Photographs at Pacific Street Gallery

New London, CT

Almost London. Almost Escher.

Don't miss this show--

Craig Chessari shot St Patrick's gothic ceiling.

Clever...

More to come- Linnie

Opening Today

The season's inaugural show at Pacific Street Gallery, 11 Pacific Street, New London, CT begins this week and will run through October on the first floor of the gallery.The theme, Lightly Held, has been interpreted by ten artists in a different way. To deepen the viewing experience, individual artist statements will accompany the work.

Artist reception will be held in the middle of the show’s run, on Saturday, October 9 from 6:00-9:00 PM.  As always, the conversation and refreshments are noteworthy, so arrive early.
Exhibiting artists are:
Gloria Brooks, Windsor, multi-media
Pete Brooks, Windsor, photography
Craig Chessari, Woodbury, photography
Jackie Flatow, Westport, soft pastels
Dermot McNamarra, New London, painting
Richard Riddington, Jr., Shelton, photography, featured above
Cynthia Samul, New London, painting
Ann Samul, New London, multi-media
Linnie York, Woodbury, oil and acrylic
Rose Young, New London/Norwich, photography

OPENS TODAY---Rubin, Nepalese Legacy in Tibetan Painting

Last night we previewed this exhibit in a members only opportunity. Exqusite ivory carving of a teacher was the centerpiece for me! Detailed paintings were best with magnifying glasses provided by the museum. No photos allowed.
The highlight exhibit was in the basement, where Jung's Red Book was. 19th Century photographs of Bhutan and Sikkim taken by Brits in power, and putting Ansel Adams in a race for the grand inbreath/"oh, my" inevitable when viewing immense stillness. Photog White's decendents were present to share in the delight of the only set of photos of it's kind on this planet. You won't believe the size of the glaciers 180 years ago!
Best gift shop of any NYC museum!
Best rice and veggies in town at the cafe bar.
Rubin Museum of Art, 7th Avenue on 17th Street, closed Tuesday.

More to come- Linnie

New Shows Appearing Weekly

The subway tunnels are stifiling. The cabs mostly fake air-conditioned. But the museums and galleries are preparing for the fall. Get ready!

Get your routes figured out. Buy walking shoes. Get The New Yorker weekly from Sept 15 to Oct 15. It's time to tool around the art acene!

More to come- Linnie

Don't Pick the Frick

Reasons to wait---
Hot summer. Most of the wonderful small works have been loaned out, and the anteroom, filled with the best paintings, off the breakfast room, is closed to visitors!

Reasons to go-
So come for the additions that Helen Clay Frick, his daughter, made this collection from the early middle ages and sculpture. Come for El Greco's "Saint Jerome," over the fireplace in the living room. (My favorite "St. Jerome in His Study" is in Britain's National Gallery--amazing work!)
Stay for the extensive historical film in the Music Room. Appreciate that John Pope made the house even better as a museum than it was as a home...
BUT wait for the winter exhibits.

THUMBS DOWN:
Tourists are going at the pace of their hand-held recorded tour phones, lost in audio land. They walk in front of viewers, irritatingly oblivious to those standing back from the painting, the Frick has created the most smashing of experiences.
More to come- Linnie

Edward Hopper at the Whitney Soon

"All I ever wanted to do was paint sunlight on the side of a house."
Edward Hopper

Hopper lived in Greenwich Village over 50 years in the same walk-up apartment. He ate every meal at the same neighborhood diner (remember the painting?). His wife said he did not like change much.
Upon his death, she gave 3,000 of his paintings to the Whitney Museum which is currently remodeling an area just for Hopper.
He hated children so there are no children in his paintings. And he will be remembered for sunlight on the side of a house.
More to come- Linnie

Shakespeare in the Park--Next Generation

Papp's daughter, Miranda (yes, from The Tempest) hosts delighted friends at the Delacorte Theater

Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theater would be proud of his daughter, Miranda, and the current production of The Merchant of Venice. She brought friends, pictured, and Al Pacino brought the crowd. At 70, Pacino does a nimble gigantic performance. Seats in the center are full of celebs and contributors. All seats are free, thanks to Joe, and no thanks to Robert Moses. But that's another story...

The set worked well and the cast almost magnificant. With lowered music volumes, more restrooms and concessions it would be the Perfection of Central Park.

Reviewed in The New Yorker July 12 and 19, listed on page 8 this week.

Summer Art Museums---Not so Hot

Hot thin crowds; Hot thin exhibits

Is it possible, Met? 10 exhibits running simultaneously, as well as the permanent collection. From Picasso to Hipsters, from Italian drawings to American fashion, from King Tut's funeral to photos of handball players.

Sounds like a formula for success?

Not.

Spend your money on the Frick showing 75 years of collecting.

Avoid the Brooklyn Museum of Art, also doing American women's fashion with another Andy Warhol splash.

Go to Brooklyn for the Rodins in the lobby, FREE. Pictures in the August issue of Traditional Home magazine.

Frick is pricey but worth it. Met and BMA are suggested donation--you can get in for $1.00 without hassle.

More to come- Linnie

Who's idea of Summer is this?

No, it is not Brooklyn. Or Ocean City! From The Clark, permanent collection.

Book Sale in Stockbridge

All over New England the local libraries are purging and fund raising. Summer used book sales run the gambit of price and value. Thanks to a stop in Stockbridge on the way to Tanglewood, I have the Riverside Complete Chaucer. Hot stuff for summer.

Call around and find some affordable reads, to keep!

More to come- Linnie

The Clark--- Mixed Experience

I just saw the exhibits in Williamstown, Mass at the big deal museum.

Short of it---old is great, new is not. Here's the reoprt card:

Parking, signage and access D-

Picasso and Degas C-

Permanent Collection A+

Original Facility A+

New Wing D-

Volunteers A

Gift Shop B

The featured exhibit, Picasso and Degas, is advertised in most New England and art periodicals. High expectations lead to a small 5 room exhibit, 1/3 on floor one and the remainder on floor three. Honestly. The best of the exhibit is owned by the Met and the Clark. Not enough depth for the intent of compare/contrast.

In between is John Constable in the other room on floor one. You can't make this up!

At the other end of the spectrum, the Permanent Collection is staggering--every Impressionist you can think of, strong broad European examples, 9 centuries of medieval to modern religious paintings, George Washington by Stuart Gilbert, and silver, sculpture, ceramics--

 all exqusitely lighted, hung and presented in an easy to navigate layout in a great natural setting.

Worth the trip. But not for the hype.

Guess who?

Rembrandt, Constable, and Balzac in marble--new acqusition

Kitchen Fix: After and Before

 

Cheap Improvement!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks goes to Deb Chessari and the Re-Max crew of West Hartford, CT.

Their advice was to de-clutter to the Max!

A no cost fix that I am grateful for daily!

See my January 27 blog entry for the "Before" or here is it, to the left.

Traveler's Beauty in New Haven

Desitnation has become the point of travel, not the traveling. Except if you disembark the train in New Haven. Union Station is full of beauty, grace, and a grand beginning to the Yale art museums awating you for a day's excursion.

It's not Paris, but American Grand for Amtrak and Metro North.

 More to come- Linnie

19th c. Copy of 15th Century Icon--How Valuable in 21st?

Purchased by the English tourists in Forrester novels, the Room-with-a-View crowd came home with Fra Angelico imitations, complete with carved gilt wood frames.
Found in a CT antique shop, Woodbury (located on Rt7 north of I-84) is the Antiques Mecca nearest NYC.
How much did he pay?
Send me your guess...
- Linnie

Jung's Red Book and Fra Angelico (above)

Husband hits the birthday lotto! I received a 19th century Florentine copy of Fra Angelico's trumpting angel, complete with gothic gilt frame, AND the first publishing of Jung's complete journal of his spiritual journey---"his largest and most important work, unsequestered and translated after five decades."

Happiness...years of joy.

Olana Above the Hudson

One hundred miles upriver from Miss Liberty sits the Moroccan fantasy of painter Frederick Church, whose paintings and estate are of the grandest scale. Famous in the Hudson School of Painting, he is best remembered for the monstrous Niagra Falls which he accompanied around the world several times, paying for Olana with ease. (Now owned by Brooklyn Museum of Art but mostly loaned out for the $)

A National Trust site, plan for the day and a picnic. Bring your paints. Just off the NY State Thruway, and Leeds has a good diner if it rains.

More to come- Linnie

When I Lived in New York...

New York is thousands of neighborhoods. We love the City but we live in our neighborhoods. As I travel buses, trains and planes, the former NYers next to me swoon about the old neighborhood.

Original art of your street will be a good investment. Lifelong. Support your neighborhood artist.

More to come- Linnie

Book of Hours- Prayers 5x a Day

Illuminated medieval book of prayer made for Catherine of Cleves is displayed at the JP Morgan Library and Museum until May 2 for a $12.00 admission. On-line after May 2 at http://www.themorgan.org/collections/works/cleves/default.asp

For $1.00 you can visit the Met's Cloisters in Ft. Tyron Park on the Hudson (Bus M4 from Grand Central--Cheap but 1.5 hour ride). In the gift shop, the book is reproduced in large format, and you can browse for free. Several other Book of Hours are also in book form ranging in price from $8.95 to 85.00.
Best Buy: A readable usuable Book of Hours by Thomas Merton on Amazon. Enlightened and focusing. Spiritual prayers in rhythm: pre-dawn, dawn, day, dusk, dark. Join the Muslim and Hassidic communites in devoted attention. Or chant a holy sound constantly.
Whatever keeps you Present.
More to come- Linnie

Death comes High and Low

LOW---The Brooklyn Museum of Art has taken the low road to Egyptian Afterlife. Mummification details inscribed on the walls of the exhibit, and body parts on display insure that school tours will be noisy and gory. The hind-brain at it's best in public.

HIGH---In contrast, The Rubin Museum of Art's "Remember You Will Die" focuses across cultures on the process, rituals and spiritual beliefs. Any Hospice worker would be at home in this exhibit. The pre-frontal cortex may learn some things at the Rubin!

Traviata! Slatkin is the Difference

Early responses from friends confirm----- that Leonard Slatkin is the catalytic enzyme to gel this group.
Don't miss this opera. Especially if you are new or sort of like opera. Like a perfect creamy omelet in your mouth, you will recognize perfection.
PS Don't applaud until the end of the act. This is not Broadway. Opera is not a participative sport. It is to be absorbed and savored by in-breaths--- held as you listen and feel the flavors.
More to come- Linnie

MAGIC at the MET Opera

Once in a season, if you are lucky, it all comes together--the singers, the score, the conductor, the director and set designer, and the audience.
Passover at the opera was just such an alignment. Oh. My. Ah. Ooo.
And who would have guessed it would be the season premier (but 953rd performance at the Met) of La Traviata. Joe Green's sappy score about true love and a consort, an 1880 Pretty Woman without Gere and Roberts.
Honestly, I sat the last half in the overflow room, hearing the commentary on satellite radio and watching on HD wide screen. Ripping, still. The auditorium temperature cooler than the nose-bleed section, and the savvy audience better than the humming tenor sitting next to me the first half in the bleachers.
Catch it---Leonard Slatkin (just marvelous)conducting, Paris sets by Franco Zeffirelli, and memorable James Valenti's debut at the Met as Alfredo.
Usually it is Wagner and James Morris. Tonight it was a French story, sung in Italian, a Romanian sorprano, and a tenor born in New Jersey!
Amazed...love wins.
More to come- Linnie

Mary Queen of Scots-Lineage as Art

This is the room in the Edinburgh Castle where she gave birth to James VI if Scotland, and when here sister Elizabeth I died, he became James I of England. Because of him the Bible was translated into English, King James Version. Peace was finally made between Catholics and Protestants. And everyone began to read.

Loch Loman--Interpreted

Two prisoners in a cell. One condemed to die says he will go home to Scotland(all Scots do when they die, he believes) via the low road, death. The other will live to go home- the high road. And that is the song--

You take the high road and I'll take the low.

And I'll be in Scotland before you...

And that's the song. Worldwide. Even Chinese schools teach this song in their English studies.

Edinburugh--Great Spires

The land is soggy. Barren rocky hills. So look up. That's where man put the beauty. More to come- Linnie

HIGHLANDS-High Tech

On the Isle of Sky, small villages share outrageous scenery and one phone booth.
More to come- Linnie

Huge CHAGALL Free

Two mural-sized paintings grace the Linclon Center Plaza on cloudy days. The curtains are drawn on sunny days. Just inside the Met Opera. Or see them at night from inside the building.
Secret: Russian born French painter, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) visited the Met for the installation in 1966. Unable to face a great white wall in the orchestra rehearsal room, he found scaffolding and painted an explosive impromptu mural, 2 stories high. You have to join the orchestra to see it!
Secret #2: West Side Story was filmed on the proposed Lincoln Center site, delaying the razing of the area for the new construction in the early '60's.
More to come- Linnie

It's the SEASON

Lincoln Center is in full bloom. Opera, Symphony, Chamber Music, Performing Arts Library. Ballet to come. Most of the construction is completed, so get your mid-winter tickets now. It's better than spring skiing! And cheaper, too!
More to come- Linnie

Sweet Jupiter Symphony--$10.00! BEST BARGAIN for Chamber Musc

The world's top young artists clamor to play for you at $10.00 a seat! Intimate concert for 150 folks in an historical church venue--with chairs not pews! Every other Monday at 2 and 7:30 PM half a block from Lincoln Center. We gray hairs like 2 PM. Come early. They sell out now that the NY Times reviewed them.
More to come- Linnie
http://www.jupitersymphony.com/

Practical Art: How Would You Fix My Kitchen?

HELP!
5'x 6' with corner chase; floor space less than 3'x3'. Help! 1/2 fridge, 1950's sink and metal cabinet. Less than $500.00 to spend.
Ideas?
Please comment or send them to me at yorkchessari@aol.com
More to come- Linnie