When art was art.

[colonelbuckrobely]

Why did I choose to post this you may well ask. I was watching an old Dragnet episode last night where Sgt. Joe Friday was dealing with some stinking hippies who had a bunch of junk art. Officer Bill Gannon didn't understand it, who would?

Growing up in Ames, Iowa the Peterson family were good friends with our family. I only have brief remembrances since I was very young, but I am sure hasset can fill in the blanks. All I can tell you is that this was art at its finest. The following link will show you what I saw on a daily basis walking through the memorial union on the Iowa State University campus to the landscape architecture building for my classes. The sculpting in this photo is beautiful and puts to shame the crap that is put out in the name of art these day. How about that beautiful campanile behind?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Petersen

I might get in trouble for this but will post it anyway. One of our members here on this blog is the only other person who has her work prominently displayed on the ISU campus in the Electrical Engineering building.

Take a bow, hasset. You are one heck of an artist.

[hasset]

Christian Petersen was the greatest but he was not appreciately much until he died. I guess that is the way it usually is unless it is some junk art. He didn't make much money for the vast amount of work he did. So much of it was for the Catholic churches. His daughter was my best friend and I spent much time at his home or in his office at the college.

When his family and my family went for a picnic at the Ledges state park one time, he painted our pictures as we played in the creek. That picture was supposed to belong to me but somewhere along the way it got stollen. I have photos taken that same day so I gave the photos to the college and they are keeping an eye open in case someone comes up with that painting. I do have a pencil drawing of me and my older brother. Christian hardly ever did pencil drawings so I copied it and sent it to the college. He did the drawing and framed it for a Christmas gift for my parents.

Christian was hard to get along with. He had a moustache and when I was a kid, I was terrified of him. He was so grouchy and had a disposition that I could not get used to. I am trying to be polite in saying I was sure he was Adolf Hitler's brother.

As for the mural I painted for the Electrical Engineering building, I doubt if it is still there. The students used to lean on it as they lounged around the lobby. It was pretty dirty almost immediately. It was fun working there but I have never been back to see what happened to it. I will just keep it as a memory.
I do still have the plans for it and that is good enough for me. Thanks for your praise.