Interesting read: An Interview with Richard Wright

I came across this interview a few weeks ago and appreciated the depth of many of Mr. Wright's answers. Here is the entire interview.

No Glass Ceilings: Four Women in the Arts

I haven't written in a while simply because I have not been inspired. I have also been putting together some projects which I will announce in due time. But last night, something happened. I went to a monthly meeting of a group I joined several months ago called "ArtTable." The ArtTable is an association of professional women in the visual arts, founded in NYC but with branches in most major US cities. Last night's meeting was a panel discussion on the brilliant Christo & Jeanne-Claude "Surrounded Islands" installation in Biscayne Bay in 1983. While the work of art was provocative and moving, what was magical for me was to witness four heroines of the early days of the Miami art scene come together to share their amazing experiences with us. The four women were: Paula Harper, Ruth Shack, Helen Kohen, and Margarita Cano (as pictured right to left-note that two women wore hot pink in honor of the installation!).


To give some of you some insight into the event here is how the invitation read:

"Surrounded Islands" was to be a temporary art event, but what transpired during the preparation of the project and what its gorgeous unveiling on Biscayne Bay meant to Miami still reverberates today. The dressing of 11 spoil islands in pink plastic was the catalyst that turned a culturally sleepy town into a vital city, home to art and artists. The panelists for the May ArtTable program, participants and monitors of "Surrounded Islands", will share their memories of the roles played by individual citizens and special interest groups during those contentious days leading to the "live" exhibition portion of their uncommon, common efforts.

Margarita Cano: As head of Art Services at Miami's library system, it was her initiative that gave us the first glimpses of what "Surrounded Islands" might look like when Christo's earliest drawings and sketches of the project were exhibited at Main Library in 1982.

Paula Harper, Ph.D.: Professor of Art History at UM, and the Art Critic at the Miami News during the period under discussion, she is a well-known Christo scholar, familiar with most all the couple's projects about which she has both written and lectured.

Ruth Shack: Recently retired President and CEO of the Dade Community Foundation, she was a Dade County Commissioner from 1976 to 1986, in the "hot seat" during the time the Christo project was the focus of attention from local, state and national governmental friends (she was one) and foes (there were many).

Moderated by Helen L. Kohen. Art Historian, Critic, Consultant to Main Library's Vasari Project [an archive of the visual arts in Miami from 1945 to the present]

I should say that the only thing contrary to my title "No Glass Ceilings" was the brief discussion that at the time of the project, credit was only given to Christo as an artist. His wife and partner, Jeanne-Claude, was president of their corporation, and was the person who made everything happen, but as he was the one behind the drawings, models, etc, he was considered the sole "creator." It was not until 1995, that the couple changed the accreditation of ALL their works to "Christo and Jeanne-Claude," acknowledging that without the logistics, all of their ideas would have remained just that, ideas.
Lastly, I sat next to Dr. Carol Damian, the director of the Frost Museum at FIU, and another pioneer in Miami's art scene. I left inspired by these women, let's just see where that inspiration takes me.

Better late than never....April Food Month

I often like to recommend some of the blogs I enjoy and one of those is Meg Fairfax Fielding's Pigtown Design. She is quite an interesting person who has lived many adventures in Europe and beyond and is Baltimore's greatest fan. Her "real" job, other than maintaining not one but two blogs, is at the oldest orphanage in the US. Due to this day-to-day work with poor, neglected, and often abused children, she is very aware of the hunger issues many children in America experience today. She, and another blogger Chris, then decided to create "April Food Day" so that bloggers across the country and world would raise awareness (and hopefully lots of money) for Feeding America. Happy Easter Season.

Lent 2010 goes on...

Lent is almost coming to a close and I have to say that it has been a somewhat tumultuous one for me on several levels. Even though I promised I would write everyday, the store quickly got turned upside down when we decided to paint the entire locale--including the ceilings. This meant removing EVERYTHING off the walls and covering EVERYTHING underneath. Now that may not sound so bad except that we have literally hundreds of items in our store. The good news is that I think we made a great decision and the store is going to look much bigger with white ceilings than it did with black. It also looks more modern and a little industrial--which is what it was when we bought it--one huge storage warehouse. All this moving around is not conducive to my thoughts, it just gets me going in a thousand directions and when my office is completely out of order-forget it, I simply can't think. I've now moved my office back to a closed room at the opposite end of where I previously was. I had been in this location several years ago when this room doubled as the nursery for Cecilia. I'm happy to be back in this space because it has a window. That might seem like a small commodity but my last office began to feel like a dungeon after years without natural light. I also like that I can close the door. If I need/want some privacy, it is possible!
Then, in the middle of this transition chaos. We went to France. Talk about putting me in the zone. Trains at 6am, walking and working ALL day. Forgetting to have lunch. Finally eating at 3 o'clock. Being exhausted by the time you get to the hotel, only to sleep in a not so comfortable bed that is never like your own.
But yes, at least there was some GREAT food! Foie gras from La Table de Marie, fresh poisson, a few ducks, and not just a few pain au chocolat. When in Paris, you also cannot forget to go to Pierre Herme for the world's best macarons.
In all this madness, I think that the real reasons of the Lenten season got drowned out in my world. Faith is a complicated thing you know. And like all relationships, they take a lot of nurturing. With three kids, a husband, and a job, the things that aren't flashing bright lights are the ones easy to forget. And when you stop struggling, you stop remembering what you believe in, and that is dangerous. Yet, conflicting views come from every corner and I'm too mentally exhausted to sort them out. So this Easter weekend, I pray that my faith becomes a little more tangible again. That I know what to believe.

Enjoying some buying and dancing through Paris

I've been off on a buying trip for the past week and a half...here are a few quick photos from my trip:

Theatre de L'Odeon (right across from our hotel-sorry about the big white truck!)

Crossing the Seine to the Ile des Impressionistes

My favorite Fois Gras Stand

Magret de Canard at Brasserie Fernand (permanent stop on every trip)

Place Saint Sulpice-6eme Arrondissement