Afternoon in Ithaca

 

Herbert Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell, Ithaca, New York

Today, we have a late afternoon appointment in Ithaca, New York, and luckily we have a terrific sunny day to drive in and onto the Cornell University campus.  I have some of my father's ( Arthur Singer 1917-1990 ) artwork to donate to The Laboratory of Ornithology and we can go and see the new additions to their building in Sapsucker Woods.

I did my graduate work ( MFA ) at Cornell and in 1973 watched out my window, as the Johnson Museum was being built. The museum was designed by I.M. Pei and it now houses an international collection - many of the pieces have been donated over the years and it is really outstanding.

Schools of Art & Architecture on Cornell's campus

Since we were early , we stop to see the Herbert Johnson Museum and look over exhibitions that are on view.  School is in session and parking is a bit difficult, but we manage.  Once inside we can see some interesting things in store for us.. On the lower level the curators were mounting a show with paintings still in their cradles and are yet to be hung.  we go downstairs to view the artwork by Suzi Ferrer, who was a student at Cornell ( BFA - 1962 ).  Suzi ( 1940-2006 ) was something of an avant-garde artist when she was living in Puerto Rico after she graduated.  A number of her pieces that we saw were ink drawings on plexiglass - they are free standing and set up like an altar-piece.

Suzi Ferrer's Altar-piece

Suzi Ferrer's "Self Portrait"

Suzi Ferrer will challenge you- she is an art activist, and her work will not go out of its way to ingratiate you.  The technique she employs to draw on plexiglass does not leave much room for  correcting or re-working an area - it is not a method that allows for adjustment.  Her pieces make a statement!

Suzi Ferrer and her "Fight of the Century"

Sigmund Vs. Wonder Woman

Ink on plexiglass

Looking over the art of Suzi Ferrer you see that she used her skills to question notions about what it is like to be a working woman during the second wave of feminism.  There is a bit of a struggle going on in each piece that reminds one of a cartoon in a very graphic sense.  Drawing is her thing!

We  continue our review of the Johnson Museum on the fifth floor and take in the arts of Asia.  I found a lovely screen painting of cranes on the upper level where you can also get a great view of Ithaca from the giant windows on the west side of the museum.

Ithaca and Lake Cayuga panorama 

"Landscape with cranes", from Japan, late 19th century

In the arts of Asia you can find many kinds of sculptural objects, some have a practical effect and others maybe more devotional.  I liked the ambition of the big screen painting above, and also found the ceramic objects quite beautiful.  The piece below also had a real peaceful effect  as did many of the objects in the Asian collections.

A wide variety of devotional pieces on view at The Johnson Museum

On the floors below one can find paintings from Europe, and a whole wall of landscapes mainly from19th century American artists.  I did find a  strong  figurative work by El Greco, and it looks like it might be a study for an even larger canvas ( see below )..

El Greco portrait of Saint James circa 1610-1614

American landscape artists mostly 19th Century

We really like Ithaca, but we don't want to be late for our appointment, so off we go to Sapsucker Woods and deliver the two paintings that we promised to The Laboratory of Ornithology.  If you care about birds, this is the place to see...not only for their interesting collections but also because they have a wonderful nature walk and we had the good  fortune of a beautiful day!

The LAB has new section of their visitor center devoted to all aspects of bird life.  Here is a section of their new attraction ( see below )...

Laboratory of Ornithology, Visitor Center engagement space

At The LAB there is a wonderful wall mural by Jane Kim, who was a guest speaker for my class when I was teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology.  Her wall work  features birds against a backdrop of the continents, and it gives you some ideas about how bird species are spread around the globe.

A segment of a Wall Mural by Jane Kim

So we had a great visit to The LAB and now it is time to go home.  We drive up the west side of Lake Cayuga, and stop to see the falls at Taughanock.  What a nice visit to the Ithaca, and a wonderful day for a drive!

Art Community

 

Cab Calloway on left and Arthur Singer on right in Jericho for dinner circa 1975

I grew up in a household with art and music, mostly because my parents were both involved in the visual arts, and my father had close friends in the Jazz World!  We went to see Cab Calloway at The Westbury Music Theatre and after that he came over to our house for dinner.  My father did a lot of design work for Cab, including his bandstands and a number of  famous posters for the Jazz star.

If you saw the exhibition we had last winter at The Rundel Library, you would have some idea of how important it is to build a community that supports the arts.  When I was younger I worked for publishers and got started writing about art while I was living in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1970s.  My first articles appeared in The Prospect Press, and I interviewed artists for American Artist Magazine.

Now, almost 50 years later, I am still interested in writing about art and artists, and I do that through this blog you are reading...  I can't say how important it is to belong to a vibrant visual arts community, and I certainly found one here in the Rochester area. Being part of this community came about for me because I was hired to teach in the School of Art at R.I.T. in 1988.  I was very thankful for this since there was a terrible economic crisis in the late 1980s.

Bill Finewood at Pittsford Fine Art

When you walk into Pittsford Fine Art right in the center of town, you find a vital group of artists you can relate to.  This month,  Bill Finewood is on deck, and I have been following his work for many years, both as a colleague at Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow painter and illustrator.  I actually met Bill many years ago when he was giving a talk at a convention in New York City.  His work was all about three dimensional paper composition - some of which is now on view in Pittsford.  When I found out he had an office  nearby, I introduced myself and he later came out to teach illustration at R.I.T.

Sodus Light at Pittsford Fine Art

Oil on board by Bill Finewood

Some outstanding paintings are now on view, and I was drawn to the painting above of the lighthouse in Sodus.  Bill has a great eye for detail, and his work is strong in composition and color.  Bill Finewood is the featured artist this month,, and included in his section are drawings he made in Montana, with wonderful gradations of tonality that indicate space in the distant mountains.

When I speak about the art community, I am also thinking that it is just over a year since I moved out of The Hungerford Building.  Many other artists have moved away too, and I was speaking with a friend who moved - Suzi  Kuhn who is also represented in the Pittsford Fine Art Gallery.  She recently came back from a voyage to Iceland where she was attracted to the landscape ( and the seascape! ).

Suzi Zefting Kuhn

There is more to see in Pittsford, and I thought that the sculptural glass work by Nancy Gong stood out and I had a chance to talk with her about the techniques she uses - so different than painting!  If you  are going to work in glass - be ready to deal with the physics of the materials..  Nancy took some time to educate me on the ins and outs of glass work which seems to me like a science experiment.

Colors are sometimes applied to the surface of glass, and sometimes the colors are in the glass itself. Sometimes strands of glass can be used almost like a drawing material that retains its shape as it cools down.  You can see this in the big circular piece she has at Pittsford Fine Art.  Many stages and considerations of color and texture are in this work, and I don't think I have seen anything quite like it before...

Glass work by Nancy Gong

There was also a sculptural piece that looks like it could be a sort of Valentine gift by Nancy Gong, and it reminded me of the little sculptures I saw recently in The Memorial Art Gallery shop made by my friend Tarrant Clements.  Nancy Gong has some of that humor in her piece, and it is another reason to stop by Pittsford Fine Art for a look.

Nancy Gong with her Glass work

at

Pittsford Fine Art, Pittsford, New York

East & West

 We start out this new year thinking about how sales of art are being effected by conditions in the marketplace.  My father, Arthur Singer ( 1917-1990 ), left me some wonderful Japanese prints in his will, and now the time has come to see if they will sell.

Years ago, my dad bought many collectible prints through the Ronin Gallery in New York City, so we drove down there to meet Roni Neuer who has been the owner and director there for many years.

Hiroshige's " Kanbara " (1833 ) print on paper

Hopefully,  we will find a buyer for our Hiroshige print which is also called "Evening Snow", a real classic still in fine condition.  The Ronin Gallery is located near the New York Public Library in a building once known as the Engineer's Club, Bryant Park Place. Along with major Japanese prints,  they have wonderful pieces of furniture by George Nakashima ( 1905-1990 ).  Nakashima was a greatly respected woodworker and architect.  

Ronin Gallery, 32 West 40th Street, NYC

So we left a couple of prints on consignment and hope that they inspire some collectors!  Later that same Tuesday, we were in Brooklyn, so we thought that we would go see some exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum near our old home in Park Slope.  No luck - the museum was closed, and we understand that the  Brooklyn Museum is having some financial difficulties!  We won't make that mistake again....

Back upstate, after our drive home, we made our way over to The Memorial Art Gallery to see their new show of Alma Thomas.  After we went inside,  first there is an installation of the video artist Nam June Paik. ( 1932 -2006 ) which includes this curious piece below:

Nam June Paik, South Korean artist in the collection at MAG

We found that The Memorial Art Gallery is making much more of an effort to include artists who were overlooked in the past, maybe because of bias in the marketplace.  Their exhibitions now include many more artists  who are women and indigenous tribal peoples from all over the country.  I am glad that this museum is working on this and making an effort to  recognize their achievements!  I also know that this might come too late for those artists who do not find an audience during their lifetimes!

Luckily, Alma Thomas ( 1891-1978 ) did find an audience for her artwork, and she had  success in showing her paintings in places like the Whitney Museum in Manhattan and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.  Here at The MAG, her new show is called "Composing Color" and features a set of  abstractions which are inspired by the music she liked and the scenes of nature that she loved so.

Alma Thomas ( 1891-1978 ) at The Memorial Art Gallery

Rochester, NY

Read the wall label and you find out that Alma Thomas was the first art student to win a degree from  Howard University; she then went on to teach art herself for more than 30 years.  Her paintings on view at The MAG feature bold color and intense patterns. 

Alma Thomas   at The MAG

Her work serves as an inspiration and  her paintings are beautiful in their applications of paint when you walk up close to try and understand how she accomplished this kind of impact.  Take some time to look around and this experience will  register  real pleasure. ( but look closely ! ).