Butterflies land en masse in Shorewood

Butterflies seem to have landed everywhere in Shorewood!

Andy Haas Schneider's butterfly on display at Tim Hart Dentistry, 1720 E. Lake Blvd. I loved the juxtaposition with the bikes.

According to Shorewood Now, there are thirty hand-decorated butterflies gracing Shorewood's shopping district, which I first noticed incidentally while on Oakland Avenue.

Detail of Schneider's butterfly design: the colors flow together so smoothly. Photos simply do not do it justice.

I haven't been able to explore them all, but the idea is just so colorful and fun. All of the artists are from Shorewood or are otherwise local or regional (the two farthest-away artists are from our neighbor state to the south). I love public art, I love butterflies, and I love Shorewood (it's a well-planned community; a walkable and compact first-ring suburb; and convenient to downtown and UWM, with good schools and plenty of rental availability (convenient for elderly residents)- something Glendale, with its distaste for anything to do with rental property, could well learn from - but that's another issue, and I can't afford to move to Shorewood anyway.

I can, however, afford to bike or park in one spot there and walk to everything I need to do: work out at the Community Fitness Center (what a concept!), read at the library, buy groceries, get a cup of coffee, window shop, mail a letter, go to the bank, and now look at some really cool butterflies to boot.

Kathleen Hoffman's butterfly at Gilded Edge Lakeshore, 4401 N. Oakland.

The art is on display until August 23rd, after which they will be auctioned off. Besides on and near Oakland Ave, they are also on display at the Police Department, the Library, the Village Hall, and the Fitness Center. Brochures are available too with all the addresses and thumbnail photos. I hope you enjoy them!

Guest post! New Urbanism!!

Since I started my blog in March, I have gotten many more emails about it than comments on the blog itself. The emails are much more positive and enlightening than many of the comments, something that is a little disappointing; they're more personal and less interactive, but all very interesting. This is one that I received yesterday- I received permission from the author (Beth, of the ESL program for which I volunteer) to use it as a guest post.

"On your blog, I saw the word Lustron. I had never heard that word before and looked it up.

I am fascinated by architecture. Learning about a new type of home bought back a bunch of memories.

The most recent memory is the new pre-fab house that was launched this month or last:
http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/05/07/clayton-homes-announces-green-modular-i-house/

Our neighborhood in Manhattan (for nine years) was like a village, with neighbors who had lived on our street for decades. When we moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 1992, I was depressed by the urban sprawl to the point of experiencing physical pain. I missed city life so much, and Saginaw’s shell of a city center would have pleased and refreshed me 20 years before. Saginaw was being destroyed because of neglect and pure ignorance. I tried to get involved in preservation activities, but the efforts of a few were no match for cluelessness, clannishness, and corruption.

I read The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. She was so right in her critique of “modern” urban planning and how it had ruined inner cities. To see her predictions manifested in Saginaw was heartbreaking.

Just today I googled her name and came up with this: http://www.janeswalkusa.org/who-is-jane-jacobs

In Milwaukee, it seems that there is a resurgence of interest in Jane Jacob’s common sense. As I drive around in parts that were once blighted and are now dotted with livable, attractive, urban HOMES (rather than PROJECTS), it certainly seems that the spirit of Jane Jacobs has been at work. If you design a “Jane walk” and post it on your blog, I’ll take the walk. It has been years since I thought of things like this.

Beth

Is anyone interested in taking the challenge? The "Jane Walk" is an interesting concept: regular citizens lead an urban walking tour, free of charge. Take a look at the link. Let me know what you think.