“Live every day as if it is a festival. Turn your life into a celebration.”
—Shri Radhe Maa
"Whimsical art is a vibrant and playful style of art that is childlike and carefree…this artwork lifts the sprit and makes you happy.”
—Thaneeya McArdle
Cecile and I were all in for a community celebration at the Palm Desert Greek Festival at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church. While we decided to drive a short distance from the Westin Villas, people were being shuttled in from thoughout the city in a yellow tram. We enjoyed the live Greek music performed by “The Greeks” a traditional Greek Bouzouki Band as traditional folk dancing demonstrations were on display. Attendees were encouraged to join in, learn the steps and “Be Greek for a day.” But the heart of the festival was the amazing, authentic, homemade Greek food created from family recipes handed down from generation to generation. Cecile and I shared four grilled lamb chops with a Greek salad and the famous Chicken Souvlaki with a skewer of chicken & vegetable kebobs, lemon juice, olive oil, Greek oregano, freshly made pita bread with Tzatziki yogurt sauce, feta cheese and Kalamata olives, tomatoes and cucumbers that satisfied our taste buds.
After lunch we walked a couple of blocks to El Paseo, Palm Desert’s world famous shopping mecca. Little did we know we were about to be entertained by new sculptures that marked the debut of the 2019/2020 Sculpture Exhibition already on display in the El Paseo median, including a fanciful red heart called “Stranded Heart”, a soaring butterfly, a comical visage of bigger than life eyeglasses and a big nose, and a wide variety of abstract pieces of the artist’s work that give free reign to stimulate the viewer’s imagination. Palm Desert’s Art in Public Places Commission selected 18 artworks among scores of artists from local Coachella Valley as well as from around the United States and Canada who submitted their work for consideration. A $5,000 honorarium was provided for each selected artwork by artists, galleries, museums/no-profit art organizations, and private collectors.
One may wonder do any of these sculptures sell. When I posed for Cecile in front of the giant nose and glasses I wondered the same thing. While I was entertained by it—put a mustache underneath the nose and you have a caricuture of Groucho Marx. I still have a plastic pair of the Groucho gag glasses that I used to entertain our kids with when they were young. Ron Simmer is the artist of what he calls the "Nose Knows,” and what's been reported is that he was embroiled in some controversy around the artistic integrity of the Nose, he quickly reminded the reporter that the “The Nose” is actually Nose 2, and that Nose 1, sold to a buyer in Twin Falls, Idaho, after being on tour to four different locations. Will Nose 2 sell like Nose 1. The jury is still out or to put it another way, nobody Nose😜
