The Dogs Made Me Do It!

 No, not this dog! Would you believe this cutie is ceramic?

Taking the day to trek around the East Valley wasn't on my radar last Saturday. I did have to head out there to get dog food. While I had a to do list, it was a flexible list. It was such a beautiful day, a little detour down the street to ASU seemed like a good idea.

 The ASU Ceramic Research Center has been around for some years but I've never visited. Parking around the university is such a hassle, it kept me away. Then I heard there was good parking at the CRC. There was only one way to find out.

I've really been missing out! Above-a piece by Eddie Dominguez. He visited our campus way back when I was a student. Seeing his work was like seeing an old friend.

This is a new artist for me, David Gilhooly.  I liked the sense of humor.

(Please forgive the glare. Many of the pieces are in glass cases).

This piece is inspirational. I have clay "beads" in my yard stacked on rods like towers. A sandwich tower would go great in the vegetable garden! Fat tomatoes, juicy cucumbers, frilly lettuce...

Frank Romero

Never knew he worked in clay. I'm most fond of the mural he did along the 110 Freeway in downtown LA for the '84 Olympics. Is that mural there anymore? It was so faded with layers of tagging the last time I drove by years ago. This was one of four little pieces like a procession of cars in a combination of media.

Yum, yum, yum, I love this building! The Nelson Fine Arts Center. It's across the street from the Ceramics Research Center, (the place with all the good parking, yea)! This building deserves a few posts of its own. It's one of the architectural jewels on campus.

Copper... one of the five C's in the history of Arizona. It's the theme for the current exhibition on display.

 An interactive display. I interacted!

 I put in my 8 cents worth.... See them?

 It was time to head up the stairs and visit the other galleries. Two of them are packed with crates for an upcoming show. Pieces from the permanent collection-Allison Saar above.

 Lithograph by Alfredo Zalce
This is a great piece to share with my students. They're learning about foreground, middle ground and background and how to draw to create depth and distance in their pictures.

The last stop at the museum, in any museum, was the museum store. I saw something there that prompted me to put mileage on my car. Stay tuned for Episode 2 of my trek around the East Valley.

Marissa