Blog Archives

Franklin Homecoming

9/28/2020

The scheduled pulled a fast one on me this week. I had planned to photograph Franklin's homecoming only to find out I wasn't paying close attention and was going to be out of town during the game.

Thankfully Sydney Herdle was able to photograph the event. More of her photographs can be seen and even purchased here at sydneyherdlephotography.zenfolio.com.

Photographs by Sydney Herdle

You can also look at her game action photos at sydneyherdlephotography.zenfolio.com/p379518990

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Artist of September: Sue Buck part four

9/26/2020

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Detail

Last week we shared some of Sue's work from Florida and New Mexico that led her to work she has been doing ever since in Meadville where she was a professor of printmaking and drawing at Allegheny College.
This where I met Sue and we became very close. We seem to get each other and when I got the privilege to get to hear some of her inside thoughts about work. We can and have talked for hours and I'm thrilled how she embraced sharing so much with us here in this blog.
The smaller photos please click on them to enlarge!

In 1993 I moved to northwest Pennsylvania to teach at Allegheny College in Meadville. Armed with hundreds of photos of orangutans and gorillas, I began doing lots of drawings, some of which were quite large at five feet by seven feet. Those big drawings included six-letter words framed with them. Memory, Moment and Fathom are shown here. Why six-letter words? Well, as I started the series I had just accidentally used six-letter words and decided that would be a fun challenge to keep that going. It was so much fun to make a list of all of the six-letter words I could find. My friends were always adding to my list. Such challenges are fun and can give you an unexpected idea to run with. :) During this time I was reading everything I could find about their mental intelligence, their social complexity and their emotional lives.

In 2000 I was granted a sabbatical leave which gave me the amazing opportunity to make my own art full time. I was able to draw apes non-stop. I also bought my first digital camera. Now for those of us who for decades had bought film, taken photos, sent the film for processing and never knew what the photos even looked like until they were returned, this digital camera was like magic. I wallowed in that magic. I photographed everything in my life. Those photos became an installation of over 600 photos tacked to the gallery wall.

In the spring of 2001 while I was continuing my ape research and drawing, by fate, I was invited to be on a panel of Allegheny professors at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The panel was about intelligence of all sorts. On the panel was Dr. Rob Shumaker who worked at the National Zoo Think Tank working with orangutans using symbols and computers in studying their ability to understand language and to think critically. My life was about to change. After meeting Rob and Azy the male orangutan there at the zoo, I was a commissioned to do drawings for the zoo.

Then after Rob got a new job at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, I was commissioned to do drawings of the orangutans and bonobos who lived there. Azy accompanied Rob to Iowa.

I got to draw and eventually meet Kanzi who is a very famous bonobo who understands hundreds of spoken English words and can communicate using a very complex symbol board. When I visited, Kanzi was able to use a touch screen and he could point out what he wanted to say on the computerized symbol board. It would come out as a male voice. It took me a few minutes to get over the shock of that one. Kanzi immediately asked me for some lemonade and when I could not get that for him, he said he wanted me and the woman with me to run and play chase which we did happily laughing the whole time. Kanzi is intense to say the least.

I also got to meet Panbanisha a bonobo famous for her paintings. Getting to watch her paint was fascinating. I could feel her mind working as I watched her making decisions on colors, brushes, shapes and composition. She was so focused and intense as she worked. We human artists work hard to have the same attention and commitment.

In the fall of 2001 through my connection to Rob, I got to meet Dr. Sally Boysen who ran the Chimp Center at Ohio State University. The chimpanzees there were also communicating via computer touch screens studying numbers and language.

She commissioned me to do drawings for the center and invited me to visit. I had the amazing privilege of meeting nine month old Emma and 13 month old Harper. Because they were very young, I was able to go in with them. Adult chimpanzees are known for their physical strength and even these young ones were as strong as many adult human males. I watched as the two chimps played in water. Harper splashed water on Emma and she went to Sally to say what had happened. I learned how to groom a chimpanzee while making kissing smack sounds as I groomed. Harper got very jealous when I was grooming Emma and he pouted in the corner until he got to be groomed, too. This experience of touching chimpanzee hair affected my drawings. I had never felt their hair before and presumed falsely that it was somewhat like dog hair. Stupid on my part. It is like human hair and much sparser than I imagined. It is also kind of crimped. I definitely never drew chimpanzee hair the same way again. :)

In 2007 during my visit to the Great Ape Trust in Iowa I had the opportunity to spend four days with the orangutans. I was invited to paint with and for the orangutans. I would work for hours. Sometimes I was painting them and sometimes I was preparing canvases for the orangutans .

Using different colors, I would paint shapes onto canvases which would be given to the orangutans for their paintings. This provided them a shape and the opportunity to paint a response to those shapes instead of just getting a blank canvas.

During my time there the female Knobi spent hours watching me work. Perhaps I should mention that these individuals were not required to watch me, but could at their own choice. Azy the male came in for a few minutes, but left pretty quickly since he had better things to do. Knobi would come right back after Azy left. I would talk to her as I worked. She was just on the other side of the glass and could hear me perfectly. She was curious and watched carefully.

I would even ask her what colors I should use and would place jars of colors up to the window. She would choose a color by pointing with her finger and sometimes she would point with her lower lip. I know this sounds impossible, but this really did happen. I made a film about my experiences with Azy and Knobi. If you are interested, you can see this film at the Facebook link here.

https://www.facebook.com/sue.buck.921/videos/vb.100000773231440/836762629692837/?type=3

I was also invited and honored to do drawings of gorillas and bonobos for the African Wildlife Foundation. I believe it is this bonobo drawing that is in their office in Washington, D.C.

Next week we'll see some other work Sue has done at Allegheny and even more work with the great apes. She is currently on Facebook sharing process photographs taken during different stages of her drawings.

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No rain of late

9/25/2020

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A few weeks back I needed some work done on my car and despite the weather I took a walk on Ernst Trail without an umbrella. Then got pummelled. Boy we could use a little rain now. Been pretty dry of late here!

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I did not die

9/23/2020

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A little slow with posting this week. I'm on the wrong side of a huge pile of work that I'm chipping away at while trying to still move forward.
I will be trying to catch up this week. I have a lot of sports photos from last week to share and I will get to it soon.
Tuesday I visited Oil City with the Franklin Knights who took on the Oilers in tennis and cross country and took some photos. The Oilers were too tough at home for the Knights winning the Tennis match with a sweep and winning both girls and boys varsity cross country meets. It was first win for the boys in over a year.

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Cranberry festival finds a way to celebrate

9/19/2020

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Moments from the Cranberry Festival Saturday

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc with life in these parts.

Susan Williams, director of the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce, managed to pull off a modified Oil Heritage with the help of generous sponsors and a lot of sweat equity. The Cranberry Festival followed suit today.

Though moved from the traditional Morrison Park to the Cranberry Mall, there were plenty of giveaways and some activities for the kids. Dozens of cars took advantage of the drive through and several found spots in the vast mall parking lot to hang out and open up their classic cars for others to visit. Kids activities included chalk drawing and painting a car. The festival committee provided materials so items didn't have to be shared. Craft kits were also given out for the kids to take home.

The fireworks are scheduled for 8 p.m. tonight at the mall.

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Artist of September Sue Buck: Third installment

9/17/2020

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In this post We see work from New Mexico and the beginning of a journey she is still passionately pursuing.

After 10 years in Florida, I moved to New Mexico and taught in Santa Fe at The Institute of American Indian Arts which is a college for Native American students from all over the country. There were over 130 tribes represented there. Sadly I only have one photo of work from that year. At the time I was drawing in a format called a diptych which has two parts that sit side by side. This was a portrait of one of our models alongside a buffalo skull loaned to me by one of my students.

I need to add here that for the first time in my life I was in the minority. There were only a handful of Non-Natives on campus. I was considered suspicious because I was not a Native American. I was white and that history followed me.

That history was me.

To some faculty members I was treated as invisible. Early on, I was harassed by a few students who were not at all fond of having a white woman teach them. Eventually they saw that I was a good teacher and everything went well. I had wonderful students who learned fast and did amazing work. This experience was very important to me. It pulled me back into those questions about power and greed. Who has power? Who does not? How does greed fit into that power? What is the history of the abuse of power?

While in New Mexico, I also taught at a private adult fine arts school in Albuquerque. I had been reading a book entitled Chimpanzee Politics as I continued to think about how politics fit into these issues of power and greed. I was wondering how my work would evolve, not pushing anything but wondering.

Then one day I took my adult students to the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. Immediately I found a connection with the orangutans and gorillas there. Quickly I could see how my work could evolve. I knew nothing about these great apes, but I started reading and researching and that continues to this day. As I would sit face to face with them, I felt their curiosity and their intelligence and they seemed to sense mine.

Wondering what they were thinking. I also felt as if they were wondering what I was thinking.

I learned about the alpha males in gorilla groups and how power plays a role. I learned about females in the groups and how they united to make the alpha a good leader. I learned how their family groups worked together to make a good life for everyone. I read about chimpanzee troops whose communities fell apart when there was a bad leader. I learned about orangutans who led basically solitary lives except for the mothers who were with their young at least until the children were six years old.

Of course, I took hundreds of photos during the 15 years I would return to Albuquerque to teach workshops and visit the zoo. I came to know the individuals and watched as their families began to grow and prosper.

The next part of Sue's journey and work will bring her to Pennsylvania where she taught for years at Allegheny college.

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Respect

9/16/2020

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I gain more and more respect for my fellow photographers Anna Applegate, Tracey Scott and Timothy Rudisille every time I try to make photographs on nature. Patience.... oh my the patience required. I'm not sure I'll every quite get it, but in trying I have fun none-the-less.

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Girls soccer in Oil City and Franklin on a Monday

9/14/2020

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Oil City hosted a scrappy Cambridge Springs team Monday on the Oil Field. The Spa racked up four unanswered goals as the Oilers had trouble putting shots on goal. Down Route 8 an hour or so later the Franklin Knights took on Maplewood in a tight match that took overtime to settle. Franklin prevailed 2-1.

Here are a few photos from each game. Click on photo to enlarge.

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Short story/poem prompt

9/14/2020

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Going to try something new here. This Franklin business window street scene seems more poetic than real, so how about you all who love to tell stories write a short story or poem for this photograph and I'll print my favorite in the Sunday edition newsletter next week.

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Local business has solution to fan-less Friday nights

9/11/2020

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Stick-to-it-ive-ness.

This has been a theme in Luke Ruot's life in broadcast and it may be even more of a mantra now as he enters this year's high school sports season as the founder and owner of Stream TV, a Titusville based broadcast network using the internet to get stories out. With virtually spectator - less school sports about to kick into gear it would seem business would be booming for Stream TV, which provides a professional viewing experience for high school sports with play-by-play and color commentary, but that doesn't appear to be true.

Though Ruot says he is doing fine, he has actually lost a little business after a national company was suggested to local schools by the PIAA for their no attendance policy solution. One school that Stream TV covered last year has opted for the national chain option leaving Ruot with a closet full of gear.

"I thought about selling it," he said but wasn't sure what this national company was offering. So he said he'll hold on to it for now to see what might come down the pike. Ruot says he tries to give an NFL style program but understands his limitations. But with multiple camera angles and the broadcasters talking about the game offering insights, the experience is much more than a camera from the press box simply just pointing at the field.

To him, the community deserves the best he can offer.

Ruot was a kid really, working in radio, when he got started. He had a voice, a gift for gab and a love for the community. But radio was changing. TV was changing. Newspapers were changing. This thing called the internet was... well... no one really knew what it was.

Ruot recalls someone mentioning a Sony camera and the internet and he should learn what the hell it is and how to use it. And then own it. He listened to this advice.

That was a long time ago, but it was a game changer for him. And Rout is still finding a way to keep this notion afloat and moving down stream (pun intended) as he grows a little more each year.

Ruot is growing his local presence from his hometown of Titusville to Oil City, Meadville and hopefully soon, Franklin. He covers local government news, feature stories and high school sports. Ruot and the Stream TV broadcasts are reaching into local homes by the thousands.

"We have fun," he says about covering local high school sports while watching a recording of last year's Tiusville versus Girard game in his office. All the broadcasts can be watched over and over again.

Currently Titusville is the only school on board with Stream TV this season. This service he provides to the school's for free because he does the leg work to get advertisers and sponsors which pay for the service. He produces commercials and pops logos of local businesses on the screen during the broadcasts just like any TV station does. It's been a source local businesses to get their word out as well.

Ruot loves to showcase the community. He has no interest in covering large college or pro sports, but does like providing a high level production for the high school community.

During this pandemic and the governor's limits on crowd size, Ruot is also cognizant of his production crew's presence at the games. "Every person I have [on my crew], one less person can go to the game," he said. And he gets that. He is a community guy who wants the community to thrive through its experiences and sense of family. He is thinking about the crew size this year and what he needs to cover the games appropriately. He also knows if he is there, everyone has the ability to see games live on-line.

The tough part for him right now is he can be considered a mom and pop type operation with some of the rug pulled out from under him. After seeing his operation beginning to grow before COVID-19 hit and a national company swoops in is a bit tough as he looks at equipment sitting dormant. He says he doesn't blame any schools for this, knowing too they have been put in a tough spot to think of how to keep their kids on the field or courts this year.

As for this week, Titusville High School will have a crew and a live stream experience from Stream TV as the Rockets take on Meadville at home to start the football season. The local advertisers will get their spotlights on the broadcast and the color commentators will compare and contrast this years program to those in the past. They have an 80-year-old announcer who has a sharp memory of the school's program over the years.

He says they will be covering other sports for Titusville as well all year and get to as many of the Rockets football games as they can. Some away coverage may depend on what the opposing team rules are. He said he is excited about the modified schedule that resembles the old local rivalries of the past. So even though this is uncharted territory and not quite what he hoped for, Ruot is still excited about this upcoming season.

"We love the fact we are promoting the kids," he said.

Check out all Stream TV has to offer by clicking here.

Tonight's game against Meadville will also be broadcast on Armstrong Cable which has a terrific working relationship with Stream TV.
Or on You Tube here.

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Artist of September Sue Buck: Second installment

9/10/2020

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Last week Sue introduced us to a lot of her thought processes and early early work. This week we get to know her work from the 80s and 90s. She explains the process of monoprinting which became staple in her work of this era.
"I would roll up a clear and smooth plexiglas plate with ink and then use sticks, cloths, Q-tips and my fingers to pull ink away and then print on a piece of white paper on a press. They are called monoprints because you only get one print when using this process.

She also wanted to be sure it was evident that the more political commentary imagery, though they are oddly familiar to current times, were in fact from the Reagan and George H.W. Bush eras.

For smaller images please click on them to enlarge and see more detail.

In 1981 I moved to Florida to teach at Pensacola Junior College. The first week I was there I found a dried fish and bought a plastic pink flamingo and they became my new characters as in the series Fish Out of Water.

As always, I had questions on my mind. What happens when a fish is out of water? How did the fish get out of water? What does it mean to feel like a fish out of water?

I also found a big red ball on the beach and began using it as a symbol for danger. In this print we see that the dog perhaps senses danger, but he is unaware of what it is.

I was taking photos of my youngest sister’s dog and he became a character as well. Here are two drawings of dogs turning away from the viewer. What does that mean when a dog turns away from you? What does it say about me?

What does that say about you?

Also in these years I did a series entitled People to People and in this image you see people are trying to help this injured man. Gradually I was becoming more willing to use people as people instead of using symbols representing people.

I also did a series about experiments being done on animals, rabbits for cosmetics and rats for other experiments. So many questions and concerns about human behavior. Why do we do what we do to others? For power? For greed? For our own good but not for the good of others? Here is linocut entitled Status. Why do we fight for it? Where does it get us? Oh, my, more and more questions.

These questions and concerns led me from 1984-1991 into a seven-year study of greed and power using business men and politicians as subject matter. The photos and quotes I used came from magazines, newspapers and television. I made hundreds of monoprints in many series entitled Red Tie$, Good Ol’ Boys, Two Faced, Regulation$ and many others.

What these people were saying was shocking to me. "Justice and law are distant cousins." Really? Should that be the case? "There will always be victims." Do there have to be victims? "It is totally safe." Should we question that? "Why sure we love everyone." That baby is skeptical of that one. "Don’t worry about it…everybody’s happy." hmmmm…are they really? And so it goes with more statements and more questions.

My research and works on this theme ended with this etching entitled It’s All About Survival. As with any good research, you get some answers, but you also get more questions. Are greed and power really about survival? Are they necessary for survival? Who gets power and who does not? Can we survive without those behaviors?

Next we'll look at Sue's work in New Mexico and the beginning of her work with the Great Apes as she gets closer to moving to Pennsylvania.

If you missed Sue's first installment please visit it by clicking here, but not until you look at the last image of this series below.

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Critter of the week (and bug too!)

9/10/2020

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Feature photograph of the day

I've had this sorta unofficial series called the "Bug of the Week" going on for the last month. Today I made another photograph of a bumble bee on some flowers (hint, my friend Anna Applegate has a really great bee column coming up on her blog The Nature of Things). A little while later I made this photograph above of a turtle on a small pond up behind my house which I liked better. So I thought I'd include him/her with my bug of the week post. I think the turtle was contemplating the meaning of life. The bee is life.

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Local photographer's sunflower images go viral

9/9/2020

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Photograph by Timothy Rudisille Photography

Knox field seen 'round the world

Oil City photographer known for his photographs of nature and scenes from the area had a bit of a surprise this week. In four short days a post of his just exploded on social media reaching over a million news feeds around the world.

Tim Rudisille posted three photographs from his field trip to a patch of sunflowers down in Knox, Pennsylvania last week. The three colorful images, including this one of an old yellow truck parked along the edge of the field, has caught the eyes of people hunting for positivity and beauty on the world wide web. As of Sunday over 50,000 folks had liked, loved or simply thought WOW about this set of images.
Oddly there were a few who chose the laugh emoji and perhaps even odder, a few people expressed sadness or anger in their icon choice.

Angry? Sad?

Rudisille chalks it up to the fumbling nature of people on their cell phones just accidentally clicking the wrong emoji, but there in his analytics are two angry faces. It must be a mistake, who would get pissed off at sunflowers, he thought.

Despite the couple of odd responses the majority have been overwhelmingly positive. Nearly 7,000 people had shared his post in just four short days. And this is without anything special done to boost or promote the post.

Rudisille said the reaction has been completely organic, a term used in social media for a post's reach done without advertising or "boosting" the post. It is the equivalent to word of mouth - one person shares it and two more people see it and they share it and on and on it goes. But seldom does it spread like this.

"I didn't really think I got anything to spectacular, still think I could have done better. I'm really amazed at the numbers, I've had a few [posts] go over 200,000 views but nothing like this. It was like a freight train picking up speed," he said.

"I am speechless," he said about the the number of shares and responses. "I've thought about what I was going to say all day, now I have no words. That is a lot of people," Rudisille wrote Saturday on his Facebook page.

Being shared nearly 7,000 times has generated a lot of exposure and interaction for Rudisille who already has a pretty substantial following with over 10,000 followers since beginning his photography page eight years ago. But it was also quite a boost for the location where he took the photos.

"You have also inspired alot of people (my friends) to go to this place. I think it's beautiful," one person commented on Rudisille's post.

Another person wrote "Very deserving - Bright light in dark world!"

"Congratulations!!! Thank you for sharing the beauty! My sister and brother in law wanted to share the beauty they see daily and decided to plant sunflowers for the community to enjoy. Your pictures and followers helped to make their dream a reality. They never expected the turn outs they have had and they have been brought to “happy” tears daily with the gratitude from everyone who comes to take in the beauty!" one person commented Saturday.

The creator's of spectacle known as Sunny B's Farm said they were overwhelmed with the response they have received from the field they planned back in the spring. Brigette and Jeff Bridges had put their yellow 1949 International Harvestor truck in front of the field as a prop for photos. This seemed to be a big hit as social media became flooded with people posing with the truck and sea of flowers. Since the blooms began popping thousands of photographs have been taken at the property by several dozens of visitors.

They asked that folks not damage the truck or go inside the cab but were happy to let them pose in the bed of the truck. They also allowed people to cut flowers at a small fee, but asked that they only cut from the back of the field so it wouldn't ruin anyone's photos. The community seems very appreciative that this couple planned out this four and a half acre sunflower field to add a little beauty to the world.

They have shut down the field for the season after a very busy Labor Day weekend. But not until after a least one set of photographs had made their way outside of the community to the far reaches of the globe via Rudisille's post.

"Thank you EVERYONE who liked, commented, or shared this post," Rudisille wrote.

To view more of Rudisille's photographs visit his website. His photographs are also for sale from the site - www.timothyrudisille.smugmug.com

Follow his work at https://www.facebook.com/TimothyRudisillePhotography/

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Franklin Tennis vs. Greenville 9/8/2020

9/8/2020

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I got a chance to photograph the singles matches at Franklin High School Tuesday. The small Franklin squad, which doesn't have any players from Rocky Grove this year, took on Greenville in an early season match.

Franklin's number one player, Julia Lusher (above) lost to Greenville's Anna Cooper 6-3 6-3. The second match in the middle court at Franklin High pitted Franklin number two Alexah Proper (below) against Greenville's Alaina Gregory who won the match 6-4 6-4.

On the third court Franklin's Alex Nardozzi (below) lost to Ella Hildebrand 6-2 6-0. The doubles team of Gracia Riddle and Ryah Smith lost to Greenville's McKenna Philson and Rilee Uber 6-3 6-4.

Franklin coach Daniel Frank (below) said that Greenville accepted a forfeit for the second doubles match so Greenville won the match 5-0.

View more photos at sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p837518519

To support the lady Knights check out their schedule here to find out where they play next and root them on.

Not too many spectators Tuesday took part in supporting these athletes as they gave it their best on the courts up behind the school.

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Bug of the week

9/6/2020

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Not sure how much longer I'm going to keep up this unofficial series, but figured I'd share at least one more before fall starts to really change things.

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One week from first night of football... can we make it?

9/4/2020

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This world is surreal. When my favorite professor at Rhode Island College showed me the world depicted by Giogio Di Chirico I found them to be more psychological than real. 30 years later I'm stnding on a football field during camp and I looked at masked coaches telling their players on the sidelines to stand, kneel or whatever they want, but do it six-feet apart at minimum. Those paintings of Di Chirco were not that farfetched all of a sudden.

Oil City coach Dan York reminded his players several times of the team mandate to socially distance when not on the field playing.

York is happy that his kids are able to play, not just because he's a football coach and loves the sport, but he knows how important it is for his players to be able to have a normal high school sports experience. How important it is to play.

York and the Oilers are gearing up to begin their shortened season against Route 8 rival Franklin next Friday at the Knight's field. Franklin will have a new look with first year head coach Matt Turk.

"We don't even know what they run," York said as he he prepares his team to run his program and what they know best.

York's Oil City squad has had a two year run of pretty solid play winning the districts both years. They have a solid program with many returning players. Last year they still managed to win the district without star Christian Cole and this year they hope to do the same after losing Noah Petro to graduation. They just seem to reload. Last year they moved into the state playoffs and only lost to a high school that looked more like a division II college than a high school squad.

York, Friday admitted this squad could be better, but, that is an old coach giving a standard answer.
I had asked a volleyball coach at Maplewood this question years ago and got the same response. That squad won a state championship.

Today, this camp had a laid back, but maintained a systematic look to it as they geared up for Saturday's scrimmage. No yelling. Just running plays to see where improvements can be made. Quarterback Holden Stahl tossed a few wide outs and a deep end-zone pass right on the money. He led one receiver a tad too much on another play, but it appeared there was a breakdown in the line. The coaches quickly addressed that and moved on to the next play.

The first games of the season will be interesting to say the least. No one is quite sure how the band, cheerleaders, teams, officials and so on will quite work into the numbers or ho many spectators or press are even allowed.

On Thursday Gov. Wolf announced he was lifting the ban on spectators, but the numbers need to be controlled. This puts families in a precarious spot, they want to see their kids play, but if they force the issue they might risk their kid's season altogether.

A couple games elsewhere had to be shutdown recently because parents stormed the stadiums and refused to leave.

It remains to be seen what will happen in northwest Pennsylvania, but as of now most of the games will commence on September 11 and each team has a six-game localized schedule that could be subject to change. Titusville, who had planned to host Warren, has now recruited Meadville for it's first game since Warren had a player test positive and has elected to postpone the start of their season by a week.

These kind of changes may be likely all season long.

But for now they prepare to play.

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Possible growing masses

9/4/2020

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Sam Amendola said what he is seeing is similar to what he saw with Obama in the county. "I'm optimistic," he said Friday as he and a couple dozen Venango County supporters of Joe Biden waved flags in front of the courthouse. Amendola has handed out nearly 2,000 Biden signs already this year which is higher than in 2016 for Clinton. He admits the Clinton campaign was terribly late getting signs out, but this year he is seeing more signs in the area that are counteracting the overwhelmingly Republican county that supports Donald Trump. Even Friday several signs were passed out and taken home.

As the Biden supporters assembled, all wearing masks, they were greeted with several honks, a few blasts of heavy truck exhaust and more than one "single-finger salutes" from motorists on the busy Liberty Street in Franklin.

"Oh he's passed by at least three times," one person holding a Biden sign said about a motorist who gunned his engine and blew out thick black smoke from his exhaust as he yelled Trump 2020. The previous week another person laid down a heavy rubber burn in front of the group, another sign holder said.

Amendola and the Democrats know they are out numbered in the county but plan to organize and show their support for candidate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris every Friday somewhere. Longtime Democrat Ed Scurry, who was featured a couple weeks back on this website as the lone Democrat in front of the courthouse, said they plan to assemble in Oil City next week. He said he isn't opposed to being the lone wolf if need be in Franklin. A week ago the plan was to be in Oil City but it rained so much Scurry found himself alone again. So he drove back to Franklin to stand alone there in front of the courthouse with many motorists passing by. "If I'm gonna get wet, I might as well be closer to home," the Vietnam War veteran said.

Two other Biden supporters stood socially distanced across the road Friday. "This is how we celebrate [our anniversary,]" said Bob Hines of Franklin who stood with his former fiscal conservative republican wife, Jan. Friday was their 32nd anniversary. "I celebrated my birthday the same way," Jan said. Jan admitted being a Republican for many years but said she doesn't recognize the current Republican Party. Her husband said that people say that he hates Trump because he's not a Democrat. He takes exception to that argument. "If Donald Trump ran as a democrat, he still would not have gotten my vote," Bob Hines said.

Amendola said their are several large Biden billboards that will be going up around the county and he and several other democrats are planning to keep showing support for their candidate over the next two months until the election. "I'm optimistic this time," Amendola repeated as he handed out signs.

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Artist of September Sue Buck

9/4/2020

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I was sent to cover an art show at Allegheny College many years ago when I worked at The Meadville Tribune. It was their faculty show and one piece stood out to me because of the sheer enormity of it. Hundreds of photographs of what appeared to me, at the time, as unrelated subject matter - all hung like a giant grid that went around a corner. I knew very little about the work other than it was a sabbatical project of Sue Buck. I thought, oh she must be the photography professor. I also never forgot it or the experience I had standing before it. (Someday I'll explain my moments in front of certain art works where I came away a better person, this was one of those experiences.)

Years later when I was applying for a part-time photo instructor in the college's art department, I assumed Sue had retired or gone elsewhere. When I got to the interview, I learned that she wasn't a photography professor but rather taught drawing and printmaking and was still at the school. Talking with her later I learned that she had gotten a new digital camera and was just fascinated by what she could do with it, so that was one of the things she did during her sabbatical. It was an outstanding piece.

As I taught there, it became apparent that Sue was my person at the school. We would talk and just feel better about things. That is a friendship that has deep respect within it. We talked a lot about "real artists" and we both consider each other in that category. (I would toss a little something in her coffee when she wasn't looking to get her to feel that way about me.)

When I asked Sue if she would be my artist of the month, I expected a firm apologetic no. But here we are and she explains this in the opening of her contribution to this monthly feature of mine.

I had also, rather wrongly, described how much I loved that she would find something of interest and almost abandon her other work in order to investigate that type of expression. Sue also explains connections and how her work is connected even, if at times, it might look tangential.

I couldn't be more thrilled she is going to take us on a journey through her work and thought processes in the next few weeks. This will be something for students and educators to take note of as she really is giving us a gift with what she is sharing. (Stop blushing Sue and yes, I heard what you just said to me and yes I too am glad we're such close friends that you can say that to me!) Please share these around so others can learn more about the process of creating work. There are few better explanations than what she will share during this month. It amazes me how open and giving she is, and what depth her work has meaning and experimentation. A true artist. Thank you Sue. I love you and I love what you have sent me to share this month.

From Sue, Introduction:

I have been following Rich Sayer’s work for years now and have admired his recent endeavor to go out on his own in order tell photo stories about people in his community. When Rich asked me to participate in his recent stories about artists, I confess that I hesitated. However, if you know Rich, then you know it is impossible to say no to him. Not only is he a great photographer, artist, teacher and friend, but he is also a man with a big heart. How can you say no to that? Obviously you cannot. :)

Rich said, “….your boldness to drop one thing to focus hard on another is amazing.” Well, the “ amazing" bit there was kind, but I worried that in my work it appeared to others that I drop things and move on to something else. Since I do not see my work in that way at all, I plan to set up this presentation in an effort to explain that. In my mind, my ideas and works have flowed smoothly from one to the next. Like most artists I work in series, so for each one of these images there were many more along that same theme. There were also many more series of drawings, but I have tried to put the brake on showing too many images. We will see how that goes. :)

Truthfully when Rich asked me to participate in this artist project, he said to me, “You are not bound by convention or what is expected. You are driven by what is on your mind.” My immediate reaction was wait a minute. Isn’t that what all artists do? The reviewers, critics and art historians are the ones who write about those conventions and movements. They write about what we have done. We are always moving ahead. We are never bound by convention or what is expected. We are always driven by what is on our mind, no matter what kinds of artists we are.

From the cave painters 30,000 years ago to contemporary artists of today, we have always been commenting on our lives and the world around us. We have found so many ways to do that and we will continue to find new ways. Always in attempts to answer questions. What do I love? What do I hate? What do I fear? What am I thinking? What should I be thinking? What do I want to think? Do I even need to think? This is what we artists are and have always been. We ask questions in pursuit of answers. This is who we are and this is the way we work. Each of us find our own ways to do that. That is beauty of art and artists. We are in essence reporters of our time. This is how we see ourselves and the world around us.

Let me start at the beginning. I drew this pastel drawing of a puppy in 1964 when I was a freshman in high school. Yes, this means I am old now. :) Back then, I sold puppy and kitten drawings for $5.00. I am sure only to family members. :) I look at this drawing today and wonder what I as a young girl saw in that quizzical look on the puppy’s face. Did I wonder what the puppy was thinking? Was he trying to understand me as I was trying to understand him?

This other early work of mine was probably done in my senior year of high school. I look at this tempera painting decades later and wonder why I chose that image to paint. Why and how do we artists choose our subjects? Since we could choose anything at all, what influences our choices? Why and how do we make these decisions? Sometimes we know and sometimes we do not. What was I thinking as I chose this image? What was this boy thinking as he sought out the safe rocks to step on? How did I relate to this boy? How do all of us relate to this boy?

Although I went to undergraduate school at Ohio University in Athens from 1967-1971, I have no images I made back then, since I did not own a camera. That means we are going to make a big jump to 1971 when I got an art teaching job at Aberdeen High School in Maryland. I also attended graduate school at the same time at Maryland Institute College of Art from 1974-1977. These images are from those years.

At that time I was trying to find ways to talk about human behavior by using inanimate objects as my subjects. There were dolls coming to life on their own by pulling their own voice cords and dolls getting themselves out of boxes that confined them. I did portraits of people by drawing their clothes. I bought a truckload of mannikins at an Amish auction near where I lived at the time and often used them as subjects as in this drawing entitled Illusion. The female is sitting wrapped in beautiful fabric looking royal, but when she looks in the mirror, she only sees chains.

At this same time I began using fruits and vegetables in order to comment on human behaviors. This graphite drawing is entitled Rape of a Banana. How in the world can one talk about such things with fruits and vegetables? But I tried. I did with some effort coax three friends to model for me and sit in my living room and throw food at each other. This is the central panel of a eight foot long drawing entitled American Repast which for me referenced the way families often argue at the dinner table. Fortunately this did not happen in my family.

Click on any image to expand.

In 1978 I moved to Tucson and enrolled at the University of Arizona in order to go to graduate school for a second time. In Maryland I had to go only part time and I wanted a full time experience. There I continued my fruit and vegetable approach. The first image is an etching entitled Right Subject: Wrong Tools referencing how people can have a good idea and good intent, but they go about it the wrong way. Likewise in the drypoint entitled An Opening. One does not normally open a green pepper with a can opener.

Yes, those are eggs you see coming up. How in the world did I get to eggs? Easily. A friend of mine who was working construction had brought me these beautiful long nails. By the way, my father was a mechanic and I have always loved tools and fixing things. Eggs.

I was out of fruit and vegetables and wanted to try out those long nails. There were eggs in the refrigerator and I wondered if I could actually hammer a nail into an egg. Sure enough, I ran a nail right through an egg onto a two-by-four. The strength of that egg was fascinating. Such resilience. This seemed like a wonderful symbol for the resilience of people.

By chance or by fate, one of my drawing professors assigned us to watch the 1925 movie Phantom of the Opera and do drawings based on the film. I was in heaven and saw that the egg could represent innocence and purity and that old eggbeater that I had collected could perhaps represent the opposite. I rode that creative wave for months.

As the series went on, I began to identify with the egg beater and wondered about his life. Was he really bad? Or did people just see him as that? I proceeded to make the eggbeater an eggshell mask. Yes, I really did that. :) The eggbeater became like a sympathetic character in a play.

These three panel drypoints read from left to right. In The Real Me Was Just Too Much he was getting along quite nicely while he wore his eggshell mask, but when he left the room and returned without his mask on, the real eggs freaked out and cracked open. In the first panel of Delusions of Grandeur our eggbeater looked at himself in the mirror and only saw himself in black and white. On his wall is a poster of his hero the electric mixer and it is in color. So in the second panel the eggbeater goes to the store to buy something to make himself look more like an electric mixer. He buys the electric cord and goes home and puts on the cord and plugs it in and voila! it worked. Now he sees himself in color.

As can be seen, I continue to concern myself with human behavior. Not only what people do to each other, but what do we do to ourselves? How many people want to be someone else? Or at least they think they need to do that?

Click on any image above to enlarge.

Next week: We'll see Sue move into the 1980s and where her location and the politics of the time took her. Strangely, interestingly and sadly the political work from then seems apropos to this day and age.

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School is back in session

9/2/2020

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Lori McCool has beena crossing guard since her child was in school 23 years ago. She is the afternoon crossing guard at Rocky Grove High School now with fewer students attending each day. Some schools are doing modified classes with some days in school and some days working from home.

Not all schools are full-time for students but they are for school buses are back on the road and kids are back to walking.

Brush up on what the rules are for school bus safety on the roads and know when you're supposed to stop by reading this helpful guide from PennDOT.

Beyond being safe during COVID-19, be safe on the roads.

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