Spring\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Bee Hiving Moon<\/p>\n
By chance I had a sculpture tour today and went to a presentation by Steve Tobin<\/a> at the Arboretum tonight.\u00a0 He is the sculptor of the new steel roots works now on display there.\u00a0 He said his ambition lies outside time and culture; his works, he hopes, will work in any place on the planet and in any era, including the past.<\/p>\n This struck me because only this morning I took six Champlin sculpture students on a tour of the MIA’s sculpture and I began with the Woman of Lamouth.\u00a0 What amazes me about her is that 20,000 years ago a paleolithic artist sat down with simple tools, probably little thought to the future beyond their own life, and made this object, a swollen belly, two milk-rich breasts and a round head with knit cap.\u00a0 The most amazing part to me?\u00a0 We recognize her as a woman.\u00a0 In other words this sculptor worked in a visual language so universal that no one needs to identify this object in stone; we can see, even through the abstract elements of its form, its identity.<\/p>\n Tobin’s ambition made sense to me in light of this ancient object, still speaking 20,000 years later in the corridors of the Minneapolis Art Institute.<\/p>\n On a less positive note I went to a Forest Service information session on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on prospecting in the Superior National Forest.\u00a0 A Forest Ranger wanted my comments, my opinions.\u00a0 I said, no prospecting, no mining.\u00a0 Therefore no need for an EIS.\u00a0 Save everybody a lot of time, effort and money and would save vast acres of forest and the lifeforms it supports.<\/p>\n She answered me by saying that they were required by law to develop the EIS without taking into account the probability of mining.\u00a0 This is a splendid example of double think.\u00a0 The EIS weighs such things as noise bothering animals, the intrusion of new forest roads, the impact of deep drilling.\u00a0 When she asked me if I had a particular area in mind, I answered, “Northern Minnesota.”\u00a0 To not take the environmental impact of mining into account when deciding whether or not to permit prospecting is like a teenager concerned about the possibility of STD’s without wondering about the consequences of producing a baby.\u00a0 Drill, baby, drill.<\/p>\n Makes me gnash my teeth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Bee Hiving Moon By chance I had a sculpture tour today and went to a presentation by Steve Tobin at the Arboretum tonight.\u00a0 He is the sculptor of the new steel roots works now on display there.\u00a0 He said his ambition lies outside time and culture; his works, he hopes, will work in … Continue reading Roots. Deep Roots.<\/span>