New York Weekend

What a great time we had! The weather was fabulous, brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures. Martha and I arrived Friday late morning and met up with Eleanor and Sidnee and headed off to the galleries. First stop was the Noho Gallery, where SAQA had a show in January. That show is gone, but the others wanted to see the space. We checked out a few of the other galleries in that same building and were impressed by the fact that quality is not a requirement for exhibiting. There were some real dogs. There are a bunch of other galleries in the immediate area and we visited many of them. One of the more interesting sights wasn't in a gallery, but out in the street. Check out this very political truck. On the side not visible, it says "I'M VOTING (something covered by graffiti) OUT. Given the sentiments on the rest of the truck, I suspect "BUSH" is what's covered up.
Walking down the street we saw this newly married couple posing for pictures. So I took one.
People were skating at the Rock Center even though it was 60 degrees. Must be refrigerated.


Off to dinner and then to the Broadway Tickets booth where you can get same day tickets to shows. After much friendly discussion we settled on "The Most Happy Fella", which is a revival of the 50's play, which is an adaptation of an early 20th century novel. Paul Sorvino was the lead. It's a musical but most of the dialog is sung, so it's nearly an opera. None of us thought it was fabulous, but it was fun to be in the New York Opera House, in Orchestra seats, albeit the second to last row, right behind a guy with a Very Big Head. This was the view from our seats before Big Head Guy sat down.

Next morning we headed out to breakfast bright and early. Eleanor on the left, Sidnee facing the camera, and Martha on the right.



Even the window displays are Art. This is a mannequin atop a skirt of cashmere sweaters all artistically knotted together. Very cool.



Then off to MOMA to see the Edvard Munch exhibit. As we stood in line to get in, who should we see but Michael James and his wife Judy, in town from Nebraska. All four of us are taking Michael's class at QSDS in June. Such a small world. Couldn't take pictures in the Munch exhibit, but here are a few things that caught my eye.

Jim Dine's painted tools, belongs right there in the New Image Hardware exhibit.


These are nails, very carefully arranged so that they make a swirl pattern. I wonder how many times the artist (whose name I don't remember) pounded his thumb.

This one reminded me of the construction style of some of my latest quilts, except this one is painted.

And of course, Jackson Pollock's painted paint.

At the American Folk Art Museum was an exhibit of "Obsessive Drawing" and it's aptly named. Talk about labor intensive! One artist used tiny circles and created a value range from nearly black to nearly white just using the size and density of the circles. It was amazing to ponder the magnificent obsessions of these artists.

After a wonder dinner at Joe's Shanghai restaurant, we headed back to the hotel where we all collapsed. Eleanor is a pretty tough tour guide. No rest for the weary. Luckily the next day it was raining, and since Eleanor and Sidnee had planes to catch, Martha and I decided to leave also. It was tons of fun and I grossly underestimated the amount of cash I would need. Thank heavens for plastic and ATMs.