Tamara Kostianovsky

 Tamara Kostianovsky was born in Israel and grew up in Buenos Aires.  She began using her discarded clothes as artistic material shortly after immigrating to the United States.  Now using discarded textiles from clothing, furniture, and linens, she creates imagined and remembered worlds.

In preparation for her current show at the Baker Museum at Artis Naples, Kostianovsky visited the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  During her time here, she was particularly struck by the intense blue sky and the abundant bird and plant life she encountered during her explorations of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Naples Botanical Garden and the Everglades.

Frank Stewart

The Baker Museum at Artis Naples has a big exhibition of photographs by Frank Stewart, a Black photographer who has been at work since the 1960s.

Here are a 1980 photo by Stewart of three musicians playing at a New Orleans funeral and his 1981 photograph of three men rushing to a Ku Klux Clan rally in Jackson, Mississippi.  

Turkey vultures

Dozens of turkey vultures swarmed the house.  Do they know something I don't know?

At the Barber

 While I wait my turn at the barber shop, I usually marvel at this gorgeous cash register, still in use.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if manufacturers put the same effort and beauty into other every day products?

Out of the Jurisdiction: Evening Cruise of the Amsterdam Canals

 An evening cruise of the Amsterdam canals was a fine way to end this trip.  The cruise began as daylight waned and finished in darkness.

We passed Amsterdam Centraal -- the city's main railroad station --with some remaining daylight.

Brouwergracht is a canal in the Jordaan neighborhood.  It was once a place for breweries.

As night fell, we sometimes got a brief flash of light as we passed bridges connecting two canals.

Some bridge archways are lit.

Passing the National Maritime Museum as we left canals and entered the harbor was a fitting way to end the evening canal cruise.  The VOC Amsterdam is a replica of an 18th century Dutch East India vessel.

Back to southwest Florida tomorrow.

Out of the Jurisdiction: An Afternoon Walk of the Amsterdam Canals

 The trip finished in Amsterdam, with a walking tour of the canals.

A simple statue of Anne Frank is not far from her house and the museum built around her legend.

A photographer dresses subjects like Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

That girl is all over the place.

Johnny Jordaan was a popular musician at the end of the 20th century,  After he died, statues honoring Jordaan and some other musicians were installed near a club where they performed.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Kölner Dom

 The Kölner Dom (or Cologne Cathedral) is a wow.

Begun in 1248, the cathedral took 600 years to complete.