Half Moon Bay Memories & El Granada Observer

Sesame’s a very cool lady, an accomplished artist who makes beautiful art out of “abandoned,unwanted, and orphaned” objects. At my house for an Easter party: (Photo by Leon Kunke)

You’ve gotta check out SF artist Sesame Buckner’s website

http://www.iamsesame.com/

click here

click here

(Photo by John Harding)

There’s yarrow, fresh garlic, lavender, red peppers, bay leaves….

You can call Leon at 650.599.9978

I just love the Internet!

You never know who you’re gonna hear from….old friends are the best, aren’t they? Friends you haven’t heard from or seen in years, decades…what does it matter how much time goes by…When you “touch base” again the time is always right, isn’t it?

Guess who emailed me? Peter Adams, the Coastside’s famous stain glass artist–some of you may have gorgeous pieces of his work in your homes. (For many years when he was doing stain glass work, was the Coastside’s handsomest postman).

Below: This is Peter Adams, circa 1970s, on Hwy 1 near Miramar, across from Cowboy’s Surf Shop

Peter Adams was here when I arrived on the Coastside. Didn’t he live in the “Dante Dianda” farmhouse, next door to the smoked salmon place in El Granada? (Dante Dianda was known as “the artichoke king” and farmed most of lower El Granada). The smoked fish store was then called “the Sun House” and hippies lived there ,and I can’t remember for certain, but they might have sold beads and other paraphernalia.

Here’s what Peter says:

hey june! surprise — it’s a name from the halcyon days of the coastside! am
living near laguna beach these days, designing stained glass more than ever, and
husband to Elizabeth the most beautiful lawyer in orange county, and stepdad to the
wonderful 8 yr. old Alexandra. was fun to come across your site — many new year
blessings to you…

Leon Kunke, artist and landscaper, sits on a rock wall near my veggie garden. Note “the desert” in the background–everybody says it’s amazing that cacti and succulents grow to such amazing size in El Granada!

Center: More Garden, rock walkway near the tropical part of the garden (there’s an unseen pond to the left)

Bottom: Leon created these textiles for me

If you like Leon’s work, call him at 650.599.9978

all photos by June

I do. And this new book is delicious, illustrated with lots of (in color) fabrics and textiles that inspired the great painter Matisse–and how he worked the fabrics into his art, the lusciously detailed paintings that cause you to linger and enjoy his visions. If you love Matisse, this book will make you swoon.

There isn’t just one author listed on the spine or the front of the book–in fact, there’s none. But inside it becomes clear that this was a collaborative effort by Kathleen Brunner and Ann Dumas, independent art historians, Jack Flam, Art History Professor at the Graduate School of NYU, Remi Labrusse, Contemporary Art History Professor, Universite de Picardie, Amiens, Hilary Spurling, Author of “The Unknown Matisse” and Dominique Szmusiak, Chief Curator of the Musee Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambresis.

I’m not one who favors collaborations, because they usually turn out to be an ugly mess. Many art experts worked on this new book about Matisse, his art and his textiles, and I must congratulate all of the authors because they have created a thing of beauty and I am grateful.

In the late 1970s many artists turned up in Miramar to meet Coastside photographer Michael Powers and the geodesic dome he built and furnished in his own special style.

One of them was the artist Bridge Beardslee, who, in 1978, was having an exhibition of his sculpture, drawings and paintings in a Vancouver, British Columbia gallery.

This was Bridge Beardslee’s calling card:

The other day I went to the El Granada Post Office to buy some stamps,and Judy, the friendly clerk in this small town, rifled through the stamp drawer and offered me these: