Blind Howl by Ellen Jantzen, 2009
Feeling rage and grief over the news of Sandy Hook Elementary.
Via Ellen Jantzen.
Category: Dog Art Photography
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Everyday Dogs: A Perpetual Calendar
Guardian in Carriage, Sonoma Valley, California, from Photographic Viws of El Verano and Vicinty by Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916)Everyday Dogs: A Perpetual Calendar for Birthdays and Other Notable Dates features 75 black and white dog photographs taken between 1870-1940 from the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. The authors, Susan Snyder, public services director at the Bancroft Library, and Mary Scott, graphic designer for the university’s Doe & Moffitt Libraries, inadvertently began the book in 2005 when they were researching photographs for an exhibition on Californian women and they kept finding wonderful dog photographs. After envisioning the calendar, they made selections from the hundreds of choices by deciding to include ones that depict the connection between people and their dogs. And that is what makes the book so special. It speaks to everyone who has ever passionately loved a dog and it celebrates the medium of photography for documenting that passion.
But my favorite aspect of Everyday Dogs, besides the fact that it is perpetual and not headed for the recycling bin in 12 months, is that almost every photograph is captioned with the name of the person and the name of the dog. These are not anonymous snapshots that charm but leave one curious and a little sad that their histories are lost. These photographs are treasures, cared for and curated at one of the greatest universities in the world.
Many of the photographs depict famous literary figures, visionaries, and pioneering individuals who made California the golden state of myth and reality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What these photos, and the care with which they have been archived, express to me is that without dogs we would not be who we are as people or as a civilization.
Would our national parks be as expansive if John Muir was without Stickeen? Would San Simeon stand as magnificently if William Randolph Hearst didn’t have Helen? Would our literature be as rich or our society as diverse if there was no Greta to keep Langston Hughes’s company at Noël Sullivan’s Carmel cabin? (The dog came with the retreat.)
But it is the everyday dogs of Everyday Dogs who truly inspire: the pups in the “Tent City” of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, the loyal companions of the prospector, the mountain guide, the volunteer postman, the ornithologist, the teacher, the housewife, the nurse, the students, the animal-rights activist, the dock workers, and the surveyors. When I look at these dogs through the lens of time, I see how integral they were to our survival. I also notice that few of the dogs have leashes and almost all of their companions have smiles. Dogs makes us human. Dogs make us civilized. But most of all, dogs make us happy, everyday.
John Muir and Stickeen, circa 1880
May Savage and Her Dogs, Livermore, California, 1897, Savage Family Homes Photo Collection
A Happy Family, San Francisco “Tent City” after the 1906 Earthquake, Charles Baker photo collection
Langston Hughes with Greta, Noël Sullivan’s German Shepherd, Carmel, California, 1933
The University Summer School of Surveying, Including the Canine Crew Members, Calistoga, California, 1898, Oliver Family Photo Collection
William Randolph Hearst and his Constant Companion, Helen, at San Simeon
Dock Workers and Tail Wagger by Patroni House, Charles Baker Photo Collection
Ornithologist James Moffitt with his Pal Riding Shotgun, Mendocino County, September 10, 1938. Portraits of Joseph Grinnell’s Family and his Colleagues
Everyday Dogs: A Perpetual Calendar for Birthdays & Other Notable Dates by Mary Scott & Susan Snyder is published by Heydey into California, an independent, nonprofit publisher. It would be an awesome gift for the dog lover, photographer, writer, or historian on your list this holiday season. It’s become one of my new favorites at Dog Art Today. Highly recommend.Please purchase from Heyday to show your support for this unique cultural institution dedicated to preserving history and making beautiful books.
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Self Portrait with Legs by Sarah Francis
Self Portrait with Legs by Sarah FrancisVia Blouin ArtInfo's highlights to the Royal West of England Academy's upcoming exhibition “Reigning Cats and Dogs, Satirical and Sentimental: The Art of the Domestic Pet.”
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Veterans Day
Tent life of the 31st Pennsylvania Infantry at Queen’s Farm, Vicinity of Fort Slocum, D.C., 1861Via Shorpy where you can buy a copy of this image.
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Dog and Cat Enjoy Halloween by Leslie Jones
Dog and Cat Enjoy Halloween by Leslie Jones, 1940Via Boston Public Library by way of Elizabeth Stevens Morris's Animals Pinterest board.
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Happy Birthday Dog Lover Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso Playing with Dogs by Edward Quinn, 1960Pablo Picasso dances with his Afghan Hound, Kabul, while his other muses, Lump, his Dachshund and Jacqueline, his wife, look on.
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Donate to Four & Sons’ 1st Anniversary Newspaper
Four & Sons is a Melbourne-based online magazine about dogs and culture. In honor of its one-year anniversary editor Marta Roca decided to create a hold-it-in-your-hands-and-smell-the-ink newspaper.
This old tyme artistic endeavor is being funded by dog art lovers like us via Pozible. Your can pledge as little as $1, but if you pledge $10 you get a copy of the newspaper (and more goodies with bigger pledges).
As of today, October 23, 2012, $770 has been pledged for the $1,500 goal. The project is only funded if the goal is reached.
If you would like to show your support for Four & Sons and their devotion to dog culture please donate. If it's not in the budget simply spread the word. They have only six more days to meet their goal.
I learned about this project via another favorite dog-art wesite, HundKunst, written by Petra Hartl in Vienna. I think tt's so inspiring to see dogs celebrated in our society in so many cultures around the world. Donate today and become a part of this passionate, global, dog-art network.
P.S. If you donate you can add a photo of you or your dog by unloading the image to your Pozible profile. You can see Tyler Foote drapped in the American flag in the upper right hand corner. Petra's Rocco is the white dog two spots below him.
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Boy and Dog on Bomb by Dario Mitidieri
Boy and Dog on Unexploded Bomb by Dario Mitidieri, Tigray, Ethiopia, 1991 -
Happy First Birthday Tyler Foote!
Tyler Foote* by Moira McLaughlin, 2012
Marcello Mastroianni via D'MargeOne of the responsibilities of adopting a dog is picking his birthday. Several vets guesstimated my dog Tyler Foote* was born last September. I consulted the book The Secret Language of Birthdays to see what day sounded the most like him. When I saw a photo of Marcello Mastroianni in a tuxedo, I suspected I had found the right date. When I read the description, I knew for sure:
September 28: Day of the Heartbreakers: romantic, tasteful, magnetic, destructive, complacent, excessive.
Those born on September 28 are highly capable of winning and keeping the affections of those whom they desire. This does not necessarily mean that they are physically more beautiful than others, but rather that they have a kind of seductive charm which can melt a cold heart and send one’s blood rushing. Sometimes they can be extremely exasperating and upsetting, but this again is part of their stimulative power.
September 28 people display a talent for inflicting pain which matches their ability to please. Which they effect depends on the mood they are in, or sometimes on their occupation or primary interest. In all fairness to them, their scorecard usually shows that they suffer at least as much as those with whom they are involved. In this respect they can appear disarmingly simple and human.
Those born on this day often have many lovers over the years, at least in their younger days, and are rarely fully satisfied by any of them. Saying they are difficult to please is not exactly true, but rather that over the long haul they tend to bore easily or allow personal differences to get on their nerves. It is fortunate that they are not by nature calculating people, at least in terms of grand schemes, otherwise they would be quite deadly. Taken up with love, seduction and sex (usually in that order) for their own sake, their motives are rarely underhanded and although they could easily take advantage of others consciously or unconsciously, they rarely permit themselves to do so.
Destruction can be an important theme in the lives of September 28 people, running the gamut from romantic heartbreaking to intellectual brain-bashing to physical pounding. This, again, does not imply sadistic intent at all. It is simply that their role seems to be to break down the defenses of others, which they accomplish with a varied array of weapons. As irresistible forces they may meet their match when they encounter immovable objects.
But those born on this day are drawn toward challenges of all types and do not consider a struggle even worth their time unless enacted with a powerful adversary. Lovers of beauty, as well as strength, they are helpless when confronted with highly sensual people, art or natural phenomena. They might even be said to worship beauty, and in this respect must beware of elevating their love object or even themselves to a godlike position.
Although those born on this day do not sound as if they are at all suited to family life, they can make dependable family members. Loyal to the extreme, they will rarely if ever forsake a friend in need. Yet those who live with or are involved with them must understand their particular attractive powers as well as their weaknesses. Often September 28 people do not have a lot of willpower; in the face of their passions, they are like a leaf blown in the wind. Nonetheless, when they sin it is usually with a full awareness of what they are doing.
Seriously, this is exactly my dog. Find your dog's birthday at The Secret Language of Birthday's website.Happy Birthday, Tyler Foote.* Thank you for breaking (open) my heart and being my dog.
* Tyler Foote is a road in Nevada County, California built in 1913 by Arthur DeWint Foote, Mary Hallock Foote's husband. It connectes North Columbia, California to a town called Cherokee that used to be called Tyler.
