The Extraordinary Art of Bodhi Wind
Buddha became the enlightened one, under a Bodhi tree.
This is the name taken by native Pittsburgh artist who tragically passed much too soon, the day before Thanksgiving in 1991. If you graduated from Perry High School, Pittsburgh Public Schools, class of 1968, you knew him as Charles Kuklis. An incredibly talented artist, he was always sketching and drawing.
Recently there was an article by Joe Smydo in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about what to do with an artist’s work after they’ve died.
Bodhi Wind painted the murals for Robert Altman’s 1977 film 3 Women. (Click here to read about the movie and see a photo of Sissy Spacek and Shelly Duvall and one of the large murals painted by Bodhi Wind.) He designed clothing for Cher and his work was shown in Architectural Digest May 1978. An archived article in the NY TimesApril 26, 1977 by Jennifer Dunning is online.
A blog by Angeliska shows more photographs of Bodhi painting the murals for 3 Women. We read on this blog that his mother, Jean Kuklis (also mentioned in the PPG article) would welcome speaking of her son and his art.
I had the good fortune to meet Mrs. Kuklis, her daughter and granddaughter, Monday afternoon and got to photograph some of Bodhi Wind’s artwork. His mother generously shared his story and creative artwork and I wanted to share it with you. I had the privilege of seeing pieces he created in high school, too.
She hopes her son’s art could be shown in a large space, a bank, hotel lobby or convention center. Some of the painted panels are big.
Many are painted on wood and interestingly framed.
Readers who would like more information about the artworks should email Bodhi Wind’s family Bodhi.Wind.Art(at)gmail.com.
detail from the Octagonal
This is one panel of a series. Very large. It needs to be turned right side up. I left a bit of his sister in the pic on the right so you get the idea of the scale.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture
Culture. We are part of so many different cultures. I went and read the definition of the word. More like definitions!
Tried to get a direction.
Friday night was the Gallery Crawl in Pittsburgh. I’m adding two from NYC Spring Break trip that seem to fit into my take on the challenge.
Music, Painting, Sculpture , Art and my wonderful teacher Germaine Watkins from Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild with two of his photographs on display Friday night.
I ‘d gone downtown with my friend Steve to check out and take pictures of the students’ artwork at the All City Show.
Men at Work on a Water Tower along Orange Road
We were driving back from the store and I was in the third seat of the van with two of the grandchildren.
My DIL said, quick get your camera. There are men painting the water tower. d-e-l-a-w (a- r -e) I think.
Talk about fleeting moment, she was about to fly by and I was stuck in the back of the van.
She said, I’ll slow down ( going about 45mph) Ha. Somehow I shot through the back window’s glass. You can see the reflection of a white fence. I had the 24-70 lens on the camera.
The one we scraped the stickers off the window just recently. Good thing. I can’t imagine working that high off the ground.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Friendship
The sunflowers are a gift from a friend.
This photograph was taken in the art room today on my iPhone. Most of the middle schoolers were on a trip. After lunch I had a few who didn’t get to attend. This wonderful painting was created by a young man named Scott. He painted the sunflowers a friend had brought me.
I didn’t want to leave the flowers at home alone so took them with me to school. They were so vibrant and summery.
Oh, the unexpected surprise of the gift of flowers from a good friend.
Friday after school, I put the bouquet on the front seatand when I arrived at my son and DIL’s home and took them out of the car, my granddaughter ran down the hill of the front yard to greet me and said excitedly when she saw them, “Oh we studied that artist! ” Later in the craft store she picked up a Starry Night Umbrella and told me it was the same artist as the Sunflowers. She’s 8 1/2 and just completed second grade Tuesday.
Thanks for the flowers, friend. I thought it would cheer you to see them in Scott’s painting.
(And that eyeball glaring from the chair is from the cover of a book that belongs to Scott’s classmate and friend, J, who told me he has checked out the photos on this blog! Cool. )
To see other responses to the weekly photo challenge click here
Cat Out of the Bag at Panza Gallery
The other day I took this watercolor painting to be matted and framed. I painted it at least twenty years ago. I found it in a closet and thought I would frame it to remind myself why I use photography to express myself instead of painting. But I like the way the bag looked in the light. So did Panza’s cat in residence at the Gallery. Oh my. Maybe she thought it was a 3-D bag and not a 2-D bag. She really went for it. Knocked it on the floor twice and I am sure if it had been a precious artwork it would have been a concern but it was pretty funny. Just liked the painting of the bag so much. Art critic feline? It definitely spoke to her. You know how cats love it when you introduce something new in the house and they think it is for them.
Pittsburgh Artist Captures 16th Street Bridge on Canvas
Thursday evening Bill Pfahl was painting the 16th Street Bridge down in the Heinz Plant parking lot. I was on my way back from Sheraden and headed home. I called Bill to tell him about the churches I saw in McKees Rocks Bottoms- two Ukrainian and one Orthodox and one Byzantine. The sun was dropping on their domes and I pulled off to photograph them. Turns out Bill has already drawn them in pastels and they were sold and are on display in a Wyndam hotel in Oakland 3454 Forbes Avenue
A man came out to his car to go home and he complimented Bill on his artwork. I asked him about the ketchup. Hasn’t been made in Pittsburgh since the 70′s. They made ketchup packets for fast food chains here but all the ketchup is made in Ohio.
I have the Most Holy Spirit Church in Millvale painting on my living room wall. I bought it from Bill during the Art Teacher Show at the Board of Ed a few years ago.
My People at Work series has taken twists and turns this week focusing on artists- emerging and established. Bill is the artist who painted the church Mark and Erika were married in and gave it to them as a gift. I learned about armillary spheres and how the four of them on this bridge were brought by truck and boat as they were too wide for the railroad. Remember the recent Artist’s Palette Post? Bill was gracious to allow me to photograph him while he was trying to paint before the sun set and the light was gone.
Here is Bill’s
palette for this painting.
Bill packs up his paints and brushes as the sun goes down
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