Floor to Ceiling Blackness: Kerry James Marshall @ The MET Bruer

Mastry, a retrospective of works of art by Kerry James Marshall, features more than 75 paintings and photographs. Marshall's work depicts men and women painted in various shades of black (Marshall has created seven separate tones).  Vibrant color and gold glitter enhance the beauty and power of his subjects.  During our recent visit to the exhibit, Chloe pointed out that many of the paintings almost look 3-D, owing to Marshall's skill at creating the illusion of depth in his work.  

Marshall's paintings tell the story of blacks in America, focusing on less well known aspects of that history:  instead of depicting cotton fields, he focuses on slave rebellion.  Instead of painting overt racial violence he illustrates restrictive housing covenants.  His work shows the private and public spaces in which blacks operate where whites exist on the periphery, if at all.  Ironically, there were very few people of color at the exhibit on the Sunday Chloe, my mother, and I visited.   Stepping off the elevator and being greeted with floor to ceiling blackness is worth the price of the ticket.  Go see it!

Kerry James Marshall: Mastry

The MET Breuer

October 25th-January 29th 2017

Oh, The Places You'll Go (For Free)

If left to my own devices, I would probably spend my summer vacation in bed watching reality television and then feeling guilty about it.  Because my natural tendency is to be an introvert, I have to be proactive about contacting friends and planning activities so that my days off feel productive.  Below are a few of the free or low cost things that I have been enjoying.

The MET Roof Garden Cafe and Martini Bar:

Technically, the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn't free unless you have an IDNYC card.  Luckily, entrance into the museum is a "donation" of your choosing.  This year's installation, Cornelia Parker's PsychoBarn, is inspired by Norman Bates' home in the1960 film Psycho.  The 30 foot exhibit is striking, but the real appeal of the Roof Garden is the view and the deliciously strong cocktails.  James, Kyle, and I celebrated the beginning of summer by rediscovering the joys of day drinking, while Chloe took advantage of the rare opportunity to have a Coke. 

Summer Exhibits @ The Studio Museum in Harlem: 

Chloe is more into performance art than visual art, but I drag her along to the exhibits at The Studio Museum with me anyway. She is good company and I use the museum as an opportunity to work on her communication and critical thinking skills. As we take in the exhibits I ask her questions like: 

• Why do you think the artist made this choice? 
• What painting do you like best? 
• What does this remind you of? 

Alma Thomas's collection of vibrant mosaics is perfect for summer; the light and the color serve as excellent art therapy after the depressing news week.  Also check out Artist in Residence Jordan Casteel's portraits of men who work along 125th Street.  The Studio Museum is open Thursday- Sunday, and it is free on Sundays.

Macbeth @ The Classical Theater of Harlem:

Sometimes I feel like I am the only English teacher in America who isn't into Shakespeare, but I jumped at the chance to see Macbeth in Marcus Garvey Park with Jackie.  The drumming, dancing, and fabulous costumes held my attention and enhanced my understanding of the play.  Watching a performance under the stars with lightening bugs twinkling in the sky was a beautiful experience.  Bring insect repellent for the mosquitos and a pillow.  A bottle of wine wouldn't hurt either! Macbeth is playing  July 8- 31st. Tuesday - Sunday the show begins at 8pm and on Friday it begins at 8:30.

Orchard Beach:

For the record, I am not a beach person but Chloe is and she has found a kindred spirit in RM (who insisted that I add Orchard Beach to this post).  Orchard Beach was known as "The Riviera of New York" when it was created in the 1930's on top of a landfill using sand brought in on barges.  Interestingly, the beach is near where Anne Hutchinson was killed by Native Americans after being chased out of the Masssschsets colony in 1638.  Orchard Beach is around 30 minutes from Harlem, and it is clean and well staffed by lifeguards.  There is a family atmosphere (tell your child that the person selling "nutcrackers" is  selling toys) and people are friendly.  Get there early so that you can stake out a spot and try the chicken empanadas sold at the concession stand.  

Mali at the Met

In and Out of The Studio: Photographic Portraits from West Africa is a new exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that seeks to highlight the tradition of photography in West Africa.  Beginning as early as the 1840's, elites hired photographers to take portraits as a means of both constructing and sharing their identities.

Too bad the exhibit was all the way in a back corner mezzanine of the museum, and I got more lost than usual trying to find it.  Considering the subject, I expected something grander.  What was missing here was visual representations of the historical and cultural context of the photographs.

On a positive note, I enjoyed seeing the glass negatives from the 20th century, and the photographs of the mixed race families in Saint-Louis, Senegal.  In and Out of The Studio runs until January 3rd.

Watch a video on featured photographer Malik Sidibé below:

IDNYC Obsessed!

After waiting by the mailbox for over a month, I’m finally taking advantage of my IDNYC card.  I have already applied for membership at The Brooklyn Museum, The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and The Studio Museum in Harlem.  Today after Chloe’s dental appointment (no cavities!) we walked across the park and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   We skipped the long line of people waiting to make the “suggested donation” of $25 and walked right up to The Membership Desk.  We got our card right away (no temporary card, or waiting for membership materials that take weeks to arrive). Since there is no cost for children under 12, Chloe and I got into the museum for free!  

Since I love African-American art, our first stop was the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art to see Aaron Douglas’s painting “Let My People Go,” which was recently acquired by the MET.  

"Let My People Go," Aaron Douglas 

Next, Chloe and I headed to the Rooftop Garden to see this year’s comission by Pierre Huyghe.  I didn’t think that the installation was as interesting as in years past, but Chloe was enthralled.  The focal point of the exhibit is a large fish-tank like structure with a rock and several small creatures inside of it.  The glass of the tank periodically becomes frosted and opaque which surprised and delighted her.

For lunch, we shared a delicious turkey sandwich with cheddar cheese, apple, and spicy mustard.  There is a Rooftop Bar that offers virgin ($6) and alcoholic ($15) cocktails.  I had an Aqueduct which was a combination of Watermelon, Ginger, and Lime.  I look forward to trying the Cypress, which is described as a blend of Blackberry, Lime-Shrub, and Pomegranate, and the  Anubis, which is Jasmine Tea, Lemongrass, and Mint.  There is also a selection of wine and beer.  I should have asked if there was a member discount at the bar!

If You Haven't Had a Drink on the Roof of the Met You're Missing Out

The view from the rooftop garden at the MET

Chloe spent a wonderful four weeks attending camp at Harlem School of the Arts, but with a month of Summer left before school starts we are having fun playing tourists in our city.  The highlight of this week was definitely visiting the rooftop installation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We skipped paying the recommended donation of twenty-five dollars, and instead paid the student rate of $12.00.  Of course Chloe called me out at the cash-register loudly asking, "Mommy, you're a student?? How are you a student?? I thought that I was a student!!" I calmly explained that I was a student of life, pasted a smile on my face, and kept right on moving.

Our first stop was the Ancient Egyptian Collection; Chloe was excited but claimed that she knew all that she needed to know about Egypt because she had seen Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" music video.  Who taught this 6 year old child how to use Google??  (As an aside, Chloe insisted on going to the pool this week.  I told her that her father would have to take her, so she called and asked him.  He told her that he didn't know if he could go because he didn't have water shoes to wear in the pool.  This child went to her grandmother's laptop and typed  "where do they sell swim shoos?" into Google and found a store that was selling them.  Needless to say, she got herself to the pool that day).

This poor child has to take so many pictures!

After visiting The Temple of Dendur we took a crowded elevator up to the fifth floor and exited into another, equally fabulous world.  The first thing that I noticed was that the ground of the entire space was covered in squishy artificial grass (that and the line for cocktails was long).   It was as if the rooftop had transformed itself into a garden, but wanted to make it clear that it was not a park.  Note to parents: don't let your kids run around screaming at The Met, even if you are on the roof.

The Rooftop Commission entitled "Hedge Two-Way Mirror Walkabout" is much more beautiful and impressive than it looks online.  The glass structure reflects the images of the skyline and the diverse group of people visiting it.  Visitors can see their image reflecting back at them, as well as the images of those on the other side of the glass.  See below:

As I watched people take selfies I thought about how the exhibit can be seen as a reflection on our camera phone culture.  The selfie is an effort to control your own image: you are taking a picture of yourself while watching yourself take a picture of yourself.  With a selfie, you don't have to worry about amateur photographers who don't know better than holding your iPhone at chest level, or snapping the picture before the image has focused leaving you a blurry mess. Interestingly, photographs taken in parts of the exhibit yield distorted, but interesting images.  Unfortunately, I didn't get far enough in my thought process to uncover the larger significance of this fact.  I was too busy drinking my overpriced (but yummy) lemonade/tequila cocktail and enjoying the view.  The exhibit runs through November 2; visit before this beautiful weather ends!

Obviously, not a selfie but we got lucky with this photographer!