A visit with Aminah Robinson, artist and MacArthur Fellowship winner

by Jamie Rhein on

The first time I saw Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s work at the Columbus Museum of Art, I was astounded. When you see a Monet, you know it’s Monet. Same with Picasso, Van Gogh, Cassatt, Renoir, Dali, Matisse. Seeing one of these artists’ works is an “I know you experience” that is grounding. At least, it grounds me.

The first time I saw Aminah’s work was also an “I know you” happening. Perhaps it’s because her subjects capture the essence of people and community–a pairing of the African American experience with the African by connecting the present with the past, and then connecting those ideas to the notion of what makes us universal. The ideas about what makes us human with spiritual connections–with soul, is also what I gather from Aminah’s work. It’s one of the threads of my own life. It’s what I kept looking for when I was in the Peace Corps. I think the search for connection is what calls people to world travel.

Aminah’s work pairs fabric arts of rag paintings, and RagGonNon (her own creation) with storytelling. She also creates fantastical sculptures and music boxes using a method she calls Hogmawg which incorporates found objects and roughly carved wood. Each piece chronicles an aspect of history and culture.

This past Sunday, Aminah, a Columbus native, made an in-person visit to the Columbus Museum of Art as part of the closing to the exhibit of her latest endeavor, “Along Water Street.” For the closing, she gathered the audience’s children around her while she read the book, To Be a Drum, one she illustrated. A young drummer beat time to her voice in the right spots and the children leaned in with their ears to the floor when Aminah leaned down, listening for the drum’s heart beat. This was one of those rare magical moments of spontaneous connection pulled together by her energy.

Now Aminah’s work and story are on the Web. Aminah’s World provides an opportunity to visit her studio, find out about her life, create Aminah style work, and find out where her artwork is on exhibit. Here’s the link that tells where. There’s a video of her studio and one of her talking about her influences. Also, you’ll see why she was given the MacArthur Fellowship. The fellowship is for “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.”

For more about Aminah talking about her work, check out this page of the Columbus Dispatch where there is an audio interview.

See all the Best Picture nominated movies in one day

by Jamie Rhein on

A friend of mine, her husband and their college age daughter are heading to an AMC movie theatre in Columbus, Ohio on February 23 for a day of movie watching and all the popcorn they can eat. By 11:00 a.m. they’ll be settled in their seats watching “Micheal Clayton.” At 9:00 p.m., the opening credits of “No Country for Old Men” will have started and by 11:30 p.m., they should be on their way home after their marathon of seeing all the films nominated for Best Picture.

This is not a do-it-yourself event of seeing how many movies you can sneak into at a multiplex theater, but one orchestrated by AMC. The Easton Mall movie theater is the only one in Ohio offering the movie marathon billed as “Best Pictures Showcase” but, across the U.S. there are others. (The Cincinnati location is actually in northern Kentucky across the river) For $30 you can see all five Best Picture Oscar nominated films spaced out with just enough time so you can take a bathroom break, get something to eat, and prevent thrombosis from setting in. I imagine there’s some chat time with your fellow movie-goers as well. To find a theatre near you, go to the drop down menu on the event page.

The schedule is the same at all participating AMC theatres. After “Michael Clayton” comes “There Will Be Blood” followed by “Atonement” followed by “Juno.” With the pass you can come and go as you please. I’ve seen all five movies, and for what works out to $5 bucks a pop if you paid for each ticket separately, this is a deal worth the money. Each of these movies is superb for entirely different reasons. Don’t forget; there’s all that popcorn.

Thanks to Snakes on a Plane, Fluffy, the world’s largest snake in a zoo, is staying put

by Jamie Rhein on

Crating up and sending home Fluffy, the largest snake in captivity, as far as anyone knows, proved to be too much effort –and that’s a good thing for the Columbus Zoo. Besides that, the movie Snakes on a Plane has created a we don’t like to put snakes on a plane mentality by shipping companies. The snake was on loan from the guy who raised it. Can you imagine feeding a python from birth to be one whopping snake that people don’t want to take anywhere?

Bob Clark, the former owner, sold the snake to the zoo for $35,000 after a plan to get Fluffy back to his abode in Oklahoma City didn’t work out. Clark originally didn’t want to part with the snake forever. The company who got the snake to the Columbus Zoo early last year and was to get it back home in November has gone out of business and there weren’t any takers when it came to finding a replacement company.

Besides that, the zoo keepers looked at the size of the snake and sighed every time they thought about crating Fluffy up. Not only is he monstrous–imagine 300 pounds, 24-feet long and “girth the size of a watermelon”, he’s been a real boost the the zoo. Fluffy’s presence draws people to the zoo and folks have been pestering the zoo to keep Fluffy anyway. One of my trips to the zoo this past year was to see Fluffy and I’ve mentioned the world’s largest snake as part of the draw. Who needs the world’s tallest building when you have the world’s largest snake in captivity?

Now that the zoo is keeping Fluffy, that will save some redecorating costs. The exhibit can stay as is and not be refigured for some other critter. When I first saw the exhibit, I thought it was permanent. When I heard Fluffy was just on loan, it felt sad to think of the python’s departure.

I bet the folks at the Columbus International Airport are happy as well. On one of the concourse walls there is a life-size photograph of Fluffy, all stretched out advertising the zoo. It’s a great photograph and fits perfectly where it is. [via Columbus Dispatch]

Skybus $20 promotion ended on the 5th and someone I know snagged a ticket

by Jamie Rhein on

No, I’m not the one who got the promotional price. And here’s why. On January 2, just before I was heading out of town with my husband and kids for jam-packed excitement in Cincinnati with friends, I got an email from Skybus announcing $20 each way flights to a few locations–one to Newburgh, New York. Since packing for the trip at hand, instead of planning for a trip in the future, was a priority, I put the deal on hold.

Two days later some of these flights on the weekend were still available. I went as far as picking the flight and starting to put in credit card information, but I choked. Here’s why:

1. I waffled about bringing my son. Should I or shouldn’t I? On one hand it would be fun. On the other hand, a solo trip would be great, but then that would leave my husband with my son for the weekend which is no big deal, but is it fair? I already won’t give my husband the left hand window seat of an airplane if we are sitting together. Wouldn’t leaving him with our highly energetic son on a weekend when he needs to get grading done be pushing it?

2. The weather in February, when I was planning to go, is so unpredictable. I could get stuck at my dad’s unable to get out. Being stuck in Columbus would be no big deal. I’d just eat the cost of the ticket, but the idea of being stuck on top of a mountain in upstate New York was not a happy thought. I spent my adolescence feeling stuck up there. No thanks.

3. Then there were thoughts of Skybus’s winter holiday snafus with the planes not working. Again, I could get stuck not being able to leave Newburgh. Without anyone to call how would you know if there was a problem? If there was a problem, does that mean that you have to stay in Newburgh until the problem is fixed? Does the airline inform people when the flights are going if you give someone a phone number? They do through the internet, but my dad doesn’t have internet. Again, there was fear of being stuck on top of a mountain, possibly forever.

4. If I couldn’t get out that would mean I couldn’t do any of my jobs which would mean a lack of income. A cheap ticket becomes expensive.

So, I decided to sleep on my decision-making. As what happens every time I wait on decision-making with Skybus, the ticket prices went up on the weekend that was the most convenient for me to travel, therefore I have decided to wait for the next round of cheap tickets. Once a price goes above $100, unless I have a specific reason to go on a trip, there’s a lot of things $100 will pay for. Psychologically, there’s something about not getting the cheapest deal that gets in the way.

Now, who is getting the cheap tickets.? My dad. I called him about the deal when I found out it was not good for me, Getting out of Newburgh was still cheap for him. He’s coming to Columbus for roughly $56.00 round-trip. Who wouldn’t?

I just looked at Skybus ticket prices. The days that used to cost $20, now cost $35, but they are mostly during the week. If you fly to Newburgh on this afternoon’s flight, it will cost you $35. That’s not a bad deal in an emergency. If you wait until tomorrow, it will cost you $180.

Here’s friend of mine’s take on SkyBus. Tom Barlow ‘s post “SkyBus: How cheap is too cheap,” at WalletPop reflects some of my concerns.

Skybus cancels flights, but there’s hope

by Jamie Rhein on

On last night’s news there was a report on Skybus woes. Flights,18 in all, were canceled yesterday and the day before due to repair issues with two planes. That may not seem like many planes, but the way Skybus works is that the same planes are used for various flights on the same day–and evidently there aren’t spare planes ready to fill in if there’s a problem.

Because Skybus doesn’t have agreements with other airlines, people couldn’t be transferred to other flights. Instead, Skybus is either refunding people for the flights they didn’t take or re-booking them when possible. From what I caught of the news clip, there were Sky bus staff on hand to help with the snafus, but without a call center, there’s no way for anyone to get personalized help except by being at the airport.

Cheap tickets on a cheap airline sometimes does not make for paradise, or help people get to paradise either. I’m hoping that Skybus is able to make it financially and that the issues that make people unhappy do get worked out. I’m looking forward to snagging some cheap seats somewhere one of these days. Our trip to Seattle, as I’ve posted before, was not particularly cheap, but the idea of cheap tickets is holding my interest in the airline and making me think it would be fun to go someplace Skybus goes for an inexpensive few days away. For a special occasion or an important trip, I’d probably opt for an airline with more options, though. Skybus doesn’t have flexibility built into its system. The airline is back on track today because the repairs have been made. [via USA Today]