The Brawny Sherpa and I are fortunate to be introduced to Iceland at a new exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, N.Y. Over watermelon and vodka cocktails, we become acquainted with Icelandic art—dark, bright, volcanic, a little crazy. That’s what a nation that features nine months of winter a year will do…
Category: United States
Citronella/Katonah
On view at the Katonah Museum of Art is John Ruppert’s Yellow Orb/Homage to Van Gogh (2014). Some of us see less Van Gogh and more of a giant citronella candle. No matter your interpretation, it’s worth visiting! —Lori Tripoli
Key West Reverie: What I Did after the Green Parrot
The Brawny Sherpa visits the Green Parrot in Key West, FL
The Takeaway from Boscobel
During my nonblogging hours, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what educators intend to teach students and whether and to what extent students are actually learning what their instructors intend. I can’t help but wonder whether I’ve ever mastered any of the learning outcomes established by an historic institution. I suspect I’m…
Dia: Beacon —Where Industry, Metal, Glass Converge
I expect coldness at Dia: Beacon, all angles, no softness. There will be no pastel ballerinas guarded on the walls in this former factory space in Beacon, N.Y. Entering, I wonder what Dia stands for. Is it an acronym? Does it mean “downtown industrial art” or something? No, I learn, this art space was named…
Sunday Bloodies
My little habit of appreciating a Bloody Mary sometime during any given Sunday probably started years ago at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, N.Y., back when drinking at age 18 was still legal and Sundays weren’t ruined by multitasking or by knocking back a few at brunch. Named for Queen Mary I of England who…
Paris to Woodstock: Sculpture Deep and Light
Travel and art seem to go hand in hand, so today I share two very different works, in two very different places, that trigger very different emotions. Auguste Rodin’s Burghers of Calais commemorates the leaders of Calais who volunteered to be executed to spare the city of Calais during the 100 Years War between England…
A Mind-Altering Mansion Crawl
No matter how many houses of the rich and famous I visit (with the George Eastman house in Rochester, N.Y. probably being my favorite), I still feel a little strange traipsing through someone else’s home, no matter how long ago it was abandoned or ‘donated’ to a historical society. Do I really need to know…
Note from the Brawny Sherpa: A Visit to the Bedford Oak
I grew up in a place called Bedford, N.Y. It’s a small town with old schoolhouses, old churches, old historical halls, old courthouses, even a grazing field for swine and cows. But the best thing about this town is the Bedford oak. The tree dates back to the 1500s. There are many paintings and pictures…
Plantations in Rhode Island?
Curious about the official name of the 13th state, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, I stop by the Kingston Hill Store in Kingston on the way out of Newport and quickly discover a local history section so fantastic I hardly have time to browse through the old postcards, another whimsical hobby of mine (such good…