In The Old ParkAnd it was so alive once on a time
Albert Bloch
with lifted voice of child and note of bird
when we were young. The blue day pealed a chime
of bells far over quiet waters heard.
And there were turfy footpaths. How absurd
these narrow tracks, unyielding, of concrete
skirting sleek lawns sunblinded, now preferred
over the lanes deep-shaded, where our feet
walked lightly long ago and breath was sweet
despite the town, which could not yet begrime
with breath foul black our forest-park, nor eat
its very heart, as in this aftertime
when the blue day of bird and child is hushed
and under motorwheels our peace lies crushed.
In the park, you see the trees. I like nature a lot. Whenever I get mad, I’ll go to a park and walk around. If it’s hot, I’ll sit under a tree and look at nature. Kasie / Lawrence, Kansas
I like nature, too, but no country. I grew up around towns. If I get put in the country, where there are no stores and you have to drive twenty miles to a convenience store, I get uncomfortable. Lacee / Lawrence, Kansas
My favorite place is the skate park. I go there everyday, as soon as I wake up until it gets dark. In the evening and late afternoon, the park gets pretty crowded. In the mornings there are less people. That is when I like to be there. I can practice by myself. The people who go to the park, though, are nice and helpful. They help each other learn. Most skate parks are not like that. Nick / Lawrence, Kansas
Albert Bloch was born in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1882. Between 1909 and 1921, Bloch lived and worked mainly in Germany. In 1911 he met the expressionist painters Vasily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, who invited Bloch to exhibit in the two landmark exhibitions of Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) in 1911 and 1912. Bloch was the only American painter to show with the Blue Rider. Bloch returned to the United States in 1919 and began a career as a teacher, first at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1922-23, then at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he headed the Department of Drawing and Painting from 1923-47, teaching not only art but also KU’s first courses in art history. He continued to paint until 1958, and died on 9 December 1961. The Spencer holds the largest public collection of Bloch’s art.