Day Trip to NYC...short but sweet

Went with a couple of friends to see the Mary Cassatt Print show at the NYC Public Library...wonderful!

My scholarly side...!

The Library building is breathtaking!

Jennifer and Eliza with one of the iconic NYC Library lions

Then we hit the Frick to see the Piero della Francesca show..superb!

We went indie with our coffee break...this tiny little Mexican Coffee shop featured coffee-n-empanadas!

Displayed prominently...not very confidence inspiring!

Great light on the drive home!

Home sweet home! A great day!

All Over NYC!

Paul and NB on the High Line in Chelsea

Paul and I took a breakneck day trip to NYC earlier in the week, combining business, pleasure and even family!  We started off in Soho where Paul made a flying visit to some clients while I went to the Lee Friedlander show at at Janet Borden:

Lee Friedlander

Lunch and a few more galleries, nothing too memorable, then off to Chelsea where I had been strongly advised by more than one of my teachers to see the Michaël Borremans show at David Zwirner. It was impressive and I am glad I managed to catch it before it closed. I am still trying to work out why several people whom I respect thought of my work in connection to this work..there definitely is some similarity in our impulse, but it's somewhat "submerged" in the presentation. This needs pondering!

In front of Borremans' "The Loan." My dressing to coordinate was unintentional!

While in Chelsea we strolled on the High Line, something that is becoming a tradition.  We always enjoy the city sights, and the people watching (as usual, a large percentage of French and German speakers) and the beautiful landscaping of the line (cityscaping?)

Birdhouses and feeders in heavy use

Great light!

Walking around Chelsea we also caught some street art, like this choice little interactive project, Hope:

Hope, Chelsea, NYC, 12/11

I don't know who did it but it was simply and beautifully executed and a pleasure to participate in. It also fostered communication as several people encountering it at the same time necessarily spoke a bit, expressing astonishment and interest, sharing pens etc. I always like public art that breaks down barriers between people, however fleetingly.

Adding Hopes to the collection.

We saw some other excellent art in galleries, and then headed over to the New York Times building where we had an appointment to meet Paul's editor. It's quite an interestingly designed building, done by Renzo Piano, lots of vistas and strong colors, and we spent a pleasant hour talking and drinking tea in the beautiful Times employee cafeteria, Paul and Loren kicking around some of Paul's ideas and me quietly taking it all in.

New York Times Employee Cafeteria Photo credit: Fred R. Conrad

This would have been enough to fill up my dance card satisfactorily but wait there's more!  Paul had also arranged for us to rendezvous with a relative of his whom he only recently met, who works at Christie's. He thought I would like her (and he was right!)  We waltzed right in to Christie's, past all the security... turned out this was  something of an unintentional Ninja move because it was one of the nights of the Elizabeth Taylor auction and admission was limited and security was tight. We did get stopped at some point, but courteously, and we then waited for our relative in very glamorous Christie surroundings, and perused a fascinating digital databank of auction images. 

(I have to admit, I am not very interested in jewelry so the Taylor Collection was somewhat wasted on me!)  Once our relation, Deborah Bell, arrived downstairs we whirled off, crossing through the jolly crowds at Rockefeller Center and ended up in The Modern, which is part of MOMA. I was thrilled to see an enormous and shockingly beautiful piece MOMA commissioned from Mickalene Thomas still on display right where we were entering (it's only up temporarily so what incredible luck!)

"Le dejeuner sur l'herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires" by Mickalene Thomas

A huge crush of people filled the bar/restaurant almost to bursting, in pre-holiday fervor, and we spent a very enjoyable if all too brief time getting to know our newfound cousin a little better (she's wonderful!) and making plans to meet again post-holidays, before dashing off to catch our train home. 

What a day! Didn't feel tired at the time, it was all very energizing, but I noticed at the end of the next day's various duties and work efforts, my boyfriend Paul and I were both drooping. Well worth it!

BRIGHT LIGHTS...
big city,
went to my baby's head...
~Jimmy Reed

Last week in Chelsea.

Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890–1964)
Still Life (Natura morta), 1956
Oil on canvas; 9 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. (25.2 x 35.2 cm)
Yale University Art Gallery

MORANDI at the MET
Just back tonight from seeing the Giorgio Morandi exhibit at the Met. The show had a curiously dim, unassuming air, consistent with Morandi's reputation as a modest (and dusty) man, but in many ways the exhibit absolutely exceeded my expectations. At one point I became aware that I was faintly whimpering with some barely suppressed emotion...and I only realized it because some other show-goer gave me an alarmed look and stepped away smartly! ;-) Oh well. I wandered through the show several times (eventually the friends I was with got bored and went on ahead to lunch) and I would have happily stayed longer.

But we were due in Chelsea to drop off some paintings for the December group show at Sherry French Gallery. I felt a little dizzy later, sitting in Sherry's, discussing show cards and inventory numbers...as though I had just sledded top speed down a high mountain.



Nancy Bea Miller, Creamer, Cake, Coffee, 2008,
oil on canvas laid to board, 9 x 12 inches

WHAT ON EARTH
am I doing to these paintings? I am placing them in the sun to speed up the drying process a little. Not really the greatest technique in the world but needs must when the devil drives. Or in other words...I have two imminent show deadlines and simply no time to waste sitting about watching paint dry! How do I get myself into these deadline crunches I have no idea but thank goodness for sunny weather!

The two deadlines are for a small one-person show in Philadelphia:

New Work
September 3 to September 28, 2008
Artists' House Gallery
57 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 923-8440
http://www.artistshouse.com

and a group show in New York City:

Mainly Maine
September 3rd thru 27th, 2008
Sherry French Gallery
601 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001-1101
212-647-8867
http://www.sherryfrenchgallery.com

STOOP SALE
Saw this scene on our way home from my opening in Chelsea on Saturday. We were briefly stuck in traffic (I think there was a Puerto Rico Day parade?) which made Paul mutter but I was secretly happy as I had the chance to roll down my window and take a few shots of this scene before the cop waved us through. I thought it was strangely appropriate that the vendor was holding onto a painting. It is Chelsea after all, and so even the sidewalk junk peddlers have to get into the art market act!

MINIMALIST BERRY
Minimalism is the theme today at Photo Friday and I thought I'd join in. It's been a while since I last participated. I've been very busy preparing for my one person show in New York: it is called Still Moments and it opens next week on June 7th. (If you're in New York then, please stop by the Sherry French Gallery and say Hi!) I finally got the paintings delivered a few days ago, and feel like I can finally catch my breath and relax a little for the first time in months.

I took this photo of a still-life set-up I was working on, afraid that the berry would rot before I finished the painting and I wouldn't be able to find a stand-in. However, I got the painting done before that happened, and was wondering what to do with the shot. Thank you Illustration Friday!

THE QUEUE

In the dark, we wait-
standing among strangers, all
trying to get home

STOREFRONT STUDY

By and large books are mankind's best invention.

-Ursula K. LeGuin

NEW YORK CITY NIGHT

Horns and sirens sing
flocks of people surge past-
lights pulse in the dark

*********************************************

Just back from New York. As usual after such a day I am tired but at the same time fizzing with impressions, feelings, ideas, dusted with residual energy from a city that never sleeps....

Well, so much for that. I'm off to bed now.

EVENING GLOW ON THE HUDSON RIVER

I, the merest speck,
peer through a small glass eye, see
the large world glowing.

Yesterday was the artist's reception for a show I am currently in at Sherry French Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. A beautiful day and here is the stunning view from the gallery's windows. For more info on that show, click here.