Heather & Anuj Upstate
We enjoyed a short window of peonies this summer, I think mostly because of all the rain we’ve been having. I managed to snap a few pictures of them – only after they’d keeled over, and later on our kitchen table in Harlem.
Next spring, we’ll put stakes in the ground and run garden wire through the bushes so the flowers have some support when they bloom.
Sorry guys.
Almost looks like my wedding bouquet.
Three years ago:
For Valentine’s Day this year, Anuj and I went to the Sol LeWitt wall drawing retrospective at Mass MoCA. The show is massive and exhaustive, occupying multiple floors and tens of thousands of square footage in “Building #7″ – one of Mass MoCA’s historic mills. It took us several hours just to get through it – snapping camera pics along the way and pausing to watch a video of the low-key LeWitt discussing his work.
I find his geometric drawings to be trippy and happy, despite the rigidity of their conception. They are mostly math or formula-based, and include detailed diagrams and instructions for replication and installation. He often invited other artists to install, or draw, his work for him – not because he was too lazy or important to do it himself, but because to him, the Idea was as much the art as the Execution (MassMoCA hired 65 artists to install the retrospective – it took 6 months).
The curators have included LeWitt’s instructions/diagrams next to many of the drawings, which has the effect of not only getting inside his head, but discovering the ’secret’ of each piece. It’s not unusual to see early sketches of a painting on display at a retrospective, but to see an idea go from numbers to colors - from logic to emotion - is really cool.
All photos: massmoca.org.
If you’re in the Berkshires anytime in the next, oh, twenty-four years (it closes in 2033), do stop by Mass MoCA and devote a few hours to this amazing LeWitt retrospective.
heads up: annie selke fabrics are now on sale at Calico Corners until June 30th.
my scramble in slate is now $24.64 a yard (15% off).
other (non-selke) fabrics are up to 50% 0ff so if you’ve been contemplating an upholstery project this summer – take advantage now!
if you hadn’t thought about it, here’s some inspiration:
images: vanguardfurniture.com
I’m back!
I’ve actually been back since Memorial Day weekend, I just haven’t gotten my blog act together until now. But we’ve been busy. While my laptop and I were holed up in our little cabin in the woods, Anuj and his parents spent several days cleaning, weeding, and turning over every flower bed in our yard. And this is no small task. We have rose bushes and hydrangea and peonies and rhododendron and things I will never properly identify in beds all over the yard. And we have weeds. Lots of weeds. For all the hours the in-laws spent yanking the weeds out of the ground, there are countless new ones shaking their dander in our faces.
We also have a new furniture project we’ve been working on for a few weeks, but I’ll wait to reveal that.
The food at MacDowell was yummy. About five pounds too yummy. There was a homemade dessert for every meal, and I’m not one to pass up dessert, especially when it’s got wild Maine blueberries. Now I’m attempting to reverse the trend by getting some exercise (but continuing to eat dessert). Saturday Anuj and I went for a 2-mile run on the roads behind our house. And Sunday we did a small hike at Schor Conservation, 200+ gorgeous acres of Columbia Land Conservancy-owned land in Canaan, NY.
It was our first visit to Schor, a light, 2 1/2 mile walk through the woods, around a pond and up a short but steep hill to reveal stunning views of the Catskills and the Albany cityscape.
The cute pavilion for picnic lunches.
A memorial to the man who bequeathed the land to CLC: Jon Schor.
The view.
I’m still away, but couldn’t wait to get these pictures of architectural photographer Peter Aaron’s Hudson home up.
It’s a two-level, box-shaped house, with a recent kitchen addition off the back. The views of the Catskills are gorgeous, the kitchen cabinets are like an extension of the hardwood floors, and I’m a sucker for a room with bookshelves on all four walls. Even with the brand new kitchen, the whole house has a lived-in, personal feel.
i won’t be able to post for a while, as I’m holed up at this lovely place in my home state of NH:
For some reason I’m finding it difficult to find spring or summer photos of MacDowell, so forgive the off-season shots.
Here’s my writing studio. I saw two deer outside my window this morning. Then I wrote for a few hours, ate my lunch that was delivered in a little basket, and wrote a few hours more.
See you in a few weeks!
