The Chipmunk's Lunch-break
An original acrylic painting, on canvas panel
9 X 12", unframed
( click on image to enlarge )
Recently I received an Email reminder that I have not yet signed up to participate in the
art-fair, which has been a tradition for me each fall. Last September I did a posting on this
blog, in which I said that I had probably done my last outdoor show. That decision is not
set in concrete, but unless I develop some fresh new reserve of energy to undertake the
task, my participation is still questionable.
In that same posting, I mentioned that the location of that fair, in the cultural heart of
the city, brought me full circle from my days as a very young, aspiring artist. I also
mentioned that there was a little painting which needed to be photographed and posted,
as an old memory that place, in those early days. I believe this is the little painting which
I had in mind, but anyone who is reading this, must be wondering what a chipmunk has
to do with that particular circle of life, so I will try to explain.
The area which now contains such venerable cultural institutions as the University Of
Missouri, and Conservatory Of Music, the Kansas City Art Institute, and The Nelson-Atkins
Art Gallery and Museum, are all located in an area which was developed by William
Rockhill Nelson, the newspaper tycoon, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Nelson was a believer in the City Beautiful movement, and he lined his streets with trees
and miles of rock walls, paralleling the sidewalks, including around his own, grand, thirty
acre estate, so that the entire area became known as The Rockhill District. Nelson's great
mansion, Oak Hall, was demolished and replaced by the great art-museum which bares
his name, all before I was born, but his, wonderful, old stone walls still remained.
When I was in elementary school and junior high, I was awarded some very nice
scholarships for Saturday art classes and summer art classes at the art institute, which is
located on the estate of another generous, benefactor of the city, adjacent to the grounds
of the Nelson-Atkins Museum. Oftentimes, when I was on my way to those classes in
the morning, as I was walking along the sidewalks, beside those old walls, I would catch
glimpses of movement among the stones. Then, if I would stand still in the shade of the
ancient oak trees, which towered up behind the walls, I could enjoy watching the
antics of a busy chipmunk or two, scampering along on the walls, in search of more
acorns to add to the larder. There always seemed to be something a bit magical,
about the spirited appearance of the little creatures, on those ultra-quiet, still mornings;
while they were darting in and out of sight, it was almost as if they were playing a game
of peek-a-boo with me.
The park where the art fair is held, is also located just across the street from the
grounds of the art museum, and it also still has a perimeter of the old rock walls. That is
why I said that being there was like coming full circle to those days long gone, when the
world seemed to be full of so many possibilities. I sometimes wonder if any descendants
of those happy chipmunks I used to see so long ago, still inhabit those old walls, or if
thoughtless people and their pets made it impossible for the little creatures to survive
all of the increased, human activity there.
