In the mid-80’s my family traveled to NYC to visit my dad’s sister (Kathy) who moved up east after law school. As a 7 year old girl, my first trip to NYC was nothing less than scary. Crime was high…and the trash people were on strike…not a good combination! As we drove to her apartment in the city I remember sliding down in my seat (below the window) “just in case” we were about to be the victim of a drive by shooting. Thankful to be alive by the time we arrived at the stairs of her apartment, the sliding door to the VW Vanagon opened only to reveal...a dead rat! Thank goodness it was my “cool aunt” who lived in NYC; otherwise, New York would’ve been shrouded with nothing but horrible memories.
Though I’ve been back a handful of times since the 80’s, other than a Broadway show, a view from the top of the Empire State building, a trip to the site where the Twin Towers once stood, and some good restaurants, for some reason I can’t really remember how I spent my time in the city...and I'm pretty sure I didn't get a flavor of the art-world.
Recently (maybe within the past 3 years) my appreciation for art has grown. I’m not “artsy” and quite frankly, I don't have a great appreciation for the classical pieces. I came to realize my new found interest in art after some organization in my neighborhood tore out some really pretty landscaping in order to install a really ugly statue a few blocks from my house. The statue truly is an eyesore, however, I love it because it fosters conversation and I believe one of the roles of art is to build community. This particular statue is right outside a Starbucks and shortly after the installation, I often found myself sharing opinions of the statue with random Starbucks patrons.
Why did I share all that?!? Well, for my 30th birthday, my Aunt Kathy invited me to visit her and her family up East so I could knock a few things off my list. Not wanting to take advantage of such a great gift, I decided to complete two items on my list. Since you’re reading this blog, it’s probably pretty obvious I wanted to explore the art of NYC. What you don't know is Kathy and her family are avid skiers so I also told her I wanted to spend some time in the mountains of VT learning how to snowboard (that will be another entry).
Kathy planned a perfect trip! We stayed with her friend’s Clinton and Joe. They have a lovely apartment in the Upper East Side; I couldn’t have asked for better accommodations. The weather was great, which gave us an opportunity to do a lot of walking and the itinerary was perfectly packed and diverse. Because we did so much, I’ll give the cliff-notes version of the trip (at least I'll try):
Tuesday: The Frick and Guggenheim
The Frick museum is the home of Henry Frick who was basically a really rich and successful guy in the coal industry who had an appreciation for art. After his daughters death (in the 1980’s), his home and art collection opened to the public. The Frick is filled with a variety of classical pieces: Vermeer’s, Rembrandt’s, statues, various textiles, all in the setting of an amazing home with pretty gardens.
I think the Guggenheim was my favorite. The architecture was unique and modern. Upon entering the Guggenheim you find yourself at the bottom of a long spiral ramp. As you go up the ramp, you can stop off at different floors to view various exhibits. Usually, artwork is placed along the walls of the ramp, however when we visited in March the walls were blank due to Tino Sehgal’s exhibit, “This Progress”. Sehgal is a conceptual artist, and “This Progress” was an interactive. Instead of the museum goers simply viewing a piece of art he or she is led up the spiral ramp by four individuals in order of increasing age.
A 10 yr old boy greeted us with the question, “What is progress?”. We walked up the ramp with him for a few minutes defining “progress” until the boy “disappeared” around the corner and we now found ourselves talking and walking with a 19 year girl attending NYU. She spent a few minutes telling us how she feels society pressures young adults to make certain choices (i.e. career, lifestyle, etc.). Honestly, we found her whiny and difficult to follow. Next we were greeted by a woman in her early 30’s. We talked with her about “ageism” in the United States. As you may’ve guessed, the next person we met was in his late 70’s. He shared stories from his life about how doing things that are a little uncomfortable grew him as a person and allowed him to see things from a different perspective. At this point, we had progressed from the bottom of the ramp to the top and as a result, we too saw things from a different perspective. I would’ve enjoyed going through the exhibit again, but unfortunately, we arrived at the Guggenheim later than expected so time didn’t allow us to go through again. The NY Times had a great article online, the best summary is: “actors (‘interpreters’) accost the viewer in ways that, depending upon who she is and what she thinks about conceptual art, may leave her confused, annoyed, or more exhilarated than by anything she has encountered inside a museum in years.” I left the exhibit feeling the latter… :) http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/03/22/100322ta_talk_collins#ixzz0k3TR6GXm
After the Guggenheim we headed to LeCaprice for dinner and the Blue Note Jazz Club for some post-dinner entertainment.
Day Two: The Day of Personalized Art Tours plus some laughs...
The day began with a tour and lunch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I could write a lot about the Met, but the best thing was our tour guide was Kathy’s friend Clinton who is a Docent at the Met.
After lunch, we headed to Chelsea which was the neighborhood where Kathy’s friend was showing her personal work. This was the smallest art venue we visited, but it was a nice change from the “impersonal” museum feel. Kathy’s friend Claudia is very talented and I really enjoyed talking with her. Talking with the artist gave a different appreciation for her art. www.claudiacron.com is her website if you want to view any of her artwork.
That evening, we met my cousin John and his girlfriend for Sushi and a comedy show. John is my dad’s cousin’s son…so I think that makes him my third cousin. I hadn’t seen John in close to 20 years, so it was fun to catch up. I mentioned this in my South Africa blog, but one thing I really appreciate about traveling is how it can make the world can seem both larger and smaller. There was something uniquely comfortable and fun about having dinner, with my 3rd cousin and aunt in the middle of NYC.
Day Three: Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Spa, & Broadway.
Though MOMA was my 2nd favorite museum…it was by far my favorite meal! Here I learned something new (and experienced) “amuse-bouche”. It’s a French term that basically means “something pleasing for your mouth”. Bouche is French for mouth and amuse is…well…it’s amuse. The amuse-bouche is a bite-size hors d’oeuvre…it’s like a special surprise from the chef. Between the amuse-bouche, spontaneous glasses of lunchtime wine, amazing entrées (I had the duck, and Kathy had the foie gras which was "muy delicioso"), dessert sampler, and classy museum atmosphere…this was by far one of the best meals…which was then followed by massages at Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Spa….which was then followed by surprise makeovers. Definitely a girly day. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner and the Broadway show “Billy Elliot”, the story of a boy who drops out of boxing classes so he can enroll in ballet…that didn’t go over so well with lil’ Billy’s dad but as is the case with most musicals…everything worked out get in the end (sorry for the spoiler). Not only was this a great day because of the fun things we did, but it was also a great day of conversation and just hanging out with my Aunt Kathy who I really haven’t “hung out” with one on one since I’ve been a little girl.
For the most part, that’s the summary of my trip to NYC. The next morning, we left to pick up my cousin Alec and headed to Vermont for some time on the mountain…where I “learned” to snowboard. (Quotes are very intentional). Stay tuned for Part II…you know you wanna… :)
