Drive-By Art


One-Day Installations Motivate Alameda Sculptor


Brian Higgins
Photo by Jennifer Loring

For more than eight years, Alamedans have been doing double takes at the often indescribable, always inimitable sculptures, paintings and installations screaming for attention on Central Avenue near Ninth Street.
    Loud, controversial and invariably political, the “drive-by art” of Michael McDonald turns heads. Who among us hasn’t put on the brakes or taken his eyes off the road to leer at the latest manifestation from the mind of a man who, his wife concedes, is often referred to as “that crazy artist?”
    But the vitriol behind the art does not manifest itself in the man. Those who bother to learn are usually surprised to find that McDonald is a soft-spoken, world-traveled muralist and 53-year-old grandfather who lives in a cozy Spanish Colonial cottage that sits a block east of Washington Park.
    This winter, McDonald tore down his macabre protest of George Bush’s re-election—a skeleton draped in a bloody American flag, framed by a guillotine and having its hand removed by an axe—and replaced it with a painting depicting Mary and the infant Jesus framed in a field of electricity.
    “My wife wants to do something that’s a little more genteel for Christmas,” McDonald explains, as he carts the plastic skull and guillotine blade to his backyard studio.
    Though he changes his installations every 30 to 45 days, McDonald concedes that he doesn’t spend the interim plotting the next one. “I only put up pieces that I can paint or install in a day,” he says. “I don’t want to spend a lot of time on things that don’t make money.”
    McDonald insists that the reviews he gets from passersby are nearly universally positive. Last year, however, he got a visit from two Secret Service agents after he issued an e-mail threat warning George Bush to stay away from Alameda. McDonald, a Monterey native who discovered the Island while serving a stint at the Alameda Naval Air Station during the Vietnam War, considers it his patriotic duty to regularly aggravate his elected officials by e-mail.
    Swiss painter Paul Klee once said that “the more horrifying the world becomes, the more art becomes abstract,” and McDonald’s work—filled with bizarre imagery as well as written profanity—certainly qualifies as abstract. But art, as Andy Warhol noted, is what you can get away with, and McDonald doesn’t get away with nearly as much as he would like. “He runs things by me before he puts them out there,” his wife, Sandy, says. “I have to censor some stuff, because he gets a little carried away.”

Guide Dog Grows Up


Remember that adorable little Labrador puppy, Ivanna, on the May/June 2003 cover alongside her trainer, Christina Kezar of Oakland? The puppy is all grown up now and working as a guide dog with Steven Jacquez of Vallejo.
    Ivanna “graduated” in August 2004 from Guide Dogs for the Blind and has been doing well since. Jacquez, who is visually impaired, reports the two have become good friends, and his trusted companion improves daily at her guide work. For instance, if Jacquez faces a hazard, Ivanna blocks his path to keep him safe rather than simply stopping.
    Ivanna’s favorite thing, Jacquez says, is to weave them through crowds. Ivanna allows him more mobility than he previously enjoyed, and the two do practically everything together.
    “She’s definitely my shadow. We’ve bonded well,” he says.
    The pair recently visited with the Kezars, who raised Ivanna as a pup, and had a good time swapping photos and stories, says Tamara Barak of Guide Dogs for the Blind.
—Brenda Chow

Life Lessons


Roswita McIntosh has more than a life’s worth of lessons to teach.
    Compelled by her daughters to write her memoirs, “Live, Laugh & Learn,” McIntosh tells a story marked by dramatic experiences—surviving Nazi-era Germany, success as a Fulbright scholar at Smith College and challenges of love and family. She addresses all with characteristic bravery and emotional honesty.
    McIntosh spent 21⁄2
years writing and two more years editing her memoirs, which she published via Infinitypublishing.com in 2004. Daughter Mimi Stuart provided the book’s artwork. McIntosh says, “I tried to bring out some of the highlights from the last 70 years. Even in the worst of times—and I wanted to get this across to my children—life is never easy. Life poses many problems to everyone. But we have to face them wholeheartedly, consider them a challenge more than a problem.”
   McIntosh has recently spent time touring local schools to share her experiences and philosophies with children. Remembering her own childhood during the war, McIntosh says, “When the Czechs broke into the house and lined us up against the wall, I was sure they were going to shoot us. And yet, walking down the hill, he talked with Mother, and she asked him about his family, and he became a person again. Instead of shooting us, he took us across the border, and, right at the border, he handed us a loaf of bread. One of the things I’ve learned is that kindness and gratitude are really the two most important virtues to get you through life.”
    To order call (877) 289-2665 or go to www.booksandauthors.net.
—Breean Lingle

ALAMEDAMADE


Longtime Alameda resident Lori Davis started her business, Lavender Lori, in 2002, at the urging of friends who had received her handmade soaps and body scrubs as gifts.
    “People went crazy over them. And I got a lot of really entertaining messages on my voicemail that they needed more soap,” she says with a laugh.
    Davis, whose previous experience includes developing a line of hair-care products in New York City, is largely inspired by tropical scents and uses oils and botanicals from kumquat, lemongrass, jasmine and rose hips in her line of beauty products. Available online, through local vendors and spas (Wolf and the Hare, Alameda; The Body Adventure, Danville; and Skin Care by Donelyn, Lafayette, among others), Lavender Lori products range from colorful, botanically-infused aromatic soaps, sea salt and sugar scrubs to lotions, body wash and a forthcoming line of hydrating hair-care products.
    Before planning Mother’s Day this year, take note: Davis extends her skills to spa parties. Luxurious spa environments are brought to private residences, where clients are treated to massages and foot and leg treatments using custom-made body scrubs that are blended on the spot and can be matched to any Lavender Lori soap. For those who love handmade soaps but are on a budget, call Lavender Lori to find out the availability of Faux Pas—slightly imperfect products sold at a discount.
    A new line of soap is due out this spring, and a facial masque is in development. To find out more about spa parties, products and corporate gift packages, write to Davis at lori@lavenderlori.com or visit www.lavenderlori.com.
—Breean Lingle

Landmarks



Artist Beth Bourland painted this watercolor of the Frank Bette Center for the Arts during one of the center’s “plein air,” or outdoor, painting sessions, which Bourland helps organize. The sessions are free, and artists of all levels and any medium are welcome.












A Poet Is a Poet Is a Poet


April is National Poetry Month, and what better way to celebrate than with poetry? Alamedan Mary Rudge, who was recently reappointed to a second two-year term representing the city as poet laureate, is a member of the California Federation of Chaparral Poets Inc. She’s also chairperson of the 2005 state convention, which will take place April 22-24 at the Clarion Hotel near the Oakland Airport. Poets, literary editors and publishers from around California will gather to discuss the state of contemporary poetry, and enjoy a program that will include a children’s poetry fair, haiku workshops, middle- and high-school poetry contest awards, a dance pageant and readings. Check it out online at www.chaparralpoets.org.
— Julia Park