A word in your shell-like

Coolness Captured has always been my blog to add anything that I see or hear about that I think is cool. There's no theme, and that's why you'll find a bunch of unconnected images appearing altogether on one post. I tend to store up a few things that I've found from newspapers or magazines and when I can't move in my studio because of the piles of paper cuttings I add a post here. 

I think the British artist Marc Quinn's sculpture of a giant shell made from Bronze is stunning. It's been installed in the gardens of Chatsworth House, Derbyshire and will feature in an exhibition from September 9 to October 27. Can you imagine the amazing reflections and light this work of art must create? I remember being in Z Gallerie in the States and seeing small gold shells and thinking how unusual they look. 

I was drawn to this article about Kathrine Switzer. She was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967. 

While attending college, Switzer entered and completed the race in 1967, five years before women were officially allowed to compete in it. Her finishing time of approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes was nearly an hour behind the first female finisher, Bobbi Gibb (who ran unregistered). She registered under the gender-neutral "K. V. Switzer", which she insists was not done in an attempt to mislead the

officials. She claims to have long used "K. V. Switzer" to sign the articles she wrote for her college paper. Race official Jock Semple attempted to physically remove her from the race, and according to Switzer said, "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers." However, Switzer's boyfriend Tom Miller, who was running with her, shoved Semple aside and sent him flying. The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines.

As a result of her run, the AAU barred women from all competition with male runners, on pain of losing the right to compete. Switzer, with other women runners, tried to convince the Boston Athletic Association to allow women to participate in the marathon. Finally, in 1972, women were welcome to run the Boston Marathon officially for the first time ever.

I have to admit I hadn't heard of Switzer but it's just so hard to imagine a time when women were not treated equally, and to think that it was as recently as 1972 that they were allowed to officially run in the Boston Marathon.

And finally, especially for Kelly, this was one of the jigsaws I finished when I was last in the States. I loved the image and the unusual size of the finished piece, being over 3 feet wide.  It wasn't complicated to do but I really like the montage of different photos, and the Harley Davidson logo is so iconic. I usually do a jigsaw once and then sell it on ebay but this one I'm keeping to do again.