Dog Art Today

My Word For 2015: Function

 

 

Girl in Forest with Basket of Mushrooms and Dog, 1890s print

As a Nevada County tradition, out local poet, Molly Fisk, invites us to choose a word for the new year.  

Everyone gets into it.  Some people have known their 2015 words for months.  Some wait until February.  Molly says there's no rush.

Mine came to me yesterday.  It's "function."

I toyed with "mindfullness," but it was too detached at a time in my life when dryers, coffee makers, car batteries, and cells within me are malfunctioning. 

And, as I mentioned in this interview, I've been struggling with art's function in post-Great-Recession America for some time.

Function: (noun)

1. the special purpose or activity for which a thing exists or is used

2. the job or duty of a person

3. a large ceremony or special event.

Function: (verb)

1. to work or operate

2. to have a specified funtion, role, or purpose

The fun part comes looking up the etymology of your word because there are always surprises:

Function (n) - 1530s, "proper work or purpose," from Middle French fonction (16c.) and directly from Latin functionem (nominative functio) "performance, execution," noun of action from functus, past participle of fungi "perform, execute, discharge," from PIE root *bheug- (2) "to use, enjoy." Use in mathematics probably begun by Leibnitz (1692).

I didn't expect  "performance" or "to enjoy"  in the definition.  I was just hoping to function in 2015.  But it gives me courage...excitement, even.

The best part is that function comes from the Latin word, functionem, and its past participle is fungi.

In Italian fungi means mushrooms, the focus of my art, my cooking (mushroom barely soup defrosts in my fridge right now), my health (I've just been reading about the curative properties of shiitake mushrooms), and my long walks with Tyler Foote, who loves mushrooms even more than I do.

I thought "function" was going to be a workhorse word, dry and practical. But like my favorite fungi, the word has depth and meatiness. It has umami, the 5th sense of savory flavor, a perfect word partner for 2015.

I'd love to hear your word if you feel like sharing.

Also, Molly Fisk has just released a new book of her fabulous radio essays entitled Using Your Turn Signal Promotes World Peace: More Observations from a Working Poet. You can order it here.

The 19th century print of the of the girl and her dog collecting mushrooms is available at Martin2001's Etsy Shop.

Happy New Year!

Tyler Foote by Clair Hartmann

 

 

Tyler Foote by Clair Hartmann, 2014

North Carolina artist and DAT favorite, Clair Hartmann was so inspired by Tyler Foote Finds: A Compendium of My Ignorance, she asked for a trade: a print of the installation and a DANK Koan in return for one of her imaginary realism portraits of Footey.

Of course my answer was yes. Clair's portrait of my beloved Darby (1994 - 2011) is one of my treasured possessions, my screen saver, and it was featured in "Modern Dog Magazine."

Clair's Tyler Foote portrait pays homage to his passion for nature by representing him as Alexander Von Humboldt (1769 - 1859) Prussian explorer, naturalist, and father of botanical and field biogeography...

 

 

Alexander von Humboldt by Franz Xaver Kleiber

 

I adore it.

Visit Clair Hartmann's website to commission a portrait of your pet, either classic or imaginary realism style.

She offers a 25% discount for anyone who works for a non-profit animal rescue and gift certificates for the holidays are available.

Her Chumley Calendar, a celebration of her own pup, is a gorgeous cross-section of her styles.  Order it here.

Thank you, Clair.

xo, Moira and Tyler Foote

P.S. Watch a brief TED Talk lesson on Alexander von Humboldt, the most famous person you never heard of.  Clair's painting may help give him the recognition he deserves.

Tyler Foote at The National Hotel by Mara Casey

 

 

Tyler Foote at The National Hotel by Mara Casey, 9.16.14

LA-based dog photographer Mara Casey and I have been online friends for over seven years. Last weekend we finally met when she came to Nevada City to look around and take some photos of Tyler Foote.

This one, at The National Hotel, the oldest continuously operating hotel in California built in stages from 1854 - 1857, is my favorite.

Thank you so much, Mara!

See more of Mara's dog (and child) photography at Mara Casey Shoots.

In The Company of Dogs and Cats at Blanton Museum of Art

 

 

L’Artisan Moderne Poster by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896

Now on view at the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, In the Company of Dogs and Cats, featuring over 150 works by masters such as Albrecht Dürer, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, William Blake, Francisco Goya, Paul Gauguin, Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei), Pablo Picasso, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Hopper, Louise Bourgeois, and others.

The museum is keeping most of the included works out of the press, but shared L'Artisan Moderne Poster by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. I've never seen it before. Wonder what other dog-art treasures they have? If you go, let me know.
Exhibition runs until September 21, 2014.

Visit Blanton Museum of Art for more information.

Dusk, or a Round of Croquet by Pierre Bonnard

 

 

Dusk, or a Round of Croquet by Pierre Bonnard, 1892

Via Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.