Located just up the road from Steve's mom is the Carlsbad Public Library. Adjacent to it, is the exceptional William D. Cannon Art Gallery, a museum of national quality, variety and balance with a regional focus. It introduces new work to the area while engaging new audiences... which are the goals of the changing exhibition program that have made this gallery a dynamic center for the visual arts in San Diego’s North County. Through museum-quality exhibitions, hands-on family activities, acclaimed arts education programs, lectures and publications, the gallery strives to make the visual arts an accessible, integral and ongoing part of the community’s life. Oh, and did I mention it's free?!

The announcement for the current exhibit caught my eye, the last time we were in Carlsbad, so seeing it was a must. Retooled: Highlights from the Hechinger Collection is the culmination of a relationship between man and his tools. 
It is the collection of John Hechinger, the owner of a successful chain of hardware stores, who began collecting tool-inspired art in the 1980s. This exhibition features 40 pieces of his 400 piece collection and includes a variety of 20th century modern and contemporary pieces, highlighting 28 visionary artists. The above was one of my favorites. This is an interesting description of it, "A vignette of an oak-fashioned lawnmower in F.L. Wall's Summer Tool (1983) takes on a cynical tone as the tool reduces each unique blade of grass to a standardized height—perhaps a commentary on how products of industrialization simultaneously unify and homogenize." Hmmm, I just thought it was cool because it is amazingly carved out of wood.


Steve and I were both taken with Christopher Plowman's, Cut (1986). Upon further research, I learned that this talented artist, inspirational teacher and loving father had succumbed to cancer at 56 years young. From his obituary: Chris had a highly developed sense of the absurd. Seemingly incapable of cynicism, but possessed of a sometimes cruel wit, he knew his worth and the worth of others. Incurably enthusiastic, he was often charmed by the results of his own work, stepping back with a smile, and saying, quietly: "I'm liking it."





I could really appreciate Stephen Hansen's Man on a Limb (1985) not only for its irony but also because it's constructed out of papier-mâché. Do you remember how tough it is to be creative with this goopy art medium? For a reminder, papier-mâché is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste. The details on this man were fantastic. And it had an element of whimsy, which I'm a sucker for. What a wonderful exhibit. I'm so glad we didn't miss this Carlsbad treasure.