Jack Adams Santa Claus drawing with Ginny Graves. age 4 1/2.

Dec 7 2011

Jack Adams Santa Claus drawing with Ginny Graves. age 4 1/2.

by admin

Red Christmas Tree, Santa, Green Christmas Tree.

Jack Adams drawing of Santa Claus. age 4 1/2.

Drawn on a trip to GrandaGG’s at 5328 W. 67th St. in Prairie Village. July, 1995.

My mother Ginny Graves was the Art Lady from the Nelson Gallery. She was also the creator and director of all of the Art Programs in the Johnson County Library System.

I got to help her with these things, making stuff, being with other kids, on tv, setting up and cleaning up for classes, even teaching an art Class at Cedar Roe Library when I was 12 one summer.

But, most of all I am most thankful because I got to MAKE STUFF. And it was all organized ahead because she got all the supplies and paints and yarn and whatever for whatever general area of project that was proposed. In my mom’s case unlike grade school art, this was very loosely defined so that the creator could let their mind wander on just a few ideas thrown out.

Plus, my mother gets the best art out of EVERYONE.

Anyway, these are two things my mom will say. It don’t know if she is just magical, or if it is just someone who knows the value in taking the time and the interest to say it to a child or an adult, to ask this question.

“Draw me a picture.” -Ginny Graves.

“In creating, the only hard thing is to begin.” -James Russell Lowell.

How flattering that someone feels enough about your ideas to help you start. That is what my mother was called upon to do at this time and throughout her life.

Then later, she will always say this.

“Tell me about your picture.” -Ginny Graves.

This makes it an even more special picture because both people can then learn about the thoughts and processes of using our eyes and what is inside of our heads to form an idea, a plan, that progressively gets down onto the paper.

“Creation is only the projection into form of that which already exists.” -Shrimad Bhagavatam

When someone cares enough to be interested and feels that they can learn something by hearing what you were thinking when you did it, how you formulated an idea and made it come forth, it is a confidence builder. Feeling your creative is empowerment.

Creative expression in whatever means, sales, business, relationships, doodles, cooking, style, and even working our sometimes wacked out minds-emotions for both positive or not-always-so-positive means involves time and energy. I feel that figuring out how and when and why we are always creating in life, whether conscious or not, and how to harness it is one of life’s challenges. Then, to focus it, to rein it in and put it into positive directions that are better for ourselves and others. That is ultimately, maybe, what we all are striving to do?

I don’t want to get into too many quotes from my yogi book that told me about all the chakras but creativity is your second one (they go from bottom up).

Read below,

“good to know“, and

“wouldn’t you know?” in a nutshell.

(And then I do want to talk about Jack’s great drawing.)

SECOND CHAKRA

area of body: sexual organs
human talent: creativity
color: orange
shadow emotions: passionate manipulation, guilt
element: water

Jack’s Santa. A mother’s thoughts.

I don’t know if he said this to mom and she told me or if I am just looking at this drawing to try to figure it out. Probably the first as you know how it is with small kids, sometimes we don’t take the time and this is for what we have Grandmother’s. I like to draw, and did some art stuff with the kids, but I can be a real micro-manager which is counter-productive. I was a better manager-mother in general when I got busy having my own life.

Legs

I would think that the long legs are because Santa has to go down that long chimney. We are a rather small family in stature, so that’s a pretty long jump from the top of our roof down into the living room at the XIT Headquarters. So, these long legs at least get Santa down through that circuitous shaft that runs from the top of the later second-story roof of the house, through the attic, and to about the ceiling of the living room. He can jump that last flight, that’s nothing with those legs.

Head

I don’t know about all the editing on Santa’s head with just the eyes, the long, thick bare neck, or that shriner’s thing on top of Santa’s head and won’t conjecture. He has Santa’s black belt. But you can see, the legs to get down were the most important consideration.

Trees

I think the trees are wonderful. Instead of thinking about the trunk, it seems like it is just getting the essence of the shape of the tree, very stylized. The tufts of green are both representing, to me, the tufts of needles on the trees but arranged almost like ornaments or lights so it is all in green. And the one tree is red.

Jack and Color. And conformity.

Jack, in another project, never seemed to be bothered that his wine bottle tissue paper reindeer body was red, not brown. When my mom asked him how he chose his color for the reindeer, Jack responded something to the effect of liking red, “of course, GG.” Rudolf did have a red nose, though.

This was also the case in Meade Grade School when the children would color in the line drawing of the Jack o’ Lantern which would then decorate the window of the Stockgrower’s State Bank. All of his classmates would color in perfect orange pumpkins with green stems, with the goal to “stay within the lines.” There would be 22, all lined up where they were displayed. I drove by one day to get money and saw that there was a purple one with some patchwork, color extending all over the paper and I knew that was my son’s. He did make the stem green, so it’s not as if he didn’t have some semblance of respect for context of fellow pumpkin artists.

So, mainly I was thinking about Christmas this year, about my parents, and had this drawing stuck away in a folder to share with everyone this season. So here’s the main point!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

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Nov 15 2011

Dennis Morgan and me, Paula: Myra & Ginny’s protegés. Plus partying and architecture, circa 1977.

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Dennis Morgan and Paula Graves having cookies and milk on Graves patio after our houses were built.

Dennis Morgan was my first friend who was a boy. I have this on facebook with the caption, “He’s so dreamy, I think I will just close my eyes and dream…”

This picture was taken just after Bob Wendt, a Kansas City architect of German descent, finished our custom homes. By the way, Betsy Curry lived in a much bigger very neat house designed by Bob Wendt west of Roe south of 83rd St.

They were very unique contemporary ranches:

Post and Beam design: 4×6 posts supporting and rough-sawn cedar timber beams (5′ on center), stained black. (most houses stud framing.
beams exposed with natural pine tongue and groove roofdecking running 90 degrees to wood beams and spans the 5′ o.c. beams
60s “ski lodge” fireplace
walnut stained oak wood floors
flat walnut veneer cabinet doors. the kitchen (north side of house) was so dark that the doors only (still flush set in walnut) were lacquered white to lighten up the room. Lacquer, mind you, being a lost art. Here, it was 11 coats well-done by Bob Falkenberg (also German descent Falkenberg & Son contractor in KC, clients like Annenberg’s, lived in my neighborhood and daughter, Nancy, was one of my best friends at Highlands Grade School).
floor to ceiling glass along patio side.
exposed aggregate patios with wood strips and front walk entry hall

That’s enough about the architectural history of the houses here, let’s just say “they were cool, well-designed, well-crafted, well-done functionally and aesthetically.” And, our mom’s made the cookies. Ginny’s nutty nougat (aka snowballs) is still on the plate.

Jim and Myra Morgan, my neighbors.houses mirrored each other and shared a driveway.

Here is a picture from the KC Star of Dennis’s Dad, Jim Morgan, with the kids. Jim and Myra moved to KC from Alabama. Mr. Morgan at that time was an airline pilot for TWA and Myra was a southern belle and mother of three kids, Dink, Dennis and Denise (Missy). Doo, Jim Morgan’s mother, also lived with them. I’m not sure if this was from the outset or after Myra became busier with the gallery. They both started Morgan Gallery in the 60s after Mr. Morgan had some kind of heart thing while flying and was grounded.

You can google Morgan Gallery, but Myra and Jim had the ins with the art galleries on both coasts in this era taking KC trips to NYC to Leo Castelli’s and Lillian Nassau to buy art and art nouveau. Both were highly creative with all that entails. Jim Morgan collected Arts and Crafts pottery, Roseville, etc. long before anyone else. Their social sphere was fascinating for me, for their friends were quite a bit wilder than the creative-conservatives with whom my parents socialized.

KC Star May 26, 1968. News About Women and Society. Note that Mrs. Jack O'Hara's garden is also featured, so I have included it.

They mention Taffy in the article. Taffy was a really great dog, I don’t know the breed. But I will have to find out. He was a mellow yellow hound of some sort. Very methodically, he would trot around his two joint estates everyday, checking in and on everything. I’ve never had a dog with this kind of temperament, though it’s probably partially due to the owners.

John Buck Sculpture

The sculpture is by John Buck who was a graduate student at the K.C. Art Institute. This sculpture has had a colorful live, witnessing many a deal and an ordeal between the dramas in the Morgan and Graves families in both generations. But, most importantly, it was home base for kick the can. Dennis has the sculpture in storage and he and Dink have said that I can have it. It needs a coat of black paint and rust-oleum mixed together. Dennis told me the recipe.

I had envisioned it on my mountaintop at the XIT Ranch. This is the high point along the Cimarron River at the Crossing to where I would run every day, sprinting the hill for reward of the river view. I am confident that the Plains Indians used this place as a burial ground it is so beautiful. I’m not sure it I would have gotten approval, but I know I could have sneaked in onto this place somewhere.

(excuse me…note to Dennis)

Dennis,

I still want this sculpture, so please don’t give it away if you have not yet already. A bit of a problem is that I may not have any land in the near future where it could be erected. As will getting it from Dick Belger’s warehouse to the proposed site. And, since it’s a fairly permanent installation involving concrete this does need some thought for appropriate context. I think it would look great in Santa Fe and likely no problems with the neighbors depending upon the size of the lot, but I’m not sure yet if I want to be there.

I’d mainly be motivated in this southwest direction because you and I could have a great road trip hauling this thing to someplace west of the 98th meridian. As you can see below, we have a history of wheels and road, inherited from our parents, I guess.

Dennis Morgan and Paula Adams on our bikes. Mine has training wheels.

a) love the picnic tablecloth fabric of my dress, white knee socks with vertical pattern up the leg, and my red Mary Janes. Kudos Ginny Graves. My mother made me!!

b) training wheels into grade school. Dennis, aren’t they on your bike, too? it was scarring to learn to ride without these wheels with my marine corps father. he is such a patient man, but not as patient with lack of coordination and confidence. Seriously, everyone learns differently. If I had had a physics lesson first, I know I would have grasped concept of momentum sooner.

c) Dennis, enough about me, you look great. :), like the mustard and grey combo.

many loving thoughts,

Paula

(end of letter).

Little did I know at the time I would come to know water tanks well...

The above picture was taken getting ready for a Morgan-Graves Circle Party when we were in high school. The beer was iced and stationed in the water tanks on our joint lots.

Dennis’s Crowd vis-a-vis Paula’s Crowd

Dennis ran with a more diverse crowd than I; swimmers, baseball players, and pretty hardcore party’ers, at least in mind. That is, they smoked marijuana, maybe even tried other stuff! Since we were childhood friends, I didn’t really think that much about the fact that we didn’t hang out in the same social (partying) circles. I was cheerleader with jocks, of course.

Prairie Village Pool

We worked together at the Prairie Village Pool and lived next door to each other, so I always felt like we really shared the same friends. So many of us that lived in Prairie Village and swam at the Village Pool had parents (mothers) who insisted that at 15 we would take Red Cross and Lifeguard Training at the Pool. This is so that we would be gainfully employed at sixteen in a 45 hr. 6 day-a-week job that paid rather well (minimum wage adds up when it’s a real work week). Mostly for mothers, we were out-of-the-house.

Dennis and I really shared our friends in a sense. That is, his buddies were always and still very nice to me just as my girlfriends express fond memories of sweet, kind, interesting Dennis. One reason is because our driveway was really the hub for all kinds of Prairie Village people with these party’ing habits, even my jocky SME athlete buddies I was recently told. As usual, all going on around me and my head is in the real clouds.

Parental Control vs. Sense of Place

Back in the day, neither of our sets of parents seemed to care much about legal issues relative to our fun habits as dominates parental fears today. I’m sure philosophy for some was the same as it is for parents now. Knowing your kids were in a safe place was of primary importance; their mischief, a parent could hardly have time to monitor for the parent is usually busy with their own misbehaving. Anyway, I would pass these guys and their row of cars in our very long driveway to get to my garage. It was called “the circle” as the John Buck sculpture is on a round grass island around which the drive circulates. “The Fort” was two lots to the east which was Peter Wilkin’s hub. Peter was the son of another neighborhood architect who attended Highlands but transferred to Pembroke-Hill. This is another story, but “the Fort” brought the private school laddies to the other side of the tracks (Mission Road).

I always felt like a totally square goofball in that d@mn cheerleading uniform and, of course, was and still am.

We were on the way to some birthday party.

I like my dress and mod gift paper, but Dennis is the star fashion icon here.

Such a cool blue plaid with the leather lacing.

And his loafers with the high tongues and white crews are classic.

Old School Preppy goes Wyoming Western.

What the Morgan-Graves were most famous for…GREAT PARTIES!

Our parents had their friends from KC Arts-Social Scene (my parents friends, dad’s clients, Morgan Gallery Clients, Contemporary Arts Society people, Alabama Folks). We invited all of our friends, but I guess it was really open to anyone as people I would meet at KU from SM South would tell me “I was at a party at your house in high school.” There were lights, tamale vendors, the ice cream truck, peanuts, beer, and Riverrock Played on a stage in the gravel rockbed in the landscaping that linked our two houses.

This is excerpts from an email from DWG giving a bit of resumé-history of some of the people pictured clarifying some of my earlier notes I took from our last phone conversation re: people. Exhausts me to get it close to right, so I’m just going to put in his red notes from his email and mine are in black. This is the best Dean and Paula combo with which I can feel comfortable. Apologize to all, I am responsible.

From: Dean Graves <dgraves@cubekc.org>

Subject: Re: id photos

Date: November 14, 2011 3:53:03 PM CST

To: Paula Adams <paulagravesadams@gmail.com>

Wm. T. Wiley, Bob Stark, World’s Greatest Artist

Sam Perkins Pres. of Bank in Olathe in photo just to the right of GG

Eileen and Byron Cohen: Panache (real estate), lived at 61st and Ward Parkway

Jan Pescanofsky and Giles Fowler CLARIFICATION : husband and wife; Giles wrote/reported for KCStar and Maybe Jan , too . Could probably google KCStar 1978July and find something. hmmmm…ignoring that last part Dean, already too many trees in forest…having inherited both parents genepools and talents, I’m not committed yet & would like to remain so. Anyone else? Please post.

Ted Coe…Director of Nelson Gallery, after Lawrence Sickman who amassed chinese collection. [CLARIFICATION : TED CAME FROM CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART and after Nelson Gallery moved to and lived rest of his life in Santa Fe Died plus or minus two yrs. ago . Was very much an expert in Northwest American/Canadian Indian Art .] In picture on btm. row just to right of Laddie Hurst Mann. Ted came from back East, who had gallery directorships, into contemporary scene.

Friend

You know, Dennis will always be my best first friend and a boy. We have survived our lives and our wonderful families and mostly the way we are made: two emotional, sensitive, and very shy people.

Shy that wore itself in different clothes but is the same.

Love you Dennis. Tell Nancy hi, her Morgan boys Christmas cards always earn first prize in the card sort each year. I guess we’re all still working the arts gig in one way or another, squeaking out the dollar but doing what inspires us. We have to get the kids together in their lifetimes. Or, maybe they will just cross paths…I bet they will.

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Nov 4 2011

sketch du jour July 8, 1980. Versailles? just warning you…and other neurotic tendencies.

by admin

Oh, goodness!

If I had only read through this journal and sketchbook from my summer in Paris 1980 over the last 32 years, I might have identified some of my mental disorders sooner. But, it is funny (to me). And, I really should warn you about any desire to visit Versailles…

stock-photo-chateau-of-versailles-france-the-interior-214150

Pre-conditioning...be prepared....

[a friend posted that I had a great memory about Paris. I don’t particularly, these posts to sketch du jour in my blog are directly from my journal & sketches that summer.]

Tues. July 8, 1980. Raining [pretty much every day if you haven’t noticed]

Woke-ran 3 1/2 to Ile-St. Louis.

Bought cooked artichoke for lunch at Versailles.

I mention artichokes so frequently, I thought I should show my painting I did in a cheap frame of how they look in the market. This is in my apt. in Wichita. Mike Savage told me to drop the frame. The William Zorach Madonna & Child marble in front make it look better. And it’s on a Taos painted chest so the greens go together nicely, which is such a decorator non-art way of looking at wall art for an art history major, but I don’t care.

Took bus from Louvre to Versailles. Smelled awful on the bus-lots of wet bodies-steamy but freezing! As you can see, the day did not start out well.

Are you getting a concept for the scale here?

Anyway, toured Versailles-very cold-and began at 10:00 am. We finished at 2:45. Everyone was rather unhappy because we were supposed to be at Trianon Palace at 3:30 & we were starving!

Actually it would be nice if examined at this perspective, but confronted with so much it all just jumbles together. As Rooney Sellars would say to Susan in context of moving, "it's all just @rap."

Since we're on chandeliers....

[here it comes…the confession…to??? my mom? my dad? the teacher? God? such a baaad girl…]

Anyway, shouldn’t admit this, but Alison & I took off! We found the train-took it to the first métro stop & headed to the hotel!! I was wet & cold & knew I couldn’t take it!!

I’ve decided that it costs too much to pack more than I can handle into a day-especially when I don’t get a thing out of the interior history.

[now I do have to explain that last comment here for professional reasons as it might hurt some future career and credibility.

I spent hours in a lecture hall au musée des arts décoratifs in the Louvre, happy as a clam, learning about period armchairs just from France, not to speak of references to foundations from Greek and Roman and Medieval sources.

This spoke of politics, people, production modes, geography, and social trends. The same with armoires, boulle chests, tapestries, ceramics, silver, glassware, etc. And there is something to be gained from seeing all of these things, “set-up” in period rooms, placed within the paneling and wallcoverings that would be contextual to that period. But the whole Versailles concept, while beautiful and I love it that Louis did this, is just excessive, addictive, and out-of-control. And it did come back to bite them from the people. Or at least, that is my excuse. Perhaps if we’d done the tour in a slight jog with headsets editing the talking I could have handled it. Thank goodness I haven’t ever wanted to be a docent, what a nightmare to be on my tour.]

This is the kind of stuff I did like to look at in detail relative to period, how it was produced, intricacy of art and craftsmanship. Versailles does not allow for this unless you are staying for a few years.

I’m going to get a lot out of the architecture but if the interiors are not interesting I’m going to use the time to do all the other neat museums and places in Paris that I don’t have time to do. Marie doesn’t know if we’re there are not [oh yes, Marie, I am afraid of Marie the teacher finding out! Marie had one pair of very very expensive shoes she wore everyday, very stylish. She was a fag hag, first time I ever had heard that term. There was a very good-looking blond superior-intellectual-acting Michigan fraternity boy who worked both games in our Parsons program with whom she hung, not to make a pun here.]

Imagine just walking through thousands of halls like this....getting the picture(s)...

I may take the test, but if it is extensive I just won’t get the credit-even if I get the credit, I shouldn’t because it’s way over my head. [omg seriously neurotic, someone else please examine all this, I’m tired. I’m flunking it before I’ve taken it anticipating failure? Then feeling guilty that I might undeservedly pass it? and cheat them out of credits they would bestow upon me for all of my mother’s expense and my hours???]

Anyway-home-Chinese Restaurant. Bed. [speaking of…found this nice picture, see below]

I actually remember this gold bedroom, though all the bedrooms looked similar. I am sure I only remember it because a) it sounded so awful for people to come in and dress me in the morning or b) I was fascinated that the King and Queen did not sleep in the same bed or c) there was a homosexual prince who cavorted in here.

So, any questions about Versailles? I think if you’ve made it to here, you have passed the test and get full credit.

Enjoy you day of architecture, shopping and eating in Paris when you decide you don’t really need to do Versailles. I am confident you are in the company of the majority of Frenchmen. And please give me full credit for skipping out. :).

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Oct 15 2011

le sketch du jour: Mon. July 7th, 1980. Trapped in Wallpaper nightmares…

by admin

It is funny because I just repeated a story to someone else about a friend who had made the comment, “if it’s not one addiction, it’s another.”

He went on to tell about how he’d decided that he would wallpaper this room. He said it looked so good, that he decided to do another. With each room, he started to feel better about his wallpapering abilities, and thus about himself. So then he shared that he started letting his thoughts race and get ahead of themselves. “I’m pretty good at this, I ought to start a business” and so on, and so on. If you don’t relate, just move on. Anyway, you get the idea, pretty soon, ego out of control, he was a Wallpaper(ing) Magnate, at least in his head.

Well anyway, I just thought I would relate because there are those people who really do focus on wallpaper and know their stuff. Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to spend one of my afternoons in Paris au musée des art décoratifs with this very person: the Curator of Wallpapers.

I respect the art of the design of wall coverings in paper. I love the color, pattern, texture, historical motifs, etc. After living in a 100+ year old house, I now also understand the functionality in old houses with cracked plaster. A bandaid is much cheaper than complete re-haul of skin. But even later in my own home, I preferred to continue to spackle; I claimed these fissures in my own walls as the wrinkles that told the history.

So to generalize, architects don’t do wallpaper. And at that time, while not an architect, I was the daughter of an architect. Maybe this is all just an excuse, but I was BORED OUT OF MY MIND.

Here are the notes from my journal, Mon. July 7th, 1980:

Lecture at le musée. Headed to Institute of France (Baroque) and east façade of Louvre.

Instead of lunch, went to jeu de paume-the impressionist museum in the Tuileries. Loved it. Saw the Degas ballerinas…the one in the cafés, all that you’d ever recognize.

Lecture in P.M. & then we saw the wallpapers….Quelle nightmare. She pulled out rows after rows that all looked the same and kept us until 5:45. The technique and earlier examples were interesting, but…

Climbing the wallpaper.

[More about paying for bus fare to London, 276 Francs, $70 for bus and Hovercraft.]

Home at 7:30. Got spinach and artichoke for dinner. Cindy (Bean) came over and confirmed train reservations to Barcelona. Sun, warmth, no rain, above 60 degrees :). Wrote letters to hotels in Barcelona. Bed.

and a note:

Later when working for Bobby Smith at Jack Rees Interiors, I had the job of picking wallpaper for an older home off of Overbrook in Mission Hills. In many of these homes, the bathrooms are small, the original small white hexagonals still intact on the floor. They were well done, grout well maintained, and if it ain’t broke….Plus, old money, slow as honey, and there’s a lot to be said for not moving with the latest trends. Ranchers live like this, but to an even greater extreme since a home on a ranch is of virtually no value and there is no return on investment.

Point is, a little must have soaked in after viewing all of those many many bird & bee, basketweave, fleur de lys, strawberry, chinoiserie, toile, blah blah blah across western Europe papers. I was able to weed through vast samples to find the appropriate color, scale of print, and historic meanings to give the owner a selection of edited choices from which she might choose. And, it was fun! Not boring at all.

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Oct 13 2011

Memoirs of Geisha Girls.

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Footbinding in Chinese Culture.

I remember both my mother and my grandmother talking about footbinding in Chinese cultures as a child. I am not sure where I read it when I was in high school, or maybe it was just told to me. But the vivid visual picture in my mind of having one’s foot bound back upon itself in order to keep it small, a bud, is more vivid than any picture. I had never seen a picture of this until now when I just googled it, but cannot share. I think it is better just told in words by mothers, grandmothers, and authors.

The purpose was to not only arrest a young girl’s foot at a certain stage of growth, it was to actually bind the toes back underneath the ball to achieve a small bud-like appearance, a lotus-shape. This was considered desirable to men. The pain can only be imagined.

It is a mother-daughter story. And I think stories such as Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan are important to read, to see what it is like for women in different times-different places. And to see how our language with each other, our nu shu, allows them to endure and enjoy.

But it as actually the Japanese Government which banned foot-binding in Taiwan in 1915.

So this is a story about the Geishas in Japanese culture. A much different story for women. This was a story I shared with my daughter when we read the same book.

Clockwise Geishas: Lacy, Lacy, Paula, Lacy.

The closest English translation of the proper noun “geisha” would be artist/performing artist.

They are artisans that train for long periods of time (taking many years of work before becoming a full-fledged geisha),

therefore they, in some sense, symbolize perseverance.

The world of the traditional geisha is the flower and willow world.

The flower is the symbol of beauty, but the willow is this idea of flexibility, not being rigid,

and this is how you survive.

Historically, Japanese feminists have seen geisha as exploited women,

but some modern geisha see themselves as liberated feminists.

“We find our own way, without doing family responsibilities. Isn’t that what feminists are?”

These women leave their families at a young age to immerse themselves in their art.

My daugher, Lacy, read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden the summer after fourth grade. We are both Pisces, Lace being born on the Ides of March, four days after my birthday on 11th. Always seeing both points of view, we were both immersed in books during grade school. She is her own person.

She wanted to be a Geisha for Halloween, but I don’t sew. So we trooped to Wichita to Hancock and we kind of drew out this pattern, making up the kimono as we imagined it to be. Velvet flip-flops with a tatami mat footpad were her geta.

My geisha girl experience was as a sophomore server to S.M. East Prom in 1977. Here is a picture of all of us:

Sophomore Prom Server Geishas: Shawnee Mission East, spring 1977.

Back row l to r: Marthe Dreher, Suzanne Passman, Tricia Venable, Paula Graves.

Floor l to r: Don’t know…maybe Denise Rabius?, Julie Newman, Lisa Revare.

The geisha system was founded, actually, to promote the independence and economic self-sufficiency of women. And that was its stated purpose, and it actually accomplished that quite admirably in Japanese society, where there were very few routes for women to achieve that sort of independence. -Mineko Iwasaki. subject of Golden’s book. then wrote her own story, Geisha of Gion. Born Nov. 2, 1949, Kyoto.

Being a Geisha is, in many ways, good training for being a woman. We have a secret sisterhood. We enjoy putting on makeup and clothes, seemingly to be attractive to men. But mostly because we enjoy the costume and makeup that we are privileged to wear in our roles. We congregated in groups with other Geisha at slumber parties in our youth, practicing our dance. And we learn from our older sister, the okee-san, and our mother, the makee-san, not just from our own blood.

The Geisha is skilled in music and dance. She is educated with knowledge to participate in skilled conversations of culture and cleverness on equal plane with the businessmen she entertains. And with her own perspective.

And, like the Geisha, we are the beautiful flowers

who bend like the willow, to prevail when the winds blows.

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Oct 4 2011

Cash in Can: a word about junk, cash, and signs. S. Seneca, Wichita, Kansas.

by admin

There is really no such thing as junk or trash.

a) it don’t matter, it’s all matter, but if we ‘no matter’, it will only affect us. a comfort.

b) don’t want to be trite but he don’t make junk.

c) reduce, re-use, recycle. -Jack Johnson

d) beauty is in the eye of the camera holder

But, at the XIT Ranch, all the “matter” currently waiting for a new life (scrap iron, old steel fenceposts, etc. etc.) is neatly organized in front of the shop. And, if it grows too large for the ranch to use, it gets hauled off and is “cash in can.” Not a lot, not really to be handed over to me for a little weekend New Mexico sojourn, but it all counts as going in the kitty.

Cash for scrap metal.

I was driving to Weckworth Manufacturing on South Seneca from Wichita down to Haysville at 7:15 am a few weeks ago and had to stop when I saw these signs.

Kansas Can Sign. S. Seneca between Wichita and Haysville.

I do believe that “Kansas Can” and I am a sucker for great signs so I had to pull over. How could I not? Signage in the “new” manmade suburban landscape post 1970 is so standardized, codified, and controlled in an effort to be homogenized and tasteful? that as a few good people stated:

“There is no there there” (Gertrude Stein)…

in the “geography of nowhere.” (James Howard Kunstler)

So this is an area of town where we can still have a unique iconic sign to sell the goods. Uniqueness and creativity pays back to the owner, in cans. And cans pay back to the consumer, in cash.

And, Gigantism has been, for so many purchased items, the current status of our shopping culture. So signs must often follow suit in scale and uniformity to be consistent with the structures.

This is not to say that there are not very wonderful creative signs being made today, because there are. Hutchinson is home to the best signmaker in the region, Luminous Neon, Inc. with origins in Kansas of 84 years linking cities of Kansas City, Dodge City, and Hutchinson through ownership.

And, sometimes interesting signs must be grandfathered in and protected when there is actually an old building left upon which it hangs. But that generally happens when the business behind the sign has not also become obsolete. Everything changes…

This is not a judgment, blame, or lack of understanding about how that works. It’s understandable and creates order in an ever-more-complicated world. It’s just a comment about when, where, and why I am actually interested enough to stop. I think these are treasured places.

So, I will stop here but these are a few photos from my stop.

Aluminum corrugated siding used as privacy fence.

Beware of dog. Privacy fence required with value in material behind it.

I could use a good ladder.

what's inside to west?

Peephole.

Reveals holy un-cola.

There. It’s in the can.

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Oct 2 2011

“Speak softly and carry red lipstick.” And please let me explain…I hate being misunderstood.

by admin

Teddy Roosevelt. Had the importance of the look down early on.

Teddy Roosevelt

” I have always been fond of the West African proverb: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. ‘ “

-written by Teddy Roosevelt in a letter; 1900, the year before he became President.

He repeated this in a speech as President in Chicago in 1903, and twice again in his writings, but each time it was “speak softly.”

He made the statement in regard to foreign policy. It meant to speak politely or diplomatically but have the forces to make our position meaningful.

Teddy’s belief was that words and actions that went unvalidated would only attract frustration and scorn. And, that ’empty words’, ‘broken promises’ and ‘unfulfilled actions’ would not offer protection even with a ‘big stick.’ Self-respect had to be earned through hard work and determination.

I think that this can be applied to other forces on this earth. Specifically here, that God in one form of analysis, made two different models of human beings. They are, in some ways, different. And that is a good thing. A great combination of energy, a unity and friction that will always exist.

How I am applying to some of my “person” now.

I have been working on speaking softly and having boundaries. I also like to wear heels and boots, and at times, to wear red lipstick. So, my mind keeps putting together these two ideas because of Teddy’s phrase and (completely unrelated, at least in my consciousness), I was compelled to buy a classic red chanel à la Mac lipstick last week.

Paula à la Wayne Thiebaud.

Someone else has probably already said it before me, but I couldn’t find it in brainyquotes, and this keeps recurring in my mind.

‘Speak softly and wear red lipstick; you will go far.’

-Paula’s recurring thought now in print.

I have thought about this for a while before saying it or writing it. I am often misunderstood by speaking too soon, before I have thoroughly given it thought about what I am saying and I really don’t like that. That is, if someone takes it at face value and latches onto the idea that women will speak softly but use their femininity to control in a negative way, what is theirs to control, it would bother me. And control, when and if we truly can, can get mixed up with manipulate. So, here are a few thoughts…

DI-SSECTION

(di: prefix meaning “apart” or “two”)

Speak softly.

When I am excited, on task, caught up in humor, in a hurry, all kinds of reasons, I often do not speak softly. It is often more forceful, more urgent, full of unbridled energy. Sometimes when I have spoken softly, it was because I was a doormat and not wanting to take a stand. I did not know how to do it because I did not have the skills to say it with edit, with proper tone, with well-chosen words. That took hard work and determination on my part, to get the self-respect I had not earned.

Wear red lipstick.

Of course, red lipstick I see as using feminine strengths, whether it is a man or a woman wearing it.

I do not see dressing nicely, painting pretty colors on lips or eyes to highlight features, or wearing shoes that make me feel rugged or statuesque (and this isn’t easy for me!) to be anything negative. I like color, form, design, masks, costumes.

I’m an artsy

my plague and my gift

forever in my mind

even if I am blind

I will see it.

I’m not intending to misuse or entrap or mislead, I am 51 and I will enjoy this, what others may see as vanity, until I die. It is for me.

On occasion, I have crossed the line in judgment of a given region or time or field of perception.

shorts in rural churches in New Mexico in 1968.

And times change.

My Grandmother Mildred Evelyn Lee Ward, gave up stockings with her dress and heels in Seaside, Florida circa 1990. She even starting wearing slacks, not jeans, on occasion. Her mother, Lillie McDowell Lee might have been turning in her grave.

And, we are different but also the same.

It is no different than the contra-fairer sex deciding what facial hairs to keep, to shave or wear a ponytail, to boots or birkenstocks, to freshly clean t or tattarsall. We are all actors and put on this earth to play his roles. It is not superficial to bathe and clothe to fit the gig.

Lipstick versus Drawing lines and listening and reading and prioritization.

There are so many other skills and strengths that I was given to work, so this is a small outer pleasure that became so seemingly unimportant in the big scheme of time and how I used my day. I lost site of this as being something that mattered to myself or to anyone else. I see now that it does give me pleasure. And pleasure is not a bad thing. We were meant to have joy and fun.

I try to find each day a different way or action to do the hard or not-so-hard work to earn self-respect. To put forth good with no expectations by using what God gave me.

And it is work, at least for me, to give up control, to give up trying to force something to happen. I have to examine my motives, to see if I’m giving or doing to get something back in return that is off-balance. I have to reign in the inner forces to, as Teddy said, “to have the forces to make our position meaningful.”

But today, I have put some things into practice and have gone far.

And, I was told to wear red lipstick.

I know, Teddy, with his gifts of words, action, and style, would get it.

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Sep 30 2011

Praying for Rain at the Scottish Rite Temple. 1st and Topeka. Wichita.

by admin

Doing a Rain Sketch

I know that I should be sketching more in Kansas. It is meditative. I sketched my way through France and it rained everyday; the Loire Valley, Morzine, Paris, Bourges, it didn’t matter, it rained.

I’ve only sketched twice now in Wichita and both days it has rained while I was drawing which we sorely need. Big, juicy drops that puddled the felt tip lines and created their own thunderclouds on my drawing. I love this, it’s like felt tip watercolors.

So, something compelled me to turn right at the Orpheum Theater on Broadway at First Street. When I saw the curved wood & iron balcony on the turreted corner, there was no choice but to get out, photograph, draw.

I want to stand up there so bad, so I guess I will draw and imagine...

The sky was a dark blue grey, so the subtle colors of the leaded windows were vivid.

The colors aren't vivid in this photo but think aubergine, aubergine, Grueby green, milky cornflower....Louis Comfort Tiffany when he was alive.

And just as I was getting close to winding it up, the Rain Came! And I realized that I was at the Scottish Rite Temple.

Paula's felt tip, prismacolor and charcoal of the Scottish Rite Temple. Wichita.

This is all I can say about the numerous google pages I have read about Scottish Rite and Freemasonry and it’s not even my words.

There are “three obligations” which include:

the candidate promises to act in a manner befitting a member of civilised society,
promises to obey the law of his Supreme Being,
promises to obey the law of his sovereign state,
promises to attend his lodge if he is able, promises not to wrong, cheat nor defraud the Lodge or the brethren, and
promises aid or charity to a member of the human family, brethren and their families in times of need if it can be done without causing financial harm to himself or his dependents.

This seems like five, so maybe you only have to do three. Other than that, it was so esoteric that it eluded me, so I’ll offer no more.

I do think they always have the coolest lodges or “temples.”

Temple definition: a building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence.

But, after seeing the above stated values, I guess God and Jesus (who probably never thought in terms of temples anyway) must not have a problem with this being a temple so who was I to fear it as cultish? It probably came from the DaVinci Code or some movie anyway.

I'm sorry, but I still see bats and think it could be a great backdrop for Damien IV.

I can imagine that God might feel, as I do, that the design of these buildings gives beauty back to the street and to the cities in which they were so painstakingly designed and constructed. Thank you Order of the Freemasons, for doing your part.

Scottish Rite Masonic Center (Temple), First and Topeka. National Register of Historic Places. One of the six designated Historic Landmarks of Wichita.

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Aug 1 2011

le sketch du jour: 30 June 1980. SMOOCH à la français.

by admin

[I did not include June 29, the day of arrival. I arrived before everyone from NYC with the Parsons Group. They gave me a free breakfast, a croissant and café au lait. In France, they bring a croissant in a basket or usually a plate and a big coffee cup or most often, it is already at the table. Then, they come to table to pour the two pots of coffee and steamed milk simultaneously into your cup. The steamed milk always tastes very sweet. It is all on lots of thick, very white ceramic tableware, but the carafes are stainless.

The other notes were mention of my roommate Charlie from Toledo, a small town in Texas. She is kind of a bit bigger girl, smiley eyes, short dark hair, and proved to be a bit promiscuous with the men from Marseilles, but she had a kind heart. The other girls were soon to be very good friends that I met that day. They were a Tri Delt (Allison from Tuscaloosa) and Kappa Delta (Lisa from Memphis) from the University of Alabama and had southern accents. This was my first contact with southern women and they were very very nice, not unlike my KC/KU girlfriends, but more attune to feminine things it seemed. I hung with them much later in the summer as I realized I was alone so much with Charlie out all hours of the evening with dark men. ]

30 June 1980.

Paula ravished by Frenchman in a SMOOCH! au coin de Boul Saint Germain-des-Près et Boul Saint-Michel.

Woke 7:00. Ran 3 miles. A man kissed me twice when I was asking directions!!! What do you say?! On the forehead-actually took my face in his hands!

[Can you tell I loved it? This has only happened to me one other time upon first meeting someone, though it was actually upon re-meeting someone I had only known a little bit from my past.]

Breakfast: croissant & thé at hotel. We met at le Musée (des arts décoratifs which is the north wing of the Louvre and where we would study and meet in the mornings for our lecture). It is closed to everyone but Parsons students at the present due to renovation.

Orientation: Michael is my lecturer-young, dark beard, long jesus-y hair, nice. Charlotte Lacaze gave a lecture on the History of Paris City Planning & then we bought our subway cards (carte d’orange). I bought some cold chicken & carrot salad which I ate in the Tuileries $(4.50). Then, I walked around ’til two when class began again.

[This is the start of my pleasure in doing things by myself which I still enjoy. It was not by choice in Paris most of the time. But to this day, I love to eat, go to movies, and travel by myself. I sometimes am lonely, but not very often when I am alone. If so, I just go out. I love watching people and meeting new people and I don’t feel compelled to talk so much and can listen and ask questions and learn.]

Map of Paris Stomping Grounds, Day One. from (still very old) 14th edition antique bookstore copy of Karl Baedeker's "Paris and Environs : Handbook for Travelers", published 1900.

This is the first of many maps from my antique 14th edition of Baedeker’s classic field guide to Paris, found and given to me by my mother Ginny Graves. What I love best about this book is his blessing to the reader…

‘Go, little book, God send thee good passage,

And specially let this be thy prayers

Unto them all that thee will read or hear,

Where thou art wrong, after their help to call,

Thee to correct in any part or all!’

-Says everything a writer hopes for.

At 2:00 we had a Decorative Arts lecture au Musée and then we visited the 14th, 15th, & 16th c. pieces.

Walked on Rue St.-Honoré to find American bookstore & needlepoint shop. But needlepoint store was closed. It was very expensive, too.

Very tired so bought dinner in a charcuterie-a little quiche & some kind of spinach/vegetable salad.

Big Day! Lots of walking!

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Jul 5 2011

le sketch du jour: Wichita. Saturday July 2, 2011. by Paula Graves Adams

by admin

Kress Energy, Douglas and Broadway. Wichita, Kansas.

Decided to get back into sketching the hottest day of the year in Wichita, July 3rd. 107 degrees. I had done cross-fit mash-up for an hour and then 2-1/2 more hours of fundamentals (lifts, etc.). But, I was downtown and it was the day to begin.

My sketching reveals my personality a little too much. My goal is to start like this and then work back to my primitive sketches as I had at the beginning of the summer in Paris. It’s all in the journey back to being a child, isn’t it?

Anyway, it is too stocky, but it doesn’t look as bad as it is because you can’t see the third bay. I was sitting on the concrete curb in the sun, right by the street so cars were like 6′ away from me streaming down Broadway.

I finally just got too hot, so I threw in the towel and took pictures, as I decided to finish at home. When I spilled my Starbucks on it, I liked it even better and may have to get some watercolors to put color into the drawing. And, I like it the way it is.

Anyway, the pen is back in hand. It was very relaxing even though it doesn’t look it.

History of the building

And, it is Kress Energy. It has 51,000+ s.f. and 98% occupancy. Beautifully restored. Schafer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture just up the street did the restoration/renovation. This is the architectural firm where I worked when Lacy went to Wichita Collegiate for High School.

The bank where you change your money when traveling abroad is a branch of Bank of America (across the street and big marbley glass monster building) but the international banking is located in the lower level of this building. It is a very intimate place to get your pesos and crib notes for travel conversions.

And, Kress Energy is for sale and is a bargain, I think about 3.3 million. 58 buildings nearby have already been purchased. Wichita is like a frontier town right now, very exciting. But, it’s getting bought up, better hurry. I think Delano is still affordable as well as the Arts District south of sprint and the design district just west of 135. Come to Wichita!

Here’s the description:

Kress Energy Center is a landmark building meticulously restored and updated to meet the standards of discerning firms, it offers timeless elegance rarely found in today’s offices. The property is attached via sky-walk to Bank of America Building and Kansas State Bank Building. Surface parking for 26 and additional parking available in the Bank of America parking garage.

Located in the heart of Wichita. Kress Energy Center is on the NW corner of Douglas and Broadway streets. Kress Energy Center provides it’s Tenants with access to such key areas as Kansas State Bank Building, Bank of America Center and the Petroleum Club.

Anyway, just had to do my sales pitch. It really was an incredible building when it was built. Wichita an oiltown so people do it right.

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