Sport in Bleiburg

One would almost think that Bleiburg has ONLY "art".
One Vernissage yesterday, another one today, there is bound to be somebody showing his or her paintings, writers give readings of their most recent work, their most recently published book.
There is a concert by the "Jauntal Brass band at the "Grenzland Heim," a Jazz band plays up a storm at the Kulturnidom, a Duo of Tenor Sax and Guitar perform classical music at the Werner Berg Museum. There is, of course, the main event at the WBM, where, at present, there is an exhibition of some 40 works by an artist who does not object to the definition of " non contemporary art"
(see a recent entry in this Blog ), yesterday you could have gone, (we did) to an exhibition of Watercolors in the small "Gallery EMO."
Tomorrow we are going to the Kulturnidom for a Choir Concert. There will be Choirs from Austria, Slovenia and Italy.
I could go on and on, until you'd think that "Art" is all there is in Bleiburg.
If, indeed, you thought that, you'd be wrong, wrong, wrong.
Bleiburg has the Austrian and European Champion "Volleyball" team.
We went there yesterday and I snapped some pictures. (what else did you expect?)

 "Aich Dob" is

"Austrian Champion" as well as "European League Champion"

You must realize that "Aich Dob" is a tiny Village just outside of  Bleiburg 

(which in itself is just a tiny town)

Admittedly there are no longer any local-grown talents on the team.

Rich sponsors made it possible to build a really good cadre.

A smashing serve puts our team "one point up".

Another point won!

After each point won, the team hugs and celebrates.

The Opponents, the Klagenfurt Volleyball team,

although featuring some good players don't stand much of a chance.

"Blocking" is an essential art of this game.

"Sport Klub Aich Dob" wins this one "hands down".

... and after the game, the players of A.D. applaud their fans.

Dr. Harald Scheicher....

... is a medical doctor in the nearby District Capital of Völkermarkt. 
He is a well respected and well liked "Medico".
Harald is also a respected Artist and recently several of his works were exhibited in the Werner Berg Gallery in Bleiburg.

What makes Harald differ from so many of our modern Artists

is the fact that "things" Harald depicts 

can actually be recognized without fancy explanations.

A flower is a flower,  a tree is a tree

and a mother and child, is truly a "Mother and Child".

In all this "recognizability" however, lies a language with which 

the picture speaks to the viewer, while drawing his eye inevitably

to its essence.

Although there is a mountain range in the background,

it is the birch tree which forces you to look at its torn bark

"The Children of Naples" show the unencumbered Joy 

with which all children should be gifted.

Neither the cross in the background

nor the skull-like contraption up front

seems to prevent them from "being children."

This "Still-life with Fruit"

shows the artist from a totally different perspective.

The meticulous pattern of the cloth is maintained 

despite the haphazard manner in which fruits, cups and jugs are placed upon it.

A sleeping child, a protective mother, 

probably dreaming about the child's future.

All of it encapsulated in tones of Blue. The color of hope.

Hello, Harald! Where goest thou?

Straight into the vagaries of Cubism?

Although you call this work: "Dilapidated Barn"

all the woodwork is beautifully aligned, not a board askew.

There is "order" and "discipline" in this "dilapidation."

The "Apple Lady"

Well,now, that in Autumn she brings varying kinds of Apples from her farm, just across the border in Slovenia, I call her "The Apple Lady."
"These apples: Gala, very good for eat. .. these, little sour they taste .. make good Apple strudel.."
You buy the apples! Advice is for free.

All during Spring and Summer, every Tuesday, come rain or shine,  she brings all kinds of vegetables.
She brings Beans, Peas, Radishes, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Beats, ....  you think of it, she brings it.
Her German is very fundamental, I'd almost have to say, halting. My Slovenian is non-existent.

Under a thatch of silver hair two bright blue eyes peer.
Smiling.
In fact, her whole face smiles and it is difficult NOT to buy something from this lovely Slovenian lady, who supplies Bleiburg with the freshest of vegetables and fruits, better and fresher than in the Supermarket.... each and every Tuesday....like clockwork...

I buy something, she weighs it, says: "Four Euros, fifty cents"
I pay with a Fiver and say: Okay.
She puts another two apples, or a bunch of radishes into my basket.
She smiles!
I leave another 50 cents on the edge of the small table.
We grin at each other... It's a game we play....
...the silver-haired, blue-eyed Slovenian Lady and I.

It's Tuesday and the "Apple Lady" is in town.

Xmas tree in Bleiburg

When the City puts up the Christmas tree in Bleiburg, you know that Christmas cannot be far away.
In years gone by the workmen put up the tree with the aid of long poles with which they brought the tree into an upright position. Nowadays, of course, this is done with a large crane.
well, even Christmas trees have to come into the modern age.

Krampus Run

"Krampus" is the local name for "Devil" or "Satan" or "Beelzebub"  etc.
When I was a child, Krampus, accompanied by St. Nicklaus visited families (on invitation by the parents).  Krampus wanted to know if you were a "good boy" or a good girl throughout the year and 
St. Nicklaus brought nuts and figs or other small presents to the good kids.
This custom has morphed into today's "Krampus Run," where local boys, young men, dress in the most hideous devilish costumes and proceed in a long line up and down the main square, accompanied by truly infernal music.
As every year for the last ten years, I roamed our main street and took come pictures.

I am asking:

How did the devil, who resides in fire and brimstone Hell

remain so neat and white-furred, amid all the smoke and soot?

Now, this is the way I remember him.

Don't give me this rubbish of the white furred creatures.

Sigi Kulterer

An internationally renowned artist, Sigi lives with his wife Erika in the very neighborhood of Bleiburg. To see just how wide his fame has spread, visit his website: www.sigi-kulterer.com
Although it is written in German any interested reader will obtain enough information about Sigi and his Art.
I shall show here only a very few of his art works, with which the Artist speaks, among other themes, of the plight of children, not only in religious institutions, but also at home.
Let the pictures talk to you.

...and the Wall came tumbling down

The Wall

“Mr. Gorbachev! Open this Gate!”

“Mr. Gorbachev! Tear down this wall”

So went the call in 1987 from the Leader of the Free World, Mr. Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, to the Chairman of the Communist Party of the UdSSR., Mr. Michael Gorbachev.

Mr. Gorbachev! Tear down this wall!

In February 1945, the defeat of Nazi Germany was imminent, the leaders of the three most important powers of the world met in Yalta.

Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, (USA) Mr. Winston Churchill, ( U.K.) and

Genosse Joseph Stalin (UdSSR) had come to decide the fate of Germany after the conclusion of World War 2.

The division of Germany into four territories was decided upon.

There was to be an American, a British, a French and a Russian sector.

The Russian occupied sector became “The German Democratic Republic” (the GDR), the rest of the country got to be “West Germany.”

The GDR quickly became the most brutally run Communist Dictatorship, with the word “Democratic” the most cynical designation.

Between 1945 and 1961 almost four millions citizens fled from East to West Germany for a better and free existence. In order to prevent a continuation of this mass flight, the GDR erected in 1961 a wall of concrete, 3.5 meters high and topped by barbed wire, guarded by watch towers equipped with search lights and machine guns. This, so the East German government cynically announced was to protect East Germany from the “Fascist Element” of the West.

In fact, the official name for this monstrosity was: “The Anti Fascist Protection Rampart”.

During the existence of this abomination, over 100,000 people tried to escape. Only about 5000 succeeded in their effort to cross from East to West Berlin.

The border patrols were under “shoot to kill” orders and an estimated 150 to 200 persons were killed while attempting to flee across what was called “the death strip” into the West.

On the 9^th day of November of 1989, two years after President Ronald Reagan's call, the wall came down, and the East Block of Communist Nations began to crumble.

This Saturday, the 9^th day of November 2019, Germany, in fact the rest of the world, may celebrate the 30^th anniversary of this epic event.

Bertstravels

visited this wall, or what was left of it, in July of 1990.

The Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charley,