Good old Eau Claire

One of the footbridges over the Chippewa River

I recently went to Eau Claire for an art educators convention, and it was one of the best ones I have been to in a long while.  Lots of great ideas and sessions, and of course Eau Claire is fantastic.  I am definitely biased towards Eau Claire, I went to college there and I have a lot of fond memories.  It is a gorgeous town, and definitely good for picture taking with the Chippewa River, the trees, and beautiful buildings, etc.  OH, and of course it is a shopping Mecca for those of us miles and miles and MILES away from the nearest Target/Kohls/mall/etc.

The second day of the convention I took a little time out (I didn't listen to the keynote speaker) and went to get some really great coffee at a local coffee shop and then went for a walk.  I initially started off to see the sculpture walk that was moved to Water Street for this year.  It usually is downtown, but they had some renovations of the streets and so moved it to my old stomping grounds.

I only photographed a few sculptures, my attention turned elsewhere!

I lived for 2 years just off Water Street** and let me tell you things have changed a bit since I last lived there.  It was a pleasant journey through the past I took as I walked from the Fine Arts Building and down water street.  I did see a few of the sculptures, but found the change in buildings were the most interesting.  I don't recall everything, but I know the old McDonalds is now a Mexican place.  Right next door there is a Taco Johns.  Many of the old bars are gone, but there are many that are still there.  I began my love affair with dark beer after drinking it at "The Joynt" with one of my profs from the art department.  The grocery store "Kerm's" is a bunch of smaller places, and interestingly the old liquor store I think was a bar!!

The entrance to the Fine Arts Building at UWEC

When I walked by the place where I used to live, I am still surprised to see that it is a parking lot.  Now that place was a dump, so I am not surprised that it was torn down, but it is kind of strange to see.  I had that song by Joni Mitchell going through my head- they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot - though it was far FAR from paradise.

My house was on the corner- there were 3 apartments.  I see they tore down the house next door where the motorcycle guys lived, too. 

After I decided I needed to get back to the convention location, I walked back and ended up going on the path along the Chippewa.  The leaves were beautiful and the weather was perfect.

I discovered that as a sort of weird extension of my fear of heights that I HATE walking across bridges.  It gives me huge HUGE anxiety.  Especially when I have a camera in my hand, I think of it falling to its untimely death right out of my hands, though with the death grip I have on it, that is unlikely to happen.  It gives me the willies just thinking of it.  Anyway, I crossed two different bridges, and I far preferred the bike and foot bridge (not the campus bridge, the one closer to down town) to the bridge with the cars shaking it.  ugh.  But the thing is that the best pix are taken on the bridge, so out on the bridge I was!  I like it when I face a fear and then scurry to the other side like a ghost is chasing me.  HAHAHA!!

This was such a pleasant walk, I wish I could have spent more time, but I had another great session to attend.  Nothing makes an art teacher happier (other than students cleaning up after themselves) than having time to do a little art work of their own!  

And then I got to go see Ella, so life was good!  And of course a joy.....

**Water street back in the late 70's- when the drinking age was 18- was quite the place to be..... that is an understatement.  If you hear stories, I will deny them!  :)

Road trip pictures

Wednesday found me traveling to the greater Eau Claire area, home of some fabulous shopping and also my old stomping grounds from the college years.  Ah the fond memories.....  Anyway, Eau Claire is one of my favorite shopping destinations.

Signs of spring

For those of you who don't live in a remote area, virtually all shopping trips are planned occurrences.  There is rarely a spontaneous "let's go to Target" trip, as the nearest Target is a 2 hour drive- with good weather, little traffic and a tail-wind.  And of course it depends whose driving!  ;)  No, we have to plan our shopping trips here and they are long days that are filled with an intense sense of purpose and usually some preplanning.  I mean when you need to visit a minimum of 5 stores plus get lunch in there, and get back before the deer come out at dusk, this takes some motivation and a schedule.  Not everyone does it like me; I like to get going super early (by 6am usually) and then get home by 6 pm, otherwise I just get too sleepy.

Anyway though I prefer to drive with another person along for company, this was a good trip to do alone, as I had many specific items that I was looking for.  I ended up going to Target, Starbucks, Menards, Scheels All Sport, VS, The Gap, Pier One, Best Buy, Hancock Fabric, Target again, Kohls and a Natural/Health Food store.  whew!!!  Then, unfortunately, I realized that I had missed one thing and stopped at Walmart in Ladysmith.  Which I generally avoid like the plague, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

So you are probably wondering what in the world this has to do with the scroll-down lovely that you are about to see!  On my way to Eau Claire and back I traveled on Hwy E to get to Hwy 70 and just over the county line into Sawyer county there is a beautiful little creek that crosses under the road and it was so lovely that I stopped, turned around and went back to photograph it.  It was overcast and grey in the morning, but still icy/lovely.  Then the blue skies on the way home had me  just knowing that I would be stopping again- for the contrast.  So the following pix are a representation of those 2 stops.  I have 2 pix that are virtually identical except for the time of day!  

Pine Creek, 6:30 am

Pine Creek, 5:30 pm

 It was totally worth the effort to stop!

And I found a lot of joy that day....

ART Convention, 2011

I had a great time at the art convention this year.  Knowing where you are going is really helpful and makes for little stress when it comes to driving, finding and parking! The convention was at the Eau Claire Arts Center near the Civic Center in downtown Eau Claire.  The Civic center has a multilevel parking garage, which makes it easy to find a place to put your car!

Eau Claire is a beautiful city and I was fortunate enough to attend college there.  They have a gorgeous, revitalized downtown and have a sculpture collection in that area- located down Barstow.  It is apparently not a permanent collection, but is there for a while.  I did walk the sculpture tour a couple times- the first time being on Thursday afternoon, when I was trapped under awnings and then a bus stop during a rain/sleet/hail scattered shower kind of event. There were blue skies within view while it was downpouring.

"Delilah"

Seedling 2

"Delilah"

Torso-bronze

Vitruvian Man

Mind, body and soul

Circle of Friends

We had some really good sessions to attend, including a session on creativity, lots of art based sessions, mural making and all sorts of other things.

Sculpture idea- Nevelson based

Sculpture idea in process

Mural example

My dear friend and professor, Lynn Jermal, Phd

I really love seeing all of the great art all over the city, too.  That is besides the wonderful sculpture walk!  There are tons of shops and random beautiful vignettes all over.

Ceramic pieces in the Janet Carson Art Gallery

More clay pieces

Painting by a former prof of mine

I love this!

Stained glass light fixture

Set of torsos

I love the random Mona Lisas!

I found and hung out with Paula McD at the conference- Paula is just awesome and we have a great time together at these meetings.  We find wonderful places to eat and this year was no exception.  Harmony Corner is a place that features local food, including homemade soups, great coffee, and wonderful salads with fresh breads. 

Debi and Paula

GREAT place to eat downtown Eau Claire

Luncheon salad with a side of turkey- plus a Mocha lite, no whip

 It was so good that we went there both Thursday and Friday!  I had an awesome corn chowder and a salad on Friday, with really good coffee.  I will revisit Harmony Corner someday soon.

Then of course there was the requisite shopping excursion, which lasted from about 3:30 or so until 9!!  Power shopping is a must when you have that opportunity!

BEHOLD:  The Oakwood mall of fabulosity!

One of the BEST things I did was participate in a hands on vendor workshop where I made two fused glass necklaces.  They are so so beautiful and I have most of the materials to make them.

So, I was blessed with mostly great weather, a very nice place to stay and an awesome convention that renewed my energies and boosted my spirits.....  and what more could a joyful person ask for?

Until next time, find your joy!