Sunday, May 17, 2009

Southeast Association for Book Arts (SABA) Conference 2009

Last week I was ill (temperature of 102 degrees) so I missed two days of the SABA conference at the University of South Carolina but I was glad to be able to attend the last two days of Daniel Essig's book art class. Daniel is a very gifted artist and a great teacher. 


(click here to enlarge) Samples of Daniel's Essig's book art


(click here to enlarge) Daniel Essig demonstates binding technique to class



(click here to enlarge) Kay Readon hard at work


(click here to enlarge) Mary Beth Boone, Heidi Darr-Hope and Kay Reardon work on book pages

New York, New York!

Anytime is a good time to be in New York, even if it's raining. So even after four straight days of downpours during our trip in May, I was reminded why I love this city so much. It's the energy, it's the history, it's the architecture, it's the people, it's the art (and sometimes what you see looking outside the windows of a museum is equally as artful as anything hanging on the walls!).


(click here to enlarge) MOMA


(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out




(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out



(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out


(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out


(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out


(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out




(click here to enlarge) MOMA, inside out

After spending the day at MOMA and seeing an incredible exhibition titled, Tangled Alphabets: Leon Ferrari and Mira Schendel, I also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art (great postcard exhibition, a pictorial history of our country), the Museum of Art and Design (especially enjoyed the glass exhibition including huge pieces of glass hung as canvases on the walls and of course, it's location looking down over Central Park) and the Cooper Hewitt Museum (as I entered the fashioning felt exhibition in the conservatory I felt like I had entered a divine space). I had planned to visit the Guggenheim but since three floors were closed, I decided instead to tour Carnegie Hall.

 And boy am I glad I did! Hearing the history of the space and it's near demise, I was grateful to be able to sit in the space and imagine Yo-Yo Ma or Itzak Pearlman performing on the grand stage. It seemed so fitting since I was reading The Soloist, the story of Nathaniel Ayers, a Juilliard trained musician who suffers from schizohprenia by Steve Lopez at the time. I hope to attend a performance at Carnegie Hall during our next trip to New York.

I was, however,  able to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre. I went to the box office the day of the show and although it was advertised as "sold out," I was able to purchase a single ticket in the upper balcony. The costume and set design, the dialogue, the score, the performance…all were incredible! 

While in New York we met a couple from Brazil at dinner at a northern Italian restaurant and became instant friends. We've already been communicating with each other since we've returned home and we hope to visit Andre and Fatima in Brazil someday soon.
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Traveling is about visiting new places but it's also about making new friends. During a trip to Los Angelos several years ago, I met a couple, Rosy and Rod, from Australia during a day long bus tour of the city. We also stayed in touch, visited them last year during our trip to Australia and in two weeks, they are coming to South Carolina. I can't wait to see them again and to share our beautiful state with them! It is truly a small world, afterall!



No Problem, Man.

I spent a leisurely week in Jamaica in May with my husband David and was reminded of the beauty of this country and of it's people.

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