Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
At the top of Cuenca, it appears unconquerable.
How many lives were lost during the months and months it took for Alfonso VIII (1155-1214) to successfully lay siege to this Moorish stronghold surrounded by gorges on all but one side?
Artist Federico Guzman transforms the 1887 Palacio de Cristal in the middle of Retiro Park into a prism of patterns and colors imported from the Sahara. His installation, Tuiza, is framed by an enormous Bedouin tent, a khaima, designed to spark interactions among people of diverse backgrounds in an hospitable setting.
The sides of his tent are formed with melhfas, traditional costumes worn by women of the Sahara. Women from the refugee camp of Bokhador worked with the artist directly to design and dye the fabrics.
The geometric patterns of the khaima and the more freestyle patterns of the melhfas explode kaleidoscopically when reflected in the glass with park surroundings and patterns and shadows created by the iron framework of the Crystal Palace.
Tuiza continues through August 30.
They are like architectural banana peels.
It’s as though the designers want to make you trip as they entice your eyes upward to the tops crowning their creations.
The streets of Madrid are lined with countless of these dangerous distractions demanding your attention.
You long to amble along her boulevards awkwardly gawking for hours day after day after day.
Postcards from Barton Springs 