it was sad to hear that 5 pointz was whitewashed a couple of days ago.  i know there are many new yorkers more upset than i am, but after seeing it for the first time in 2010, it was instantly a favorite nyc spot so it's really too bad that it won't be around anymore. 

5 pointz is/was a huge graffiti art center.  the outsides of the buildings served as exhibit spaces and the insides were studio spaces.  sad to see that it's being replaced with residential buildings. i think art like this be covered under historic preservation acts or something!  at least the new building will have dedicated sections featuring graffiti art.

some favorite details are below.

on the bright side, i'm glad i've gotten to see it before it was gone? :)

here are eric, jenn, and lauren at artomatic last year.

artomatic is a large, pop-up, art exhibition that happens every few years somewhere around town.  there are all kinds of works on display: photography, paintings, furniture, sculpture, mixed media, different interactive installations (like the pic above), anything you could think of.  the quality also varies - any artists can set up a show within the space.  the event sells wine and beer and has other entertainment for you as you make your way through the massive building; the year we went there was even a burlesque performance. 

one of our favorite parts of artomatic was a wall of postcards that had people's secrets written on them, anonymously.  the secrets ranged from what seems petty like 'i stole a candy bar when i was 8', to serious, like 'it's my fault this person died', or 'i was raped and never told'.  it was fascinating to read real and meaningful secrets.  and it seems like everyone has one.  you were also invited to add your own secret on one of the many blank postcards provided.

last week i was at an antique shop with eric and came across this book.  i was like, hey this is that guy's stuff we saw at artomatic!  he made a book, let's get it!  well back at the 2004 event, frank warren put up a wall of postcards he had received from anonymous people and it got noticed big-time.  he got a book deal out of it and it looks like there are a few different volumes out there now.

 so the author/artist's original idea was to leave blank postcards around all over the place and see what happened.  the instructions on the card were to write a secret that no one else knows, be as artistic as you like, and send it in finally letting your secret out.  he didn't know if anyone would send one, but it seems that over the past few years he's gotten thousands. 

some of the secrets are funny, some sad, lots of them beautifully illustrated or crafted, but all of them give you a little glimpse into humanity and what we think is shameful, or secretive, or embarrassing.  i read the whole thing at once and it's moving.  you really get the feeling that people are letting go of something that has a hold on them.  it's so personal.

i took pics of a few pages and shared below.  not all of the secrets are sexual, a lot are about self image and insecurities, a lot are about love, guilt, religion, suicide, really anything and everything.  i wonder if he chose to publish a lot that were repeats or common themes to make people feel better that someone else out there shares their secret.

the point of this post is that i was really moved by the book and think people should know about it and check it out.  the project is ongoing, so you too can share your secret by mailing it in to the address of the cover of the book.  you can also see recent secrets on the post secret blog - he puts up new secrets every sunday.

i started working at the national endowment for the arts a couple of weeks ago, and so far i've learned a ton and am really enjoying my work.  aside from the job itself, it's been very novel to be working downtown.  during lunch one day of my first week, i walked to the natural history museum to check out a photography exhibit, oh you know, natural history museum, just during my lunch break :)  i can see the capitol from my building and everyhing is literally a 5 minute walk away.  if you're going to move to dc, you may as well work for the government right in the middle of everything, right?!

this past week we had a very cool field trip to the national gallery of art's east building (modern art).  they have an exhibit going on until october 6th called Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music.  the show tells the story of the original russian ballet under the leadership of Serge Diaghilev.  i knew of the russian ballet and their performance of stravinsky's rite of spring, and i knew they were known for using contemporary music in their shows.  i had absolutely no idea how inclusive they were of music and art contemporaries in their performances, and that they were so forward thinking in all of thier costuming and dance techniques.

just look at the artists that collaborated with diaghilev and the ballet over only ten years: stravinsky, prokofiev, erik satie, debussy, rimsky-korsakov, picasso, matisse, coco chanel (ha!)

^^original rite of spring costumes!^^ (via)

 ^^costumes for the blue train by chanel^^ (via)

^^costume for the song of the nightingale by matisse^^ (via)

a co-worker in my division is friends with one of the curators of this exibit and she met up with us to give us a behind the scenes guided tour.  i loved hearing about everything from the preservation of the original costumes to who decided to paint a big blue wave on the wall of the space.  overall, i have to say they did a beautiful job with the presentation.  if you have any interest at all in the history of dance, ballet, music, theatre, or visual arts (or history in general), i would make sure to check out this exhibit. it's so well done and so entertaining that you don't even realize how much you've learned until you leave.

my favorite video installations were of baryshnikov dancing (i could watch him dance all day long) and rudolph nureyev playing the faun in the afternoon of a faun. (video here)

^^original costume design for the faun by bakst^^ (via)

^^because yes^^

the museum has set up a small, temporary shop right as you exit the exhibit.  i die for museum shops and couldn't resist this little hand-painted turkish bowl. 

loved this exhibit and highly recommend it!

note: any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity.

amarillo was on our route from texas to colorado which meant that i got to check something off of my list that's been on it for quite some time: cadillac ranch! oh boy this was exciting. 

cadillac ranch is an art installation in a huge cow pasture right on i-40.  it's made up of a bunch of half-buried cadillacs that are spray-painted in wild colors by visitors.  it's fun and easy to visit and it's just one more thing to love about texas.

new zealand is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in the world (especially the south island).  months ago, when we were planning this whole thing, we decided that building 24 hour layovers in auckland into our trip both ways would be a great idea.  it would be a great way to see the city a couple of times, get a good flavor, be able to say you've really been there, and whet your palette for another longer trip to the islands.  i mean who goes to new zealand and doesn't visit the hobbit shire? apparently i do, and it's almost unforgivable.  next time...

when we came through a few months ago we decided to focus on ponsonby.  this time around we went for downtown.  i had been wanting to check out the auckland art museum and eric hadn't been downtown in years so he was up for another visit.  well auckland is a 6 or 7 hour flight from perth and i still don't know what the time difference is, but we left at 7pm and arrived at 5am so we were tired and confused.  plus it was the end of our trip and we really just wanted to be home, not spending a tired confused day in a city that we didn't really have a lot of time to invest in.  nevertheless, we got ourselves  motivated and went for it.

after the museum we walked around downtown for a while.

that's when i saw this mexican restaurant and fell in love withe the colors they used.  if we ever get a kitchen, these colors are my plan for it!  i would never think to put that many bold colors all together in one place, but it looks so fun.

this is about the time we decided that we had put in a good effort, but how much are you really enjoying yourselves when you sit down for a minute on a park bench and both of you wake up 20 minutes later wondering where you are?

it was clearly time to get some comfort food and make our way back to the airport.  what's more comforting than pho and bubble tea?  yum.

new zealand has so much more to offer than auckland, which we really enjoyed.   don't worry hobbit shire, we'll make our way back. 

eric and i were invited to a reception following my final concert.  these things are always fun because they're usually held in cool homes with great food and wine.  this one was particularly interesting since the hosts are collectors of all kinds of things.

below i pretend i'm taking pics of eric to actually take pics of the rooms.

^^beth and her mom, dariel, hanging out^^  dariel gifted me the sacred family recipe book as a going away present.... lucky us!!!

perhaps the most interesting collectable was the elephant's foot stool.  not gonna lie, i couldn't eat dessert after seeing this thing.  thankfully we didn't notice it until the end of the night.

apart from the foot, this is one of my favorite dc homes.  it was beautifully curated with with an enormous but eclectic collection of art works, sculptures, carvings, furniture, textiles, i could go on...

we said goodbye to reilly and beth, and moving day was upon us!

on saturday, when the weather was lovely (this cold, sadd, winter hadn't yet arrived), eric and i enjoyed the day listening to music, taking the girls on a bike ride/run, and i finally finished and hung up a diptych i made. 

it was inspired by the one below i saw on sanity fair's blog (who also happens to live in dc).  it's hard to figure out what to put behind or around a tv.  i wish our dresser had less crap on it like hers... but we are a family of 4 living in 600 square feet so....

via

between this and the new bedspread eric's mom got us, i'm really loving our bedroom!