Greensboro Daily Photo

Bamboo Frame Hut at Greensboro College

Art on college campuses can be so creative. Above, we see a work of art on the campus of Greensboro College, in the open field near the library. The hut is constructed of bamboo and old picture frames. Imagine standing inside here and framing your face for a photo. It is very creative. It will look even more spectacular if we get snow. We checked the website for Greensboro College and nothing about this structure appears to be written. The signs beside it states that the structure is monitored by video surveillance; however, nothing about the piece is available on-site. It is also fun to stand inside and watch people walk by.

If anybody knows about the Bamboo Frame Hut, please let us know.

Man & Bulldog

When we were at the Indie Market at First Friday this month, we were smitten with this bulldog who was as sweet as can be. He was a heartthrob. We weren't the only people taking pictures of him. Bulldogs are known for their good dispositions. Althought they were formerly used for fighting in England, when dogfiting was outlawed, the dogs were bred to have a sweeter disposition. They are prone to hip dyslpasia and 80% of the puppies are delivered by C-section because their large heads can get lodged in the birth canal. However, when you see their sweet faces strolling the streets of Greensboro, the challenging aspects of the breed are quickly forgotten.

Well, it isn't First Friday for two more weeks; however, for music fan's, Pittsboro's Shakori Hills Festival is this weekend. Earth Day events will be going strong at Kathleen Clay library. For antique collectors, the Liberty Antique Festival is next Friday and Saturday and, for book lovers, Greensboro City Library is sponsoring Children's Day/El día de los niños on Sat. April 28th in Center City Park. The English bulldog gives all of these events a four paws up!  Finally, the week after that (May 4th) will be the First Friday Indie Market at the corner of South Elm and MLK Drive. So much to do in the area! Time to map out the rest of your month and squirreling away pocket change.

Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art

Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art is located in the Cultural Arts Center on Davie Street. Since 1974, they have been showcasing great art in the Triad. Approximately 175 North Carolina artists a year either show their art, share their knowledge through workshops and events, or sell artwork through Green Hill. The center also has an extensive community outreach program and an interactive gallery for children, ArtQuest.  Currently, they are featuring an exhibit of four artists, entitled, Word Maps. If you are looking for something to do, head on over and immerse yourself in art*

In the above photo, the double doors on the right lead to the gallery, the art in the front is available for purchase in the gift shop. The table and chairs in the foreground are for the public to come and relax and are also used during special events. The man on the left is trying to get a couple of minutes of alone time while his children were at a birthday party held at ArtQuest. Fun was had by all and visual stimulation was everywhere.

*For hours of operation, directions, and other details, access Green Hill's website here.

Hand to Hand Market

This past weekend, the Hand to Hand Market was held at the Green Bean Coffee House on Elm Street. Hand to Hand was an indoor version of the First-Friday Indie Market (held in the parking lot at the corner of MLK Drive and S. Elm Street). Saturday's event filled the whole building. This photo was taken upstairs where vendors sold handicrafts, jewelry, and art work. A wellness thread permeated the event; for example Zen Cat was on site to educate people about eating gluten-free and Deep Roots Co-op provided background information about the co-op and updated the audience on the progress of their new facility. Hands on demonstrations were offered throughout the day. When we were there, a table was set up to fold cranes to send to Japan to uplift the spirits of the disaster survivors.

Greensboro makes a real effort to provide venues for local artists to sell and for organizations to promote their causes. The whole day was another fine example of a Greensboro business serving as a community resource. Thank you, Green Bean; may you host more events like this one. As for the word ART on the wall, perhaps it is an acronym, A.R.T., Another Remarkable Time in GREENSBORO! Let's grab the Go Triad insert from today's News & Record and start planning for this weekend!

Merry Night-Before Christmas

From the spiritual to commercial, lay to secular, Greensboro has been blessed with many festive events this December. Here is a scene from the recent Craftsman's Classic Arts and Crafts Fair at the Coliseum on High Point Road. The scene represents the spirit of the holiday-- fellowship with family and friends. It looks as if all of these people are sitting waiting to listen to the classic poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," more commonly known by its first line, " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Christmas is a time to gather with family and friends and to reflect on the goodness of life. For Christians, it is one of the holiest of holidays and a time to remember the birth of Christ. For those who celebrate Christmas, we at Greensboro Daily Photo hope for you that the holiday is everything that you want it to be! Happy Christmas Eve.

Summer Solstice Event at Arboretum

The Summer Solstice Celebration in the Greensboro Arboretum takes place tomorrow from 3-9pm. The family friendly celebration will have something for everybody. Some years it rains; some years the sun is brutal; EVERY year everyone has fun. Rain or shine, the more outlandish your outfit-- garland, tulle, flowers, and wands-- the more you will fit in. Consider bringing dad out to hear the good music, get a massage, listen to some ringing bowls, be transported back to his teen years, and watch the fire ceremony at 9pm. Above is a picture from last year and if you click through you will see our post from last year. This free event is an example of why Greensboro is such a great city. Events like this have plenty of great items for purchase; yet, if you are on a tight budget or have downsized, you can come out and feel equally welcome. You can bet we'll be there, camera in hand! Come feel the positive energy!

 

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippety hoppety, Easter's on its way! Tomorrow we go inside a church to show the religious side of Easter so today, we're sharing the lighter side of the holiday. Here we see Flopsy and Jane, the creations of local doll artist Kim I. McEntee. (We've featured one of Kim's dolls before). We love their expressive faces and all the details like Flopsy's felted cheeks and Jane's flowered hat, hand-crocheted by Kim's mom. We made the sequined egg vintage pottery basket arrangements and placed them in our entrance hallway. Changing these vignettes helps inspire us as we head out and showcase Greensboro for you. Today, this is a little slice of life around our house!

To our dear friends at Weekend Reflection, we hope you notice the mirror in the background and the reflective shine on those Easter eggs. Oh, and then there are Flopsy's eyes......

 

Where is Spring?

The S.H. Kress & Company building was constructed in downtown Greensboro in 1930 and was a department store for 40 years.  The chain's founder Samuel Kress took pride in his buildings and tried to make them architectural gifts to the communities in which they were built. Our Kress building is no exception. The art deco architecture sparkles today. While the department store is long gone, the building houses a night club on one side and an event center on the other. Information about the architecture can be found here and information about the event center, known as Kress Terrace, here.

Today's post does not feature the building but the brilliant art display in the front window. After the wintry days we've had lately, we just fell in love with the BURST of color and with the message, Where is Spring? Here is a display in the same window that we shared last year. Thank you Kress Terrace for these arranging these wonderful works of community art. Finally, we're sharing this photo with the great group of photographers at Weekend Reflection.

 

On the 9th Day, SANTONS

For today's Sacred Sunday shot, on this 9th day of Christmas, instead of bringing you 9 ladies dancing, we take you inside the home of one of Greensboro's many Francophiles and share her creche from Provençe.  Our friend amassed this grand collection piece by piece during her many decades of traveling from Greensboro to France.

Santons are terra cotta figures depicting the nativity. The first representation of the nativity, albeit life sized, was by St. Francis of Assissi in 1223. However, the French Revolution, with its closing of churches and prohibiting of nativity scenes, popularized miniature nativity scenes made from terra cotta figures. The making of santons has been popular in Provençe since the late 1700's and is a family craft handed down through the generations. The figures represent actual villagers-- shepherds, millers, woodcutters, fish mongers, a blind man, the wise men-- all marveling at the birth of Christ, whose figure is depicted with wax.

Every Christmas, our friend in Sunset Hills brings her figurines down from the attic and intricately places them one by one recreating not only the nativity scene but also her memories of trips to France and her selecting the 2" figures, all crafted by santonnier, Marcel Carbonel. As we pen this post, Madame M's voice resounds, "Bonsoir Joseph, Marie, enfant Jésus, fermier.......Ça va, rabassier?......... et les Rois Mages........comment allez-vous ce soir?" 

Only after she makes sure that all 50+ figures are in place can she step outside and enjoy the hundreds and hundreds of Christmas light balls hurled into the canopy of mature trees lining her street.
 

Nativity Scene @ Greensboro College

Today, we bring you Sacred Sunday direct from Greensboro College. Greensboro College is a methodist-affiliated, private, co-ed college that was founded in 1838. For over seventy years, they have featured this depiction of the birth of Jesus on the West Market Street edge of campus. In 2007, the creche was vandalized. Fortunately, a new one is in place and, although on the Biblical calendar, technically the wise men have not yet arrived, we wanted to share this scene on Sacred Sunday. This nativity scene looks majestic with the snow around it.

If you are looking for a year-end tax write off, Greensboro College has been struggling with the economic downturn. Please consider dropping a few dollars in their coffer. See details here. This little college attracts the nicest students and has some fabulous faculty members.
 

Gothic Doll Gift

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas. 

Santa brought Mrs. GDP a doll, handmade by local dollmaker, Kim I. McEntee.  This Gothic Doll has a perfectly maudlin purple dress and her hands come in and out of the faux astrakhan muff. We were thrilled to have her come to live with us. She reminds us of Violet Baudelaire from the Series of Unfortunate Events. Greensboro is fortunate to have many wonderful doll makers. We just may start a collection of dolls, stitched to life by local artists!

Today is Boxing Day where people share their gifts with the poor; however, this is one gift that will will remain with us! Today is also St. Stephen's Day and, as we write, our little dollie is reciting the Irish Wren Song traditionally sung on this day. 

 

Freedom is...

November 11.. Veterans' Day... was originally designated to honor veterans from WWI. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. The holiday officially became celebrated as Armistice Day in 1938 and in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the law to make the holiday honor Veterans of all wars. The above photo shows drawings of Greensboro elementary school students. Their collective effort reminds us that patriotism and appreciation for the servicemen who fight to defend our freedom starts young. May we all reflect on this day, regardless national origin and hope that the world may all find a way to live in peace.

Downtown Greensboro

Downtown Greensboro is anchored by the (formerly, Jefferson-Standard, then Jefferson-Pilot) Lincoln Financial Building. The glass windows, reflecting blue, show the eastern side of the building. Every once in a while, we need to be reminded that in the center of the city, we have multiple story buildings. For those who live elsewhere, over the last decade, gentrification has made the downtown area an appealing place to live and work. 

Don't you just expect Batman and Robin to walk into this scene at any minute?

Marshall Art Gallery: Advertising on the Go

Tracey Marshall of Marshall Art Gallery is living her dream, working full time as a professional artist. Her gallery, located at The Village on North Elm, houses a fabulous frame shop and features many fabulous local artists, like Dawn Ashby, as well as international artists from as far away as Moldova. The post today, however, is about Tracey's Art-Gallery-Mobile, a roving advertisement, brilliantly wrapped in her own artwork on all for sides. Here, we see the van parked across from her gallery.

Tracey, we LOVE the van and only hope you never need to drive around town incognito. Word in the store is that everyone is saying, "I saw Tracey today." "I'm driving down Battleground Ave. behind Tracey Marshall." What a great way to advertise and celebrate your artwork, as well as your passion for art. What a great way to ensure that you are making good choices while in traffic!  So far, the advertising on your van seems to be money well spent! 

(We featured one other wrapped car on 2/6: Kneaded Energy).

Happy Father's Day, Yesterday

If you are a dad, we hope you had a wonderful Father's Day! Here we are, back on the lawn on Holden Road, across the street from Starmount Country Club. The lifesize letters say it all: DAD!

MOM: Found on Holden Road

MOM is a series of 3' plywood letters prominently displayed across the street from the entrance to the Starmount Country Club at the corner of North Holden Road and Starmount Drive. We've deleted the color to participate in the Monochrome meme. However, imagine the visual impact of Pepto-Bismol pink, plywood letters and red, wooden flowers as you were traveling to or from church, lunch, or a family visit on Mother's Day. Yard Art is a passion for many North Carolinians and is especially loved by the owners of this property on Holden. They change their yard art to match the holiday "du jour."  We hope Mother's Day was everything you/they hoped it would be. 

African American Atelier's Bilingual Mural

The above bilingual (English/Spanish) mural is a multi-level project painted Summer 2008 by the African American Atelier Community Youth Program. As seen in the pink lettering above, the artist-instructor was Brittain Peck. Peck's work, "All City All Star/ Las Estrellas de la Ciudad,"  is an illustrated, narrative saga of two children whose houses have been crushed by the feet of a robot. Their story is told though dialog clouds in English and Spanish. "Wow! I am sliding up! Wow! Estoy deslizando arriba!" says the skateboarder. "Yucky! The air smells bad. Asqueroso! El aire huele malo."  Fear not, the ending is uplifting mainly due to the upbeat attitude of the children. 

We have several pictures of this fabulous mural to share at a future date.  However, the above picture was chosen because it is a good introduction to the color and complexity of the project. If you come to Greensboro or already live here, you can find the project on the Church Street Parking Deck in the stairwell nearest the Central Branch of the Greensboro Public Library. While many names are associated with the vertical mural, the other one we want to include is Delois Bynum, assistant to Mr. Peck and Atelier staff member.  Chatting with Ms. Bynum is like talking to your wise auntie. She has a gentle way of educating you and making you feel welcome at the same time. 

               

Art Quest

Here we see a picture of the clay corner at Artquest, the hands-on studio located in the Cultural Arts Building on Davie St. Artquest is just one of many facets of the Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art. Artquest is a fabulous studio where people can paint, weave, draw, make a collage, mold clay, and hone visual/spacial skills with twelve art stations designed by North Carolina artists. Additionally, Artquest is a great place to go for a field trip or for a birthday party. If you are looking for summer activities, they have reasonably-priced camps. Artquest is fun for children because it is so interactive and visually stimulating. It is fun for adults because you can dabble in art without being intimidated. It brings out the artist in everyone! Finally, the studio adjoins the Green Hill Gallery so you can saunter through the gallery, seeking inspiration from professional artists, before making a work of art yourself! Take advantage of a great community resource.

               

Leanne Pizio's Pottery

Leanne Blake Pizio is a local potter whose eclectic work can be seen in the photo above. Leanne sells her wares at most of the local pottery festivals as well as through the internet. This photo was taken on Sunday during the Pottery Festival at the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market at 501 Yanceyville Street.

Leanne has perfected the sgraffito technique which involves coating pottery and scratching off parts to achieve an intricate design. Additionally, Leanne leaves no surface unadorned. The back side of her work is usually as intricately detailed as the front! Designs on her pottery include dreamy Alice-in-Wonderland like characters, rabbits, crows, owls. Currently, she is smitten with her 100 tall, "wonky" bottle project, two of which are in the upper right hand corner. If you want to learn more about her artistic process as well as how to order her pottery, you can contact her directly through her blog. We have always been impressed at how personable Leanne is with her customers.

   

Stained Glass Window at Greek Orthodox Church

The stained glass window is found at the entrance of the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church at 800 Westridge Road.  Greensboro isn't filled with stained glass like the European cities; however, we do have some beauties like the one above and will feature other examples in upcoming posts.  Today crept up on us and we didn't get back to learn more about the window. If you attend this church and know the history of this window, please share the information in a comment below. From an artistic point of view, we love the way the colors of the window reflect onto the brass name plates on the wooden plaque on the left. The scene appears to be God handing Jesus to Mary (Theotokos).

If your church has stained glass windows and you need replacement pieces or you are a crafter looking for sheets of stained glass, we suggest contacting Blenko Glass Company in nearby West Virginia. Blenko has a fascinating process for hand blowing sheet glass in a process that has not changed for over 100 years. 

              

West Virginia Glass Pears in North Carolina

Today's theme for City Daily Photo is GLASS. At Greensboro Daily Photo, we love to photograph glass, so this photo is entered in the CDP theme day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants. The first of these  three pears was made by Rainbow Glass in West Virginia. The other two are from WV but do not have stickers.

While North Carolina is not known for glass blowing, we are famous  for the selling of glass treasures on the secondary market. Replacements, Ltd. located at 1089 Knox Road, in Greensboro, is known worldwide for its offering of glassware and china, old and new. With an inventory of 13 million pieces, likely Replacements has glass like these pears available for sale! 

              

West Virginia Glass Vignette for Valentine's Day

Vintage West Virginia glass is widely available in Greensboro's antique stores. Most of the Fenton hobnail pieces in the photo are from Thrill of the Hunt (3122 Battleground Ave #B). For each holiday, we decorate our entrance hallway with a collection of vintage glass and arts and crafts items. We made the heart stopper and LOVE embellishment from polymer clay to fit with the Valentine's Day theme. Do you enjoy making holiday vignettes? Do you like antique West Virginia glass? Happy Valentine's Day, tomorrow. We hope you plan something special.