Angus Fluptub's Masterwork

"Brain Suck" 
A dream about tomorrow
and perhaps about today

While perusing the Science Fiction themed exhibition at the Dunedin Fine Art Center in Florida, I stopped before this large-scale presentation. The display told only a portion of the artist's vision.  The rest, presumably, was included in accompanying sign.

I don't know if Angus Fluptub is a real artist or not.  I'm not sure if this is a real exhibit or if the museum staff is fiddling with my mind.  Either way, it's an interesting example of how Science Fiction, more than any other genre, captures the imagination of the young, and encourages one to dream the most fantastic dreams.  

I'm not sure if the presentation constitutes art, but it made me look twice, and think about how the display speaks to the story.  That's what art does, doesn't it?

If you agree, give Angus a hand.

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links
Dunedin Fine Art Center

Kim Stanley Robinson in Florida

In Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel 2312, most of Florida lies underwater.  Not by much: for the most part, the ground lies only a dozen or so feet below the waves.  Only a thin spine of the state lies exposed to the air, not enough for people to live on.  Earth’s governments are as bureaucratic as ever, so one of the ways that Swan and Wahram help humanity is by rebuilding Florida.  Actually, this is Wahram’s project more than Swan’s, but both are doing what they can to make Earth a better place to live.  Wahram organizes the mining of what will become Florida’s new bedrock, and this is loaded onto trains, which transport it South.  Starting along the exposed spine, work crews begin the long process of reclaiming the drowned state.

Of course, all this lies in our probable future.  Although most of us recognize the dangers that global warming poses, what can any of us, alone or together, really do about it?  One thing seems certain: whatever climatic processes have been set in motion will take their toll in the coming decades and centuries, and humanity will need visionary leaders capable of steering such reclamation projects through the bureaucratic hurtles that would otherwise stop them. 

Wander across a bridge and explore.

Discover who lives in these hundred year old trees.

And who, cursed by a witch or wizard, sleeps beneath them.

If nothing else, such visions of the future remind us how special undeveloped areas are.  Places like Dunedin’s Hammock Park, laying as it does amid ordinary tract housing, where one can walk along paths sheltered by century-old trees, watch birds in flight or nesting, study animals and plants, and let the mind wander.  It’s always easy to appreciate what we’ve built.  Strangely, we often forget that what we didn’t need to build, or develop, or reclaim, is also worth enjoying and protecting.  Wahram and Swan, who herald from Saturn and Mercury respectively, recognize the importance of Earth’s natural riches, and thus work to reclaim them.  But then, it’s always easy to appreciate what’s in another’s back yard.

What's in your backyard?

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

Dunedin Hammock Park

Dunedin’s Hammock Park

Sometimes you feel like a nut

According to the brochure, Hammock Park, located in Dunedin, Florida, “is an ancient 90-acre mixed hardwood forest with more than 300 native species of trees, shrubs, ferns, wildflowers, and small animals.  In addition, over 100 species of birds inhabit the preserve throughout the year.”  We had no concept of how the park would look when we saw its entry in our guidebook, but it sounded like a neat place to visit, and coupled with the city’s Fine Art Center, gave us another reason to spend the day there.

Volunteers decorate the trees for Christmas.

As it was during the week, we had the park mostly to ourselves.  We ate our lunch in a covered patio, enjoying the pleasant December warmth while watching the birds frolic in the trees.  A stream meandered past, just a few paces away.  Had we arrived on the weekend, we could have rented one of the kayaks locked up nearby.  While this would have reinforced the skills we learned at Brevard Zoo, we looked forward to our stroll through the park.  Over 150 years ago, a U. S. Geological Survey team defined Hammock Park as a Wet Swamp, and the city mobilizes volunteers to protect the flora and fauna that call this park “Home.” 

There were many more “attractions” we could have visited, and most visitors would have likely ignored Dunedin’s Hammock Park.  When we travel, we enjoy seeing how people live there, rather than just flocking to the highly touted attractions.  At the Fine Art Center, a volunteer told us that the city’s name was not pronounced “Dune-a-din,” as we had thought, but rather “Done Eden.”  After visiting Hammock Park, we returned to our condo in St Pete Beach with smiles on our faces.  We’d had a wonderful day, and truly felt as if we had “Done Eden.”

If the angel with the flaming sword still stands guard, I’m glad he let us in.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Learning to Kayak at Brevard Zoo

Where NASA and Star Wars Collide

At the David L. Mason Children’s Museum, located within the Dunedin Fine Art Center, children can live their dreams.  They can play in mockups of a Gemini Capsule or a Space Shuttle, they can draw and color at an Apollo desk, and they can dance with a stormtrooper.  In the latter, a snippet from “The Return of the Jedi” has been ingeniously altered so that a stormtrooper dances and plays a trombone while Emperor Palpatine sits in his black chair, stares out his large observation window, and ignores you.  (Given the way he treats his apprentices, that’s probably a good thing).  Children can grab an astronaut helmet, a stormtrooper helmet, or other Science and Sci-fi accouterments and dance to the swinging stormtrooper’s tune.  A camera picks up their movements, and places them alongside the stormtrooper on a TV screen.  Such a fusion of real Science and Sci-fi might inspire them to one day work in the space industry.  How cool would that be?

Fun and play also take place at the stop motion area.  Children can choose from the selection of toys, and place them on a miniature film set.  One click forms the beginning of a movie, and a small monitor shows them their previous picture, so they can move the item, or add others, and then click the camera again.  After awhile, kids will want to chart the progress of their movie, so they can hit “Play,” and their little stop motion animated short will play from beginning to end, as many times as they want.  (If memory serves, parents could bring a digital memory card, and return home with their child’s movie).  Your children might grow up to make movies like “Clash of the Titans” or “Wallace and Grommit” someday.  How cool would that be?

The museum offers a Visual Arts Camp during the summer, and at other times of the year, there are special exhibits dedicated to Science, Sci-fi, and Fantasy.  On the day we attended, they hosted “Intergalactic, a Mixed Media Invitational.”  Had we attended earlier in the year, we could have seen “My Favorite Martian—Self Portrait as Alien.”  If your child makes something impressive, the staff might display it in the children’s art room, in which an X-Wing and a Millenium Falcon have been suspended from the ceiling.  Just make sure that you take them to the gift shop, where they can be inspired by a door that could be a spaceship, an inhabited asteroid, or something else really imaginative. 

When is a door not a door?  When it’s an alien’s face, an upside-down hovercraft, or a self-propelled beauty compact that comes to hand immediately when needed, that’s when.  (Only this case, it’s also a door).

Of course, you can always let them take home a memento from their visit.  Just be sure to sign them up for classes.  Lots of classes.  

Dragon Dave

The Dunedin Fine Art Center

When you’re on vacation, you’re always on the hunt for something interesting and fun to do.  Of course, after paying for airfare, car rental, lodging, and food, you know you should choose your activities with care, or you may feel chest pains when you arrive home and open your credit card bill.  We don’t always visit art museums, as admission prices often seem rather steep, and we never know how we’ll interact with the art.  But some art museums charge little or nothing, and it’s often those that we enjoy the most.

While staying in St. Pete Beach, we noticed the Dunedin Fine Art Center in our guidebook.  The website looked promising, and at the very least, we figured we’d get to see another part of Florida.  The day we visited, the morning sped past as we explored the exhibits.  They offered something for every age group and interest, including (at the time) a special focus on Science Fiction and Fantasy art.  They also allowed us to photograph their art, so that the artists' works could continue to inspire us long after we returned home.

One child's contribution.

When we approached the helpful staff, one volunteer enthused over all the possibilities her city offered visitors.  But I thought the Fine Art Center was the highlight of our trip to Dunedin.  The facility boasts impressive exhibits, seems to generate substantial community involvement, and offers a range of classes for all age groups and interests.  In an age when subjects like art fall victim to the budgetary knife, such places fulfill an important societal role.

Like I said, substantial community involvement.

There's also a nice reading area, where you can read up on all kinds of art, and gaze up at the Science Fiction and Fantasy toys resting atop the bookcases.  Or you can go read at a table in the cafe, although the aromas wafting from the kitchen may tempt you cruelly.

Come on, can you really say "No" to this guy?

If you live in the Dunedin area, you should visit them, and consider what role the facility could play in your family's life.  If you are vacationing nearby, why not pay them a visit?  It’s an attraction I can recommend wholeheartedly, and doing elicits no chest pains whatsoever.

The life your visit inspires, and benefits, could be your own.

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

The Dunedin Fine Art Center