Photo-an-Hour: New York

I thought a day in New York would be the perfect opportunity for a photo-an-hour post.  Here goes...

8:30am - Breakfast with Lynn at the Eveready Diner in Southeast.  She wasn't going to be able to come to the city with me, so we thought we'd at least start out with breakfast together before she dropped me off at the train station.

9:30am - Hillary. Sigh...

10:30am - Ahhh... Grand Central Station. Being here never gets old.

11:30am - On the train I looked up "print museum New York" just to see what would turn up. I had no idea I'd discover the International Print Center New York. Their current exhibit, Just Under 100, is the fifty-sixth presentation of its New Prints Program, a biannual, juried open call for prints that included 98 international artists. 

I loved seeing so many different printmaking techniques all displayed in one space.  It makes me look forward even more to getting started at the printmaking co-op once fall comes.

Louise Eastman, Jess Frost, Tara Geer, Katie Michel, Wendy Small, and Janis Stemmermann. Miss 2017. Letterpress. 20 5/8 x 16 1/2 in. Printed by Leslie Miller, published by Planthouse, NY. Edition: 15. Courtesy of Planthouse, NY. © 2017 the artists.

12:30pm - The view from the IPCNY elevator hallway.

1:30pm - Thought I'd pop into the Fashion Institute of Technology's museum since it was just down the street a bit. Their current exhibit, Forces of Nature, focused on how nature and science has influenced fashion and even vice-versa. For example, beautiful bird feathers found their way onto hats and couture clothing in the late 19th and early 20th century, but demand for plumage rendered several species nearly extinct and ushered in protection laws which still exist today.

The cape (1920) and dress (1953) above were inspired by new concepts and technologies that brought the far reaches of space closer to ordinary citizens. 

2:30pm - The Center for Book Arts.  I spent some time looking at exhibits & books and poking around their studios.  What a special place! One of their current exhibits, Animation & Printing, presents "a selection of short animated films from around the US and the world, each created using techniques common in the book arts such as letterpress printing from moveable type, wood type, pressure printing, lino and wood cut, etching, silkscreen as well as animation in watermarked paper." 

I loved seeing how artists were using printed material in digital ways.  Just because we create something in one medium doesn't mean we can't present it in more than one format!

Boxes of fonts!  (drooling here...)

This was such a powerful piece.  Emily Martin's Desdemona In Her Own Words. While this photo only shows a single print from the folio, visit Emily's website to see the animation and learn more about the work.

3:30pm - Agnolotti at Eataly.  Heaven on a plate!

4:30pm - On my way to Mood Fabrics! 

I knew Mood would be overwhelming, and it was, but in a fun way.  I DID find the red silk velvet I was looking for to make my new "singing" dress (for jazz caroling during the holidays), and I took photos of other fabrics that caught my eye.  I'm a little more cautious now about what I buy when I'm excited in a fabric store (or a paper shop or a greenhouse or a...) I don't want to come home with TOO much. So now I'm going through my photos, narrowing down the choices. I'll either stop in quickly on my way back to Ohio or order online.

5:30pm - I loved looking at all the trims.  I could have taken home every one of these, even if I don't necessarily have a use for any of them yet :-)

Just as I was paying for my velvet, the Project Runway designers & crew showed up. Too funny. I guess they're filming the next season!

6:30pm - Gotham Writers Workshop. They've got a Friday night "write-in" where you're given a writing prompt (which you can use or ignore), take some time to write, and share your work with the group if you want.  Then there's wine & cheese & good cookies, and then you repeat the process. It was fun! I didn't write to the prompts, nor did I share what I wrote (and to me, 15 minutes of writing time -- even if it's twice -- isn't enough.) But that's okay.  I'm glad I went and I was able to talk with a couple staff members about their online classes.

7:30pm - The view from Gotham's 14th floor window.

8:30pm - Finished and walking back to the subway.  Needless to say, I slept on the train.  Goodbye for now, New York!

Day Trip to Korea on the 747

I was born in Germany and we lived there for four and a half years before coming to the US.  (My Dad was an architect and had been transferred over there for a while.)  One of my early memories was flying across the Atlantic on the 747. We did this more than once, and each time, my Dad would take me up to the cockpit and I’d get to sit on the captain’s lap and “steer” the plane. I did a pretty good job if I do say so! I will never forget the view, or how amazed I was at all the buttons and switches and knobs. 

They’re old planes now, and slowly they’re being retired.  Delta’s starting to take them offline - they’re even making a 747 museum! - so I thought it would be fun to take one last trip before they disappear.  

One of my brother’s friends is a first officer on Delta’s 747 routes to Asia, and he’s always said I should tag along on one of his flights.  When the opportunity came up at the end of March, I decided to go!  

Brucie was scheduled to fly to Seoul, spend the entire next day there, and then fly back the following morning.  Perfect! No visa required, and only two nights of hotel expenses.  John was even able to finagle a few days off to come too.  Let’s go!

We left from Detroit.  Ahhh, there it is!! Always an impressive sight! Sadly the iconic spiral staircase (leading to its equally iconic second-floor bar & lounge) has been replaced by those business class sleeper “pods”, totally ruining the ambience.  Somehow the whole thing felt smaller on the inside.  Everything feels bigger when you’re a kid, right?  

But no matter!  We were able to get three seats to ourselves and take turns stretching out for naps. Now, call me crazy, but I love airplane food, and perusing the flight menu was a highlight.  My little tiny partitioned meal of chicken & polenta and a salad and a roll and dessert was delicious.

We arrived in Seoul at night.  In the morning, this was the view from the hotel window: Ansan Mountain.  

Korea is 13 hours ahead of us, so I should have been going to sleep when it was time for breakfast.  I decided to just not keep track of time or look at clocks. 

What to do with one single day in Seoul?  I was hoping to take the cable car up the mountain and visit the big temple, but both were closed on the day we were there.  So we went for a couple walks. 

Somewhere in the maze of markets we stumbled upon THE best lunch!  Cheap, yummy, and Anthony Bourdain-worthy!  I think there were only three things on the menu and all you could do was point at what you saw someone else eating and hope it came your way. If I ever go back to Seoul, I don’t know how I’ll find this place again.

After a nap, we hiked partway up Ansan Mountain, just far enough to see some springtime.

I liked this whirlwind trip. There’s something about doing something spur-of-the-moment just because you can. Who knows when and how life will change, and when you have the opportunity to go on an adventure, I say, go for it. Our time on earth is short.

Goodnight, Seoul! 
(and thank you sooo much, Brucie & John!)

Portland & Missoula

Happy New Year!  I hope your holidays were happy ones.  I wanted to share the last photos of my trip out west before I mentally head into 2017 (I'm still catching up!)...

FRIENDS.  Portland was just a jump away from Seattle, and I've been wanting to visit a long-lost friend who now lives there, and also visit extended family members who I knew existed but never met.  So I rented a car and drove down.

Jeremy and I became friends forever ago at a local Vermont production of West Side Story (He was a Shark; I played Anybody's).  From tromping around Burlington at wee hours to opening Bristol's infamous teen dance club, the memories go back a looong way.  Jeremy's now making films and owns more cameras than I ever will.  And -- funny -- he showed up for our reunion with a Minolta x370... my very first SLR happened to be an x370.

We had lunch and walked around the waterfront.  When I talked about plans for my book Jeremey mentioned that Portland has a co-op that lets members use their space and equipment to work on self-published printing projects.  Turns out we were standing right in front of it:  the Independent Publishing Resource Center. I bought a few zines and poked around.  It is so great to know that spots like this exist!  One of my goals this year is to reach out to places to give readings and workshops and it would be an honor to work with the IPRC.  I hope they say yes!

FAMILY.  When I was growing up, it was the four of us: my brother and I, my Mom & Dad.  Turns out we have more family than I really thought about, and over the years someone turns up on Facebook or mentions another relative during a phone call and I'm thinking: Why don't we know this person?  A big meet-and-greet reunion would fix that, I suppose, but who can get all these people in one place at the same time?  ANYway... I LOVE my niece and her family.  We took a late-night trip to their cabin in the mountains & spent the night.  I fell asleep right in front of the fireplace.  It was such a treat!

I love waking up in the morning and not having any idea what the outside scenery looks like, as if I've been magically teleported to some random spot and have to figure out where I landed.  The view was beautiful, and I was sad to say goodbye.  

MONTANA.  I drove through Montana years ago on my crazy trip around the country and I fell in love with Missoula and its surrounding landscape.  Little did I know that last year I would make a friend who lives there!  Right in the middle of this:

Again, I arrived at night, and when I woke up in the morning, the light was glittery.  It was the first frost of the season and the sun was making everything sparkle. 

My friend Elizabeth is a photographer too.  We spent the two mornings I was there having toast and tea at her big sunny table and inspired each other to do great things with our projects.  I think -- at least from what I've experienced -- that we artists are a solitary bunch when we're doing our work, but need a good dose of visiting so that we can bounce ideas off each other, share our progress, and get re-inspired.  I never went to art school, so maybe that's part of the reason why I love my artist friends so much.  I think community is important, even if it's one that's cobbled together with people from all over the place via phone calls, Skype, emails, and visits whenever possible.  

Elizabeth's place was so photo-worthy.  I couldn't put down my camera.  My guest cabin was perfectly decked out with cowboy artwork over the bed and little animal skulls on the windowsill.

Her studio was an amazing collection of books and mementos and works-in-progress pinned to the wall.  Visit her website if you'd like to see her portfolios and projects.

I have to say, one of the best things about my visit was that Elizabeth's horse laughed at all my jokes:

I don't know what 2017 will bring as far as artist get-togethers go, but I hope it includes another (much longer) trip to Montana.  I love the beginning of the new year because there are twelve big wonderful months ahead to daydream about.  Here's to great things in 2017!