Friday, February 17, 2006

another opening, another show

Back from NY City and Diane Savona's opening.Marty and I traveled in on the PATH - which is the subway that goes from NJ to NY. We then had a lovely, leisurely walk from 33rd & 6th to 54th & Lexington Ave. We stopped in Lord & Taylor on the way (ask me where all the good restrooms are), where I resisted the cosmetics counters and Marty didn't buy shoes. The weather was almost balmy - perfect walking weather. We had burgers & drinks in an Irish pub on 2nd Ave and then went to the opening .

Here is Diane in front of one of her wonderful pieces. Having seen many of these in progress did not prepare me for seeing all of them hanging together. Here are some pieces from her ironing board series.

And here is a piece that deals with family history, tradition, and women and the domestic arts - particularly sewing.

detail below

Diane's newest work is her Roadcloth series. I'm afraid I was too far away to get a good picture of one of those pieces. BUT, I did get a few photos of some of the people who turned up for the opening. Joan Dreyer & Patricia Malarcher Diane with Rachel Cochran

And Louise Nevelson. Well, obviously not Nevelson - but her work. The show was at Saint Peter's Church which is extremely modern and adjacent to the Citicorp building at Lexington & 53rd. When the church was built, they commissioned Louise Nevelson to design the small chapel and the entire room is her sculpture. Mind-blowing. The room is white, as is the artwork, but of course on my camera it registered strangely and even Photoshop couldn't get the blue or yellow or red tint out. Nevertheless - here is one part of a wall: There was one more shot I couldn't resist. Out in the basement corridor, on the other side of the glass wall of the church's lower level was an elegant installation to rival any artwork. Having walked what seemed like miles uptown, we were ready to take the subway after the show. We took it to the World Trade Center (ask me what an eerie feeling that still is) and took the PATH back to Newark. I love the PATH. Every other person who got on looked like they were wearing hearing aids: some in both ears, with wires hanging down. I told Marty that old people should not feel self-conscious about wearing hearing aids because all these young ones are walking around looking terminally hard of hearing - which they will be. I wish I had had the nerve to take out my camera on the train.

Good night.

6 comments:

Terry Grant said...

I so love Louise Nevelson's work and this one looks like a beauty! There are two of her similar pieces at the Portland Art Museum. The last time I was there a woman was standing in front of one and laughing like a hyena and proclaiming loudly, "This looks like a kindergarten project! Oh my Gaaaawd--how can they call this ART??" I'm afraid I gave her a very scathing look, but what I really wanted to do was smack her.

Diane Savona's work looks wonderful--I enjoyed the links you posted.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful work! I was happy t see a photo of Patricia, who I work with for Surface Design. Had no idea what she looked like!!

jenclair said...

Looks like a day well-spent! Love Savona's Ironing Board series and thanks for the links!

Karoda said...

I just came from Savona's website. Being the respository for several artifacts and clothing that belonged to my great grandmother and my great grandmother, I found it fascinating how she reinvents historical pieces with such freshness. Thanks for sharing the link and a little of your trip to NYC.

Jen said...

Thanks for sharing this wonderful day. It was thrilling to see the artwork and imagine being there.

So will we see the nifty chair photo in some future artwork? Jen

PaMdora said...

What a great trip! I wish I lived that close to NY that I could see more shows. Thanks for posting the photos.

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