Thursday, June 09, 2005

Getcher classical art right here, before it starts raining on it again.

You want art? We got your art right here in southern Indiana. Some guy at one of the many limestore quarries loves to carve Easter Island heads, and they're all over the place down here. And they are really, really big.


Usually there are kids sitting on top of his head. No wonder he looks so stern. I think he's related to that eagle puppet from the Muppet Show. Isn't that the same severe brow? Hub has wanted one of these for years.





This is the main entrance to the offices of Indiana Limestone in Oolitic. Miniatures (a foot tall or less) of these eagles are the standard carving project for students here. And yes, we offer limestone carving in the high school. Tons of kids have parents who work in the quarries, though, and they start carving when they're really little. I have an awesome pair of bookends that look just like this, that a 14-year-old kid made for me.



I read once that many of the Easter Island heads were mutilated by Christian priests who feared the heads were pagan symbols. The word "defaced" had deeper meaning for me after I learned that.

You like carved limestone? We have a museum dedicated to it. There's even a carved limestone Nascar racing car. Yes, we take our art seriously here.

If that ain't enough art for ya, we also have displays of velvet Elvis paintings and various patriotic t-shirts and flags, shown regularly on the roadside at the intersection of highways 37 and 50.

Not to even mention the two fleas dressed as bride and groom, which are the highlight of the local county museum. They are displayed under a huge magnifying glass, so powerful that you can even see the lace on the bride's veil, and the blossoms in her bouquet. John Hammond would be proud.

It might seem to you that I am mocking the cultural output of this area. I might be, but it's meant to be friendly. The majority of the population here are decent hard-working people and if this is what they like, then it's art. Folk art. The art beloved by the local folks.

The rest of us have only to drive thirty miles north to get ours.