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THE METAL MAN

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Frank wore worn blue overalls, his strength defied his older years. Most just knew him as the metal man who owned a scrap yard under the freeway. The yard full of metal, some in barrels, leaned against the wall and larger pieces on the ground. They came from every source imaginable, dismantled ships, demolished buildings and factories gone.  He grew accustomed to the roughness of the material and his life, even fond enough to attach a name to some of iron pieces. Names like waterfall, desert lines, sand storm. He sold the iron to scrap buyers, contractors, architects and the occasional artists. Frank favored them the most. Their study of the metal pieces led him to think they saw the same specialness in them that he did. Frank kept to himself aside from the occasional stop for a beer at Stellas. Most evenings he would head back to the small house on the River. The one with the garden in back. His wife gone from the cancer five years now. Still he worked each evening in her gard...

SHAPES SEEN

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QUIET OF THE SOUTH

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BOSTON MOMENTS

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GAFFNEY SC

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  The South is rich with small towns, all seemingly with their own history and quirks. My camera without fail always pulls me out to see them. Some surprise and some disappoint, but are always interesting. I really didn’t expect much when I headed to Gaffney, traveling up US Route 29. After all how much could expect from a town where Wikipedia lists the most notable person as a fictional one. Yes, Frank Underwood the President in “The House of Cards” claimed he hailed from there. The show features a few scenes from the town when he went back to visit.  The town surprised me though. The colorful heritage building and mix of people out about trying to make it or start a new life. The Auto Detail person Terry who was trying to save enough money to have his own building. He had a winning smile and would get there someday I knew. The Museum and library still anchoring important places. Life still thick and rich here. The town like so many started to fade away when Interstate 85 pas...

TALKING OUT LOUD

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  Perhaps in our freest moments, we find ourselves talking out loud rather than just to ourselves. Letting loose of thoughts we normally try to sort out in our mind first. They may start out rooted in logic, but grow tp wild wanderings of subject and interpretation. Bystanders may take a step back from all this. Sometimes though, the wildness thrown off yield surprising life truths. The work of artist Cy Twombly may have been the best example of this. He freed himself to create art by scrawls on paper or fancifully simple renderings of scenes. Linking what otherwise seem like unrelated objects. Somehow though his work catches your eye, making you think about its meaning or even being. Ode to him, may we all grow to be as free as he… Drawings by David Young in Ode to Ty Twombly  

THE ART OF TWO

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  There is a quiet media revolution in advertising going on. Rooted in finding alternatives to the “super flat media viewing age.” One noted example of this is advertisers increasingly using split screens. Often one side is playing a sporting event and the other the advertisers message. On the surface not related to each other. The technical name for this form of presentation is the Diptych. Some actually feel it’s annoying, but there is mental magic at work here. Diptychs have their roots in art presentations that date back to medieval times. Painters would create different religious scenes on wood panels and then link them together. When both sides of Diptych are taken together, they illuminate different perspectives. The viewer is left wondering what the common elements are. Today’s marketing goal is to get people to pause, to think, to absorb the message fully. And most of all remember it. Banksy the street artist often uses Diptychs, perhaps the most famous one the girl reachi...