Weekend in Brooklyn

Turns out a lot of things are free on the weekend!

Anastasia, Jamie, and I (Tomas was working in his architectural firm) went exploring. The botanical gardens had free entry, so we went and looked at koi, trees, grass, more trees, and roses. Plus trees. So pretty. I love parks, and we all talked about Theta Pond and things around campus at OSU. My new friends are from Oklahoma, too, so that was pretty nice. I was suffering a bad case of homesickness and that conversation really helped me get over it.

We also went to the Farmer's Market near the library, and what a library. Practically a pantheon of a building. So the Farmer's Market was pretty fun, but I wasn't sure how fresh some of the food would be if I dragged it around all day and brought it home on the train. I didn't buy anything.

I did buy myself brunch at Tom's Restaurant--yes, the one of 'I am sitting in a corner' song fame--and I highly recommend it. Mostly I'm a fan of the lime butter on top of the mango pancakes.

We window-shopped and ducked in and out of this massive garage-sale and looked at vintage furniture and went into random shops. I found these adorable cards to send to a pair of lucky people on their birthdays. I will post them on the blog once I've given them away, so as not to spoil the surprise.

There was an ethnic supermarket as well. I liked how they had a huge variety of olives and toothpicks available to sample each olive type. Some of the olives were revolting, while others were delicious.

We ate blueberry frozen yoghurt at a place called the YogoMonster. Good yoghurt, really strong flavor.

After that we watched a silly action movie at the apartment, and then I went home.

First Foray into the City

(Just to clarify, I've actually been to the city several times since I first wrote this post, but here is my first experience there.)

Every time I asked someone where to go in New York, the only answer I got was "Blah blah blah museums stuff stuff...and stay out of Brooklyn!"

Uh. Well. I spent the night there.

Yes. In Brooklyn.

It was the weekend. I'm here at Skidmore on Sunday. I survived!

I was dropped off at the train station, where I bought tickets for the train--and really, I just stopped to ask a lady if I was on the right train, and actually I was! Hurray.

I had to rush--MoMa closed at eight, I got off of work at 5:30 pm. It took me two hours to get from Long Island to the museum, no joke. I didn't even have time to go home and freshen up a bit before going back out. I just ran, then caught some naps on the train. I got off at Penn Station and it was like jumping into a pool of sound.

To me, on first impression, the subway stations are magical. Tons of people pouring out like water. Pockets of music drifting around...Delicious smell of hot dogs...I refrained, but barely, because I had no idea if my friends were going for dinner.

After that, I was too nervous about the subways, so after quite a few nice people noticed me being lost on the streets (I must look oblivious naturally because I wasn't even consulting a map) I caved and grabbed a taxi.

Ten minutes later and ten dollars lighter (yikes) I found the MoMa, which was completely overrun by all different kinds of people who were taking advantage of free-entrance Friday. Now, I get free admission to MoMa, and I can bring one friend in for five bucks. It was still free Friday, so that didn't matter. It's cool that it's there though; I plan to take advantage of covered museum entry later.

I met my friend Anastasia there, and it was the very first time I'd ever met her in my life. I also met her sister Jamie and her boyfriend Tomas.

We walked around the Pre-Fab exhibit they had, and then were chased out at eight. I actually lost my ticket at one point and the people wouldn't let me in, even though entry was free? So one of the guards grabbed a ticket out of the garbage can and told me to go in, hahaha.

But then it was time for dinner, so after a few minutes of indecisiveness, I said that Cuban food sounded great, so off to (Cuban restaurant, forgot the name, will put it here when I remember) we went! I had smelly mussels that tasted wonderful and were only nine dollars. Oh, and a Pisco Sour, which is not a drink for everyone because it's made of egg whites and really strong brandy.

By that time, if I had gone home, I'd have arrived in the wee hours of the morning in search of a cabbie to take me there, so my friends let me stay in their apartment!

First we went to a club, though. Weird club; I forget the name of it. Some dumpy guy tried really hard to, ah, get to know me better, same ol' same ol.' Me and Jamie yelled at each other above everyone else about interior design while ignoring the guy. There were a lot of people and a few outlandish costumes here and there. The thing about New York is that whatever fits on your body is something you can wear, and nobody will single you out for having bad taste in fashion. I wasn't dressed up in the least, but I still felt cute.

After that we just wandered aimlessly, then crashed at Anastasia's apartment. Oh! She has an apartment that has a garden and lawn chairs on the roof of the building, so I got to see the skyline of the city! I don't care how cliche it seems: that skyline is gorgeous and golden and now it's forever in my heart.

Anastasia's cat is huge, gray, and named Java. I slept on an inflatable mattress that night. Inflatable mattresses always deflate whenever I sleep on them. Here's the funny part, though: Once I was nearly just sleeping on the ground because all the air was gone from under me, Java jumped on the mattress and the cat was heavy enough that I bounced upwards! How funny is that!

A Word From...: Explore NYC on Foot!

I think the best way to do the City is by foot, definitely. You may think I'm crazy, but it's not as bad as you'd think. First thing you have to realize is that Manhattan is not that spread out. The city blocks are really short, so it's nothing to walk around. Walking is the best way to really discover the city. This past weekend Nick and I did a big loop of mid-east portion of Manhattan, from Union Square in the Flatiron District, through East Village, Lower East Side, China Town, Soho, Greenwich Village and back to Union Square.


This is the way to get the real NYC, to really see the people and soak up the atmosphere. So far, my favorite area of the City is Chinatown, but I'm partial to the international population. But the thing I like is that you can fool yourself into thinking that you're in China. It's surreal, and I love it. The markets are so cool. The old people are so cute. The streets are busy.

It's fun to hit up some of the famous places in New York, however, I'm starting to think they can't stand up to the hype. We went to Katz's Delicatessen in the Lower East Side. It's the place that's supposed to have the biggest sandwiches you've ever laid eyes on, the one in the movie "When Harry Met Sally". I'll tell ya, I wasn't thoroughly impressed. The menu "dares you to finish" one of their sandwiches, and with everything that Nick and I have seen about the place we decided to split one. Heck, it was just a normal sandwich. Although, I thought that maybe since New Yorkers eat less, this is a huge sandwich. But no, it was normal. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture when the thing was whole, but we wanted to make sure we had some proof of our disappointment, so we took a shot near the end. It was an interesting place, but not worth the money in my opinion.


Walking is nice, but after a while you do start to get tired and then you can take the subway.The subways are probably our favorite thing about the city. They're so interesting. Most of the time we've been on the subway they haven't been too crowded, but every once in a while you'll get on a full one. Then it's really nice 'cause you're all crammed in, and hot and sweaty. Yea. I'm just glad it's not like the Japanese subway where they have officials to shove everybody in the trains. Next time we'll write about traveling the subway for your convenience and entertainment!

We've only been here for two weeks...?

It seems a lot longer than that! Work at the shop is good. I keep busy helping the printers and Elaina takes care of lunch and cleaning up, and all that other stuff. We've been into the City several times now, and I have to say that it's starting to grow on me. The boroughs are cool. We've been to Chinatown, Little Italy, Chelsea (art district), and the Meat Packing District, which looks ritzy. We got to ride in a cab yesterday. It was crazy! That guy drove like a rally car racer. It was a little scary, but we got to see a lot of the City. It has a lot of charm. What doesn't have charm, though, are the restaurants. I think we've been to maybe two good ones so far: Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown and Hana Sushi in Chelsea. Joe's Shanghai is really good. They serve soup dumplings, delicious tender dumplings with meat and broth inside. Their food is fresh and the place is busy. Definitely worth visiting if you like Chinese food. Hana is not the best sushi ever, but it is good. The restaurant has a nice atmosphere, cozy and a lot like the pictures of little sushi places in Japan. We have noticed one thing, though; all the "Japanese" restaurants we see are really run by Chinese... Weird. I'll put up an "Eating Out" post later, with all the gritty details of the restaurants we've been to. Now it's time for the long weekend.

First post

Yes, we have arrived. Just finished up the first week here on Long Island. Everyone at the shop is really nice and they are like a big family. Went into Manhattan yesterday and was somewhat unimpressed, I guess once you've seen one big city you have seen them all. Went to MOMA, eh. Maybe I just have a little travel lag. Maybe the boroughs will be a little more up my ally, not high class, tourism, money and fakeness of Manhattan. I will enjoy the Farmers markets that are going to open next weekend, and expoloring the ethnic regions will be a blast.

Spring Intern Rewind (thus far):

UNIQUE NEW YORK:

My adventures into the city are usually limited to weekends - because the commute gets old (laughable to many ULAE employees who make it every weekday) and getting around manhattan really takes it out of you, especially if you travel to the boroughs as well. Here are a few of the highlights, in no particular order:

Museums (Covered by the studio!!! Go!) - I did the MoMa first, as it seemed the most exciting at the time, and it did have a really impressive spread of contemporary stuff, including work by many ULAE artists, and a great Lucien Freud etching exhibit.

However, I found the Met much more interesting and expansive. You could easily spend a week in there and never see it all. Plus - the Met is exhibiting a terrific Jasper Johns show which features many prints done by the studio, and one in particular that all of the current printers worked on. It focuses on his use of Gray though out his career - and emphasizes on lithographs, paintings and sculptures alike. I highly recommend this show - it is great homework for this internship. They also have a Gustave Courbet show up which is amazing.









This individual happened across our path in front of the Met one day. Charming!

The Guggenheim is a must - especially if you can catch the current show, detailed below.

The American Museum of Natural History of my p-fave. Again - I had to go twice to cover any ground, the place is huge. I saw the Bodies exhibit at South Street Seaport Science Museum - and found it quite compelling (though come to find out you can see a similar exhibit in any major city at this point.) The Museum of the American Indian at Bowling Green was really interesting too, though it is under construction. The Damian Hirst Installation at Lever House was amazing - though he is not liked amongst many in this crowd - and the sculpture outside is one of my favorite of his. It is adjacent to MoMa - so swing by if you're in that hood.













The scroll that Kerouac wrote on On The Road on is on display at the NY Public Library - an amazing sight to behold with a great display which chronologically studies his life in accordance with the writing.

I went to the Armory show at Chelsea piers this last weekend - a massive showcase of artwork sponsored by galleries from around the world. It was impressive in scale - but the content was mixed. It was an interesting way to gain perspective on the state of the art world (ie: lots of cheek kissing and too hip for you types.)















The guy with the sweet beard is ED, a printer at the studio, who I have befriended. We both dug that sculpture. Overall I really got a lot out of that experience. Scope NY was also going on that weekend - but I missed it sadly. I'm beginning to realize that my saturation point is rather low when it comes to modern art - especially current work.


Key museums left on my list are the Frick collection, the Whitney (currently showing the biennial), The New Museum at the Bowery, and PS1 at Long Island City (conveniently not located on Long Island.) The New Museum has "Hell Yes!" written on it in rainbow letters. MUST GO.


I had the pleasure of supporting a good friend from OK, Yatika Fields at his opening at Native American art show Long Island University (again, in Brooklyn.)

Go see some live music while youre here. Time Out New York delivers listings for a majority of shows - but act fast, I've missed a few due to selling out. I did luck into a spare ticket for The National at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music - a wonderful, classy venue), James Blackshaw at Soundfix - extraordinary twelve string guitarist from London, The RZA at Studio B, and Caribou with F**k Buttons at Music Hall of Williamsburg. All great shows at very different venues.


CARIBOU


F**CKBUTTONS

Every live act you could dream of seeing will be here at some point, so keep your eyes peeled, but pick wisely - this can get expensive, and this kind of thing is not covered by the studio. Lots of shows are free - especially during the summer.

My parents spent four lovely days with me here, and I had the pleasure of showing them around Manhattan, Central Park, Jones Beach on Long Island, Battery Park and South Street Seaport. They also got a sizeable dose of the NY transit system and the Village. I also took them to the studio and gave them a tour of the facilities there. I consider myself lucky that two Johns and a Rauschenberg series are both in the works at this time (Though I find it depressing just how few people know those names when shamelessly name dropping about my recent shop work.)

One thing I will truly miss about this place is the food. One can eat very well, healthily, and for a reasonable price in most of Manhattan and Brooklyn - Time Out will help you with this too. In Brooklyn, Greenpoint Cafe, Enid's, Taco Chulo - all great for brunch. In Manhattan - Prune is an absolute must, Anthony Bourdain loves it, and it's just unbeatable for lunch or dinner. Also Green Bo in Chinatown for great Dim-Sum. Be adventurous - you can get anything here - and if you keep it reasonable the studio pays for it. You could eat at a different restaurant in this city every day for the rest of your life and never do them all.

I have tried to cram as much into my time here as i can stand - but honestly, NY is really overwhelming for me. Part of it was just learning to get around, but being an hour from your homestead is stressful too. But a some point I had to just go for it if i ever was going to - and it's worth it to see Times Square, Broadway, Central Park - and really take advantage of the things that are truly unique about this place. Granted - you could never do it all in one internship - but it's fun to try. Get familiar with a subway line and hit all the stops along that line first. Know that Uptown means the street numbers get higher and Downtown means they are getting smaller. That's half your battle. But for god's sake get an NFT guide! More later.

A Crash Course In Litho

Having reached the half way point, I realize that I am desperate to make a print. I have learned a lot from working here, but it doesn't mean to much if I can't put it to use. Actually producing work here requires a fair amount of persistence - but luckily, I have gotten a lot of help during slow periods - and last week I ran my first litho print. The following is a loose outline of what I've learned about lithography. I feel like I've come a long way considering that I knew nothing when I arrived here. I's a complicated chemical process, with lots of steps - but it all
revolves around the principle that water and oil repel each other. The process i describe here involves printing directly from a limestone block. Lithography is derived from the Greek word "Lithos" - stone (or from stone), and is a very old and effective method of printing from a smooth surface to paper. However - in order to print effectively - the stone must be completely flat and totally smooth. Thus, before anything else, the stone must be grained, a process by which any previous image or "ghost" is removed from the face of the rock. This is done using a levigator - a heavy round tool which is spun across the surface of the stone after grain has been applied. The process is akin to sanding wood in that you start with a coarse grit and work your way to a fine dust - eventually polishing the surface. No scratches or rough spots can remain, as they will retain ink during printing.




Here is a stone during graining. A small stone like this can take several hours to grain if it isn't flat. It must be absolutely flat or the contact press will miss areas of the drawing that are low.




The grains run from 50 to 280, but the stones I have grained run through 60 to 80, 100, 150, 180, 200. It's a long process, but nothing is worse that getting almost finished and picking up a stray coarse grain on the levigator and scratching your rock. This means virtually starting over. At one point, I was assigned to grain several stones at 5:00 pm to be ready for Carroll Dunham at 8:00 the next morning. At the end of a work day this is the last thing you want to hear - but it is a reality of the print studio. So, putting a scratch in one of these at 9:00 pm would make me real sad.



The stones are then marked and set aside for the artist. It generally takes much longer to grain the stone than it does to draw on it.



A drawing is done with either Litho crayons (a range of soft and hard, waxy drawing pencils), touche (a water soluble waxy paint, which applies like water color and acts as a resist to water) or a combination of both. You can achieve some really cool things with touche - which reticulates as it dries, making some really nice solid washes, which can be manipulated with crayons as well. The thicker you apply these elements the thicker the resist will be and the darker your image will appear.



Moving these stones is a real pain - and sometimes they are just too heavy.



Here is my image. Before etching, talc and resin are dusted onto the stone to cause the ink to thicken. Some of the drawing is wiped away during etching - an important but difficult lesson. Regardless - the resist is so strong once applied that the subtleties re-emerge when inking. Drawing on these is fun - but you cannot erase. So be sure of your image and go gently. Here, gum has been applied to cool the etch, and preserve the stone while it is not in use.


My print will likely be a one block, black and white image - though I could add drawings to include color stones or plates to be done on the offset press. the Carroll Dunham prints pictured below include several stones for each print. registering them gets tricky, especially because the stones are all different sizes, and some have multiple small drawings on them. Each is a different color and represents a different portion of the image. All these elements are matched up with the key drawing - or in this case the black part of the drawing that has the most information in it, which is printed onto a mylar. The mylar helps indicate where the paper must lay each time the image is printed so that all the images match up, and every sheet looks exactly the same as the original proof.



Each stone has a proof of the image covering it to protect the drawing and identify which part of the image is on which rock. All of these separate elements add up to make the final product, pictured right.



A leather roller is used on many stones to ensure that the image retains the maximum amount of ink without drying the surface of the stone. During inking, the stone must be wet enough to repel the oil based ink from every part of the stone that doesn't have pencil or touche on it.



Here is the stone on the press, and after being inked to capacity. Asphaltum and tannic acid are used to cause the greasy drawing ares to retain ink effectively. The press bed beneath the stone must be totally clean - even a hair beneath the pressure of the contact press can cause a stone to crack. Inking lightly first, and then to heavy, the image comes up rather slowly.



This stone is ready to run through the press, and have proofs pulled from it. It will darken as the the first several proofs are run, and then the amount of ink and pressure can be adjusted to best suit the image quality. Spot etching can be done to increase the amount of detail in reticulation or heavy wash areas. In this case only the very darkest parts of the image need to be re-etched. To add to the drawing, you can counter etch the stone and add more drawing - but aside from small sanding areas, drawn areas cannot be removed.



You can see the progression as the ink builds up on the stone. At this point - unless I decide to further alter the image, this stone is ready to run prints from.

If I ever get the opportunity, I would like to run a small edition of this print, as I am pretty happy with it considering it is my first attempt. Some areas are light - but overall it looks a lot like my drawing after being run on paper. It will darken further, and look much better on white paper. will include an image of this work when I have a decent proof of it - but here is a poor consolation prize:




As I said - you must be persistent to get your own work done. Make it known from day one that you want to make prints and get started on them right away. I started week three, and this is as much as I've gotten done. You will need the help of printers to work in the studio - so buddy up. Otherwise, you will run errands and wash dishes the whole time - and it might not feel worth it.

I'm sure many have wondered why I haven't included any of my NYC adventures here, so that will be my next blog. Suffice it to say: I have done a lot, but could never do it all in four months. Plan things ahead of time! Make use of your weekends! Time Out NY is a great way to keep up with cool stuff going on in the city. Galleries and Museums are free - so that has been a bulk of my experience. More about that later.

A Perk.....

As the intern at ULAE you have the opportunity to visit any of the Museums in the NYC area for free. There are several large Art Museums in and around the city including....

1. The Museum of Modern Art











(212) 708-9400
11 West 53 Street,
between Fifth and Sixth avenues
New York, NY 10019-5497

Museum Hours
Saturday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Sunday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Monday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Tuesday closed
Wednesday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Thursday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Friday 10:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m.

http://www.moma.org/



2. PS 1 - Moma's Contemporary Museum division









http://www.ps1.org/
22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Ave
Long Island City, 11101
by Subway

E/V Train
Get off at the 23rd St./Ely Ave. stop. While still in the station, follow signs to the 7 train to exit onto Jackson Avenue. Walk right one block to 46th Avenue.

7 Train
Get off at the 45th Rd./Courthouse Square. Exit onto Jackson Avenue and walk right one block to 46th Avenue.

G Train
Get off at the 21st St./Van Alst stop. P.S.1 is the large brick building across the street to the left. Walk around the building to come to our front entrance.

L.I.R.R.
Take the L.I.R.R. to Hunterspoint Ave. and take the 7 train towards Flushing (see directions for the 7 Train above)
-or-
Take the L.I.R.R. to Jamaica and take the E Train towards Manhattan (see directions for the E Train above).
-or-
Take the L.I.R.R. to Woodside and take the 7 Train towards Time Square (see directions for the 7 Train above).
Hours:

P.S.1 is open from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Thursday through Monday.
It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.
Le Rosier Café and artbook@ps1 are open during regular museum hours.


3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art












1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York, New York 10028-0198
General Information: 212-535-7710
TTY: 212-570-3828 or 212-650-2551
http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp

Hours*

Friday	9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Saturday	9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sunday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Monday	Closed**
Tuesday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Wednesday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Thursday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Closed	Mondays (except as listed below), January 1, Thanksgiving Day, December 25

Free Concerts

A wonderful thing that I happened upon while being in New York is the Free Summer concert series. These take place at two "venues" the one above which is at the Seaport in Manhattan as well as the Pool Party's in MCcarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. (Which after this year may or may not continue due to the city trying to decide what to do with the old abandoned pool.) So many great bands come to both of these venus through out the summer and into fall.
The best thing about the Seafront venue is that it is located near lots of good food as well as a awesome bay view back behind the shopping center its located next to. Another great thing about this place is the stage is right in front of the port so there are huge boats sitting in the water directly behind the stage (when are you going to get that in Oklahoma?)

The great things about MCcarren Park Pool are many. First it is in a old city pool which has been abandoned and a stage added to the front of the pool. I mean really everyone just hangs out in this empty pool in the hot weather. Though you can cool off in several different ways, like the really big inflatable slip and slide, or in a game of water volleyball. You can also get into a intense game of dodge ball with teams of 8. Watch out though these kids take their dodge ball seriously. If getting wet and getting hit with a ball don't appeal to you they have brooklyn brewed beer on site as well as shady spots to escape the sun (if you want a shady spot though you better show up early) Best if all.....FREE