Brooklyn - not art related

A lovely day all the way around - and a perfect way to spend a Sunday.  If you will indulge me: first things, first.

Miss Emma on her play mat, interacting with the animals. And here she is with her happy Nanny, who couldn't get enough of her.

After Emma played, ate, and napped like a little papoose, we took the stroller out for a walk down Vanderbilt Avenue, around the corner. Grandpa pushed.

Vanderbilt used to be somewhat yeccch but is now getting trendy with good restaurants and some interesting shops. But happily, it still retains enough of its grit to keep it from being bland. This is the building that houses one of my favorite restaurants and I think the first one we went to with Jess and Tommy after they moved there.

You gotta love this sign outside the door: it made us all smile:-))). What could be bad???

 Another local place which we haven't tested yet.

When grandpa got tired we turned around and walked back up the few blocks to Joyce Bakeshop to meet Tommy for coffee.  As we passed the used bookstore, I told Jess and Marty I'd meet them at Joyce but had to stop in and see what books were there. There are very few of these wonderful places left and I could have stayed all day. Put me in a good bookstore (not the behemoths) and I am in heaven.

 

 Another wonderful sign: so polite! LOL.

 Could I resist this on the way back up the block?

Back at Joyce, Tommy admired his sleeping child, Marty had  biscotti and tea, and I surveyed the rest of the clientele.

The happiest mommy on earth.

  The second happiest headed home so the kids could have a breather before the next shift of admiring relatives arrived.

O frabjous day.

NY through a tourist's eyes

I admit it - I am one big ACHE. We walked MILES!  I met my friend Cécile at 10:00 this morning at her hotel.  En route to meet her, a glimpse of NY's Finest on horseback.  I forget how many there are, but they are always a pleasure to see.  He/she (who can tell?) doesn't look too happy about this jaywalker but I have never seen anybody get a ticket in NY for crossing in the middle of the street.  (Or for honking - for which there is ostensibly a $300 fine.) And here -- the symmetry of a NY parking garage.

 We took the subway down to Greenwich Village, where we started at the intersection of W.4th St. and 8th St. (only in NY) and walked through Washington Square Park. Lots of men playing chess and a few desultory guitar players.

From the arch at leafy Washington Square, we could look up 5th Ave. and see the Empire State Building, about 1-1/2 miles away.

Everywhere we went they were doing construction, but at least it looked reasonably attractive. Do you think this was on purpose?

 We think the green stuff on this building was covering up some structural problems.  OTOH - maybe it was decoration.

  From the Village to Soho, where we found a little shop selling fabulous one-of-a-kind resin jewelry

furniture, and accessories(not that you would try to sit on any of it!)

On our way down Lafayette Street to Soho, Cécile managed to liberate some - uh - already broken construction fence. Made her day!  She expected to be arrested, but no worries there.

 Continuing down the street...
we came across this woman, who was cheerfully doing a public service.

In Chinatown these were so pretty I had to take a picture but now I forget what they were called.

 Little Italy, NoLita, Union Square and finally, we went gallery hopping in Chelsea. We saw an exhibit we loved by an artist called Amy Sillman and after that, everything looked like junk.  Here are a couple of pieces we especially liked.

Then, in another gallery -- now, really.  Because of the reflection I couldn't get a good picture of the white-framed fragment of carpet. So sorry you are missing it.

For me, the best art of all was on one of the walls we came across as we walked outside.

Afterwards, we walked up to Hell's Kitchen and had a lovely dinner in an Italian restaurant -  Cécile walked me to the Port Authority and we each went our separate ways.

That's the short story -- I am leaving out a lot.  It was a day of photo-taking, and getting the flavor of the neighborhoods, which Cécile noted changed drastically and often from block to block. Washington Square was serene - and a block away, traffic and people were noisy and busy.  She called my attention to the jackhammer in Soho("dig we must for a better New York") to which I had hardly paid attention; and then to the fact that Mulberry St. in NoLita was so quiet because there was no traffic.  Things I never thought about but will observe with new eyes next time.

I am putting my feet to bed: it was a glorious day!

Busy day for a day off! The dentist took about 15 minutes and the supermarket, 2 hours and a king's ransom: I was out of EVERYTHING. I mean, when I don't have onions, you know it's pretty bad. That was the morning. Marty was off today so we spent the afternoon together: I took my car for inspection and then went looking for another car, on a lark. I have wanted a station wagon and today I found one I would love to have. There is nothing wrong with my car, so I can't really justify starting car payments again...but we will see what tomorrow brings. In the meantime, some of my inspiration graffiti photos from the archives.

London

New York

Paris

Philadelphia

Catching Up and Breaking New Ground

Last Sunday my friend Marlene arrived from London and we spent the week gallivanting. Tuesday we went to the Met to see the Jasper Johns exhibit,which was wonderful. If you are anywhere near NY, you should go see it. For us, at least, it was food for lots of thought. Afterwards, we walked down 5th Ave. for about 35 blocks till we simply had to take the subway. Along the way, we saw this sign. What do you think it means? Who determines what noise is unnecessary? Unnecessary for what? Last time I looked, there were no noise police in New York (or, for that matter, anywhere else). Wed and Thurs we shopped and we still can't decide which was more fun - New York City or the Eileen Fisher warehouse sale in NJ - very successful for Marlene, I might add. Friday we drove to Wayne, PA for the SDA/SAQA conference and the opening of Art Quilt Elements that night. The place was mobbed and it was almost impossible to see the work properly through the throngs! Pokey Bolton, Karey Breshahan and Linda Fowler were at the opening; I missed Karey but had a chance to spend time chatting with both Pokey and Linda. Too busy, of course, to take pictures - and anyway, I would only have gotten backs of heads. Saturday's conference sessions ranged from the sublime (Michael Olszewski & Jason Pollen; Susan Brandeis) to the disappointing, but on the whole, it was an exciting and valuable day of networking and discussion. Sunday, although the buses were intolerably late, we had a day full of art and stimulation in Philadelphia. First stop, the Design Center at Philadelphia University and a fun textile exibit that included a Drunkard's Path made of underwear. Then, we had an interesting tour of the textile labs at the University, where they learn about everything they need to learn to go into textile design/interior design/fashion design - etc. While they are really into digital printing these days (see examples below) they still have a hands-on screen printing course. I would KILL for a screen storage system like this - and as many screens on hand. Later, at the Crane Building downtown, we saw an installation of what looks like my husband's shirts after they have been through the wash. I don't remember what the price was, but maybe there was not one because this installation was priceless. We finally made it to the fabulous biennial at Snyderman Works. To die-for. Get there if you can!! Outside, a mini-bite of spring. and a piece of natural street art I couldn't resist. Philadelphia is always a treat.

street art splasher

Remember this? When I was in NY a couple of weeks ago, I took a picture of a mailbox that somebody had dripped paint all over. The mailbox was right outside the art gallery I had just left, but I didn't connect the dots. I just thought it would make a great screen. It did.

However, 10 days after I shot this picture, an article appeared in the NY Times about the protesters who were throwing paint over street art to protest the fact that street art in NY has gone commercial. Huh? Today there was another article saying that the protesters are just throwing paint blobs, handbills, and stinkbombs at street art and galleries without having any real focus for their campaign. It's not clear what they are trying to do. The mailbox must have been a trial run.
I took the screen with me over the weekend and at one point, demo'd how to print with a Thermofax . Here is the result.

On another note, here is my demo piece for the soy wax. I used these items because they are rather graphic illustrations of what you can do, but I think this piece looks too much like others I have printed. Can I get out from under myself?

One more picture I forgot to post. This is what happens when you try to open a plastic container full of dye that has been sitting in the sun and has created a vacuum. Fortunately, I was wearing my oldest, paint-splattered Birks. Don't try this at home. This morning, in my nice hot shower at 78 Sullivan, I gave myself a Reduran pedicure and most of it is gone. Never a dull moment

another city day

I started to take a picture of a gritty factory from the PATH platform this morning on the way into NY to meet Jette and Joanie. Before I could, a security person told me I was forbidden to take pictures from the train platform because I might be a terrorist. He said it would be ok to take pix from the train, but I am sure he knew that the grime on the train windows would make it impossible. No problem, I made up for it later. Here are my friends in front of B&N at Union Square. I am not sure what this guy was about, but I don't think he was recruiting for the Gotham Writers' Workshop. We had lunch at Blue Water Grill, where I did NOT take a picture of the food - and then we walked to SOHO to find the Drawing Center. On the way, we stopped in a clothing store where we managed to resist the $450 skirt on this model. Actually, the exhibit at the Drawing Center was amazing. Minimalist work by the late artist GeGo - wire, pen and ink, monoprints - so simple and so interesting at the same time. Jette bought the catalog and I ordered it from Amazon when I got home.I wasn't going to, but later, at the World Trade Center, I saw this wonderful art and it reminded me that I needed the exhibit catalog.But I am jumping ahead. New York is full of visual stimuli. Here are a few as we walked down from 14th St. through SOHO. Jette needed embroidery floss, so we stopped at Pearl Paint's annex and she bought a bunch to take back to Antwerp.Here we are among the crayons. Joanie went on her way and Jette and I continued our walk down to the WTC where I caught the PATH back to NJ and she took the subway back to Brooklyn. We wandered in St. Paul's peaceful graveyard and I remembered that it looked as though it were covered in snow on that day in September.They are filling in the hole now and you can watch from the terminal. It should, by rights, be a park. It will be another multi-gazillion story office tower.