Category: Events

Forget Paris!

Posted on by Meryl in Art

Once in awhile you see an art exhibit that changes the way the world looks to you afterwards. This has happened to me twice before: after a show at the ukiyo-e (woodblock print) museum in Tokyo and an Edward Hopper show in San Francisco.

It happened again last night after seeing the show of Roberto Chavez’ work in the beautiful gallery at Santa Rosa Junior College. While I loved all the impressionist art I saw in Paris, after this show, it seemed merely decorative. The work here had a breadth and depth that was more powerful, more moving than anything I saw in France. Some paintings were hard to look at, some lovely, but the vision of the world they convey has added something to my perception of everyday objects.

No catalog or slideshow can really do the work justice; these just serve as reminders of the power of the work itself.  So if you can get there before it closes on December 13, you won’t be sorry.

Choir of angels

Posted on by Meryl in Events

The little hill towns of Provence, with their tile roves and stone streets and buildings can’t help but seem picturesque. The plumbing and electricity may have been frightfully hard to install, and they may be damp and cold in winter, but as you drive through the hills, their charm is irresistible.

20121007-082901.jpgYesterday we visited several. The protocol seems to be that you leave your car somewhere at the bottom and start to climb up cobbled streets and stairs.

20121007-083056.jpg Continue reading “Choir of angels” →

Huichol VW

Posted on by Meryl in Art

It was raining hard our last day in Paris, so instead of wandering around Montmartre, we decided on Musée Quai Brainly. This museum houses primitive art from all over the world. Its design was very controversial–there is a long ramp up with nothing to see, and then you are in dimly lit halls with many small, box-like rooms. But the content of the halls is so stunning that I forgot the strangeness of the museum. Paintings, totems, sculptures, clothing, ornaments…it is all there and all amazing. But one of the most stunning exhibits was right at the entrance, a VW bug covered with Huichol beading. Almost anyone who has seen Mexican crafts has seen little bowls or figurines with thousands of colorful beads pressed into wax. This was a whole car, mirrors, hubcaps and all, decorated with the rivers, serpents and birds of Huichol artisans. 20121006-100524.jpg Continue reading “Huichol VW” →

A Sunday walk

Posted on by Meryl in Events

We decided to head to Inspiration Point for a late afternoon walk yesterday. As we were leaving our street, we saw two tiny fauns and a doe in our neighbor’s yard, right by the car. The fauns were nursing. Though I’m not a huge fan of deer–those ravenous despoilers of gardens!–it was an amazing sight.

Then we walked the couple of paved miles up to the point which was unusually crowded. As we headed back down the trail, a woman coming up asked, “Aren’t you staying to see the eclipse?” Turns out there was a solar eclipse scheduled to occur in half an hour. This explained the crowds. But we didn’t have the requisite dark glasses, so kept on heading back down. As we came along the trail, a couple pointed out to us that where the leaves created a filter, shadows of the eclipse appeared on the asphalt. I didn’t believe it at first; the eclipse had barely started. But the crescent became undeniable as we walked through increasingly delineated moon shadows all the way back.

Continue reading “A Sunday walk” →

The traveling show

Posted on by Meryl in Events

Last year I read at the Falkirk Center in San Rafael with four other poets as part of the Marin Poetry Center’s Summer Traveling Show. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good the event was, and was glad to be part of it. So this year, I’m doing it again:

Thursday
May 17, 2012
7:00 pm

Readers:
Karla Clark
Andrea Freeman
Stephie Mendel
Maggie Morley
Meryl Natchez
Leah Shelleda

Host: Rebecca Foust

Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Street, San Rafael

Okay, so it’s not really in a circus tent. Falkirk is a lovely Victorian with commensurate grounds right in downtown San Rafael. I don’t think I’m reading any pastry poems this year, but will bring something tasty for everyone to eat to go with my poem “In Praise of Fat.” We read for 10 minutes each, and at least last year, it was an intriguing mix, some laughs and some of those sighs a really good poem can elicit. Come hear for yourself.

 

 


More art, inside and out

Posted on by Meryl in Art

At the Met, the permanent collections, the paintings that you just pass by on the way to the “exhibits,” are so compelling. It’s strange to think of people simply strolling by something like Henri Regnault’s giant image of Salome (1870) with eyes too full to notice it, but I’m sure it happens all the time. I like to go see her, though, she’s a stunner.

And outside, it was April in Paris, except NY. The weather was clement, the trees in blossom and the streets full of people in a reasonably good mood.

Here are two quick snaps, the first as I walked through Central Park, the second downtown. Continue reading “More art, inside and out” →

Hype and some heart

Posted on by Meryl in Art

At the Met in NY this week there is a small exhibit of pen and ink drawings by Dürer and others. The exhibit is just three rooms. I liked many by German artists I’d never heard of, like this one from 1549, Behan’s aptly titled Head of a Man Wearing a Hat, Sticking Out His Tongue and Facing Right.

There was another man in a hat, this one “gazing upward” by Martin Schongauer from the 1400s, that I liked, too. And a couple of lovely drawings that had just a hint of color, from the 1500s, by Hans Hoffmann:

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, there were several wonderful Dürer drawings also.  I especially enjoyed his study of six pillows, done when he was 22. You can almost see him working to get the shading right–to use pen and ink on paper to achieve dimensionality. Continue reading “Hype and some heart” →

Bouquets to Art

Posted on by Meryl in Art

For one week in the spring, the De Young Museum is transformed into a unique floral event, one in which florists from the greater Bay Area are invited to represent a piece of art with a floral creation. Florists select their first, second and third choices, but may get a piece they didn’t bargain on–and then they try to capture something of the piece they are assigned with their floral creation.  Some mimic the art, some capture an image, and some just seem to be like a jazz riff.

There’s something magical about the pairing, although the art itself gets short shrift.The floral creations are the focus. And the show is so popular that it’s not a good time to wander the galleries and appreciate the collections. Continue reading “Bouquets to Art” →

Wild and Weegee

Posted on by Meryl in Art

Waiting for the late baby, I had time to notice the streets of Venice. It isn’t really surprising that a city that was originally a pleasure park, with canals crafted after the developer had been to Venice, has it’s wacky aspects.  The slideshow provides a few:

%%wppa%%
%%album=6%%

I also had time to head over to MOCA, and see a rather disappointing show of Weegee, the pseudonym for Arthur Fellig, a photographer who became famous for his raw, artistic crime photography in NY in the 30’s and 40’s.  He came to LA in the 50’s and as the show demonstrates, became rather a caricature of himself, doing lots of trick photography, hobnobbing with the stars, and appearing as a bit player in several films.  There were only a few images from this show that I liked–this tricky one of himself (he was a shameless self-promoter): Continue reading “Wild and Weegee” →