American Culture

God blessed me extra in 1975 when my younger brother came along. I turned five the day before he was born. And now we are approaching our birthdays again, for the 44th and 39th time. [caption id="attachment_3339" align="alignright" width="150"] Let's dance...

The story of the building of a locket - noting its purposes and the techniques used in its creation.Be it a story of  love, loss or lore, folks have long used lockets to contain symbols of the precious in their lives. Building a locket is...

I remember being mesmerized by lockets as a little girl. And now, I still am. I love surprises. And secrets are exciting. Loving something enough to circle your neck with it and wear it on your chest gives strength. For all these reasons, I adore lockets. Lockets...

Eliza Cook was a 19th-century English poet and writer, from whose words the title of this painting is taken. She wrote that it would be better to “build schoolrooms for the boy, than cells and gibbets for the man.” This is a compelling statement, ringing with...

This is a story of exploration, discovery and actualization. Read on. The READING THE KEY series began with an erratic decision on my part. More than a year ago, I was in metal-etching mode. I did lots of etching into sheet metal that I had not...

The soul of a people is the arts. The art they make. The art they revere. The art they pursue. Art can provide political commentary, as does Picasso's Guernica in 1937, or speak to the human condition, as does the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning....