many others. You don't have to travel out of the country to sample so many cultures in a small space.

This was taken in a pedestrianized block in the south Asian area. I'll be putting many others on Flickr.                   

DEDICATED TO ART AND FREE TO ALL

Those words are inscribed in the granite lintel over the entrance to the Saint Louis Art Museum. The same could be said for Artica, which is completely commerce free. Someone set up this long line of plywood panels, supplied paint, brushes and drop cloths, and invited everyone to have a go at it. The mural changed form a number of times during the two days of the festival. This was the scene late Sunday afternoon. 

Big adventures await us beginning tonight.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - SIGN OFF FROM KANSAS

Marysville, Kansas, is a town of about 3,300 located where the pink heart is in the outline of the state. Mrs. C went to high school there, riding a bus from her family farm about 16 miles / 26 km away. It seems to be doing pretty well. I saw new businesses on this visit and fewer signs of decay than several years ago. The sunflower, of course, is the Kansas state flower. This mural is at the place where the weekly farmers market is held.        

PAINT LOUIS IS BACK

Paint Louis, which takes place here over Labor Day weekend, is a big international gathering of graffiti artists, taggers, DJs and hip-hoppers. It's arguably the largest single graffiti event in the world, covering a 2 mile / 3.2 km stretch of the Mississippi River floodwall south of the Arch, all sanctioned by the city. The result is considered the longest mural in existence by the Guinness Book of World Records. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_Louis 

I went for a look late yesterday afternoon and things were just getting started. It's supposed to rain most of today and I don't know how it will affect the schedule. https://www.facebook.com/PaintLouis/ I'll be back when the weather permits.                

HONEY BEARS

I've got some nice springtime shots in the botanical I haven't posted but I could use some new material. This wall painting faces a parking lot in the Grand Centre (they use the British spelling) arts district. The figure is a squeezable container in which honey is commonly sold here. Why pick that? I get the reference to the visual arts and the symphony hall is nearby. However, the arena where the beloved hockey team plays is two or three miles away and I don't get the top hat at all. It's not like we have a lot of white tie events and such plutocrats as we got are much more discrete.          

GOD AND ADAM SAY WASH YOUR HANDS

But no shaking hands. No touching. And, um, remember not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.               

VINCENT SAYS WEAR A MASK

More of Dan Ricketts' downtown mural along with the artist at work. It's a good thing that Van Gogh has something to anchor both earloops with. I didn't see it on the street but now, on the bright computer screen, I notice that this mask is translucent. Ricketts painted the mouth and lower half of the nose before overlaying the mask.

Still a bit more of this to come.          

FRIEDA SAYS WEAR A MASK

St. Louisan Dan Ricketts has a business called St. Louis Sign and Mural (slogan: a business without a sign is a sign of no business). He is painting a triptych of Covid 19 messages on an older building downtown. There was an article about it in the local paper yesterday and I had to go look for myself. Frieda Kahlo's mask is the flag of the City of St. Louis (available here). The other two panels based on famous works of art are in progress. I'll stop back later today.

TODAY'S RANT: after I left Ricketts' installation I drove through Forest Park looking for something to shoot. Came up empty-handed but I did see four wedding parties at the usual photo spots, all clustered together, not a single person wearing a mask. But wait, we can't have masks in our wedding pictures! The virus is roaring out of control in this area. Idjits. Selfish, uncaring, stupid idjits. IDJITS.        

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - ART ALLEY

Clare, Michigan, isn't a very big town, about 3,000. It has some nice features, though (except there is nowhere to buy a decent bottle of wine). One cool thing is found in a alley off the main drag where there is a little art walk. I love this whimsical mural. Hard to tell from this photo but the figure on the left is holding an umbrella, half of which sticks out from the wall.

The water tower is iconic, drawing on Clare's Irish connection mentioned yesterday. It rises with these metal birds found along the walk.          

Pizza Head

A new mural on the restaurant strip of South Grand Boulevard.

Tomorrow will be this endeavor's 4,000th post.

Sgt. Pepper Comes To Ste. Gen

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At least that's the reaction that I get, although this version is much more genteel. It is painted on the side of an empty building across the street from the church we saw yesterday. Sure, a Native American, a French army officer (but in a red coat?) and a local rustic with a fiddle, but it makes me feel like the singer's gonna sing a song and he wants you all to sing along. So let me introduce to you the one and only Billy Shears...

So who is that on the bottom, anyway? It's just to the right of the big mural, a bit above the sidewalk. I can't tell if his intentions are friendly or not.