Gramps

My grandfather, John Sennhauser, was an artist, and he was pretty well recognized by the art world. He's got paintings in the Smithsonian and the Whitney among others. However, he's not on Wikipedia -- Quelle horreur! One of my current projects is to rectify this situation.

Has anyone ever posted on Wikipedia before? It's an adventure. I've got a big learning curve. On the other hand, I get to do scholarly research on Gramps, which is pretty cool.

The only problem is Wikipedia doesn't want any of the juicy stories of his life --- stories I would know but the art world wouldn't. They just want information that can be verified by reliable published sources -- damned professionalism! So maybe I'll just tell you the stories. In the meantime I'll give you this picture of him. He's holding my baby sister, Heather.

Joy

I'm so proud of my dear friend, Joy. She made joybridy.com all her ownself! I always knew she was a majestic potter, but she just never struck me as the geek type. This is a woman who knows how to quilt and can vegetables and make pie crust. She was one of the last people I knew (besides me) to get a cell phone. And here she is, designing a really beautiful site for her art.


Now, the art itself is brilliant to behold, as you can see here. She was trained at the Indiana University School of Fine Arts, but she's always had her own distinct style. She travels much of the summer, studying with other potters and giving workshops of her own. Her work is heavily influenced by natural lines and colors. And function is central as well. If you're looking for an original gift for someone, check out her work. I'd go on...but the work pictured on her site speaks for itself.

Here's something you won't learn from her site: Joy sings like an angel. We sang harmonies together in Upstart (an acappella group), and in Orquesta Son (a salsa band). So much fun! So many good times. She moved away weeks after attending the birth of my daughter. God, I miss that woman! Here's to ya, Joy!