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I LOVE visiting my sister’s little urban farm. Every visit is like a trip completely out of the city, although we could not be any closer to the heart of downtown Phoenix. This day I came home with eighteen fresh, organic eggs and three, healthy zucchinis. I make sure to bring my camera every time because her gardens and outdoor spaces are constantly changing within each season. Gracie is demonstrating the weather with her wading pool as a prop. The summer heat is back! Gracie is a rescue dog, as well as two others who live here, Jake and  Oliver. Jake helps to collect the eggs and round up the chickens back into their pen after a day of roaming free. He is very helpful! He is also the kind of dog that brings in the paper and helps to carry in  groceries. He is hilarious. They are all living happily ever after together and they all help to create this beautiful, urban farm lifestyle. Generally, I leave feeling inspired and motivated. They recently have been zoned for business and have been included in the expansion of the downtown Phoenix Arts district, so time will be the only thing between what is now and future possibilities. However, what is now is very, very nice. Definitely, a “PEACE” of Heaven on earth.

On Third Avenue slightly south of Roosevelt in downtown Phoenix  sits a charming, little park with a most fabulous art installation called “a desert garden”. I have driven by this a million times and finally satisfied my curiosity after all these years to stop and check out the art in this park. I knew that the artist behind it was Suzanne Klotz and she is one of my all time favorite artists EVER! I was fortunate enough to connect with her and get the story behind the sculpted and mosaic art monuments. She told me that an architect who lived in the historic neighborhood, Margy Christi, wanted to donate something to the community and she funded and organized the project. It was a three year long project. A man by the name of John Armstrong fabricated the sculpture. He constructed the entire form: welded the rebar, poured concrete forms and the concrete base.  He did all the work at his studio and then transported it to the park. Artist, Suzanne Klotz, with the help of her former ASU student Linda Kiepke, made the glazed pavers that were bought from a Phoenix brick yard. They worked together on the glazed tiles for about two years in Suzanne’s studio. During the last year of the project Suzanne and Linda worked with the children from Kenilworth Elementary School and the kids made designs with the glaze on the pavers and then they were fired and included in the piece.  In a gracious email reply Suzanne wrote, ” At the time when I applied for Margy’s competition I lived around the corner at 5th ave. and Fillmore. So, I knew the area. At that time there were quite a few homeless people sleeping in the park and it was considered an unsafe area. Kids liked to tear it up, however possible.
To prevent kid-vandalism I got kids from the area involved in the tile workshops. To help the inebriated get a foothold on where they were I put a tile street map of the area on the base of the palm tree. For safety reasons the initial idea had to involve safety factors, such as nothing to hide behind.”

SOOOOOOO AWESOME! I found it fascinating to learn a little about the behind the scene action that was involved. Our mayor at the time, Terry Goddard, awarded the project with the Governor’s City Improvement Award. It had a lot to do with the cleaning up of that area that is now a thriving artist community and home of high dollar real estate. It started with making art a priority in this local, small park. If you are ever in the area get out of your car and take a walk around. You may still see a vagrant or two hanging out, but, it has absolutely come a very long way. Personally, I am grateful and mindful of the artists and people who take the effort to enforce a positive change through art in the community. It makes a huge difference when people in a neighborhood, especially involving the youths, work together creatively.

To check out Suzanne Klotz’s website CLICK HERE. She is a fascinating artist with a resume miles long. I wish that someone would write a biography on this amazing talented woman! I’m dieing to read it!!

When I grow up I want to be like her.

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig!

Another BEAUTIFUL morning at the Farmer’s Market in downtown Phoenix. The best place to find organic, locally grown fruits, vegetables, fresh baked artisan breads, organic fresh eggs, and everything that you could possibly need for your body and soul are all available at the Saturday Farmer’s Market. It is also a great gathering place for like minded people, as well as the best place to gather information on a wide range of topics. I love supporting local farmers and artisans. It is the healthiest choice all the way around. So much better than patronizing the big supermarkets and throwing money at mass produced items that have little nutritional value and waste resources through production and shipping. Meeting the people who grow your food and make the products that you put on your body and in your home is a much more delightful experience.

Fresh eggs are sold so quickly that you must get there as soon as it opens and in most cases you must put your name on a list for your eggs that you can pick up the following market day (Saturday). Today we were lucky to find one organic farmer who had a few eggs left. They sell for $5 a dozen and are well worth it.

Following the market, I usually visit my sister who has a small urban farm, complete with hens who recently began to lay eggs. She has been getting only one a day but soon there will be enough hens laying that I can get eggs from her. She has 10 chickens in all and is going to add to her brood very soon. That should provide us all with plenty of eggs before too long. I am in love with her rooster who we call “little Jerry”, he comes up to me whenever I visit, so I just have to pick him up and get my rooster love!

My favorite soap ever is Blackstrap Patchouli Handmade Cold Press Soap made by Emelmahae Soap Company, owned by a very lovely woman whose name is Kari Bower. Instead of a having a dope dealer I call her my “soap dealer” because I am so addicted to her soap. Patchouli is my drug of choice. Her products are organic and everything smells wonderful and is good for you.

Today is the spring equinox and on the way out of the door this morning I found a partial eggshell on my patio that apparently blew out of one of the many nests in the trees around my house, landing on my patio as a sign of the first day of spring. The air is filled with bird songs today. It is heavenly.

Life literally gave us lemons, a huge bowl full actually, and this afternoon will be spent making hand squeezed, homemade lemonade. What a perfect beginning to the new season and a great way to celebrate everything new. The flowers and trees are in full bloom, the birds are alive and well and it is time for renewal.

What a day for a daydream!

Last Saturday at the Farmers Market was a delightful experience. The rainclouds were building by early morning when we arrived and refrained from bursting open until we left. Because of the weather the attendance was low, which made for easy grocery shopping and a larger choice of veggies. We usually get there when it opens so we have a better choice of produce. My bag was so heavy in no time and I was so delighted to pour out the beautiful array of this week’s meals when I got home.

Before returning to my house, my friend and I had a long visit at my sister’s. We had breakfast and sat on the patio while it was raining. It was a chilly rain with the wonderful aroma of breakfast wafting from the kitchen. LOVED IT!

It is supposed to continue to drizzle and dump throughout the first part of the week. Absolutely my favorite kind of weather. It is perfect for cooking, painting, and most anything that relates to ‘home’.

AH….. another Saturday morning at the Farmers Market. The best place to buy locally grown, organic food and other healthy products as well as arts and music from local artists. I think that they have everything that a person could possibly need. Heirloom tomatoes, canned fruits and veggies, artisan breads, herbs, free trade organic coffee, transplants to place in your garden, unique clothing and yummy jams and jellies. Oh…. the list goes on and on. The people are friendly and delightful ~ vendors and visitors, alike ~ From the Hummus and Pita chip lady to the handmade incense guy and everyone in between, it is the perfect Saturday morning event. I now have the funky pumpkin, that is pictured above, sitting on our table. It came from Arizona Homegrown Solutions,  the most wonderful organization that serves the community in a big way. Check them out and see what great things that they facilitate.     Fruits and vegetables are so sensual and enticing. There is something about a table full of fresh, organic vegetables that makes my heart melt. Farmers Markets are not only a healthier solution they also support local growers~big and small~ as well as local artists. Where else can you do your grocery shopping with live music and take your dog?!

My goddess sister, Alicia Bay Laurel, had a booth there where she sold her CD’s and her best selling, vintage, 70’s book, “Living on the Earth”. Phoenix Body Mind & Soul magazine sponsored Alicia’s booksigning. It was so joyful to spend time with her~and all of my PBMS friends.

HIPPIE FOOD PEACE & LOVE!

Goodbye 2009, it’s been swell. Starting out the new year right by attending the Phoenix First Fridays Art Walk. I had my camera on some strange setting and so the photos that I took are closer to how I really see things since I developed “dancing eyes” due to the brain surgeries. I usually take photos so that I can upload them onto my computer, where the screen and scene is stationary. That way I can see what I missed or couldn’t see while I was there. When things or I am in motion, it is next to impossible for me to focus on anything. It is very trippy and inconsistent so sometimes are better than others. I guess it is like that damn box of chocolates, “I never know what I’m going to get”!

The art scene was rockin’ tonight. LOTS of music and, of course, art. I have noticed an increase of beautiful, young, hippie, free spirited people and VW buses and VW bugs. Lots and Lots of dreads and cool wool hats. This makes my heart sing.It is always so great to see people bringing their dogs out, too. It just keeps getting better all the time.

There is a large police presence now and they are cruising through the crowds on their big, brown horses. Actually, the horses are very cool to watch. I think that would be a great job for a horse, you know, if you were a horse who had to have a job. They get to walk around and see art and hear music and check out all of the groovy people!

So, it is 2010 and what a wonderful way to welcome a new year. Embraced by the downtown Phoenix art love. I did get 2 free hugs, by the way (I LOVE the Free Hug people)!  So….2010….. bring on the sights and sounds and magic of the arts! I hope to ride this wave all the way into the shore and beyond.

Enjoy!

Saturday was spent with my sister who lives in central, downtown Phoenix. She has created quite the urban farm and although she is in the heart of the city, I feel miles away from everything in her gardens. These photos are only a faint view of what she has going on in her desert paradise. She has planted many gardens that surround her adorable, old, hippie home. The chickens are the latest addition to her small family farm. Most everything has been built using recycled materials. Things that were left on the property when she bought it several years ago, building supplies that were given to her as well as the many findings that she drags home after hippie tripping around town in her VW bus, “Free Spirit”.

She has also built a place to gather in the small orchard, in the back, around a one of a kind, metal, art firepit. Using split tree trunks from a fallen tree, she created a sacred circle for drumming and gathering. So, head’s up to any of you rainbow children in Phoenix that want to gather for a drum circle!!! Just let me know. We have lots of drums and didgeridoos, if you don’t.

My sister also is an artist, currently creating beautiful pieces of art ~ some are functional pieces ~ using “found objects”. I cannot tell you the places she has tricked me into going with her ~ looking in fields and by railroad tracks and obscure industrial areas, etc. searching for “treasures” like anything rusted and metal and anything odd or unusual. I honestly could have died when my 93 year old father gave her his metal detector, knowing that, for me, this meant future bizarre “walks along the beach” with my sister (ie; alleys, empty fields , demolished building lots….). Eye yi yi! She paints the most GORGEOUS watercolor paintings I have ever seen, but she loves building things and making folk art. I have tried to encourage her to paint watercolors more, if for no other reason than,  because it requires no freaky trips to lonely places! HA!

Saturday was the absolute PERFECT weather. We went to the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market , to find it fragrant with freshness and shining with so many beautiful people. I LOVE how people bring their dogs along, there were many and it was so cool. I ran into some friends, old and new, and had such a FABULOUS morning there. They now have a new market that is open throughout the week, carrying the same things as the open market, on Saturdays, plus much more. It is called the Phoenix Public Market and includes a wine bar. They hold permaculture classes on site as well as other day seminars and such. It is SO REFRESHING to spend the morning at the farmers market taking in the whole, raw adventure. Open air markets and health food stores soothe every part of my spirit. Those are the two most sensational comforts to me, for some reason.I will post more about the market in the near future, maybe the VERY near future.

“I’m going up the country, babe don’t you wanna go
I’m going up the country, babe don’t you wanna go
I’m going to some place where I’ve never been before
I’m going, I’m going where the water tastes like wine
Well I’m going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water

, stay drunk all the time
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away”

PEACE, LOVE, DOVE

The art show (EAT ART) has moved from Green, in Tempe, and will be showing at That’s A Wrap in downtown Phoenix for the month of December until mid January. Stop in and FEED YOUR HEAD with GREAT food and art!

2022 North 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85006-2101
(602) 252-5051

We are finally getting some cool mural art in downtown Phoenix, thanks to Joe Pagac! He changes the mural every month at First Fridays on Roosevelt Row. He says that he does it for fun. He is a muralist and artist by trade. It is such a pleasure to see the ever changing art on this building. You can catch him “live” and watch him paint on the First Fridays Downtown Phoenix Art Walk, every month. What a great guy to talk with and watch him create.

The streets are hopping these daze on Roosevelt Row (and all of the First Friday’s areas). ~ I didn’t make it down to the Grand Avenue scene this month, but it is always great fun over there, too. The IceHouse was another location that I meant to visit, unfortunately, that did not happen. They have shut down Roosevelt from 7th street to Central and expanded the vending areas. 5th Avenue is ROCKIN’, great music, fire spinners and breathers, high energy from Made Boutique to Conspire on 5th and Garfield. The galleries are open and there is so much to see and experience. I am still high on the adventure. The most fun you can have for no money. And even MORE fun if you have money!

Jason Davis

Conspire

Phoenix Ghost Busters ~ for reals~

LOVE the dreads, this dude plays a killer blues guitar. I didn’t catch his name.

a book nailed to a palm tree ~ hmmm~

Bus Love

“Gallery trash” ~ These were in the alley behind a gallery

The Eye Lounge

Yours truly with a little help from my nephew.

Release the Fear is a sculpture made by artist, Robert J. Miley (and made possible by many contributors). It sits in the middle of Central Avenue and Roosevelt. It is made out of melted weapons that were used in violent crimes in Arizona. The details can be found on the website Release the Fear.org. Basically, it promotes non violence through creativity and art. It also appears to be rising from ashes like the Phoenix. It is a powerful piece with a powerful message.

On the sidewalk surrounding the sculpture are quotes that are stamped into the concrete. Since my camera could not capture an entire quote, I pieced together some of the words into a collage. So, they are not exact quotes.

I was not able to fit in the “we need men who” part.

We need men who can dream of things that never were.
~Author : John F Kennedy speech in Dublin Ireland June 28 1963

I have passed by this art for years and years and never took the time to actually stop and check it out up close. I am so glad that I finally did, there are so many surprises and pieces of the whole sculpture that you cannot see from a car, bus or train.

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as it says on the base…

“REALITY IS A PROJECTED THOUGHT”