Thursday, July 30, 2015

Storm King Art Center

I've been having an artsy time lately.
 I've already told you, in my previous post, about our Friday night viewing of the sculpture floating above Boston.  The day before that was artsy as well.  Two friends and I took a road trip to the amazing Storm King Art Center, which is situated in the beautiful landscape of the lower Hudson Valley, about an hour north of NYC.  All photos in this post are from that day.  That's me on the right, below, in a sculpture by Isamu Noguchi.  I think perhaps we shouldn't have been in there, but in my defense, she was in there first and I was talked into joining her.  (I know better than to argue with a pregnant lady!)
Storm King is an outdoor sculpture park, and the sculptures, many of which are monumental, are situated within the fields, woods, and hills of the 500 acres of the park.  And we visited about 1/2 the park by foot... Yup, 250 acres of walking.  One of my friends was wearing a FitBit and she'd competed the day's quota of steps even before we stopped for lunch.  A tram circles the park, so we viewed the rest of the sculptures that way, but it is not ideal.  You really want to be able to walk right up to them, and experience them in their location.  But there's no way  to do it all in one day, unless you have much better legs and feet than me!  (By the way, my legs are really short, so I always figure I take more steps than anyone else, just trying to keep up!)
 The piece photographed above and below is by Richard Sera.  It made me think of the monolith from 2001 a Space Odyssey, for those of you who are old enough to remember the movie.
Anyhow, I took hundreds of photos, but I'll just show you some favorites here.  These next photos are from a part of the park referred to as Calder Field.
I was really intrigued by the special exhibition of work by Lynda Benglis, called Water Sources.  I would especially adore having the pink fountain in front of my house!
 
  I'm fascinated by the balance on the piece pictured below, by Menashe Kadishman.
This really cool piece below is by Ursula von Rydingsvard.
Below left, the tallest sculpture in the park, is by Tal Streeter.
On the right is Frog Legs by Mark Di Suvero.  We thought, from some angles, that it looked like Don Quixote, but couldn't quite figure out the frog's legs.
 
 below, Lichtenstein's Mermaid
 I loved the way this piece below, by Ronald Bladen, looked totally different at different times of day, and from various points of view.
The Storm King Art Center was founded in 1960, and in 1972 they began building the collection of large scale sculptures, including commissioned site-specific pieces.  In 1973, I was a college student at SUNY New Paltz, about 1/2 hour away, and was taking a course in color (darkroom) photography.  A classmate and I got in my little junker car each weekend and picked a direction to drive and search for places to photograph.  I remember, on one of these drives, saying "Hey!  What's that in the distance??  A giant red thing on a hill!  It looks like a sculpture!  Look!  Another!"  But we were on a high-speed road and it was gone before we figured out what we'd seen.  I didn't learn about Storm King until years later, but I'm sure that I'd seen some of the earliest installations, perhaps these pieces below!
 Three-legged Buddha by Zhang Huan
 below, site specific wall by Andy Goldsworthy
 and another site specific piece, by Maya Lin, called Storm King Wavefield
 If you ever get a chance, get on your comfiest walking shoes, bring your camera, and enjoy your day at Storm King!  You won't regret it, I promise!  I'd like to get back in another season - perhaps when autumn colors are at their peak, or maybe in November with a dusting of snow?
 I'll end with two interesting images, I hope.  On the left, looking inside a Louise Nevelson sculpture, where a bird has made its nest, and on the right, the elevator.  Yup, seriously; it is an elevator!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Is it a psychedelic hairnet, or sharknado protection?

Have you seen or heard about Boston's sculpture that hangs in the in the air over the city,suspended between large buildings?
We were in Boston yesterday evening, and had a couple of hours to kill before my son's band's gig to celebrate their CD release.  Here's my son, the bass player. 
 So I said I wanted to see the Janet Echelman sculpture floating in the air over the Greenway, and since I knew how to get to the gig venue and my husband did not, he went along without complaining.  This is how the sculpture looked when we arrived.
 We sat outside in the fresh evening air as the sun went down and waited for the colors to emerge on the sculpture.
 I shot approximately a million photos, I think, but I'll just share a few of them here today.  
 The colors of and reflections on the architecture around the sculpture added an extra pizazz to the overall aura of the sculpture. 
 
 The sculpture will be in place until October, so if you are in Boston, it's worth a look!  
The sculpture changes in the evening breeze. 
 Colorful LED lights shining from various locations illuminate the sculpture at night. 
Then, we hopped on the subway, and made our way to the venue where the band would be playing.  The band plays searing rock music.  You can follow them  on Instagram here: The Functionals.  Here's a couple more images from the gig. 

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Thumbs up to this idea! Why didn't I think of that?

I discovered this little bit of genius when I was subbing in my old art room a while back.  I snapped these pics to share with you, and then promptly forgot about them.  I rediscovered them tonight while scrolling through my phone to delete extra photos.
I personally always hated paint pumps, because, of course, they always clogged.  So I didn't use them.  I poured paint instead, and honestly, I guess I have a pretty steady hand.  But this solution is simple, and absolute GENIUS!  These thumbs are simply pencil toppers.  They fit perfectly over the paint pump spouts, and totally keep them from clogging. 
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.  Now I just have to figure out where to find these cute pencil toppers!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Yikes - you must think I forgot about you!

I've had grand plans for posts to write since my previous post.
Somehow I keep getting distracted.  
So in the meantime...
Here's a few photos from my lake.
 For artsy inspiration.
A taller version of me, my Laurel Burch bag, and a really good book. 
 Weird marsh sludge...
Below, views from above; inside the 'camp' -
Living room
 Messy dining room with my junk all over
Pretty red berries
 And more weird marsh sludge...
That's all for today!
Next time, one of those more 'intelligent' posts I had planned to write....