Art Archives - Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

This is Part 2 of “Razzle Dazzle NYC Dressed Up in Christmas Lights.” For Part 1, click here.

The various smaller stores along the way of this walk up 5^th Avenue were Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Tiffany’s, and a couple stores whose windows I took photos of but whose names I can’t remember.

Barney’s as usual stuck to simple elegance and their windows were beautiful and bright with frozen ice themes, playful colors or scenes. They had a city that was filled in with super bold color. The “Chilling Winter Brilliance” of frozen huge icicles, a completely frozen purple and blue ice scene, and a work space for an ice sculptor.

I have more photos of shops in the Village and from downtown. I will create more posts in the next week of those. In general it is fun to get out and walk in Manhattan right now and view all there is to see. Many of the lovely, colorful lights I have seen are from small shop windows on the darker side streets. Some homes have lovely decorations, plus I walked by the Christmas tree lot downtown on the edge of Soho and 6^th Avenue and took pictures of their lot and some of their merchandise. I hope you are enjoying these photos and posts and are getting prepared for or celebrating the holidays with friends and family.

Gucci

Tiffany’s

Bergdorf’s

Barney’s

Macy’s

Razzle Dazzle NYC Dressed Up in Christmas Lights

December 15, 2015

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Last night I went up to Rockefeller Center to take pictures of the shop windows like I did last year. The area around the Christmas tree was so inundated with people that it wasn’t appealing to me to stick myself in there like a sardine. I can go back there perhaps this next week at a better time of day or early evening. On the weekends it is particularly crowded right now. Plus last night was Santa-Con in Manhattan so all the people going out to celebrate that were flooding into town. New York is especially lovely with Christmas lights. We normally have lots of lights here but all the extra of the holidays definitely adds to the razzle dazzle look and feel of the holiday season. The glitz and glamour of it all shine super brightly.

The windows at Saks Fifth Avenue had a Winter Palace theme this year. The models looked frozen in time, somewhat tense in certain windows and a few of them were quite spooky looking. In one a frozen model is holding the tablecloth edge from a table that is filled with a holiday spread. She’s poised to pull off that tablecloth at any moment. A few of the windows had a theme like the Frozen Great Wall of China or Paris at the Eiffel Tower. Some of the windows were brighter than others and in general they were very pretty, either brilliant and shiny silver or an electrical, psychedelic deep blue. Last year they had a story-book theme and such bright, lovely colorful windows filled with story-book characters. You can view those here. They also had several Art Deco window themes. As usual the crowds were flocking to see their windows. Some of them had to be viewed close up once you got into the line, at least if you wanted a decent picture of them.

Walking up Fifth Avenue with my friend we saw lots of pretty windows and buildings. The Harry Winston building was particularly beautiful with all the lights they had displayed on its surface. At Bulgari on the corner of 57^th Street and 5^th, there was a beautiful ribbon of lights attached to the corner of the building.

Next we came upon Bergdorf’s, which also usually has some really beautiful windows. Theirs were really glitzy and glamorous. Very bright, deep, electrifying colors. This year they had over-the-top sparkle going on. Last year they had many windows with a book theme. The ladies in some of the windows were covered in sparkles, and one window had a Gypsy fortune teller. Actually last night there was a Gypsy fortune teller seated outside there with her little table right next to the window. She said she “may as well make a go at making some money” since they set up such a window. One of my favorite windows was the more subdued, chic, simple one of a model in the side window dressed in an elegant blue and silver glittery dress, looking oh-so-elegant with her blue fur stole wrapped around her shoulders. To top off her lovely outfit she wore blue drop earrings, a blue feather hat and blue-grey long gloves. They had her surrounded by a gold background. Gorgeous!! The side window opposite that one held two models wearing extremely bright, glittery dresses.

There are so many pictures and I don’t want to overload the post to where the pictures don’t load well. So this is going to be a continued post that invites you to go to the following blog post – like a chapter in a book that gets continued. So if you are enjoying this post please follow me to the next, which I will release immediately.

All of these pictures are of Saks Fifth Avenue

Street Art in Jersey City, NJ

December 5, 2015

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This is a small collection of the street art in Jersey City, NJ. I have barely scratched the surface with these photos. The city is home to many artists and also the home of the first museum that focuses on street art and graffiti. The Mana Museum of Cultural Arts is located at 581 Monmouth Street. I haven’t been to this museum yet, but it shows you that there is no shortage of appreciation of street art in Jersey City. To read more about the museum you can go to: http://www.rsvlts.com/2014/08/19/jersey-city-street-art/

Currently the colorful additions to the character of the neighborhoods assist in selling real estate, rather than hinder it. Many artists move to the area since the prices of living in New York City are so high. Artists come from all over the world to do the murals in the area. Loew’s Jersey Theatre and Art House Productions are among numerous places to see visual and performing arts in Jersey City.

These photos were taken in the Grove Street area. Several of the murals are part of the Savage Habbit program, which features various street artists, both local and internationally known (http://savagehabbit.com/). The program was started by co-founder Inez Gradzki, who “has organized many walls in and around an arts community that has been growing in fits and starts.” (1). The Savage Habbit blog posts regularly about street art in various areas. Some of the murals in these photos may have been part of the Trenton, NJ based Sage coalition. That organization was founded by William Kasso. Their website states, “The S.A.G.E. Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in Trenton NJ dedicated to initiating, planning, and establishing inner-city beautification projects.” (2) Mr. Kasso and designer Graham Apgar created a garden in Trenton, NJ called the “Ghandi Garden.” For more information on that, visit: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/10/sage_coalition_seeks_funding_to_take_trenton_street_art_on_the_road.html

The Grove Street area is home to lots of restaurants, bars, and cafes, as well as a street fair on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It features a farmer’s market, food vendors, vintage vendors and other local artists who make jewelry or other crafts. There is often a band playing music as well. I travel to Jersey City to see Brian Corrigan, my chiropractor, who has an office there. He is more affordable than most chiropractors in NY, plus I think he is a great chiropractor. I have been going to chiropractors for over 30 years so I ought to know by now which ones are really good.

I hope you enjoyed this post about the street art in Jersey City. I will continue to take photos and perhaps do another post of the surrounding area’s street art later on.

Artist above:Li-Hill

Artist above:Pixel Pancho

Artist above:NoseGo

Artist above:LNY

(1). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/savage-habbit-street-art_b_5653230.html

(2) http://sagecoalitionnj.com/about-us/

Thrifted and Trashed Art – Another Man’s Treasure

November 11, 2015

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These framed pictures and household pieces are a few of the thrifted art items I have in my apartment. I am sure many folks have found wonderful art through scrounging around thrift shops or garage sales. I enjoy finding pieces that stir up some sort of memory I treasure. For me one of these pieces conjures up memories of going to the farmers market in Germany as a child. I always enjoyed going there, and waiting for my mother to buy vegetables and whatever else she needed for our household. At that time we lived in the center of town, not far from the opera house, the ice-skating rink and the cemetery where we took long walks. I also used to run off by myself sometimes (it was safe in Germany then for me to be alone) and go quietly spy on the sculpture artist who had a small cabin workshop at the cemetery. Don’t ask why I always hid from him. Perhaps I should have gone and talked to him, told him I liked watching him work. I was only about eight at the time. Anyway that whole area is a space I like to remember and this picture reminds me of it.

The smaller picture reminds me of the area up near the Met museum where there are street vendors selling art and books. This picture’s surroundings aren’t as full and hectic as NY but all the same that is what it reminds me of. I also think it looks very European, which I always like. There is something about the coloring in the picture that I find comforting. It isn’t raining, but the balance hangs between a possibly rainy day and the possibility of the sun coming out brighter. It evokes emotion, I like that. My mother was just talking to me about how grey Germany could be at times when we lived there. Perhaps that is what I am remembering when I see it.

I thrifted the small black hand-painted tray, as well as the small hand-painted plate that I have hanging on the wall. The plate has writing on it that says it is Royal Adams Titian Ware made in England. It also says The Wynbrook, established in 1857. Its cheerful colors have lightened up my room for years and I really enjoy seeing them. Both of these pieces have a lovely, European look and they are delicate little antiques that I treasure.

The Gauguin type painting I found in the street and immediately picked up and carted home years ago. It must have been some college student’s class project and they didn’t want it anymore. I think it is great and I really enjoy it hanging in my living room.

The sculpture I made from fallen wood and little tree cones and moss. These pieces of nature’s fallen parts all came from where my cats that I had years ago are buried. I wanted to take something from nature to remember them by. They are buried deep in the forest up in the mountains in Colorado. I will miss them forever, so this is my memory piece to have near me.

My daughter Emily has been creating a lot of photos of “Trashed Art.” She is making use of the natural environment and opening her vision to the possibilities. These three photos are from her latest collection of photos called “Trashed.”

http://www.hellogoodbyelofi.com/mnamombj0e8ktlpypwrhciii7qww5h

It all comes down to “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” The trash in the street is only trash as long as you intend to see it only that way. There is something wonderful to the concept of waba-sabi. In the book Waba-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, the waba-sabi state of mind is described as “acceptance of the inevitable. Waba-sabi is an aesthetic appreciation of the evanescence of life. The luxuriant tree of summer is now only branches under a winter sky. All that remains of a splendid mansion is a crumbled foundation overgrown with weeds and moss. Waba-sabi images force us to contemplate our own mortality, and they evoke an existential loneliness and tender sadness. They also stir a mingled bittersweet comfort, since we know all existence shares the same fate.” (1) Emily has embraced waba-sabi in her photographs. That is a great thing since not everything is as it seems originally. Looking deeper is often a gift.