Sunday morning I visited a really nice Non-denominational church called Morning Star New York. It is at 50th between 10th and 11th.
It is really close to MoMA so I walked over after the service. I ate at a cute little restaurant called Vynl, at around 9th and 50th. It had a disco theme with old album covers for menu covers. There were disco balls and beads hanging from the ceiling. The food was really good and it was only around 10 dollars to eat there.

At MoMA I saw two exhibits. One is the Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out. You take off your shoes and lie down on a lavender couch and watch a giant movie on three walls. The images have a kaleidoscope effect in the corners. The film flows from images of flowers, to fruit, to mud, to feet, to fruit squishing between toes, to a naked lady crawling in the grass, to a pig eating an apple, to the lady eating an apple, just like the pig, to the lady stuffing flower petals in another lady’s nose. I have to say it made me laugh out loud several times.

The second exhibit I saw was the Marlene Dumas exhibit, Measuring Your Own Grave. It was a collection of her works which are portraits. The artist did recordings for the exhibit, and I liked hearing her perspective on the work. According to Dumas’ exhibit recording, she believes that “Making art is like measuring your own grave.” Canvases are like coffins and figures struggle with the fact that they are images in a painting. She said, “They never breath so well in their painterly space.” I think my favorite part of the exhibit is a wall of portraits she did called Models. The wall was full of small black and white paintings, made of ink or chalk. They were painted very quickly with just a few loose brush strokes. Most of the figures look right at the viewer, but a few look across, as if seeing one of the other models. Each drawing stands alone and yet having the wall full of faces makes an interesting repeating pattern.

After the exhibit I decided to walk to Penn Station to catch the train home. It was snowing, but not that cold out. I headed to a place I learned about at Tripadvisor.com called The Perfect Pint. I am keeping my eye out for places with good food that are not too expensive. This was an Irish pub, and everyone had an accent. I don’t know if they were genuine, but they were good. I could hardly understand my waiter. I got the crab cake appetizer, which was very good. I think an average meal here is about 15 dollars.

Next I continued my walk to Penn Station. I began walking toward 7th and suddenly stepped out into Times Square. It was a giddy feeling to look up and see all those lights on every side. I realized that I should walk more often since you miss a lot when you ride the subway. (Not being 10 degrees out helped that night.)

Week Three

Last weekend I stayed home tucked in bed with a cold, so I will tell you about my adventures from the previous weekend.

I learned a lot about the subway. I was going to MoMA's PS1, (http://ps1.org/), to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition. Only one piece was still installed. I went to the room where it was and a poetry reading in honor of Bessie Smith, a blues singer, was happening. They had liv instruments and the actors wore wild costumes. The room had a revolving mirror on the ceiling that was part of the Eliasson exhibit, so you could see the presentation from many angles. It was pretty neat.

I had a bit of trouble getting there. I took the first train uptown too far, so I had to go back downtown, but I forgot to check the letter and took the F train instead of the E train. I was on my way to Coney Island. So, I had to get off the train and go back to where I was and take the E train to the Ely and 21st Street exit. One good thing about the subway is that once you pay, if you don't exit, you don't have to pay again, so it is a bit forgiving.

The first week has gone by quickly. I was able to help some in the studio as well as in the kitchen, so I learned some about print making in addition to a few new recipes. BTW, things cooked in olive oil with sautéed garlic tends to be really yummy.

I went into the city Friday night for two gallery openings with some of my coworkers from ULAE. The first opening we attended was the George Adam’s Gallery. Enrique Chagoya’s show, “Adventures and Misadventures” is currently showing. The artist was there and I was able to meet him. He was born in Mexico City and currently lives in San Francisco.
Here is the URL for the gallery and his exhibit:
http://www.georgeadamsgallery.com/exhibitions/exhibitions_cur.php3exhibitions/exhibitions_cur.php3

It was great to see the exhibit in person. I enjoyed the satire in his work and I would love to know more about the character in Those Specks of Dust. We could not stay nearly long enough. The work was engaging and I would like to have more time to study it. This image is Those Specks of Dust. I also saw this character in another of his works.

Next we went to the Larissa Goldston Gallery which opened a show by Jack Warren, of Brooklyn. The show is called Straight, No Chaser, and consists of collages, installation, and video. The collages are of found paper, with and without printed images. It includes a lot of bird images. His friends there that night said it is because "Jack likes birds". The work includes excerpts from the monologue by Werner Herzog in Les Blank’s documentary Burden of Dreams. The concept, as I understand it, is the violence of nature and the waste that humans tend to leave behind. Here is the URL for part of the film if you are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PAsYkrEwjM

Here is the URL for the exhibit at Larissa Goldston Gallery, although the images online don’t convey what they look like in person. They lose the 3d quality that is very much a part of them.
http://www.larissagoldston.com/exhibitions/warren/index.aspx

Saturday I went into the city by myself for the first time. My foray took me to The New Museum in the Lower East Side at Bowery and Prince. I learned that the V train does not run on weekends, after I waited for it for 30 minutes. It is actually printed plainly on a sign, but I did not read it until later. I needed the F train to 2nd Avenue. I arrived an hour before the museum opened, so I explored a little. 2 blocks one way is the beginning of China town and 2 blocks another is Little Italy.
I ate at a genuine Chinese buffet. It was only 4 dollars for more food than I could eat. I did not know that they leave the bones in the chicken, so I mostly at the rice. :)

I also explored a lighting gallery with many custom designed lights. The chandelier in the picture was taller than I am and hanging from an eight foot ceiling in a small space crowded with lights of all sorts. This area is a historic lighting and restaurant supply district.


At The New Museum, the Elizabeth Peyton exhibit was showing. It ends this weekend, so if you want to see the website for the exhibit you should look right away. She is mostly a portrait painter. Her subjects are historical figures as well as well-known people and celebrities. She works a lot from photos and her work consists of mostly flat planes of color, which contrast light tones with darks or bright colors. She mostly uses strong brush stokes and not much modeling. Most of her portraits have bright red lips. I am not sure that shows up on the website.
The URL is:
http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/400/live_forever_elizabeth_peyton

My last stop was back uptown to the Museum of Modern Art for the Joan Miro exhibit, which also closes this weekend. I made may way back to the subway station, it was snowing by then. I had to take the F train to 4th Ave and change to the E train, which goes right to MOMA.

I have found the people in New York to be really nice. Any time I have asked for help, if they speak English, they are glad to help. There does seem to be an unspoken code that you stay in your space. Its like a bubble of protection and once they have helped you, they are back in their bubble. I really sort of like that. There are so many people that it would be uncomfortable if everyone was in everyone else’s space. Now, back to MOMA and the Joan Miro exhibit.

I loved this exhibit. We studied him in 20th Century art, and the instructor told us that the images he showed us could not do the work justice. I see now what he meant. The colors are so vibrant. He used them right out of the tube without mixing or diluting. The difference is remarkable. Thanks so much to Mr. Bill Goldston for the ULAE internship and the opportunity to see these works.

My favorite is Dutch Interior (I) (Image to right). If you don’t like Modern Art, you might not enjoy this piece, but I love color, and the composition. I also see humor in it. Miro said he wanted to “assassinate painting.” He took an image off of a postcard depicting a painting of a lute player by the Dutch painter Hendrick Martensz Sorgh. He took the body apart and like a puzzle spread it apart for the viewer to mentally reassemble. I guess I like art that engages the brain.

The URL for this exhibit is: http://media.moma.org/subsites/2008/miro/, but you need to hurry since the exhibit ends, Jan. 11, 2009.

Today, Sunday, I am relaxing at Skidmore, doing laundry and other chores and letting my feet recover from the New York sidewalks. Future interns, be sure to wear good walking shoes when you go into the city. If you need to be "cute," then carry the cute shoes and change when you get where you are going, if possible.

Later, I may venture out and find the ocean. I know it will be cold, but it will still be beautiful

Settling In

I decided to drive my car to New York so I would have transportation. My husband, Ben, came with me and flew back. JFK is only 45 minutes away, so it was an easy drive. After he left, I drove around a little and found ULAE and the train station. Everything is pretty close by, but not really close enough to walk, at least not in winter.

I feel right at home at Skidmore Place. I grew up in a very old house, so this place seems familiar to me.

One of my responsibilities at ULAE is to get lunch every day. Monday, Bill Goldston taught me how to make a wonderful vegetable soup. This morning I had to find the laundry mat and wash the woolen blankets used in the print making process. Ed gave me great directions there, but I got a little turned around headed back. Hurrah, for the Garmin. It was not perfect, but it did get me back.

This weekend I plan to go to The New Museum in the Lower East Side to view "Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton." It will be my first New York Train ride. I will let you know how it goes.