Emily's fave at "Femme on Femme"

Emily was my latest date to visit "Femme on Femme," and guess which painting was her favorite - yep, it was Regina Allen's "Eye of God." I'm seeing a trend here!

I can't believe it's almost time for the show to close already. After working on it for about seven months (around the same time I got pregnant!), it's hard to believe it is almost over. It closes this Thursday; I have a couple more groups of friends visiting this weekend, so it should be a good final push, then we'll get the total number of visitors.

Freebie Friday at Melissa Moss's Etsy Shop

What lucky ducks are we? Today is Freebie Friday at Melissa Moss's Etsy shop - you can get two of her prints (not original drawings or paintings, or the limited editions) for 2-for-1! I love her work so much, this is very dangerous for my art shopping addiction...

I just got these two - one for Junebug, one as a baby gift for a friend who is due soon (hope she's not reading my blog!). Click here to start your shopping!

Gallery Visit with Erin and Isla

This morning was so lovely. My friend Erin and her darling daughter Isla accompanied me to visit "Femme on Femme." Here they are in front of one of their favorite works, "Eye of God" by Regina Allen. This is such a popular piece - some lucky duck is going to snatch it up for their collection, I'm sure.

What a nice way to start the week!

Farewell, Day to Day

Working at home alone, I'm very dependent on outside voices to keep me company - which means I listen to NPR pretty much all day long. For six years now, the 9-10am hour meant listening to "Day to Day," a rather encyclopedic news program that covered stories around the world - from right here in the LA area.

But today I'm feeling a little sad (and a little mad at NPR!); the last broadcast of "Day to Day" just aired, and it's a real loss to the airwaves. As if watching the LA Times shrink daily wasn't heartbreaking enough, now I must lose the familiar voices of Madeleine Brand and Alex Cohen, who were so engaging in their coverage of national and world affairs.

Fortunately, they're not completely gone. Here are links to follow them online, along with D2D's producer, Steve Proffitt. Day to Day, you will be missed!

Madeleine Brand
www.madeleinebrand.com

Alex Cohen
www.alexcoheninla.blogspot.com/

Steve Proffitt
www.nicejobmedia.blogspot.com

"Femme on Femme" Brochure

Thought I should share the nifty exhibition brochure that Paul created for the exhibition. It includes one work by each artist, my curator's statement, and an exhibition checklist. Click on each image for a larger version. Enjoy!

"Femme on Femme" opening reception

At last, the show is open! It was great to see so many friendly faces at the opening on Wednesday. I hope everyone discovered a gem of an artwork that left a lingering yummy taste on their arty tastebuds!

Thank you to Eric (aka: the sweetest husband EVER) for being on photo duty (and printing duty, and shlepping duty, and curator-calming duty), and to Gallery Director Paul Paiement and his crew (especially Ron!) for the beautiful installation. And of course, thank you to the artists for creating pieces that so beautifully transport us to different worlds. FYI, the show is open until April 2; hours are Mon-Thurs 10am-2pm. I believe it is also open on Tuesday evenings.

I've pasted some photos from the evening below - click here if you want to see all of them.

With Tim Sailor in front of DJ Hall's "Twinkle."

With Regina Allen in front of her works "American Girl" and "Playdate."

With Gallery Director Paul Paiement in front of Regina Allen's "Eye of God."

With Donna Hilbert and Helen Lorenzini in front of Selina Trieff's "Two Women in Red," "The Travelers," and "Two Women in Shawls."

With Gina Caywood and Georgia Case in front of Taravat Talepasand's "The Order of the Sun and Lion" and "Order of the Sun I."

With Monica Malin in front of Selina Trieff's "Woman with Red Flower."

"Femme on Femme" Curator Statement

Since I managed to eek this out of my brain, I may as well share it - my curator's statement for "Femme on Femme":

When visitors walk into an art museum showcasing an encyclopedic selection of artwork from across the centuries and around the world, what are they likely to see? Viewing the works chronologically, they may see reliefs of Nefertiti with her children, numerous works depicting the Madonna, and perhaps such seminal pieces as Johannes Vermeer’s “The Kitchen Maid,” 1660, or Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ “The Valpinçon Bather,” 1808. These are all exquisite artworks of female subjects – depicted by male artists.

Finally, toward the end of the 19th Century, viewers might stumble on work by female artists, perhaps “Tea” by Mary Cassatt, 1880 (although work by Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet and Pierre August Renoir would likely be in greater abundance). Even well into the 20th Century, with a few notable exceptions such as Georgia O’Keefe and Frida Kahlo, female artists are exceedingly under-represented in the history of art.

As the New York-based artist collective Guerrilla Girls asked in 1989: Do women have to be naked to get into the Metropolitan Museum?

In modern society, the exploration of the meaning of “feminism” and “equality” is often boiled down either to clichés (lipstick on a pig, anyone?), or numbers (pay disparities between men and women). Yet in the art world, it is often women themselves digging into this topic, in nuanced and often subtle ways that would be hard to find in mainstream commentary.

“Femme on Femme” provides a snapshot of how seven contemporary Southern California female artists explore, through their work, the female form – for millennia, the purview of male artists – and feminist issues, which is still in relative infancy. Using vastly disparate techniques, these artists provide their personal perspective on the modern woman – often, the examination is of themselves and their own lives, and the supposed roles they fill in this contemporary culture, whether as wife, mother, or single gal.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Cypress College Art Gallery and its Director, Paul Paiement, for the opportunity to examine this topic. My thanks also go to the artists and galleries for being so generous in loaning their outstanding and intriguing work, and to my husband Eric for perpetually supporting my art habit.

Cari Marshall
Curator, “Femme on Femme”

Femme on Femme installation, part deux

Just returned from checking on the installation, which is humming along. The placement of works that Paul and I discussed the other day worked out really well, so let the hanging begin! Here's Taravat's work going up.



Here are Selina's works, about to be hung. I'm so happy they're in a spot that gets loads of natural light, all their shimmery-ness will really come out!





This is where Mary Woronov's work will go. I was so sad to have to leave one piece behind at her studio - it was too big for both the van AND the gallery!




And here is where the lovely work by Regina Allen will be. It's her piece that's on the invite and banner. They look terrific, all hanging together!




The last two artists whose work weren't staged enough to photograph are Cynthia Evans and Moira Hahn (two Long Beach artists!). I hope to get those shot on Monday.

Here's yours truly with that awesome banner! I have been working on this show since before I got pregnant, so it has been quite a journey. It has been really interesting, being pregnant with a little girl while working on a show that explores feminist issues. I feel like the little Junebug has been along for the ride and inspiring me along the way!

Installing "Femme on Femme"

At last we started installing "Femme on Femme" yesterday (after an epic day of art pickups in LA on Saturday). There were several Cypress College art students on hand to help - they were great and very conscientous. That's one of DJ Hall's amazing works in the background...

We're still figuring out placement, but it's fun to experiment. Here are three of Selina Treiff's works adjacent to DJ's in the entryway gallery, which has plenty of breathing room and really lovely natural light.


Here's Paul, next to a gorgeous work by Bay Area-artist Taravat Talepasand, which looks beautiful bathed in sunlight...

Click on any of these photos to view larger versions.




Oh goody, a banner! Paul designed the banner, and it looks terrific. Here are the intrepid students installing it...










I'm so happy to know I can have the banner when the show is over. It might have to go into Junebug's room (when she has a room, one day!).

Here's a long shot of the banner outside the gallery...I think it's quite eye-catching! Hopefully enough to bring strolling peeps inside...

My show - Femme on Femme at Cypress College Art Gallery

I'm going to send the next few posts writing about "Femme on Femme," an exhibition that I'm curating for the Cypress College Art Gallery. The show features work by nine female artists either depicting the female form or exploring feminist issues. It's a concept that has been floating around in my head for a long time, so it has been really wonderful to actually make it a reality!

I love the piece featured in the invite, "Eye of God" by Regina Allen. I'll be writing more about her and her gorgeous work later...

Flora Bowley at ArtForte Gallery in Seattle

I almost forgot about one more post from our trip. In Seattle we spent a little time checking out some galleries in Pioneer Square, one of downtown's oldest neighborhoods. A big gorgeous painting in the window of Art Forte Gallery caught our eye - a work by Flora Bowley. This is her piece above. I heart it! It's no surprise that I connected with it, it fits perfectly into that category of work that I always fall for - abstract, vibrant colors, full of life - although she definitely has her own unique style. She infuses her work with fun splashes of nature in a lovely way, without being maudlin or over the top about it.

I hoped she was a new artist whose work could be had for a bargain. No such luck. She has been around for a while and her prices are definitely out of our wee budget. Although, I do see she offers giclee prints of her work at very reasonable prices. Click here for info. Hmm, might have to add one to the baby registry!

Click here to visit Flora's terrific web site.

And, finally, our trip ended in gorgeous Seattle, which neither of us had visited in more than 15 years. We also have old friends who live there, so on this trip we were really blessed by the host and hostest fairies! Our friend Nikki works at the Seattle Art Museum, which made it easy to both see her and check out a terrific museum. I was so thrilled to learn of the current exhibition, Edward Hopper's Women, inspired by an incredible gift - Hopper's "Chop Suey" will one day be in SAM's collection. I (like most people, I suppose) love Hopper's work so much (click here to read my post about an amazing retrospective of his work at the Boston MFA - featuring none other than "Chop Suey"). The SAM show is small-ish, focusing on Hopper's paintings of women, mostly in urban settings. It's a wonderful, intimate exhibition, and I'm so delighted I was able to see "Chop Suey" in person again, and to know that it will belong to a public institution.

At the Hopper link above, be sure to go to "CLICK IT" to view a nifty interactive component, where you can learn more about "Chop Suey."

The next day our friends took us to the Asian Art Museum, technically a part of SAM but in another location (SAM's original location), a lovely hilltop site in Volunteer Park (here we are in front of the Museum - you can barely see the Space Needle in the background). The current exhibition is stunning; Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur, featuring gorgeous paintings from the royal Indian courts of Rajasthan from the 17th to the 19th century. Produced for the Rajasthan nobles, these paintings have never been published; most have been seen by just a few scholars since their creation. The museum was smart and offered visitors magnifying glasses, all the better to view the incredible little details of the works. The piece above is Bakhat Singh in the Moonlight, ca. 1735. The educational components were great - little saris for the kids to try on, treasure hunts to help them find fun little details in the works. It was fun to be there with a five-year-old...

And this is just a general shout out to the fabulous coffee of Seattle. I can't even remember the name of the coffee shop where I shot this (there are so many!) but they were such beautiful lattes and a perfect scone, I had to catch it. The yummy coffees helped me forget that I'm a temporary decaf drinker!

Thank you again to all our hosts for a really memorable trip - another testament to travel in the US. There's an embarrassment of riches within a 2 or 3 hour flight of all of us!

Swantown Inn B&B in Olympia, WA

I love staying in random cities I've never really considered visiting. When we decided to Amtrak from Portland to Seattle we thought we'd make a pit stop along the way at a new destination. With its location on the southern tip of Puget Sound, and being the Washington State Capital, we figured Olympia, WA would be a lovely place to check out. Its preponderance of B&Bs was a good sign (must have lots of B&B-type visitors!).

We decided on the Swantown Inn for two main reasons - it was walking distance to Olympia's wee downtown, and it offered on-site massages (including prenatal!) in The Attic Spa. So a couple hours after we left Portland we disembarked in Olympia (actually, in a neighboring town), saw a public bus that said "Olympia," and climbed aboard. The ride was only $1 (versus $30 for a taxi) so it was a real score.

The driver was so nice and helped us figure out where to get off - smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It was one of those "hope we're in the right place!" moments as we carried our luggage through the light drizzle and past cute little bungalows. We turned a corner and voila - a huge, gorgeous 19th century Victorian house, our new home for the next two nights!

And it did not disappoint. The owners, Nathan and Casey (and adorable five-month-old daughter Lauren) were terrific hosts, and their breakfasts were the best. I still crave their cranberry scones and decadent french toast! The Attic Spa is a total score - a brilliant way to use the attic space, and a real delight. (I wish there were some photos from their site I could include here). We had a 30 minute foot soak while sipping hot tea and nibbling chocolate truffles. Delightful! Then we each had a great massage and then, I think, took a nap (because our room, the Percival, was so incredibly comfy). Now that's a vacation.

Between the B&B being so nice and the weather being so cold, we didn't explore the town a whole lot, although we did visit the lovely state capital. I'm sure Olympia and its environs have much to offer, but all I can really attest to is the lovely Swantown Inn. Here's Eric at the bus stop as we await our ride back to the Amtrak station. Onward to Seattle!

Amtrak from Portland to Olympia

I have no idea if any of you are interested in watching another video clip of another train ride (click here to view my last train adventure), but I just love having this! It totally takes me back to the feeling and sounds of train travel - my absolute favorite way to wander. This was on a very snowy day, riding from Portland, OR to Olympia, WA. We were so glad not to be flying!

Podnah's Pit BBQ and Sahagun Chocolates in Portland, OR

We just returned from a lovely trip to the Pacific Northwest, starting in one of my favorite cities, Portland, Oregon. We are lucky enough to have good friends who live there who happen to be total foodies - and each own a business that should be on the "must see" list of any true foodie out there!

Rodney's restaurant is Podnah's Pit BBQ, and being a true-blooded Texas girl, I was so delighted to feast on some truly Texan deliciousness. We actually spent practically a whole day at Podnah's, first for Sunday brunch, where Rodney prepared a special taster menu for us that included breakfast tacos (the best salsa I've had in a looonng time - perhaps ever?), his famous homemade biscuits (click here for the Oregonian's rave review), and an unbelievably tasty trout hash - fresh smoked trout mixed with potatoes, and topped with a perfectly poached egg. YUM. It's a rough time to not be drinking coffee or alcohol - it would have been great to have some cowgirl coffee and a mimosa with this meal!

Since brunch required a nap, we went home and slept it off, then returned to Podnah's for dinner. I'm not sure I've ever been to one restaurant on the same day. And of course it was pure deliciousness again. Rodney himself arrives at Podnah's at 5am every day to get the meat on the smoker (that's him at left!), so he offers up some of the most amazing brisket and pulled pork (and chicken, and trout...). I ordered the brisket, which was an insanely large pile of melt-in-your-mouth meat, but I must say, after tasting Elizabeth's pulled-pork sandwich, I'd have to order that next time. But my brisket wrapped in a tortilla and smothered in his homemade sauce was devine. I'm very thankful there are some yummy non-alocholic beers out there, since this meal demanded a beer!

The following day, it was Elizabeth's turn to wow us. It's so unfair that a couple should have TWO amazing food minds! Her specialty is chocolates, and she has the most darling little chocolate shop called Sahagun. I remember back in NY when Elizabeth started experimenting with making chocolate, and she has certainly mastered it. Her chocolates ruined us on all other chocolates long ago, and we're so delighted to learn that she now ships! She experiments with the most delightful flavors (cardamom truffle anyone?) and takes great pride in using the best, fresh ingredients.

Oh and she offers the most knee-buckling hot chocolate you'll ever have. It's totally bliss in a mug. This is me about to venture in hot chocolate euphoria. It's a good thing chocolate is not on the pregnancy no-no list; I would have started to sob if I couldn't partake!

Cunning Little Vixen at Long Beach Opera

For the first time ever, we purchased season tickets to a performing arts group! Long Beach Opera convinced us to sign on with their ingenious and clever productions. Even for people like us who know pretty much nothing about opera, we always enjoy such fresh performances. Plus, for a brief time they offered 50% off season tickets, so we signed up.

This past Saturday's was LBO's first (of only three) productions this year. All we knew going into the performance was the title: "The Cunning Little Vixen." We had no idea what is was about, thinking it would be fun to just be surprised. When the first performers appeared in animal costumes - a dragonfly, an owl, a mosquito - my initial thought was "An animal opera? Really?" But we were quickly swept away into the story of a charming, Chaplin-esque "vixen" (apparently a female fox) and her adventures in both the forest and the land of humans. It was so lovely and clever. The costumes were just amazing; the costume designer brought together what looked like a thrift store full of discarded clothes and somehow turned them with great effect into chickens, foxes, birds and other critters. Written in 1924 by Czech composer Leoš Janácek, "Cunning Little Vixen" is charming and colorful.

You're in luck, there's one more show, this coming Sunday, January 25. Click here for information. There was a great review of the show in the LA Times on Monday - I love how they drew a metaphor as LBO being the cunning little fox in these tough economic times. Click here to read the review.

Even in these tough times, LBO is finding a way to give back - $10 from every LBO ticket purchase for The Cunning Little Vixen will provide 5 meals for the hungry at the Long Beach Rescue Mission.

The Day is Finally Here

It's such an unusual feeling - excitement, anticipation and pride about our President! I still have to pinch myself. I'm so thankful to be alive during such an important historical moment. GOBAMA!!

I have friends from Texas who are on the National Mall today - I'm so jealous! I got a text from Kate yesterday, saying she saw Malia in a motorcade. :)

You can order a commemorative edition of this fabulous New Yorker cover, just click here. It's free!

Project Have Hope

When I was in Cambridge, my sister-in-law took me to a really great holiday boutique in a lovely old home. There were six or seven vendors there, each selling things they had hand crafted - except for one gal, who was selling gorgeous beaded jewelry on behalf of Project Have Hope.

I had never heard of this before, and now I love the concept! The beads are actually paper, and are created by a group of 100 women in the Acholi Quarter of Uganda (one of whom is our model here - aren't the beads so lovely?). Proceeds from the sales help these women feed their families, send their children to school, and to establish business opportunities to promote economic stability and sustainability.

So, you can purchase this fabulous jewelry (it became Christmas gifts for many of my girlfriends), AND help women who are working to better their lives! Their web site is terrific. You can read about hosting your own bead party, or you can purchase jewelry, photos and music directly. I love how they photograph their jewelry wrapped around fresh vegetables - like this lovely bejeweled corn!

Where's a bailout for the arts?

I recently read a commentary by Michael Kaiser, president of the JFK Cener for the Performing Arts, that perfectly summed up my feelings about what's happening financially in the art world (and what has been happening for years). This country has a terrible track record when it comes to public support for cultural aspects of our lives, and we're starting to pay the price.

Click here to read Kaiser's insightful piece. I do hope Obama's administration is able to put even a tiny bit more focus on the arts, which are as invaluable - if not more so - than all these other sectors we keep hearing about teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Bow Street Gallery in Cambridge

Back to Cambridge we go! The weather warmed up for me to take a lengthy stroll one afternoon, and I explored areas outside the square I hadn't discovered before. I stumbled on a lovely little contemporary art gallery called the Bow Street Gallery. It's in the kind of space that I dream of owning for a gallery one day - funky old building, flooded with tons of natural light from tall windows, and high ceilings. It also happens to show the kind of art that I love - contemporary work by artists I've never heard of before (although I'm sure they're better known in the region - my knowledge is pretty limited to Southern California).

The gallery was in mid-installation when i visited, so I didn't get a good gander at the works, but I love the photo on their site of the current installation, Lumos by Stacy Parks (who is perhaps the owner of the gallery?). I could just move into that beautiful room! One day I'll have my own little funky space to fill with the art that I love!