Robyn Hill Hendrix

  • Home
  • About the Artist
    • Bio & Press
    • Artist’s Statement
    • Résumé
  • Portfolio
    • Watercolor
    • Drawings and Prints
    • Public Art and Placemaking
  • Blog
  • Say Hello

dentist office co-win-kee-dink

May 23, 2011 By Administrator

So, I had a dentist appointment this afternoon.  Not generally blogworthy, right?  Except that when I sat down in the chair, just as the dental hygienist was asking me if I had any specific concerns about my teeth, I looked at the large photograph directly in front of me on the wall.  It was a photograph of Whale Rock at Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria, Australia.

Whale Rock, Wilson's Promontory, Australia

I was completely unable to answer the hygienist’s question about my teeth and probably made a weird noise while I pointed at the photograph in disbelief, finally managing to exclaim “I’ve been there!”

Rewind 6 years and a few months:

Whale Rock, Watercolor Sketch at Wilson's Promontory, Feb. 11 2005

Detail of Whale Rock sketch, Wilson's Promontory

I was there winter term of 2005 on the Carleton College Studio Art in the South Pacific study abroad program.  The dental hygienist was very excited to learn more about the photo since she had no idea where it was or what it was about.

Of all the dentist’s offices in all the city, I had to walk into that one…

Adding to the coincidence is the fact that directly after my appointment I met up with my friend Megan who was picking up a painting I am donating to her Hand in Health fundraiser coming up June 19th at Intermedia Arts.  Megan was on that study abroad program in Australia with me and was equally amused by the story of my strange dentist office discovery.  Oh, and did I mention, she happens to be studying dentistry at the U of MN.  Strange circular connections abound.

I suppose Whale Rock is a very frequently photographed landmark, so I was bound to come across a photo of it somewhere eventually…but I still like to enjoy the magical quality of moments of serendipity like this.  Humor me, aight?

Filed Under: art, regular life stuff Tagged With: australia, carleton college, coincidence, dentistry, sketchbook, small world, study abroad, watercolor, whale rock, wilson's promontory

poetry & memories while sick in bed

January 29, 2011 By Administrator

I’m feeling sick-o today.  This poem from A Child’s Garden of Verses came to mind.  It was one of my favorite books as a child, and I have a little miniature version of it on my shelf so thought I would share:

The Land of Counterpane, by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay
To keep me happy all the day.
And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.

I remember the dreamy illustration in the big book I had of these as a child, it was one of my favorites.  But when I continued looking through my little mini volume I found another poem that is rather disturbing:

Foreign Children, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Little Indian, Sioux or Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo,
Little Turk or Japanese,
O! don’t you wish that you were me?

You have seen the scarlet trees
And the lions over seas,
You have eaten ostrich eggs,
And turned the turtles off their legs.

Such a life is very fine,
But it’s not so nice as mine:
You must often, as you trod,
Have wearied not to be abroad.

You have curious things to eat,
I am fed on proper meat;
You must dwell beyond the foam,
But I am safe and live at home.

Little Indian, Sioux or Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo,
Little Turk or Japanese,
O! don’t you wish that you were me?

Well then!  That could certainly have made me feel like a very entitled little girl, couldn’t it.  It does evoke a sort of childlike innocence…or shall I say ignorance.  But I vaguely remember thinking this poem very odd and sort of silly, maybe because we moved to Sydney when I was 5 and I was around lots of “foreign children” at a very diverse elementary school, then I returned to the states two years later with a thick Aussie accent and had to insist to my classmates that I was born in Vermont and was indeed American!  However having moved to the Pacific Northwest, none of the first graders in Mrs. Hubbard’s class knew where Vermont was, they just thought it was part of Australia.  After a year or so my accent faded away and no one even remembered that I was once the weird kid who called cookies “biscuits” and sweaters “sloppy joe’s.”

Filed Under: random thoughts Tagged With: australia, children's books, children's poetry, poems, robert louis stevenson, sick

Newsletter Signup

What you'll get: sneak peeks of works in progress, event announcements, and tips on fun happenings around the Twin Cities art scene in your inbox no more than twice monthly. Need a sample or want to catch up? Click here to see the most recent one.

Social Media

Keep in touch with  FacebookKeep in touch with  TwitterKeep in touch with  LinkedInKeep in touch with  InstagramKeep in touch with  PinterestKeep in touch with  TumblrKeep in touch with  Etsy

Search

Archives

Tags

art art 4 shelter art house coop artists australia berries blog design carleton college CCLI circa gallery creativity drawing events exhibit facebook feminist art gardening inspiration intermedia arts irrigate ladders Minneapolis minnesota Minnesota Fringe Festival mnarts mnfringe northern spark nostalgia painting Pinterest placemaking plants professional development reading simpson housing services sketchbook sketchbook project sketchbookproject smarts springboard for the arts WARM watercolor web page design women's art registry of minnesota work in progress

All images and designs are the copyright of Robyn Hendrix and may not be used without the artist's permission.

.

Copyright © 2021 by Robyn Hill Hendrix. Site design by the beautiful page. Powered by Genesis