Art Exploration in June!

I walk often ever since COVID – sometimes 25 miles per week. Recently as I power walked through Burns Court, I slowed down to a stroll as I discovered ART, not concrete, at my feet! Someone had painted  numerous blocks along Pineapple Ave! Evidently organized by Chalk Festival originator Denise Kowal, these painted blocks will be around much longer for people to enjoy than the quickly fading chalk masterpieces produced in past years (until September). It is a celebration of 100 years of Sarasota history in sidewalk art! The painting was done over the past weekend and each painting will have a QR code to direct you to information about the depicted piece of Sarasota's illustrious history. What a great idea!  https://fb.me/e/2pAOzSQNE

What really stopped me in my tracks was a replication of a poster design that I produced back in 1992 for the Sarasota French Film Festival! Wow! I am delighted to be part of this celebration of our city's history!

When Prince Philip of the Pokanokets (later known as the Wampanoags) proudly wore his wampum—decorative beads made from whelk and clam shells—he was proudly declaring several things about himself: his station, his value (and obligation) to his people, as well as the spiritual message conveyed by the design of those shells. The Englishmen he encountered, however, could only see the commercial value of that wampum, and 20 pounds sterling meant Philip was wearing some very pricey bling.

How wampum changed from bling to money is a complicated story. The colonists back then did not have printed currency, so their trade economy was mostly based on the barter of commodities such as corn and pelts. When wampum became a prime commodity in the Northeast corner of North America in 1630, it forever altered the Native systems of reciprocity and balance in life, labor and trade.

Wampum had a short run, but a long tail. It was a coin of the realm for just 30 years but wampum was commonly used as slang for money well into the second half of 20th century, along with other colorful terms such as moolah, loot, lucre and—more relevant to this discussion—clams. Even today, wampum usually is the answer to this crossword puzzle clue: used as Indian money in the Northeast, even though Natives did not traditionally use wampum as money, in part because they did not use money at all.