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At the opening of my family’s art show Animal, Vegetable, Spiritual: A Family View, I was asked if I had any formal art training. I haven’t. But I have a photographer for a father and a ceramicist for a mother, and I don’t know how many art museums I was dragged through as a kid. My sister has been drawing since the day she first picked up a crayon, went on to attend art school, and has become a glass and fiber artist as an adult. I got interested in quilting in 1996, joined the Tompkins County Quilters Guild, and became friends with many brilliant fiber artists. So the answer is: No, I haven’t had any formal training, but I’ve had plenty exposure to both art and artists. My art has been learned through osmosis.
Two years ago, we were discussing the fact that every member of our family is an artist and wondering how unusual that might be. The idea of having a show as a family came up and we all agreed it would be fun to do. In fact, it turned out to be a lot of work, but it all came together nicely in the end. Last weekend, I went to Maryland to attend the opening reception, which I am happy to say was packed with enthusiastic viewers.
The artists at the reception: Don, Cleo, Jane, and Kit Dunsmore (Photo by Russ Poole)
Here are some pictures of the gallery and the artists with their work to give you a flavor of the show.
My father, Don Dunsmore, with his photo "quilt" Morning Glories
My mother, Jane Dunsmore, with her piece Free Ride II
My sister, Cleo Dunsmore, with her necklace Sea Turtle
And me, Kit Dunsmore, with my Quilt for An Inner Child
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Family View is on display until November 29, 2009 at The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland.
A negative space heart in the clouds, seen while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, and caught on film by Dana Geary:
The peak in the picture is the Little Matterhorn.
Photo by Kit Dunsmore
Last weekend, we intended to spend four nights camping in the Snowy Mountains near Medicine Bow Peak with friends. We picked an easy loop hike that would allow us to backpack in, camp for a few nights in one spot, and do interesting day hikes on side trails. One of the advantages of our choice was being able to start at high altitude, so that the hiking itself wasn’t all that strenuous. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
The hiking itself was as intended – exercise, but not the backbreaking slogging that can go with climbing endless trails with a pack when you’re not really in shape to begin with. However, the area we picked for our first camp spot turned out much wetter than we realized. (There was a little “marshland” symbol on the map, but none of us noticed that…!). We were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes that made cooking and eating dinner so unpleasant that the teenagers with us were happy to forgo dessert in order to retreat into their tent.
Molly and Sarah before the Bugs. (Photo by Dana Geary)
Photo by Dana Geary
We did have a net tent that we set up and used as a place to get a break from the mosquitoes. Even the dog learned the joy of being able to go into this shelter and get away from them.
The next morning wasn’t as bad, though it was still buggy. The girls did not want to stay out another night, so we packed up and hiked the rest of the loop to get back to the car. The day started well but it rained heavily all afternoon, making the last few hours of the hike cold and wet.
This picture of me only hints at how wet I was. I'm not wearing my hat because it was soaked through. (Photo by Dana Geary)
It's still raining, and one of the signs they are sitting by gave us the cheery news that we had almost 4 more miles to go. (Photo by Dana Geary)
Remarkably, the scenery was still gorgeous. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, I’d have taken endless pictures. There were some things (like flowers) that I just couldn’t resist.
Photo by Dana Geary
It was hard to get good pictures at all with the low light, but Dana got a couple that really captured the beauty of the place. I imagine the rainy part of our hike might be easily replicated in parts of Scotland (although I’m not so sure you would see snow…)
Photo by Dana Geary
We saw a little wildlife and lots of wildflowers.
A pine grosbeak that hung out with us in the parking lot. (Photo by Dana Geary)
Columbines (Photo by Kit Dunsmore)
Photo by Kit Dunsmore
I am dying to go back and stay longer, and I think we now have a better idea of which sections of the trail are likely to provide better camp sites. Maybe Kurt and I will head back up there before the year is out. He bought a Wyoming fishing license but didn’t get to use it.
More of my photos from this trip can be found on my Facebook page.
On Sunday, we planted a butterfly bush that was already in bloom. On Tuesday, I saw its first visitor, and what a stunner! He was as big as my hand, and did he love our bush.
I’ve looked in our ancient butterfly field guide, and nothing even close to this beauty shows up*. So, I searched online.
I found a great interactive field guide at eNature. The advanced search lets you tell the guide all about the critter you’ve seen and where you saw it, and then gives you your best bets.
Result: our visitor was a Western Tiger Swallowtail.
*The Western Tiger Swallowtail is in our field guide, but it’s wings look very different from the butterfly shown here, which is why I didn’t recognize it.
During the first week in October last year, Kurt and I took a driving tour with his parents. We stayed in Durango at the old but opulent Strater Hotel.
The Strater Hotel
Our reason for going to Durango was the narrow gauge train that runs between Durango and Silverton. Jean had heard about it and was interested in taking the trip. It’s about a four hour ride through the Animas River Canyon and turned out to be well worth the time and money. We were in the Vista, the only car with a glass roof. It’s well back in the train, but we still got our share of ashes from the engine smoke.
Kurt with his parents, Jean and Carroll
The scenery was glorious. We had excellent weather, chilly at first, but sunny most of the way. While the majority of the trees were coniferous, there were golden aspens to brighten things up. The river itself grew greener the farther we went up the canyon.
The Animas River from the train
The train wound back and forth and we were able to take pictures of the front of the train from our carriage near the rear.
Silverton turned out to be a tiny town with wide dirt streets and a plethora of restaurants and gift shops. We had lunch at a cafe, then caught the bus back down to Durango. The drive takes about an hour, but it doesn’t get the kind of views we got from the train.
