Category Archives: Art

3/12/2020 – Thursday – Karen abandons FotoFest, our pandemic isolation begins

Woke up at 4:15 am to Karen talking to an airline agent to cancel her flight to Houston. She had awakened earlier to read the news that the NBA had cancelled its season and Tom Hanks and his wife were ill with the corona virus in Australia. Seemed embarrassingly late to cancel, but as it turned out later in the day others had also cancelled and ultimately FotoFest cancelled the balance of the event. Too many people from too many places including outside the US, probably China and S. Korea.

Glad she didn’t go. Seems like very much an unnecessary risk. We are in the demographic of those most at risk.

Emily and I talked about cancelling events and programs at the library. Need a policy.

Tennis lesson – started work on a knuckle-ball serve – combo top spin with slice.

The news is filled beginning to end with the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s leadership has so far been more lacking than even his bad earlier performance might suggest. Again busy blaming Obama and the Democrats for the virus. People in his regime refer to the  virus as the Wuhan virus.

2/8/2020 – Saturday – back to Perez Museum, then Delray Beach, incomplete….

Rainy beginning and another breakfast at Burger King.

Then, off to the Perez Museum of  Art to catch the new African American exhibition. Took better pictures Carlos Estevez’ work Permanent Battle….

This explication is clearly wrong….

Rubell Family Museum

lunch at Noa Cafe (2711 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33137)

Drive to Flo’s house in Delray Beach.

Drinks and dinner at home….

2/7/2020 – Miami and visit with David Murphy, Wiener Museum of Decorative Art, Wolfsonian Museum

Friday

Up late. Stopped at Burger King for quick breakfast before driving to the Design District to meet up with David Murphy at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Brief visit there.

Lunch at a place all of us had eaten at before, St. Roch Market. David talked about his new house in Merida Mexico and showed pictures of new pool. Spoke of the separate bedrooms.

Followed with a lengthy visit to de la Cruz Collection next door to the Institute.

David left us and we jumped in the car to go to the Wiener Museum of Decorative Art in Dania Beach about 15 miles north. A palace of kitsch at one level, but sill an interesting visit.

near the ceramics museum….

After a quick stop at the hotel for a glass of wine and snacks, we went off up Washington St. to the Wolfsonian Museum. A real find. Karen insists that we have been there before. I have no memory.

Centrifugal speed controller

Dinner at Cafe Del Mar on Washington Ave.

 

2/1/2020 – Peabody Essex Museum, Linda Larson, Torrey

Saturday

Breakfast with Linda Larson. She was in very good form. Ending her poetry book series and moving on to a memoir. Also spoke about the Naming Project in which her suggestion of renaming schizophrenia as Altered Perception Syndrome is gaining ground. Helped her out after breakfast with some computer problems.

Putnam Square, Cambridge

Off to Salem MA for the Peabody Essex Museum. Main objective was an exhibition of Jacob Lawrence’s American Struggle panels. Not very persuasive.  Other work seen at the Peabody Essex.

Lunch at Turner’s SeafoodsDropped off Esther. Went to another movie in Arlington. Just Mercy.

Mass Ave. Arlington near theatre/

Coffee before the show….

Arrived at Bill and Nancy’s at about 7:30.

Nancy not quite present

8/2/2019 – house, work, tennis, HAL event, drinks

Friday

Saw a do-it-yourself video about a drop down work bench. Remembered there is a 60 x 36 table top in the barn. This will do just fine. Need to get piano hinges and other hardware. Also started adding a new light over door to factory that will come on with a motion detector.

Talked with Seth. Went over to meet with Luca ??, the young guy Seth has doing odd jobs. Chatted with him about plans he has to take a year off from college. Gave him the task of finding some healthcare logistics firms to handle our biometric devices.

Tennis with Ted mid afternoon. Played well. 

In the evening I went to the library for a concert, Music in the Stacks, given by Aston Magna.

The Schubert song cycle Die Schoenberg Mullerin was a forty five minute extravaganza of twenty poems about nature and lost love. Sung by a tenor Frank Kelly who had memorized the whole thing. Here is section of one poem as an example:

Everything was played on period instruments or reproductions of period instruments as in the forte piano.

Janissary bells. A fourth foot pedal actuates these bells.

The natural horn was amazing but also disconcerting with its muffled sound when the hand in the bell was used to change pitch.

 

7/27/2019 – breakfast, shopping, tennis, reception

Saturday

Up early for breakfast at Bob’s. Shopping. Tennis with Ted. Already in high 80s. Cindy Weisbart arrived about 3:30pm. Karen cooked her famous “sesame chicken egg roll in a bowl”

Reception for 5th Annual Group Show – “50 photographs, 50 photographers, one video…” A mob scene. Very hot and stuffy. Paula Tognarelli spoke at some length. Fortunately Karen interrupted her to get an explanation about some malfeasance at another gallery that she was speaking about.

Paula Tognarelli and Steve Gentile

7/12/2019 – work, tooth cleaning, HAL mtg., drinks

Friday

Breakfast at Bob’s followed by shopping. UTMH – write new collateral about billing process, Troy Web telecon. Talk with Matt Almeida. Tooth cleaning. Looks like another tooth in upper left is infected and should be extracted.

Send this note and pictures to Ted and Chad Silver in ref a conversation we had after doubles night on Tuesday.

Subject: Warhol and the Last Supper
Chad and Ted,
Here are some pictures of this work now at The School in Kinderhook. Chad, you are right about the materials.
 
This might be my favorite Last Supper. But I also really like the Tintoretto version. Looks like a bunch of inebriates hanging out.
 

 

HAL Fundraising Committee meeting at Miranda Barry’s house. New member, Charlie Whittingham, experience fundraiser. He dove right in. Theresa Parsons, Gary Sheffer and David Murphy also participated. Charlie will bring some fresh eyes to our issues.

Ellen Feldman arrived for a weekend visit. Ted and Anne came over for our biweekly drink. Lots of talk about Paris since Ellen has just returned from her three month stay there.

7/9/2019 – Karen’s birthday, tennis

Tuesday

The Hostess cupcakes, our traditional birthday cake, seems to be shrinking with each passing year. Maybe the next birthday will require 4.

Skipped morning UTMH meetings. Drove to The School in Kinderhook for a private viewing of the galleries. There was a documentary of 1 hr 20 minutes on Basquiat’s life. We watched 30-40 minutes.

Lunch at Cascades.

Doubles tennis at Total Tennis. Played quite well. But, more important,  for the first time in weeks felt physically energetic and buoyant.