Times Square New York City
Thursday, October 20, 2011
New York City is always a hustle bustle place and today was no different. We drove into the city and luckily finally found a place to park that wasn't too far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, our first destination. It was a beautiful day and we saw everything from the Naked Cowboy singing in Times Square to a police officer on horseback to various musicians playing on the street corners. In fact, there was a group that was singing in front of the Met.
New York City is always a hustle bustle place and today was no different. We drove into the city and luckily finally found a place to park that wasn't too far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, our first destination. It was a beautiful day and we saw everything from the Naked Cowboy singing in Times Square to a police officer on horseback to various musicians playing on the street corners. In fact, there was a group that was singing in front of the Met.
Faith Ringgold's 9/11 Peace Story Quilt was the first place we went. This "story" quilt was three panels hung side by side. It was designed in collaboration with New York City students. Reactions to the events of 9/11 are recorded in the words and images from children ages eight through nineteen. The overall message is one of hope and peace with a united world.
The exhibition Arts of Korea/Patchwork Textiles was our next destination. These pieces, some contemporary, were beautiful and fascinating. The stitches were tiny, tiny, and the motifs beautifully executed. Although the name of the exhibition leads you to believe the objects will all be Korean, it also includes textiles from China, and Peru. An Amish quilt from the United States was included to illustrate its similarity to some of the Korean pieces. The interesting question is: how did these both develop in cultures that were not connected?
Unfortunately for us, we didn't have nearly enough time to spend at the Met. However, just being in the building is exciting and intriguing. It is so grand, so busy, so varied in its many offerings. Everywhere you turn is something else more fascinating than the last. When we walked from the Ringgold exhibit to the Korean textile exhibit, we literally went from one end of the museum to the other. In between we went through the ancient near eastern art, the Asian, (last time I was at the Met I hung out there LOVE IT!), and Egyptian galleries. It was absolute torture to have only a few short moments here and there to stop and enjoy these objects. It was all about the parking! We had a parking place on the street about six blocks away. God forbid, we didn't want a ticket! We could have parked in the Met's garage, but thought $15 per hour was outrageous. However, we saw other garages later in the day with rates up to $30 - yes, that is for each and every hour that they mind your auto! That makes my head spin!
The exhibition Arts of Korea/Patchwork Textiles was our next destination. These pieces, some contemporary, were beautiful and fascinating. The stitches were tiny, tiny, and the motifs beautifully executed. Although the name of the exhibition leads you to believe the objects will all be Korean, it also includes textiles from China, and Peru. An Amish quilt from the United States was included to illustrate its similarity to some of the Korean pieces. The interesting question is: how did these both develop in cultures that were not connected?
Unfortunately for us, we didn't have nearly enough time to spend at the Met. However, just being in the building is exciting and intriguing. It is so grand, so busy, so varied in its many offerings. Everywhere you turn is something else more fascinating than the last. When we walked from the Ringgold exhibit to the Korean textile exhibit, we literally went from one end of the museum to the other. In between we went through the ancient near eastern art, the Asian, (last time I was at the Met I hung out there LOVE IT!), and Egyptian galleries. It was absolute torture to have only a few short moments here and there to stop and enjoy these objects. It was all about the parking! We had a parking place on the street about six blocks away. God forbid, we didn't want a ticket! We could have parked in the Met's garage, but thought $15 per hour was outrageous. However, we saw other garages later in the day with rates up to $30 - yes, that is for each and every hour that they mind your auto! That makes my head spin!
Next stop: the garment district. Pam is participating in a civil war reenactment and must find some silk to make a period dress. So she simply had to drag me down to 39th street! What a terrible terrible fate :) Fortunately the parking was not nearly so difficult there. We found lots of parking places in a commercial zone, so we simply parked illegally and just kept an eye on the car in between shops! We had a grand time and Pam found her silk. I was drooling the entire time, of course. I haven't sewn clothes in many, many years, but these glorious fabrics are wonderful inspiration to begin again! Go see a few photos of these fabrics, and lovely trims -- yes, we went to a shop that carried only trims, buttons, and other specialty notions. !!!!
Haiti Cherie Art Quilt
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
This morning was spent double checking the quilts packed to be returned to their owners and moving the boxes and other quilts packed in bags and pillowcases downstairs to the shop vault for safe keeping. That sounds pretty simple, but what a haul! Our shop vault does not have much extra space, and a few of these boxes are really LARGE! I am talking about the quilts that were loaned to us by museums. The quilts were packed in archival boxes and then in shipping boxes. They weren't very heavy, but very awkward indeed.
Then I spent some time with Maureen Smith, the public relations director for NEQM. I introduced her to Web building technology that I think is the best way to go for the time being for their web site. There are many different "brands" of Web building technology, but in the end most of it is just drag and drop to create a site with text, images, and slide shows. It would be really nice if they could have an entire site rebuild by a professional Web designer assisted by a graphic designer. That isn't going to happen in the immediate future, but I have made the suggestion. Perhaps grant money might be the way to get that done. I have also suggested they forge a partnership with the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and see if they can get a couple of interns that specialize in software development/Web design and graphics. That would be very helpful.
This afternoon the curator, Paw Weeks, and I left for our trip to Winterthur, Delaware, where we are going to a needlework conference. Our goal was to drive a few hours out of town towards New York so we could get a jump on our driving. Tomorrow we are headed to New York for the day!
This morning was spent double checking the quilts packed to be returned to their owners and moving the boxes and other quilts packed in bags and pillowcases downstairs to the shop vault for safe keeping. That sounds pretty simple, but what a haul! Our shop vault does not have much extra space, and a few of these boxes are really LARGE! I am talking about the quilts that were loaned to us by museums. The quilts were packed in archival boxes and then in shipping boxes. They weren't very heavy, but very awkward indeed.
Then I spent some time with Maureen Smith, the public relations director for NEQM. I introduced her to Web building technology that I think is the best way to go for the time being for their web site. There are many different "brands" of Web building technology, but in the end most of it is just drag and drop to create a site with text, images, and slide shows. It would be really nice if they could have an entire site rebuild by a professional Web designer assisted by a graphic designer. That isn't going to happen in the immediate future, but I have made the suggestion. Perhaps grant money might be the way to get that done. I have also suggested they forge a partnership with the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and see if they can get a couple of interns that specialize in software development/Web design and graphics. That would be very helpful.
This afternoon the curator, Paw Weeks, and I left for our trip to Winterthur, Delaware, where we are going to a needlework conference. Our goal was to drive a few hours out of town towards New York so we could get a jump on our driving. Tomorrow we are headed to New York for the day!
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