Wednesday Edition: Colleen Plumb

Greetings, collectors! It sort of feels like Thursday around these parts, or maybe even Friday? Except for the weather, it's mostly like that weird time between Christmas and the New Year when street parking is abundant and the only people in town are moving slowly down the street, maps aloft and rucksacks on their shoulders. What I'm saying is: things are mighty quiet going into this last long weekend of summertime. As for me? In the words of a long-time heroine of mine: I'm still here, damn it!, with excellent art to share, no less!

Today's double header comes to us from another of our recent Hot Shots, Chicago native Colleen Plumb. These two images, Field Museum Sue and Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green, are from Animals Are Outside Today.

I've seen many a series exploring our relations with the animal kingdom, but few have resonated for me in the way that Colleen's project does. It could be that we both grew up in big cities, limiting our experiences with nature to pets, zoos, museums and painstakingly planned outings for some fresh country air. (Encounters with wildlife in the form of vermin do not count! In my world view at least.) These two images are particularly evocative of my city kid experience.

I've never set eyes on the majestic Sue* herself, but visits to the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History play a starring role in my childhood memories. (See a previous newsletter about Joe Holmes' amnh #30 as a point of reference.)

Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green captures another familiar childhood vista, seemingly at the precise angle of my vantage point which was the back seat of my parents' Pinto. Growing up in Queens as I did was a city experience once removed. Subways have been a part of my existence for as long as I can remember, but so were cars. Frequent visits to my grandmother's house in Laurelton from our apartment in Queens meant drives along our county's less than scenic expressways, where road side attractions included vast apartment developments and the decaying structures from the 1964 World's Fair. One thing I learned on those drives: people will sell nearly anything by the side of the road, including (but by no means limited to) rugs of questionable taste and dubious quality.

That's it for this week, my friends and while an endless summer might seem appealing at the moment, perhaps the promise of more great art will provide you some comfort as you look forward to the start of September. We've got a really spectacular line up for next week, which makes me excited for Tuesday. That said, I plan on savoring every moment of the long weekend - you should too!

*Who is Sue, you ask? Well she's the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil yet discovered, that's who!

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