We recently spent some time in a wonderful little town named Yellow Springs, OH. It's a great place, full of small shops, used book stores and art, art, art everywhere. Even the telephone poles are decorated, wearing knitted "cozies" in riotous colors - sadly, I failed to take a photo of any of them. I'll be sure to photo a few next time we're out there.
I did manage to secure a photo of a lion. Actually, my lovely and talented wife took these shots. We were temporarily parked and I noticed this lion head on the side of the wall:
And here's a closer view:
Isn't it fantastic? No reason for it at all, other than to make people smile. I want to live in a town like that.
6 comments:
Oh cool, someone noticed Nancy's Lion painting :) Hey you can see a slide show of the knitted poles on our website.
www.jafagirlart.com
ps. you are right, the reason is to bring a smile and brighten up the place.
Help! I'm still a blog comment!
Beware, young Major! There be 60s radical ghosts that stalk there! Yellow Springs and Antioch College were notorious to my generation as a hotbed of radicalism. I was going to school in Boulder at the time and was a member of Young Americans for Freedom (Bill Buckley was the spiritual father). It was feared the devil himself lived in Yellow Springs. Here's the summary description from Wiki:
"Since the 1950s, Antioch has been considered an early bastion of student activism and liberal thought. Antioch faced pressure from the powerful House Unamerican Activities Committee, and became the mockery of many area newspapers, because it would not kick out its students and faculty accused of having Communist leanings. But college officials stood firm, insisting that freedom begins not in suppressing unpopular ideas but in holding all ideas up to the light. The school, including professors and administration, was involved in the early stages of the American Civil Rights Movement and remains a supporter of free speech.
. . .
Following on the heels of the past decade the college also became one of the primary sources of student radicalism, the New Left, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and to a lesser extent the Black Power movement. The town of Yellow Springs also became an island of liberal and Left activism in southern Ohio as well."
Here's an interesting, related NY Times op-ed piece from an Antioch grad:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/opinion/17goldfarb.html
I understand Antioch finally closed its doors in July of this year.
Having said all that, I also took the trip down to Yellow Springs during one of my recent stays at Wright Patt for a DAU class. I sought out and walked through the infamous Antioch campus. It was otherworldly in it final years before closing. Very few students, silent, deteriorating. Sad and unsatisfying, really, given its reputation. I did also walk through the nature preserve adjoining the campus. When I got lost, some obliging locals (not knowing my contrary political past) directed me out of the woods. I also found a great vintage paperback, c. 1951, "documenting" early flying saucer encounters, in a local bookshop (my daughter and son-in-law are into old school SF). And I mailed a teasing postcard to my ultra liberal sister-in-law, saying I had visited the fountain of truth and had been converted.
All-in-all, a nice outing.
By the way, I found WYSO in Yellow Springs was the only Miami Valley local station with any interesting electic programming. You can get it in Dayton. Would listen to the blues show while studying for my DAU class!
I LOVE WYSO - great radio station, with an impressively eclectic and interesting collection of music & news.
I went to the jafabrit or jafa-sisters, or whatever website. My favorite item there was "found art".
Fantastic....nobody tells them to do this. It's just a nice gesture to make people happy. I love this idea of divesting your talents to make people happy.
Hmmm....kind of makes me wonder if I'm putting my talents to good use.....
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