New York’s Museum of Natural History always has one or two special exhibits that require purchase of an extra ticket above the standard price of admission, but that’s because they are worth it. One of the museum’s current special exhibits is called The Nature of Color, and it is just fantastic. The exhibit is immersive and contains many different galleries and rooms. For example, the Red Room highlights how the color red can mean status, power, and fertility while simultaneously representing sports teams, political parties, and religions. The centerpiece of this room is a flowing Red Silk Chiffon and Organza Gown created especially for the The Nature of Color by fashion designer Brandon Maxwell.
Spotted In Stuyvesant Town, East Village NYC (Photo By Gail)
Seasons Beatings, Dear Readers. Is the sending of Christmas / Holiday cards something you enjoy doing? I generally do. I don’t think I’ve missed a year of mailing out dozens of cards to friends and family since I moved to NYC 32 years ago. But this year it’s been difficult to rustle-up the energy to get the card-sending thing together. Confession: that’s mostly due to my lack of access to a printer for creating the address labels, and the fact that my hands don’t work quite as well as they used to for holding a pen for hours on end. Just being serious! Continue reading Holiday Photo Of The Day: Letters For Santa Mailbox→
This Red Bead Necklace (beads and chain links) was crafted from Bakelitecellulose acetate, with a metal clasp, and attributed to an unknown American designer. In the twentieth century, plastic manufacturing transformed the American jewelry industry and allowed for the production of fashionable yet affordable pieces. This chain link and cube bead necklace represents a style that was especially popular during the Depression era and the early 1940s.
Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
Over the course of a seven-decade career in design, Pierre Cardin has released collections that have rocketed so far into the future they were once emblematic of the Space Age. For an example of Cardin’s influence in popular culture, look no further than the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons, where Jane Jetson’s styles look as though they could have been lifted from the designer’s showroom. Continue reading Eye On Design: Red Plastic Bandeau Top and Skirt By Pierre Cardin→
Cuban American Geometrical Abstract painter Carmen Herrera (b. 1915, Havana) waited a very long time to get her hard-earned props from the art world. The artist’s first career retrospective, 2016– 2017Lines Of Sight at New York City’s Whitney Museum finally provided a showcase for her minimalist, color field paintings, alongside a selection of her geometric, monochromatic sculptures — which she simply calls Estructuras (Structures). While it’s disappointing to realize that, at 104 years of age, Carmen Herrera isn’t quite a household name, the NYC-based Public Art Fund is doing its part to expose her works to a wider audience by sponsoring Estructuras Monumentales, Herrera’s first major exhibition of outdoor sculptures, which are currently on view in City Hall Park. This park is a short walk from my office, to so I walked over on my lunch hour to check it out. Continue reading Carmen Herrera Estructuras Monumentales in City Hall Park→
