It's the Arts

Tonight I was at the Tucson Artists for Obama Exhibit & Reception. My buttons were the least of the exhibits, with a possible exception of a painted pumpkin. Just about the only indication I had all night that anyone looked at them for more than a second or two was the fact that someone stole the "THIS ONE IS FOR 'THAT ONE'" button. But that's not particularly important. I'm willing to put that down to someone not understanding that they were for display only. The point, such as it is, of this photo essay I'm about to rush through is that I encountered numerous forms of art today.


It started at the Pima County Democratic Headquarters, where I photographed some homemade Obama signs. It's actually rather rare to see the official ones around here. They're hard to get, and they get stolen. And in case you're wondering, McCain-Palin signs are no more common than Obama ones.

I was unable to get a good selection of buttons for the display, and had to settle for dupes as well as some from my personal supply. Barb, the volunteers and I have made at least 3,000 buttons in the last several weeks, about half of them from my designs. Barb is out of parts again, and there probably aren't more than about 50 buttons in stock right now, total.

Homecoming Creature

When I left there I headed downtown to Rep. Grijalva's headquarters on Stone Ave. On the way I discovered that it's homecoming weekend. I knew this because I found myself driving behind this float!

And how is this for art: a vintage Spanish Colonial(?) style fountain, whimsically decorated with bath toys. This was in front of Grijalva HQ, a large converted house in the barrio.

A few of those pictures made out of smaller pictures.

I dropped off the buttons, want home, made the daily dog park run and returned downtown for the art show. Here are three of the exhibits, all up for silent auction. The buttons in the middle are small Obama buttons from Canada, of all places.

My favorite exhibit

My favorite piece of art was made of two painted wooden panels, about four feet by nine feet each. Basically someone painted colorful slogans, grafitti style, all over the panels, and then painted in a blue background, so that everything not covered in dark blue spelled out one of Barack Obama's best-known quotes. (It's at the top of his website.)

Two girls in Obama shirts

There were custom T-shirts being made, too, by an artist who donated the paints and stencils and most of the labor. And there was music, by a guitarist-singer who evidently likes the Beatles a lot. This, of vourse, won me over right away! He also played La Bamba, restyled Obama, and even had an original song, You Rock My Boat, Obama. Or was it You Rock My Vote?

Karen