From small boxes big things come

...He was a devout Christian Scientist, and he rarely traveled beyond Manhattan, where he regularly browsed second-hand stores and thrift shops to find materials for his art.

It is assumed that when he died in 1972 he was a virgin.

Cornell was not a complete re- cluse.

He corresponded widely and forged a successful career in the New York avant-garde art world.

Only a year after producing his first collages in 1931, he was included in a historic exhibition called "Surré alism" at the legendary Julien Levy Gallery .

He went on to exhibit at the Egan Gallery, which also showed art by Willem de Kooning , Mark Rothko , and other Abstract Expressionists, and later, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg .

He lived to see his works included in "New York Painting and Sculpture, 1940-1970," the landmark exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that Henry Geldzahler curated.Nevertheless, the feeling one gets with Cornell is that being boxed in - whether by familial circumstances or by neurotic shyness - is what led to the cultivation of an extraordinarily lively and adventurous inner life.

He didn't think outside the box; rather, he thought deeper into the box by transforming its interior into a space of infinitely elastic possibility.

Every box sculpture he made represents the triumph of a wide-ranging imaginative vision over the deadening captivity of external, terrestrial existence.Hartigan's organization of ...

Volunteers fix up homes for the needy

..."I don't have carpenters' skills, but I can do these things."Lewis joined about 750 volunteers, who on Saturday, and the weeks before and after, helped and will help fix up the homes of 25 senior and disabled township residents as part of the seventh annual Tooling Around the Township program.Once part of a national organization known as Christmas in April and Rebuilding Together, the newly independent township program relies on donated materials, expertise and labor to provide otherwise expensive home improvements for free to those in need."It's a nice thing to do," Lewis said of his fourth year as a volunteer.

"A chance to help other people."And after Lewis finished work Saturday, he returned to his home on South Fulton Avenue — with dusty pant knees and paint-splattered forearms — to discover how others had found a chance to help him.Mayor John McCormac led a crowd of workers, volunteers and neighbors in a chant to move a new orange sanitation truck obscuring a front view of the house Lewis shares with his wife, Kay.

The truck drove away to reveal a brand-new ramp to replace a creaky one Lewis had built with his brother three years ago."Wow," Lewis said, taken by surprise.

"Thank you.

It looks great."It looked similar to the 50-foot ramp volunteers built Saturday for Frank Crys, a 66-year-old Oak Avenue resident who had part of his left leg removed in July because of a gangrenous foot.About 40 volunteers descended on Crys' house, including students, faculty...

Beware of everyday parade on South Bend’s Ford Street

...Brzezinski used to go with the flow, then one time a truck pulled up from behind and honked, and that “scared me out of my pants.”Brzezinski needs the street side, even though it can be a tight squeeze, because the sidewalks aren’t accessible to wheelchairs.I spin along, and a driver in an SUV starts to roll from a stop sign at Illinois Street, then halts when he notices me and says, “Sorry.”Beyond Lombardy Street, Ford curves around Navarre Intermediate School.

The road seems more spacious, modern and placid, and the houses aren’t as old as the ones I left behind.

It’s a decent place for bikes.I pass the Western Branch Library, and a few blocks later, I cross ever-so-busy Sample Street.

The route ends after a short jog on Mayflower Circle, ending at Mayflower Road.Staff writer Joseph Dits:jdits@sbtinfo.com(574) 235-6158 E-Mail Story Weather Vows Listings; Engagement, Wedding and Anniversary announcement forms Flagship Custom Publications: IN Michian...

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