Week 10

I went to the Jan De Cock exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. I liked the exhibit not necessarily because the photographs were strong but because of the installation. There were framed pieces staggered throughout the room at the oddest places so that you really had to look closely to take it all in. The photographs were both color and black and white and in each frame there was either one photograph or many staggered just as the frames themselves were. There were also random plywood sculptural modules sticking out of the walls and a large one on the floor. The installation was interesting because once you walk into the room you are really surrounded by the artwork from all angles. I wouldn't recommend going to the museum just to see the show but if you happen to be in the museum it is pretty interesting to stop by and see. 

Week 9

Yesterday I went to a gallery opening at DCKT gallery for a solo show by Josh Azzarella, my Digital Imaging professor this semester. This was the first time I have been to a gallery opening so it was pretty exciting. I have found that a gallery opening is not really the best time to look and take in the artwork but it is more for drinking and talking about the artwork and the artist. Josh takes historical images and removes important features that ultimately alternate history. Its a really strong show and I highly recommend going to see it.

Week 8

At 6:45 this morning I was woken up by a text message from an old teacher, mentor, and friend of mine, Toni Quest (see week 4). Her husband, Mark Abrams, who was battling cancer for some time now passed away yesterday. He was an unbelievable husband, artist, and friend who will be greatly missed.

Week 7

I grew up in Margaretville, a town of only six hundred and fifty people, inside the Catskill Mountain Park. Even though my family has since moved away we still receive the local newspaper The Catskill Mountain News. The headline of the most recent issue was "Margaretville goes to Manhattan" and of course this peaked my interest. It turns out that Parson's, The New School for Design, had rebuilt the town pavilion, and in a town of only six hundred and fifty people, that is a pretty big deal.

Margaretville is built on an ecologically sensitive floodplain of the Delaware River. For years the town has been plagued by terrible floods, recently they have gotten more severe and have been causing more damage. The town pavilion, which has been there for fifty years, has also been damaged in the floods. Since 1998 Parson's Design Workshop has done a non-profit project, and this year rebuilding the Margaretville Pavilion was their project. The project, the workshops largest, and most ambitious to date, was completed by eleven students in only three months. An exhibition featuring the project was held in the Shelia C. Johnson Design Center.

I thought as an exhibition as a whole was really well done. The first thing you see when you enter the gallery is a wall sized photograph of the completed pavilion. On another wall of the gallery there was a week-by-week timeline of what was accomplished throughout the project starting with demolition of the old pavilion in June. In the center of the gallery there was a scale model of the pavilion, complete even with miniature picnic tables. My favorite part of the gallery however was on the last wall there was a video compilation of the day-by-day progress that was completed. This was so touching for me because I have been to the old pavilion and I know the surrounding area so well it just brought back such nostalgia because I have not been back there in so long and I miss it.