Tea is Tea is Tea...

Or is it?

On Friday I had to make another trek up to the UCLA Med Center. Senility is definitely setting in. I sorted out a bus leaving at 10:09... wait a minute, if my appointment is at 10:00am, how can I leave at 10:09? At that point I had ten minutes to get ready and run like the wind to the bus stop.... only to see the back of my bus as it disappeared down the street. Not a good start to the day, but things definitely picked up after that.

August 16 Steeped in History, the Art of Tea opened at the Fowler Museum on the UCLA campus. As the museum opens at noon, I had some time to fill after the doctor's appointment before heading on over there. One of my favorite areas is the Murphy Sculpture Garden on the north campus. It's a pleasant mixture of a variety of trees, grassy berms, meandering paths, concrete seating areas that blend into the landscape, and yes, sculptures. I am no expert on sculpture, nor is sculpture my favorite art medium, but in this setting, what's not to like?

I sat for an hour at one side of the garden shaded by some trees so I could see it in its entirety. I watched people walking along the paths. Nobody ever seems to actually stop and look at the individual sculptures, but I do know from personal experience, as you spend time in the garden, even walking from one side to the other on a regular basis, you can't help but be aware of them. They seem to be growing out of the ground as much as the trees and plants. They have become not individual pieces of art but part of the whole. I think this is why this garden works so well. Everything belongs together.

As I was sitting there, time seemed to slow down. When I was younger and immortal I was always in a hurry to get to the next thing, whatever that might be. Now that my mortality is catching up with me, I am perfectly happy to stay in the present. I have had to train myself to sit still, physically and mentally, but it has paid off. I am more content observing quietly than jumping up and being the one observed. It would be more logical the other way around: to sit still when there is all the time in the universe ahead, and to be on the move, doing all there is to do, when there is less time left. Maybe because I've done so many things, I can happily sit and reflect on them, and doing more now seems less important—oh, I can see we are going to get convoluted here! Let's just say that now I am better at sitting still and letting the world come to me, rather than the other way around.

Time for Tea. I like the Fowler Museum as it is small and manageable. The exhibits are well presented and informative. Upon leaving this exhibit I felt as though I had earned my PhD in Tea! There are hundreds (probably an understatement) of kinds of teas in the world, albeit all from the same basic plant, and over two dozen are displayed in their various forms at the entrance to the exhibit, from loose leaf to compressed cakes, with exotic names like Yunnan Black Needle and Dragonwell Superior. From there on it is a veritable Disneyland of Tea.

As you would guess, I enjoyed the many examples of ceramic tea pots and tea cups, from modern to whimsical to traditional. One of these days I WILL unpack one of those bisque teapots in my garage and paint and fire it, for sure...

Other highlights of the presentation included paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, historic documents, accoutrements and furniture—everything you need to understand the centuries of culture, politics, art, suffering, beauty, philosophy, pleasure, and conflict involved in the extraordinary history of tea. I spent close to an hour and a half taking in the exhibit.

Interestingly, I learned that Samuel Johnson (whose Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755) and his biographer and friend James Boswell, both suffered from severe depression. Johnson "cured" himself by drinking tea, while Boswell only deepened his depression by drinking alcohol.

Over the past few months I have made a conscious effort to drink more tea. My favorite is Salada Earl Green, green tea flavored with oil of Bergamot. I sometimes mix this with other tea such as ginger, black, or herbal tea, sometimes with a lemon slice, sometimes iced, sometimes hot. I find the Salada Earl Green to be particularly uplifting: it seems to the combination of the green tea and the Bergamot. When I am tired, lacking motivation, upset, or down, drinking this tea does wonders for my spirits—I consider it my miracle brew. When I find it at the market I buy several boxes to ensure I don't run out.

Moral of this story: when you visit the Fowler Museum, make a little effort to hang out in the Sculpture Garden, and vice versa. Or, if you have to make an appointment at the Medical Center, improve the day by spending some time with nature and art. Then go home and make yourself a "cuppa."

The Artful CheckupThis image is from the Icons of the Desert website. See website for further copyright information. Photo: Tony De Camillo for the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University

Time for my annual checkup so, in my new public transportation mode, I took the Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica Bus Line) from Culver City up to Westwood and the UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) Medical Center. With the 40-minute ride (this route encompasses almost the entire universe) and a combined 20-minute walk, this little adventure lasts one whole hour as opposed to half that time by car. So once again, it's a matter of weighing the value of one's time against the operating costs and mileage on the family car plus the $11 parking fee. Right now my preference is for the bus over fighting traffic and looking for a parking space.

I was able to plan the day so that I had doctors appointments in the morning and late afternoon. This gave me the time slot I needed to walk over to the Fowler Museum on campus. For over two months now I have been staring at the brochure announcing the Icons of the Desert exhibit, a collection of Australian Aboriginal paintings from the early 1970s with the extended exhibit of Innovations in Western Desert Painting, 1972-1999. I was so excited about seeing these abstract images I was almost afraid I would be disappointed when viewing them in person. But not to worry. I was totally immersed in the wonder of these paintings, composed of lines and dots in earthy tones. The best part is that each painting tells a story according to Aboriginal lore. The viewer cannot understand the story without a written description, but this does not diminish the power of these works. I felt a direct spiritual connection to these designs. One can argue that all art is spiritual. However, I sensed these pieces had a life of their own, beyond the two-dimensional representations that I was looking at on the walls of the museum.

Sunday, August 2 at 2:00pm there are two lectures on this exhibit, free with no reservations required. I am tempted to attend.

Unfortunately, this exhibit ends August 3, but you can still catch it at New York University through December.

Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, is a display of 250 artifacts from the Fowler Collection exploring the impact of art on people's lives in various cultures worldwide. There are several pieces displayed that I want to research further on the internet, such as the papier mache art of the Linares family and the ceramics of Jorge Wilmot. This is ongoing.

Reflecting Culture: The Francis E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver is a permanent installation with some stunning examples of silver artifacts such as teapots and goblets.