Lovely Book Group

My wonderful book group decided to step away from New York City and meet at one of our member’s  upstate home (thanks Lisa) to cool off and to have a sleep over. We had delicious eats (thanks again Lisa for the yummy pesto and more) and a great discussion of Octavia Butler‘s Lilith’s Brood.

Here’s big shout out to all these lovely women, some of whom have websites giving details about their creative and work pursuits: Lisa Delillo (artists), Dena Mermelstein (film and video editor), Allyson Smith (jewelry designer), Anne Lilly (teacher, drama gal), Caroline Gartner (writer and video producer), and Nnenna Ogwo (pianist and teacher).

Foundation

My pal Drew mentioned he was going to read Isaac Asimov‘s Foundation series so I thought I’d give this seminal work of sci-fi a try. And after reading the three key books–Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation–I can highly recommend them. This recommendation is especially for those in the mood for sci-fi style writing and/or some very good twists and turns. I read later that the first book was originally a series of short stories which explains some of the repeating of key elements.

An Artist and Friend Makes Her Way to NY

This Monday my great pal Regine Mueller-Waldeck makes her way to New York for a six-month stay. She won grant that offers her a studio and a stipend to live in NY. She is making her way from Berlin, but I met her at the HGB (art school) in Leipzig. It was fun to find this description on her work in English online.

Looking for Jewelry as a Gift

A close friend was having a major birthday and I couldn’t think of the right gift. Then I remember how much she loves earrings and how wonderful they look on her with her short black hair. So I was looking around a bit online at some of my favorite shops so I could have a pair sent directly to her. Here are some of my top picks:

I’ve blogged before about the amazing Cog and Pearl shop on 5th Ave in Brooklyn, but I need to mention it again here. In another Brooklyn shop I noticed a beautiful necklace made by Wendy Mink, so I decided to look on her site too. Another designer that coworkers from BAM introduced me to is Jane Diaz, whose silver pieces are classic. And one of my more recent favs and the place where Craig and I found my wedding ring(!) is St. Kilda. The shop also on 5th Ave in Brooklyn is a treasure trove of sharp and delicate beauty. I love its slate gray walls and gold neon script on those walls.

But I ended up picking a pair of earrings on a site that I bookmarked long ago called the silly name of shopbop.com. But they have very pretty jewelry.

Taped Words at Crest Hardware Art Show

Drew and I, under our project name Saint Flashlight, completed a work for the 2nd year in a row for the Crest Hardware Art Show. We originally wanted to place our haikus on the ceiling, but when we arrived at  the store, we noted that the ceiling’s texture would not work with the electrical tape letters. So we looked around the shop for other locations finally discovered a shelf that had a wide front just right for Drew’s red letters. This shelf led right to a glass cabinet where I placed for my black letters. Drew cleverly thought we should pre-make the letters and bring them to the store on wax paper. A plan that went very smoothly!

Here are the complete haikus with mine first, followed by Drew’s:

Pull the tape measure–

And place it around your face.

Do you feel more now?

The hammer goes BAM!
Nails quietly disappear
For the longer job

Getting Married in 2010

It was interesting to think about how Craig and I wanted to announce our marriage with so many methods of communication available. And this was especially the case as we wanted it to be a surprise with a small ceremony at the Manhattan City Hall in May then celebrate with friends and family in September. We decided to get in touch with folks via an old-fashioned postcard to be received as we went on our honeymoon in Paris. While in Paris we wanted to further spread the news, so we posted a key photo on Facebook + updated our status to “married”. It was a wonderful way to hear from friends and family while being far away.

Photos from left to right: me with my pops Alan Gross,  with my husband Craig Howarth, husband and wife on the Brooklyn Bridge,  with pal Deb Magosci, and with pal Drew Pisarra.

The Joy of Side Projects

My best pal Drew and I have been chatting about the joy and importance of work that’s not related to paid work. We both take our jobs very seriously, but often talk about how it’s key not to think and talk about work all the time.

Recently he’s been working on a great project: producing a night of Gertrude Stein that he named “Now Repeat in Steinese”. He’s having four directors (or directorial teams) work on the same Stein piece “White Wine”. So during the evening the audience will see their four versions with white wine also being served. I was proud when Drew asked me to design the postcard announcing the show. I couldn’t have done with without Craig’s advice and photoshop skills. Here’s the piece below. As it states here the project will run every Tuesday in June at Under St. Marks Theatre. Here’s the facebook event page “Now Repeat in Steinese“,

And last year together we created a creative group that we named Saint Flashlight. Our first project was a video piece called Metal Rings that we made for the wonderful Crest Hardware Art Show. For this show one must offer pieces related to hardware. This year we are writing haikus in electrical tape that we’ll place on the Crest Hardware’s ceiling. The show opens June 19.

Spa Castle-A Journey to Flushing Queens

As a special treat my pal Drew and I decided to take a journey to discover the Korean wonderland that is Spa Castle. I had heard about it from a book club pal. We thought we’d see how to reach Flushing, Queens via public transportation knowing it would be quite a journey from Brooklyn.

Our first roadblock was the F. At the moment on the weekends one needs to take a bus to Jay Street-a very slow bus. Then when we finally reached the F train we road it into Queens where it meets up with the 7. Taking the 7 to the end of the line we made it, or so we thought. Spa Castle’s web site mentions a shuttle bus from the train. But coming out of the station to what might be one of the busiest corners of NY, there was no sign of the shuttle. Luckily I knew that bus Q25 also would take us within walking distance of the Spa.

Once we arrived, prepared with our swimming suits, we were given the uniform, which reminded us of Logan’s Run or as Drew said we might be in rehab! Then we entered the spa wonderland with its many many saunas. Two of our favorites were the huge one that was like a sweat lodge and a chilly one with ice walls. When we return, we thought it would be a bit better to go during the week because although it wasn’t too busy that Saturday, there were many school-age teens who liked to chat a lot, a whole lot.

We also reserved massage ahead, as recommended, and we both walked out on air feels like our minds had been massaged too! Upstairs in the two heated pools had blasts of water were hilariously strong and served as a second massage.

Our final conclusion was that it’s well worth a repeat visit, but we’ll need to find a car and take a day off during the week.

Leon Golub at The Drawing Center

I haven’t been to The Drawing Center in a long while. It’s the kind of place I’m always meaning to go to. I meant to see the Ree Morton show late last year, and never made it. I got curious after reading (more here) about this artist who I never heard of and seeing her delicate drawings. After hearing about the Leon Golub show I decided to make it here, as Golub is one of my favorite painters. It was a treat to see his small-scale works which were intimate and sometimes funny. I also greatly enjoyed the video of Golub working on paintings in his studio.

Odds and Ends: Shoes and A Film

I’m posting on two disparate topics that were on my mind this week: pretty shoes for a new dress and a film I want to see–Alain Cavalier’s Le Combat Dan Lile (1962) playing at Film Forum.

I bought a very special dress at Girl Cat on Atlantic Avenue (which carries dresses by Anya Ponorovskaya) with the wonderful aid of my friend Fatima a few weeks ago. Ever since I’ve been trying to find shoes to match, which is especially difficult because I’m not up for wearing high heels. After many trials and tribulations, ok just trials of trying on shoes of all sorts, I think I’ve found them! Fatima suggested red would be good to go with the blue and white dress. She also said to think Jackie O., but all the pumps that I tried on just felt too uncomfortable and not me. I remembered a shoe store called Sacco near Union Square that I thought would have classic, pretty, and comfy shoes. And there I think I found my cute red sandles! (But I haven’t run them by Fatima yet…)

This weekend Craig and I are heading to Film Forum to see Alain Cavalier‘s Le Combat Dan Lile. (This Alain Cavalier link from the Pacific Film Archive gives more info on his life and work.) I noted it in FF’s weekly email and I saw that it stars the wonderful actor Jean-Louis Trintignant. I especially love Trintignant in Romer’s My Night at Maud’s (1969). Then I noted that my former colleague Jake Perlin’s company The Film Desk was the distributor and that added to my desire to see what Jake had picked.