New York City, Part 1

Miss me? I've been getting my eyeballs scorched by looking at way too much art, my brain fried by pondering too many techniques and my feet exhausted by museum tromping. New York City is an under-4-hour non-stop flight away for often less than $175. Thank you, thank you, JetBlue. The hotels are another story but we economize by not eating anything but sandwiches or grocery takeout or museum cafeterias.

We have a friend in New York City who is alternately amused/horrified/disgusted/unbelieving about the number of people we make friends with in her city. New Yorkers cold and unfriendly? NOT! Of course we always start out with a smile and put on our Texas drawl as we say "Hey, how ya'll doing?" whenever we encounter someone.

Never fails. Proof positive in the picture above. That is Lu, or Liudmila, the cabdriver who brought us from the airport to our hotel. She has been driving a cab for 3 years and wants to bring her mother here and has a son in college who hopes to go to medical school in San Antonio. It was a 45-minute cab ride and lots of conversation about current events also, as she is from Russia. She's also half Polish, as is Susan, so they bonded right away.

First up was the Museum of Arts and Design. 

 

 

The top image is one we took in the museum, the second is one from Google Images of a similar piece. The artist is Angelo Filomeno and the piece is "As the Lilies Among Thorns, So We Fall Like Love".  I couldn't find a website for him specifically so you might want to check Images yourself.  Susan recognized him from a show called "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery" a few years back. The piece he had there was "Death of a Blinded Philospher and it was 42" x 10'2" - huge!

 

 

One of the interesting things about seeing pieces in a museum is the shadows they make due to the lighting. The pictures below are of an enormous display (floor to ceiling, about 10 feet across) made up of three "screens" by Piper Shepard, "Lace Meander". This is her description, which I find absolutely incredible, " ... gessoed muslin that has been coated with black graphite and entirely hand-cut using an X-Acto knife". Based on the amount of work shown on her website I don't think that knife ever leaves her hand.

 

Detail:

 

More travel and museum talk to come.