Monday, November 17, 2025
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Dance: Jóhann Jóhannsson – 'Flight From The City' from Orphée
Choreography: Ivana Borsje
via Ivana Borsje
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Wayne Thiebaud
Art Appreciation
Wayne Thiebaud was born Morton Wayne Thiebaud on November 15, 1920, in Mesa, Arizona, though his family moved when he was just a baby—settling in Southern California, mainly Long Beach, with interludes on an uncle’s ranch in Utah.
He grew up in a Mormon household; his father held various jobs—mechanic, real-estate, etc.—while young Wayne developed early interests in illustration, cartoons, and commercial art. In high school he worked odd jobs and spent summers apprenticing in animation at Walt Disney.
In his early career, Thiebaud studied at San José State and Sacramento State, finishing his BA in 1951 and MA in 1952. He taught art at Sacramento City College, and in 1956-57 took a leave and went to New York City. While there, he met artists like Willem de Kooning and saw the work of proto-Pop artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. That time sharpened his ideas about form, color, and subject matter, especially how everyday objects might be portrayed with new visual weight.
Thiebaud’s style is notable for its heavy pigment, exaggerated or sharp color contrasts, strong shadows, and a sense of both realism and heightened formality. He often isolates commonplace items—cakes, pies, pastries, lipstick tubes, etc.—presented in neat rows or with rhythmic spacing. Over time he expanded beyond those still life and “confection” motifs to include figure painting and landscapes, including cityscapes, street scenes, hills, mountains, and California’s varied terrain.
His later works often explore space, distorted perspective, and color planes, yet retain that core attention to surface, texture, and the everyday. Among Thiebaud’s best known works are many of the still lifes: Cakes (1963), Bakery Counter (1962), Pies, Pies, Pies (1961), Drink Syrups (1961), Eight Lipsticks (1964), Three Strawberry Shakes (1964). In the landscape and street-scene vein, works such as Sunset Streets (1985) and Flatland River (1997) are often mentioned. Also later paintings of mountains (e.g. his Sierra Nevada series) and city views sustain his recognition.
Sources:
Wikipedia
https://www.acquavellagalleries.com/exhibitions/wayne-thiebaud3
https://journalpanorama.org/article/wayne-thiebauds-california
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/thiebaud-wayne/
https://mymodernmet.com/wayne-thiebaud-paintings/
https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Wayne_Thiebaud/
https://brooklynrail.org/2014/11/artseen/wayne-thiebaud-nov
https://pastimesinc.com/art-history-101-wayne-thiebaud/
https://www.gratzgallery.com/artists/wayne-thiebaud
https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/who-was-wayne-thiebaud-bay-area-figurative-art-cakes-1234665954
https://www.lesliesacks.com/artists/wayne-thiebaud/biography
https://www.berggruen.com/artists/wayne-thiebaud
https://vec.crockerart.org/blogs/24-facts-about-wayne-thiebauds-early-life
https://ccplonline.org/blogs/childrens/14211-2/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wayne-Thiebaud
https://achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud
Friday, November 14, 2025
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Richard Mulligan
Acting Appreciation
I remember Richard Mulligan best as Dr. Harry Weston in Empty Nest — the sitcom about a widowed pediatrician with older daughters (one played by the very pretty Kristy McNichol) and a dog named Dreyfuss. In Empty Nest, Mulligan’s character is coping with family, loss, and the day-to-day of raising grown kids, all with warmth and a bit of befuddlement. The show ran from 1988 to 1995, and it is the role many recall him by.
Mulligan was born November 13, 1932, in The Bronx, New York City. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War era, then studied playwriting at Columbia University. After his university years, he worked in theatre; one of his early significant stage appearances was All the Way Home on Broadway in 1960, where he was both stage manager and performer. Over the 1960s, he steadily built up his career in television guest spots and supporting roles, gradually moving toward more central roles.
In film, Mulligan is remembered for several notable roles. Perhaps most striking is his portrayal of General George Armstrong Custer in Little Big Man (1970), where he plays a more unhinged Custer than many typical portrayals. He also appeared in The Big Bus (1976), a comedic disaster-spoof, and had a leading part in S.O.B. (1981) in which he played a producer-director figure. He was often cast in supporting or character roles in films, bringing comedic timing and character depth even when his part was not the lead.
On television, besides Empty Nest, Mulligan had several other major roles. He played Burt Campbell on Soap from 1977-1981, a role that earned him a Primetime Emmy Award in 1980 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Later, for Empty Nest, he won a second Emmy (1989) and also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical for his performance.
Sources:
Wikipedia
https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/richard-mulligan/bio/3000084794
https://kids.kiddle.co/Richard_Mulligan
https://www.cbsrmt.com/actor/48-mulligan-richard.html
https://goldenglobes.com/person/richard-mulligan/
https://goldengirls.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_Mulligan