We got to Wisconsin in the summer. It was July, and we saw a few fireflies. There was a feeling in the air. I had to ask. “Seen any Monarch butterflies this year?” We visited a lot of people and I asked often. No one said they’d seen more than one, most said, “No, none…READ MORE >
I first saw this easel design when I was living and working in Toronto, Canada. Two different schools had several in storage and brought them out to display signs or art work in progress at festivals or at special classroom events. Neither school used them for individual easels in full classes – I’m thinking they…READ MORE >
The Viroqua, Wisconsin plein air painters keep Bakke Farm on their list of regional locations that offer beautiful rural views, and three painters came to the farm one Friday in August to catch a summer image. Kathy Fairchild arrived first. Kathy comes to the farm quite often; she and her husband have a garden over…READ MORE >
There was still clothesline tied to the old laundry poles in the sideyard of the Bakke Farm house, so I hung up my new quilt for a view, an art piece in an artistic setting. Quarter square triangle blocks, a standard in quilt piecing design, make up this subdued and yet vibrant piece, and I…READ MORE >
I first saw the bracelet at a music festival some years ago in Toronto. The copper color caught my eye, and I was attracted by the beautiful design of the letters cut from metal. “What do these words say?” I asked the Tibetan vendor. “It’s a mantra,” he answered, “inviting enlightenment for everyone on earth.”…READ MORE >
Letters, the foundation of our literacy, the beginnings of our intellectual technology, lead the way in the study of history and art, traditions of the intellectual life of people on earth. The western Roman alphabet, A to Z, reached a design pinnacle with 23 letters in second century Rome. For 2000 years the identifying shape,…READ MORE >
