This photo was taken in Lagos, Portugal. It is a boat dock at Forte da Ponta da Bandeira located on the southwest tip of Portugal, facing Africa. I took this during my 2-week adventure through southern Spain; I visited Granada, Ronda, Gibraltar, Huelva, and Lagos. It is impossible for me to select one single favorite picture that I have taken, but this photo means a lot to me because
it represents the beauty that can be found when traveling.
In the know
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch, the Aiken Center for the Arts (ACA) presents a collective exhibition of works to celebrate the splendor of historic Rye Patch and Hopelands Gardens as shared spaces of community, connection, and inspiration. Hopelands Gardens and Rye Patch have provided a quiet and peaceful haven for citizens and visitors as well as inspiration to write, paint, sculpt, and photograph. Since 1971 the nonprofit Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch has worked to raise funds for the preservation, improvement, and use of these historic properties as treasures of the Aiken community. Now in their 50th year of service, Friends
You say you recognize my mask, made by a mutual friend from fabric your Mother left behind. And smiling, I recall the neat piles of fabric always surrounding my own Mother. So many years of sunlight streaming down on her bent head As she trundled the machine, deft hands guiding the needle, Gentle tugs to keep things right. Seersucker bedspreads, poodle skirts, crinoline slips, gently made for two young sisters. Curtains for every window in every house. My own first effort — a nursery draped in yellow baby ducks. So, in your prayers tonight, thank your Mother for the mask that’s keeping me safe today, the mask that has held
Aiken Artists support the rescue efforts of endangered animals through art Paul Swart, from Rhino Conservation Botswana, was the featured speaker at the Aiken Center for the Arts on Friday, February 18. He explained that poverty in Botswana is a motivating factor for poaching rhinos. “The horn is believed to have medicinal value and can produce enough powder to earn $65,000 on the black market in Asia,” he said. There are fewer than 30,000 black and white rhinos left in the world. Through efforts to transport, guard, and breed these animals, conservationists strive to keep the species from extinction, but it is a million dollar business. The government provides some
A note from Brooks Brown: My goal in retiring here was to spend my full time dedicated to creating art in and around Aiken, to be with horses either with the Great Oak Theraputic Riding Center or on the sides of the road, and to put my artographs in the Aiken Center for the Arts exhibits. I like being surrounded by horses, equestrian eventing, and polo riders that afford me the opportunity to use my iPhone to capture their beauty wherever I see them. I love being in the moment where it’s me, my iPhone in hand, with a horse, or nature, gardens or flowers or rolling hills on country
