Pacific Asia Museum

 A Family Outing to the Pacific Asia Museum

All writing and images ©Cliff Hutson unless expressly noted. Do not use without permission.

Reading Log: April 2025

 The books that I read in the month of April 2025

April 2025 Books" photo by Cliff Hutson

"Sacramento Noir," edited by John Freeman

"Parable of the Sower,"Octavia E. Butler

"The Art of Trader Joe's," Julie Averbach

"Also On View," Todd Lerew

All writing and images ©Cliff Hutson unless expressly noted. Do not use without permission.

Photography on the Web

Round round get around, I get around, yeah

It is not that I literally get around, what it is that my photography shows up in some interesting places.

Florida

I have never been to Florida, and don't imagine that I will ever visit. However, this restaurant review has piqued my curiosity. How does its dish measures up to the meal we prepared at home? As, oddly enough, they look identical.

Mac N Cheese Plate: photo by Cliff Hutson

Southern California

Southern California is my lifelong home. So I was very intrigued when I came upon an article "Here Are The 10 Dishes You Have To Eat In Southern California Before You Die".  I still need to get to Phil's BBQ and the Apple Pan, but the others are all under my belt.  

The Donut Man is illustrated with my photo of the world famous fresh strawberry donut. This is a fancier plating:

Fresh Strawberry Donut: photo by Cliff Hutson

I like to think that my photo of Langer's Original #19 Pastrami Sandwich measures up favorably to the one they used as well.

Langer's #19: photo by Cliff Hutson

Oakland Museum of California

My travels, for business and pleasure, have taken me to Oakland, however, I have never been to the Oakland Museum of California.  But, I was very pleased to see that a photograph of mine was to illustrate an article about an exhibit of the work of Charles and Ray Eames.

Eames House of Cards: photo by Cliff Hutson

I very much like the Eames's work and own several of their pieces. But, sad to say, while the actual Eames House is only about an hour and a half away I have yet to visit it. I am going to have to get around to that.

Eames Coffee Table: photo by Cliff Hutson

Field Notes

I have been a user of Field Notes brand notebooks for about a year. This began with a desire to purchase the Two Rivers quarterly edition,  which was contributing support to the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum.

"Two Rivers": photo by Cliff Hutson

This led to my becoming a yearly subscriber to the quarterly editions, and even though I do not consider myself to be a collector, most of these seem too nice to use. So, for daily carry I purchase the classic Kraft Memo Books in the grid pattern. And, pocket one with ruled lines when actually working in the field.

Field Work: photo by Cliff Hutson

Clearly, I think these notebooks are a damn fine product. But, the impetus for this post was a bonus shipment containing a 2-pack featuring Commemorative Reprints of “Butcher Orange” and “Butcher Extra Blue,” with my name printed on the belly band! (See photo at top.) That seems like one heck of a commitment on their part. This has had, what I assume to be the desired effect. I can probably now be classified as a loyal customer.

Interior Design

"One of my strongest convictions,
and one of the first canons of good taste, 
is that our houses, like the fish’s shell and
the bird’s nest, ought to represent our 
individual taste and habits."

Mary Eliza Haweis

Interior design has been defined as the process of shaping the experience of interior space, through the manipulation of spatial volume as well as surface treatment. I would suggest that, in good taste, or not, most homes do come to reflect the people who live in them. And, over the past few years I have slowly been making some changes in my environment. Though, I will probably hang on to the rug that my late wife thought really tied the living room together.

As curator of my own domain, last week I finally hung a poster to compliment one I had for just over a year. I must say that they do reflect my eclectic taste and strange sense of humor.

Picasso and Duchamp Go at It

Art Rivalry: photo by Cliff Hutson

This first poster was basically an impulse purchase. Truth be told, I am really not into the work of either artist all that much. (Although, I, like most other college kids of my era, had a "Guernica" print on a wall in my apartment in my school days.) But, I was totally captivated by the portrayal of this rivalry as a promotion for a boxing match.

Adding Punch

Add Punch: photo by Cliff Hutson

"Add Punch to Your Printing", by Dafi Kühne, was a much more deliberate acquisition. I felt it go well on a wall adjacent to "He Was Wrong" as the red letters would be complimentary. Also, in my mind, the "Punch" underscores the boxing theme. The clincher for the purchase though is that the proceeds go to support the work of the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum.

A Place of My Own

Framing and hanging two posters is certainly a very small step in to the world of interior design. But, I find it kind of exciting. Within the next year I will probably be downsizing to a home about one-third the size of my present house. There is not much here that would comfortably fit in that space. So, it will be an ideal opportunity to get a fresh start. Hopefully, in the intervening time, I can hone my aesthetic and realize a place to call my own.

Where I Have Been

States I Have Visited

visited 11 states (22%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Brazil travel guide for Android


You can call me limited in scope if you wish, but I have seen most of what I have wanted to in these United States.

There are three places I still hope to get to visit:

Martha's Vineyard - to stop in at The Black Dog;

Seattle, WA - to see the Filson flagship store, and:

Chicago, IL - my late wife loved this city and wanted to take me there, but I never made the time to do it.

General Grant Tree - Kings Canyon National Park

Two Cubes

Architect's Cubes

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) store sells an interesting collection of eight cubes, called  “Architect's Cubes”, designed by John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi. Each cube is made of a different material: acrylic, aluminum, bakelite, cork, EVA, granite, maple wood, and silicone. It seems that quite a few people are unfamiliar with bakelite and EVA.

Bakelite

Bakelite Cube: photo by Cliff Hutson

I have a working knowledge of bakelite. As a teenager in print shop class I used it to make molds for the creation of rubber stamps. It could be molded quickly and easily. The molds were smooth, held their shape and were resistant to heat, scratches, and solvents.

It is also resistant to electricity, and has low conductivity. Therefore, it also had a variety of applications in electric shop such as building primitive transistor radios, and other gadgets.

Bakelite was one of the first plastics made from synthetic components. While still in use today, it has been displaced by newer and cheaper plastics. That, and the fact that most school curriculums have eliminated hands on opportunities for working with materials, probably account for the lack of familiarity.

Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)

EVA Cube: photo by Cliff Hutson

I was one of those people who had no real clue as to what EVA was before the cubes arrived. Once I held it in my hand, I knew I had dealt with it, or a similar material, before, but still could not say what it was. I am not sure researching and finding out that it is ethylene vinyl acetate was much help either.

Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Copolymers are conventionally regarded as those copolymers of ethylene and vinyl acetate where the weight percentage of ethylene in the polymer molecule exceeds that of the vinyl acetate.

EVA has a long and successful history of use. Typical applications are cushioning in shoes, flexible hoses, car bumpers, adhesives, sealants, coatings, and flexible packaging.

So, it turns out that the Architect's Cubes are not only lovely to look at and delightful to play with, they also lead to a learning opportunity.