Around the world, tonight, March 28, at 8:30-9:30pm local time, is Earth Hour.  For 1 hour, in support of conservation and responsible energy use, lights are being turned off.

Here at The MAC, we did our small part as well we could.

read and watch the rest of the world going dark:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jTPC5ic6tJh9PiHscwgOANkJ17-...

I have never blogged before and I'm nervous about it.  English is my second language and being a language snob in Spanish or pretending to be one, I will try.

As some of you know, El Salvador is my native country and we recently elected a new president.  The winner candidate runs for the communist party, overthrowing a long reign of republican extreme right wingers who held power for twenty years.  Latin America is known for extreme political ideas, corruption and active intervention from the church in state matters and my country is not an exception.  I was nervous about an uncertain future for my family, my friends and those who have suffered poverty, injustice and impossible living conditions from the day they are born until they die.  Nonetheless, at one point I picked up an art book from my coffee table and my thoughts changed when I opened it.  As the Buddhists preach, there is no use in worrying about anything.  If it has a solution, it is useless and if it doesn’t it is useless as well. And that is what those art images did for me.  Suddenly I was present; I was living the moment, in the presence of beauty and new things to learn.

That is the effect of art on me.  It captivates my senses and makes me focus on things that are going forward. Like art.  Art stood the test of time and it is here to stay.  It is a human necessity to express our feelings, what we see, what worries us.  As I know that I don't have artistic talents, I hope to dedicate my life to those who do and make us see life with different glasses and bring us back to the wonderful time of now.

-Liliana Bloch

An added treat to the current exhibition Olin Travis: People, Places and Visions are the fabulous custom frames that so many of the pieces are mounted in.  A "custom frame" is one that is built in the raw, and gilded and finished afterwards - especially after the corners are joined, filled and sanded.  Often the frames one-off, and built up from profile sections, rather than one pre-made profile.  The actual finish of color, gilt and stain is selected to match the specific work the frame is made for.

Here is a sampling.

Our lobby flowers.. cruelly dismembered from their nurturing roots... are GROWING!

See all the new green leaves!

Kitchen Dog Theater's current production is Denis Johnson's play "Psychos Never Dream," and on opening night, was selling his book, "Tree of Smoke."  So far, so good.

But Judy is cooler... she bought the hardback copy!

I like forsythia almost as much as flowering quince