#FASHION--WHAT THE WELL-DRESSED TRUCK TIRE IS WEARING THIS YEAR

Bedazzled, Canadian Style

By Lois Winston

It’s said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I believe the same can be said for art. As someone who majored in art and design in college, I’ve viewed exhibits that included everything from the Mona Lisa to a mound of dirt piled on shattered mirrors. (Seriously. I first came across a series of these in a gallery in Manhattan many years ago, but you can find one of them in the permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

I appreciate creativity in all forms, but I’ve often wondered, is there a difference between creativity and art? I’ve come to the conclusion the answer is up to the viewer and the gallery or museum curator.

My husband and I recently returned from a vacation in Montreal and Quebec City. Both cities are filled with outdoor artworks. One sculpture, in particular, caught my eye outside the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The artist (I couldn’t find a plaque listing the sculptor’s name) had bedazzled an assortment of truck tires.

Now, bedazzling is a fun craft, especially for teens who love to bedazzle everything from their jeans and sneakers to their cell phone cases. I’ve seen all sorts of items that have been bedazzled, including certain body parts, which I even wrote about in Decoupage Can Be Deadly. But truck tires? That was a first for me!

Is it art, or is it craft? Obviously in Montreal the Museum of Fine Arts has deemed it art. What do you think?

Decoupage Can Be Deadly, An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery

Anastasia and her fellow American Woman editors are steaming mad when minutes before the opening of a consumer show, they discover half their booth usurped by Bling!, their publisher’s newest magazine. CEO Alfred Gruenwald is sporting new arm candy—rapper-turned-entrepreneur and Bling! executive editor, the first-name-only Philomena. During the consumer show, Gruenwald’s wife serves Philomena with an alienation of affection lawsuit, but Philomena doesn’t live long enough to make an appearance in court. She’s found dead days later, stuffed in the shipping case that held Anastasia’s decoupage crafts. When Gruenwald makes cash-strapped Anastasia an offer she can’t refuse, she wonders, does he really want to find Philomena’s killer or is he harboring a hidden agenda?

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