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As someone who lives and walks this city daily…my blog is all about delving a little deeper, seeing what it has to offer, and capturing the true essence of New York City. Whether you live in Gotham, or just visiting…feel free to look around my blog. Bet you might find something new to do!
P.S. As of the end of April 2013 my more personal postings will now be at The Next Few Years.
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Category Archives: Events
rain room at MoMA
Dancin’ in the rain, but stayin’ dry?
Well…it is possible in the Rain Room at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). A 5,000 square-foot installation with a complex system of motion detectors creating a field of falling water that stops when you walk through, allowing you to stay dry. (Unless of course you decide to run through the exhibit and that’s a different story. So move slowly.)
Only ten people are allowed at a time, so after experiencing it…doubtful if I’d wait hours to experience this exhibit. But, certainly worth the visit if you have the time and the lines are short. Open through July 28th.
The prompt this week for Bella’s 52 Photos Project is waterdrops. Couldn’t think of a better interpretation than some captures from the Rain Room!
Also posted in 52 Photo Projects, Museums
Tagged 52 Photos Project, MoMa, Museum of Modern Art, Rain Room
18 Comments
punk fashion
Punk Fashion is the focus at the Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until August 14th. Even Bergdorf Goodman is getting into the action using their window displays on Fifth Avenue to entice a visit!
jane alexander at st. john the divine
Deep…
Evocative…
Open to spiritual interpretation…
The cathedral setting for Jane Alexander’s exhibit, Surveys – From the Cape of Good Hope, couldn’t be more perfect. What I enjoyed most about the location of her exhibit is getting to see many areas of the cathedral that are normally off limits to the public. In my opinion, The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine’s eeriness and vastness contributes greatly to the drama and mystery of her work.
Jane Alexander, born in Johannesburg, South Africa, is widely known for her sculptures. Inspired by groups of homeless youths orphaned by violence or Aids, Ms. Alexander delivers a potent emotional impact within the individual chapels surrounding the main alter of the cathedral.
A great way to experience art and this incredible cathedral all in one visit. The exhibit runs through July 29th.
cherry walk at the brooklyn botanic garden
Couldn’t resist a little subway ride to Brooklyn to take in a perfect spring day. You must get to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden asap to see the ornamental flowering cherries. It may not be Japan or Washington D.C., but it seems pretty spectacular to me! Click here to get a day-by-day status of each and every tree!
Still in the budding stage, the Cherry Esplanade will be dripping in pink in a couple of days! Hurry! If you can’t make it, check back…I’ll be returning to both Central Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden early next week to see the results of a few warm days here in the city!
Also posted in Local sights, Weather
Tagged Brooklyn, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, central park
8 Comments
opening day at the aipad photography show
OK, so what’s AIPAD? How about The Association of International Photography Art Dealers. The Park Avenue Armory hosted the show, now in its 33rd year. AIPAD is one of the longest running exhibitions of its kind in the world where 80 leading photography galleries showcase contemporary, modern and nineteenth-century photographs.
Always interesting to see up close and personal the work from some of the greatest photographers of all time as well as framing and project ideas.
Work from two photographers that really spoke to me…
Alexey Titarenko – his black & white long-exposures of moving masses of people are filled with moodiness and are ghost-like. (Check out his portfolio of City of Shadows.) And Lauren Semivan – her black & white staged work (specifically Observatory) is unique and dreamlike. Both…amazing artists!
But for the life of me, it was hard to believe some of the prices on these photographs. What makes them so expensive? I can understand if it’s a Henri Cartier-Bresson, but $10,000 for a 16×20 capture of water reflections?
So I decided on the way home to stop at one of the lakes in Central Park and take one similar to what was shown at the show.
I’ve decided to sell this one for half the price of that 16×20. A real bargain!
Going once…going twice? <smile>
Also posted in Photography
Tagged AIPAD, Alexey Titarenko, Lauren Semivan, Park Avenue Armory, photography
8 Comments
unique and oh so very moving…
It always takes me a few days to decompress after spending time with my parents. It weighs heavily on my mind and in my heart when I leave them…
So usually, at least for a few days, I cocoon…unplug…contemplate. And this particular week, back in my city, brought opportunities for even more contemplation, meditation and spiritual connection.
Little things this week…
…like a change in my routine when my eyes close for the night and when they open in the mornings.
I’ve added a ritual to wake up and fall to sleep with thoughts of gratitude. Nothing earth shattering, just giving thanks for the one or two things experienced in my daily activities.
…like finding a very special place in the Ramble in Central Park to sit and meditate.
A place with trickling water and birds and squirrels. A place just for me. A place to go and surrender to nature.
Totally special.
Bigger things…
…like getting tickets to experience the Oktophonie at the Park Avenue Armory on the night of the full moon.
We took off our shoes, dressed in white capes and gathered around a “lunar surface” for 69 minutes of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s composed electronic symphony.
Totally avant-garde.
And a really really big thing…
…like attending the most unique, spiritually moving service at the St. Mark’s Church-in-the Bowery at their 12th annual Good Friday service.
Complete with nationally renowned musicians and performers, the service used blues and gospel music to recreate the Passion story of Jesus. Now let me explain. I am not a religious person. I mean, I grew up in a Christian home. I went to church with my parents until I left home to be on my own. I think of myself as more of a spiritual person. I do believe in higher powers. But today I couldn’t tell you anything about Peter, or Paul or Mary other than I listened to their folk music back in the 70′s. So attending a Good Friday service never entered my mind until I read about this service at St. Mark’s. I mean really, blues music at the second oldest church (1920′s) in Manhattan on a chilly afternoon? How could one go wrong.
There are many many experiences in New York City and a few have made it to my – all time life time favorites – and this one now joins this precious list. So think about three hours filled with dance, poetry readings, meditation, prayer, and music. Soulful, bluesy music. Swayin’ gospel music like you’d hear in the churches of Harlem. “You’ve Got Me Where You Want Me” will forever be a traditional blues song that will be buried deep in my soul. And the ending, the oh so powerful rendition of “Amazing Grace” brought such an intense feeling, complete with streaming tears. The service concluded with silence at which time the bells tolled.
Totally profound.
a new beginning
For the first time ever I celebrated the birth of the new year with the coming of the winter solstice by attending Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice Concert at the Cathedral of St. John Divine in New York City. A contemporary take on ancient solstice rituals; a time to eliminate commercialism, honor the nature around us and say farewell to the old year. I’d never paid much attention to winter (or summer) solstice and my only past encounter had been attending the Inti Raymi Festival in Cuzco, Peru a number of years ago. And honestly at the time, I didn’t appreciate the full meaning behind the event.
As mentioned in a previous post, I’d lost the Christmas spirit over the years along with my New Year’s resolutions that were forgotten by February. The winter solstice experience really spoke to me and brought back the spiritual side for me as well…a rebirth of sorts of hope and goodwill. Researching more about the winter solstice brought awareness of the importance of nature which is why taking a full moon hike upon my return to the Arizona desert was top priority. But before I go there…
A friend of mine (knowing how much I enjoy the full moon – thank you Abby!) shared an app called Mooncast that shows the current phase of the moon and alerts you to the day of the full moon along with day-to-day glances of all the other phases. It even provides reminder notices with the option of having a wolf howl tone on full moon days. So guess what woke me up early my first night back in Arizona? Yep, the howl of the wolf! It scared the shit of of me. The house was so silent it just echoed throughout. A haunting howl interrupting a deep sleep. After figuring out I was in my Arizona home, my first reaction was a coyote is outside my bedroom window. But once I got my wits together, I knew the window couldn’t be open because of the cold weather. But it was so clear and loud, as if beside me. I snuggled under the covers, heart pounding, trying to figure out where the sound could be coming from. Then it dawned on me. A full moon alert from my iPad mini. So that was the start to my full moon day.
So late that evening at 7:00 p.m. I joined a number of other hikers to experience a two hour full moon hike out in the wilds of the Sonoran desert, the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation area. We made our way into the desert canyon softly illuminated by the silver moon. Surrounded by silhouettes of huge saguaros and open ridgelines, the chill of the night made the whole experience magical. The capture above was the best I could do without a tripod, but it will always be a treasure to me and a reminder of a wonderful start to a new beginning.
~~~
Cross-posted this week over at Vision & Verb where women from all over the world
share the written word and wonderful photography! Come visit us!
merry christmas!
Sometimes,
someone can say something so small
that can fit into a big empty space in your heart…
(author unknown)
Thank you for all of your visits and comments this past year!
May you have a wonderful holiday!
Tagged Merry Christmas
16 Comments
a tale of a winter solstice…
Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved Christmas. Her parents emphasized the birth of Christ (as good Christian parents should) as well as weaving in Santa Claus, the Christmas tree and jingle bells. Family meals…church plays and nativity scenes…stove popped popcorn for decorating the tree…baked cookies for Santa’s arrival…Christmas day afternoon at her grandparents’ house (after church of course)…she adored it all. Years went by…she had a home of her own…and slowly the desire to decorate and partake in Christmas began to disappear. You see, so much commercialism had taken over and it all seemed such a chore. And without children around, well… she pretty much lost her Christmas spirit.
But there was New Years! Being a southern girl her mom would often cook black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day in hopes to bring luck and prosperity throughout the year ahead. Then as she grew up there were dinner parties…New Year’s eve overlooking Times Square or at the top of the north tower of the World Trade Center…ringing in the new year in far away places. All with the intent of out with the old and in with the new. A time for change, a time for self-fulfillment. Resolutions made, but rarely kept which soon turned into a time for disappointment. The spirit for even promised changes had disappeared as well. (Now don’t get her wrong. She absolutely loves a good party, regardless of the reason, so that never stopped her from enjoying the beginning of a new year!)
And again this year, no decorations and not much of a Christmas spirit, even though she does plan to spend New Years with friends. (Yeah!) But something changed and she’s blaming it all on Paul Winter. Huh? You see she attended Paul Winter’s winter solstice celebration of music, dance and the return of the sun at the Cathedral of St. John Divine in NYC. A sense of renewal, a rebirth of sorts…of hope and goodwill…a different kind of spirit – the light – had returned to her that night.
The concert began with Paul Winter playing his soprano saxophone stationed in a nook high in the back of the cathedral. The sound carrying across the vastness of the interior of the largest cathedral in the world was eerie, yet evocative. This was only a beginning of a three hour amazing, bone chilling performance. The recorded wolf and whale cries incorporated into Mr. Winter’s pieces sent chills throughout her body. Dramatic musical elements filled the vastness of the cathedral as Mr. Winter took her on a symbolic journey through the longest night of the year. A spiral tree filled with bells, gongs, and chimes appeared, intended to symbolize diversity. The Forces of Nature performed with vigor and emotion. A giant Earth made its way through the aisles, rising above while the musicians lead the audience in a round of wolf howls. Yes, she howled like a wolf! Tears poured down her face. At the end that lost spirit had been found and she left yearning to learn more about the history and symbolism of the winter solstice.
The arrival of winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In the old days as winter approached, people watched the sun sink lower in the sky each day and would fear it would disappear completely and darkness would prevail. To entice the sun’s return, certain rituals were performed…bonfires were built and candles would burn in hopes to ward off the spirits of the dark. Today, winter solstice is a celebration of nature, light and giving. That’s why she’s chosen the word share as her intention for the new beginning….to spread the love, to share her divine light, to practice loving kindness, to lend a helping hand, to share her gifts. And you better believe she’ll be celebrating winter solstice for many years to come.
























