Tag Archives: art

Travel Photo Journal 8: Amherst: The Yiddish Book Center: Molly Picon to Kutshers

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          The Yiddish Book Center is on the Hampshire College Campus. This is another place I have written about over the years; Aaron Lansky, its founder, made it his personal mission to save every Yiddish book he could, and he has, over decades, done so. The books have been rescued from all over the world and are in the process of being translated and uploaded to the internet. There is always an interesting exhibit, and the collections on Jewish culture and Yiddish authors are fascinating.     The Current major exhibit: Photography by Marisa Scheinfeld: Echoes … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 7: Williamstown: Williams College Museum of Art

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Williams College  is a joy to visit; pleasant beyond words, manageable in size and it provides the area with theater and art. The Williams College Museum of Art is a delightful, compact venue to view incredible collections. While there, I saw an exhibit of Whistler’s early sketches and small paintings which were almost a prequel to the Clark’s current exhibit. There was a comprehensive exhibit on Andy Warhol that focused on his beginnings as a graphic artist, book illustrator, designer, book cover designer, children’s book author: all the things I never knew he was before he became a pop art … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 6: North Adams to Williamstown, The Clark

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  Carpeaux saw a woman weeping in the street; she had just lost her child. She became the perfect model for “A Mother’s Pain.” One could spend a day at “The Clark” especially since its make-over. It’s a joy to take a drive through the countryside and park, a big difference from the city, though it isn’t all that easy in the summer. The permanent collections are glorious and the exhibits are unique; the museum does get crowded. The exhibits include Whistler’s Mother. An Arrangement in Gray, Black and White. The famous painting was usually displayed in Paris at the … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 5: North Adams: Mass MoCA

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Walk to the Boiler Room and you will pass Totally Totem, look up to see All Utopias Fell. There is so much more …     The work of Anselm Kiefer is housed in a new pavilion. They reflect his German identity, (b.1945), how he confronts it and addresses it. His pieces are massive and material. He weaves poetry redolent of war; decay, shipwrecks     The Women of the Revolution is comprised of twenty lead beds, each represents a specific French woman who was part of the revolution. The artist fills the beds with water and dead flowers. These … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 4: North Adams: Mass MoCA: The Old Boiler to the Misbegotten

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I’ve created several posts about North Adams and here they continue. On another day there was a visit to the Eclipse Mill. Old mills on canals are often being converted to artists’ living quarters/work space/shop space. I’ve made a couple of friends over the years. It’s important to support the people who create art. The thought of a reasonable loft space is very tempting!   Back to Mass MoCA. In the old boiler building from the Sprague  Electric Company there is an audio installation by Stephen Vitiello, All Those Vanished Engines. There are haunting voices of those from the time … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 3: North Adams: Mass MoCA

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It rained on and off; that was fine, the exhibits were endless. More fascinating works were found in a small gallery with a library/book theme, called Bibliothecaphilia. Here, there is the work of six artists who explore the meaning of a library. Jena Priebe’s work, The Secret Lives of Books imagines interconnected pages and exploding knowledge. Meg Hitchcock ingeniously cuts up sacred texts from a myriad of sources and she recreates them, letter by letter to form other sacred passages connecting religions and time. Jonathan Gitelson’s work, Marginalia, explores the marginal notations on pages that people leave behind, as well … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 2: North Adams: Mass MoCA

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Approaching the entrance to Mass MoCA in the building with the clock tower; the buildings through the front gate also house business, shops and a restaurant.  It took two days to plow through the galleries. I’ll just touch on some of the work. Art in the lot: SuttonBeresCuller: Big Top Grand Stand   The building is a conglomerate of huge spaces that have been divided into smaller units. Above, looking through the main level, with back to gallery entrance (that expands to three floors) toward the shop and café beyond. To the left is the entrance, to the right are … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 1: North Adams, MA: The Porches Inn

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    Intro: I’ve spent a good fourteen summers in the northwest corner of Massachusetts and that’s OK; it’s like coming home. Despite the places being the same, the museums and galleries are always changing. The trip begins in North Adams, a town that was not too long ago, shabby and run-down, filled with the struggling, the jobless.  Since the creation of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Mass MoCA, in the former factory of the Sprague Elecric Company, and the rehabilitation of former company housing into a cool hotel across the street (The Porches), the place has turned around. … Continue reading →

Photography: Making the Most Out of Simplicity

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  I put away the heavy gear years ago and enjoyed a very nice, lightweight Nikon with built-in 18x optical zoom. I still enjoy it; it’s been fine for blogging and other site posts. But something crazy happened: instead of graduating to a big-ass camera with all the accoutrements, I remained satisfied.   When I got an iPhone 5 I began to find something fresh about it being with me all the time, being available and having a zen-like simplicity. Then I got “the 6.” It was a better camera and I began to decode the settings and to learn … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, LIfe: The N. Y. Botanical Garden

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    The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York is honoring the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo from May 16 – November 1,  2015. Please visit this site for a multimedia bio.>>> Frida Kahlo Another article is here But first, a little Mexican food-truck lunch before the art and then the florals. The truck is fittingly called : Casa Azul, or “blue house,” named after Frida’s home and studio. [Food trucks are becoming popular all over the country. The tacos here were wonderful: the choice; fish and beef. And don’t forget the Tamarindo Jarrito soda.] Frida Kahlo was … Continue reading →

Goodbye to Al

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    This past Sunday I attended a memorial service for a lovely friend of the family. He passed peacefully in March and had reached the age of 95. He had a broker pack him up, sell his apartment and he moved to an assisted living facility in Connecticut near his sister. I sens that he sensed the end was near. He was a brilliant, kind and gentle man who was active in the New York State Teachers’ Union. He was a high school teacher and held degrees in business.   You can read more about Al here, as well … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: A Return to The Brooklyn Museum: Wiley, Basquiat

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  One of my favorite places is The Brooklyn Museum. I caught two current exhibits by black male artists. Kehinde Wiley (Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, at the Brooklyn Museum) Born in 1977, Wiley studied the old master painters; he embedded black hip-hop portraiture into the framework of the old to create the new. The backgrounds, redolent of kitschy wallpaper backgrounds from old Catskill Mountain hotels, the culture of the past is imbibed with that of the present in huge works. Colors are bright, vibrant, somewhat garish. The subjects rarely look directly at the viewer, most are presented three-quarter face, … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: November: A Month of Back-Blogs (part 3)

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The New-York Historical Society New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street) New York, NY 10024 Phone (212) 873-3400     I was able to catch several fascinating exhibits:   A Brief History of New York: Selections from A History of New York in 101 Objects; Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage: “Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage charts a new direction for one of America’s best-known living photographers. Unlike her staged and carefully lit portraits made on assignment for magazines and advertising clients, the photographs in this exhibition were taken simply because Leibovitz was moved by the subject. The images … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: November: A Month of Back-Blogs (part 2)

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Ralph Fasanella September 2, 1914 – December 16, 1997 My favorite museum visit this month was to the American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square Columbus Ave. between 65th and 66th Streets New York City, across from Lincoln Center. A few photos taken outside, unfortunately no photos are permitted inside.   I stumbled across the art of Ralph Fasanella in the 1970s and he has since been my favorite primitive artist. He was self-taught, untrained, has the eye of a genius and the soul of a saint. He was a union man and a champion of the worker who slaved … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Sabarsky to Shiele and The Wurst That Can Happen

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    One of my favorite New York City museums is the lovely gem: The Neue Gallerie/Museum for German and Austrian Art. The museum is in a former townhouse; the museum is located at the Southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and East 86th Street, across from Central Park. But in order to look at and appreciate fine art, one must fill one’s stomach, so on the line one goes for about thirty minutes to get a table at Café Sabarsky on the first floor (my preference) or Café Fledermaus in the basement, where one can soak up the Austrian atmosphere … Continue reading →

Fascinating: Links to Articles

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  It’s time for some interesting articles and videos I’ve come across in my daily travels.     Art:   Exhibit I would like to see: French photographer, JR, brings back ghosts to Ellis island. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/arts/design/jr-brings-ellis-islands-abandoned-hospital-to-life.html?ref=todayspaper  http://www.saveellisisland.org/artist-jrs-ellis-island-southside-project/     Cute:   Adorable video.  Never knew wombats were so darn cute!       Food:         I could go for this right about now: The Gefilte Fish Line: A Sweet And Salty History Of Jewish Identity http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/24/351185646/the-gefilte-fish-line-a-sweet-and-salty-history-of-jewish-identity?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140924     Security:     What Happens to Your Stolen Credit Card Data? A Glimpse into Underground Markets http://www.hotforsecurity.com/blog/what-happens-to-your-stolen-credit-card-data-a-glimpse-into-underground-markets-10205.html?utm_source=SMGlobal&utm_medium=SMGlobal&utm_campaign=H4S   Health: … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal 6: Yiddish, Burgers, Toilets and Art

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  The annual visit to the Yiddish Book Center was brief this year due to time constraints, but it was a gorgeous day and perfect for a picnic.   Later, the best burgers evah, at The High Horse Brewery in Amherst was found recommended in a magazine. The staff was wonderful and knowledgable, the brews were excellent and the burgers with bottomless hand cut fries were super. The only problem was that there can be a long wait because the place is packed and it is extremely noisy. Our waitress was a teacher. What does that tell you about teachers’ … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal 5: Child Labor In The Mills to Williams College Art, Dinner Of Course

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    An exhibit in the town of Adams, Massachusetts, of child mill workers was moving; I have been to several mills that now have exhibits. I have seen photos of the children, babies, who toiled from dawn to night, feeding thread to machines, handling cotton and slipping on oil in their bare fee even in the freezing Winter. They were used because their hands were small and dexterous. Many lost digits and limbs to machines. Finally the child labor laws came into effect. Lewis Hine’s photographic documentation of child labor–child slavery are a testament to our country’s history. Here are photographs of … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 4. North Adams, MA: Food to Art to Food

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  Breakfast at the Porches Inn helps you prove to yourself that: 1. You have no willpower at least on the first day you are there,  2. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach and 3. What the hell?     This area of Massachusetts is full of old mills that have since been abandoned and many have been sold. Artists have moved in and set up galleries. (believe me, I’ve been tempted). New York City is just too expensive for many artists. North Adams, Adams, and other towns like Lowell, are a terrific venue for the art world. Then … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 3. Williamstown, MA: Art, Noodles, and Chita

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      The Clark has reopened and it is fabulous. The expansion was long awaited and it is spacious and serene. Again, I spent time with some great friends who live fairly close to Williamstown. We explored the exhibit on loan of abstract art, we visited some classical art galleries, and marveled at an exhibit of Chinese art on loan from Shanghai (no photos allowed), that was thousands of years old. The (free) tablet explained everything and we were able to hear a song played on the ancient Chinese bells. I often find that the art viewer is just … Continue reading →