Happy 4th Birthday!

bklynbiblio turns 4 years old on Wednesday! We are now at 375 posts. Our top 3 tags still remain the same: "New York" (91), "19th-century art" (58), and "gay" (57), with "England" and "photography" just behind. Who knew we would be going this long? Thanks as always to my readers for your ongoing support these past 4 years.

MWA VI: Demuth's Ptown Tower

Any guesses why I've chosen this work as August's Monthly Work of Art? The answer will be revealed soon enough! Until then, here's what the American Wing curatorial staff have to say about the 1920 watercolor by Charles Demuth, After Sir Christopher Wren, in the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: "Demuth spent several summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, located at the tip of Cape Cod and a popular summer destination for artists and writers in the early twentieth century. He painted a number of Provincetown landmarks, including this view of the Center Methodist Episcopal Church. In this watercolor, the church's prominent steeple and spire rise above the surrounding residential architecture. Built in 1860, the church had been designed in a variant of the English Baroque style, which is often associated with the architect Christopher Wren (1632-1723). Certain elements of Demuth's composition are indebted to his knowledge of Cubism and Futurism. Repeated, diagonal "lines of force" break the area of the sky into fragments, and the houses in the foreground seem crystallized from multiple planes; however, the overall effect is legible and cohesive. In demonstrating that he could apply his Precisionist style to more traditional subjects as well as modern industrial ones, Demuth remained a painter of the American scene."

Anna Fahr Video

Some of you will recall, I'm sure, how thrilled I was to announce back in June the art video collaboration I had embarked on with painter Meera Thompson and filmmaker Anna Fahr. Well, Anna has done it again with another short video about painter Phyllis Chillingworth. Whereas I think the video collaboration we did was quite thought-provoking and placed Meera's paintings in a larger artistic, educational, and historical framework, this video about Phyllis's work is more personal and Romantic with its references to nature and her childhood. You'll love it, I'm sure. To see more work by the very talented Anna Fahr, go to her Vimeo site here.

Week-in-my-Life: Aug 2012 (Pt. 2)

THURSDAY 08/09/12

7:30am = breakfast: egg & cheddar sandwich on multi-grain toast with blackberries & coffee

8:30am = more dissertation writing, discover 15 pages written in my introduction (stunned!)

11:00am = head to Maybelle’s Cafe again for Wi-Fi and early lunch, discover it’s completely mobbed with people hoarding all the tables, suddenly disgusted that no one in my neighborhood has consideration for me, so forced to go to Starbucks instead, where I do more digital image research on Buddhist art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection (image above: Head of Buddha, ca. 4th century, Gandhara or modern-day Pakistan)

12:00pm = lunch: chicken tarragon sandwich & iced tea at Starbucks

2:00pm = home with cup of tea, falling asleep on the couch, force myself to wake up with yet another cup of tea with a snack of cherries and a chocolate pudding

3:00pm = therapy with UK (always helpful, never disappointing)

4:30pm = back to working on Buddhist art, finish another PowerPoint lecture with about 65 slides of images for a 3-hour class (huzzah!)

7:00pm = dinner: tortellini stuffed with spinach & cheese in a with a butter/olive oil-peas-tomatoes sauce; Netflix movie = finally finish watching Mirror Mirror (3 stars, and I'm being generous)

FRIDAY 08/10/12

3:55am = alarm goes off so I can do early-morning trip to gym, decide to sleep for just a few more minutes

6:30am = wake up realizing I'm not going to gym for early-morning workout; breakfast: Eggo whole grain waffles with blackberries and tea

10:00am = breakfast #2: cinnamon coffee cake & iced tea at Starbucks

10:30am = at library to use Wi-Fi to pay bills, update files, and go through library books on textiles from India and Mughal decorative arts

1:30pm = lunch: roast beef & cheddar sandwich on whole wheat roll, small bag of Doritos, & cream soda (no judging - I can gorge on bad food sometimes!)

2:00pm = begin the wait for the Time-Warner cable repair man to show up, rest on the couch watching from Netflix first 2 parts of documentary about history of India

3:15pm = first automated phone call notifying me Time-Warner is on their way, but I should confirm just in case

4:00pm = second automated phone call notifying me Time-Warner is on their way, but I should confirm just in case (note: I already received 3 of these calls earlier in the week as well)

5:15pm = another phone call (this time from a live person!) notifying me Time-Warner is on their way

5:45pm = Time-Warner finally shows up (note: appointment time was from 2-4pm), the great drama of my Internet service problems continues, and he even has to climb down the fire escape to check wires in our courtyard

6:45pm = After 2 months of nightmare problems, Internet is working! (huzzah!), begin prayers that it doesn't go out again

8:00pm = dinner: red-leaf salad with chicken tenders, tomatoes, red beans, black olives, cheddar cheese, and honey mustard dressing with water; movie: finish watching parts 2 and all of 3 of The Story of India (5 stars - very interesting, highly recommended)

SATURDAY 08/11/12

8:00am = after letting myself sleep a little later than usual, breakfast: 2 sunny-side-up eggs on multi-grain toast with strawberries and coffee

9:00am = clean bathroom and start dusting, only able to get through task by listening to Kim Sozzi, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj

12:30pm = lunch: leftover tortellini eaten as pasta salad

2:00pm = at library to go through more books on Indian textiles and Mughal decorative arts

3:30pm = gym, almost full workout, 400+ calories burned

5:30pm = starving! snack: mini-cherry pie & iced coffee at Starbucks

6:45pm = meet JM & DC (with his new friend K) at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art for opening of new exhibition Pop-Up Museum of Queer History: Before We Were Queer; network with people we know, drink some free wine, then realize dying of heat stroke and claustrophobia, so rush outside into sticky humidity to breathe

8:15 = dinner: Mexican appetizers and a Corona at Papatzul in SoHo

9:45 = after-dinner glass of Pinot Grigio at Novecento in SoHo

12:00am = Zzzzzzzzz......

Week-in-my-Life: Aug 2012 (Pt. 1)

I know it’s been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I would rectify that by bringing back another one of my random weeks in my life posts, which I last did back in Feb/Mar 2011 (here, here, and here). In some ways it is timely to do this now, as I’ve had a few changes take place in my life. For starters, I’m no longer employed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (bklynbiblio readers may recall this post about one of my work-related digitization projects last Dec.) Circumstances worked out that it was the right time for me to move on to something new, and I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be teaching again starting in Sep. I will be an adjunct lecturer at City College of New York (teaching 19th-Century European Art) and Marymount Manhattan College (teaching a survey of Asian Art). I’m also actively working on my dissertation again. My friend KB and I decided we needed to motivate ourselves by being held accountable to someone, so we are writing weekly updates to one another on our progress. In the spirit of unfolding diurnal events during a random week in my life, here’s what has taken place so far (and in all fairness, I should admit that I've left out mention of the daily dips into Ghirardelli chocolates).

SUNDAY 08/05/12

AA, JM, and I take DC to the beach for his 42nd birthday, specifically Asbury Park where we soak up the sand and surf, probably have few too many cocktails but lots of fun, and wind up at tea dance at Paradise. breakfast #1: tea and cereal; breakfast #2: muffin and iced coffee at Pret a Manger. lunch: pizza and salad. dinner: 5Guys cheeseburger and fries, which we eat during a black-out from a torrential thunderstorm that oddly reminds me of Florida.

MONDAY 08/06/12

9:00am = drop off laundry, then call Time Warner because I still have no Internet service for 2 weeks now, find out I have (yet another) service appointment for Friday, would it not have been nice if someone had told me this before now??!! (begin to secretly plot how to destroy them for their arrogance).

9:30am = breakfast at Maybelle’s Café: bacon, egg & cheddar on brioche and cappuccino. stunned to find entire café filled with people who apparently are all out of work, so uncertain if it’s a good thing that I’m joining them. spend next few hours gathering digital images on early Indus Valley civilizations of Mohenjo-Daro in the Punjab for my lecture.

1:00pm = lunch: turkey & Swiss sandwich on multi-grain break with grapes and walnuts

2:00pm = continue working on same project, successfully finish first PowerPoint for one of my classes, including writing out explanations about things as diverse as the Bhagavad Gita and religious concepts like samsara (huzzah!).

6:30pm = dinner: spinach salad with salmon; Netflix movie: MidsomerMurders: Master Class (4 stars, midlands England, creepy piano teacher, fabulous students getting bumped off...what's not to loved?)

TUESDAY 08/07/12

7:30am = breakfast: pomegranate yogurt, ½ multi-grain bagel with cream cheese, and tea

9:00am = begin dissertation writing with reorganization of material, diving head-first into introduction chapter to justify to myself why I'm slaving away on this bloody thing, amazed to discover 4½ pages written.

12:00pm = lunch: turkey & Swiss sandwich (again), this time with leftover pasta salad; Netflix movie = Mirror Mirror (watch about 20 minutes; so not thrilled with Julia Roberts as a bitchy Queen Mum to Snow White)

2:00pm = off to gym, burn off about 400 calories doing machines and cardio

5:00pm = go to library and do more digital image research, this time on Buddhism and Buddhist art in India and Tibet

7:30pm = dinner: chicken & avocado salad at Pret a Manger

9:00pm = meet academic colleagues DJ and PK from London for professional networking drinks at Lyon’s in Village

WEDNESDAY 08/08/12

8:00am = breakfast: egg & cheddar with multi-grain bread and fruit, cup of coffee

9:00am = more dissertation writing; finish another 5 pages (huzzah some more!)

1:00pm = meet CS3 at the Ferrari dealership/store on Park Avenue (hence the Ferrari logo above), where he insists I show my license and prove to them that I’m actually a Ferrari and one of the distant cousins; despite this humiliation, we have delightful and engaging professional luncheon where we gossip first, then discuss at length electronic publishing, digital image rights, and the world of art books today. lunch: Cuban sandwich with plantain chips, iced tea (thanks for lunch, CS3!).

4:00pm = back to library for more digital image research on Buddhist art, suddenly becoming overwhelmed by the reality of how much work is involved in preparing a lecture to teach!

6:30pm = still at library, suddenly realize I should have left half hour earlier and now will never make it to yoga class (groan!), but then strangely bump into fellow doctoral dissertater SD and catch up for few minutes where we commiserate over the non-existent future of academic careers.

8:00pm = dinner: tomato, red bean, black olive, peas & walnuts salad with Lean Cuisine macaroni & cheese and 2 fried chicken tenders; Netflix movie: continue watching Mirror Mirror, but only get 30 minutes in before catch-up phone calls from the Uncle and SVH.

Stay tuned for more...