Catherine Clarke's art therapy

If you are a local, you've got to go see Catherine Clarke's creations in the name of art therapy at Harper College. If you are a skeptic about cathartic art having class, grace and simplicity, you've got to fly into this Chicago suburb before November 3rd of 2014.  Interestingly, my favorites are different from the ones mentioned in this write-up.  And even Clarke's written descriptions to each of her creations have a stand-alone power to move an intersection of your heart and mind that you never knew existed.   

My favorites are the ones about 'these days are numbered' and 'the artist's cafe'.  And a few more. 

For the article in a local newspaper, click here.

The Ethics of Aesthetics

The caption says, "30 unique photographs from 1959. Christian Dior in Moscow."
 
And somehow these photographs make me sad, sad, sad. Audrey Hepburns strategically inserted into the pages of 'Soviet Woman' for the sole reason of breathing life into the Hepburns alone.  No give; just take.  

Perhaps not as obviously stark and troubling as malnourished, bow-legged, rheumy-eyed children in remote villages serving as backdrop extras, but the ultimate effect belongs in the category of deprived people serving as props to sell a lifestyle that they could not attain at that time and in that space.  

The cringe-worthiness is made worse when I wonder, 'Did they know exactly what they were doing? Or did they not?'  

Which is more troubling?