A CITY A WEEK...COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO, URUGUAY

by adeline talbot

Kristin Peterson Edwards, of KPE ARTS, and I are down here in Buenos Aires leading a trip and having the time of our lives.  I am so in love with 'BA' that it positively feels like a crush.  Yep, that's it.  I have a crush on a city.  Everything is fun and everything is unexpected--and I can't wait to do some follow-up posts on my new favorite place--but not today...today I send photos of the sweetest little place that is just an hour ferry ride away from Buenos Aires, across the River Plata---Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay. 

It is a very beautiful place and sleepy in all the right ways which makes it the perfect day trip from the super sophisticated, vibrant, vastness that is Buenos Aires.  There are sites to see in this 400-year-old village that retains much of its original architecture but perhaps its even greater allure is its cafes, shops and panoramic views.  Lunch, stroll, stop for a snack, stroll some more, maybe pop in a shop or two, have a drink, dinner and back to the ferry.  May not sound like enough, but you're gonna have to trust me on this one--or look at the photos we took on our recent jaunt.  The scroll includes a mix of Kristin's and my photos.  And if you'd like a recommendation on a most special and unexpected restaurant,  I'll suggest Charo.  We were so impressed with the restaurant that we asked to see the rest of the property which includes a garden overlooking the river and a few very sweet hotel rooms. I found the aesthetic irresistible.  Something tells me that my next trip to Colonia may be an overnighter...

A CITY A WEEK...PASADENA

by adeline talbot

If you know it at all as separate and apart from the wild and wonderful whole that is Los Angeles, then you probably know Pasadena as the home of the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl.  Plenty fun enough but this gorgeous city within a city is home to many other equally wonderful things--and at least one thing that can justifiably be called a mind-blower--and I do not say that lightly.  The Huntington is so vast and lovely that it is on a scale that I, for one, simply could not imagine before a recent visit there.

HOVER FOR CAPTIONS 

A view of the new Visitor's Center at The Huntingtonhe T

The great Library at The Huntington.

More properly called The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens and technically in San Marino just over the line from Pasadena, this is an institution that is very worth a visit. 

A vista in front of the original residence.

The library alone includes one of the 11 vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible known to exist, an original copy of the Magna Carta, the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer, the manuscript of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, the first seven drafts of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, a complete Birds of America by John James Audubon, and first editions and manuscripts from authors such as Charles Bukowski, Jack London, Alexander Pope, William Blake, Mark Twain, and William Wordsworth.

'Diana' by Anna Hyatt Huntington, daughter-in-law of Huntington founder Henry Huntington.

  The art collection includes such European masterworks as 'Blue Boy' by Thomas Gainsborough  and 'Madonna and Child' by Rogier van der Weyden and a variety of American masterworks by the likes of Warhol and Rauschenberg.  

The decorative arts collection is equally impressive and has, for example, one of the largest collections of works of William Morris in the world.

The entrance gate to the newest addition to the Huntington--the Chinese Garden.

The botanical gardens cover over 120 acres and include such standouts as The Japanese Garden, the Desert Garden and the new and spectacular Chinese Garden.  

A view of the tropical plants conservatory.

All in such elaborate, vast and graceful grounds that it feels almost otherworldly. 

Pasadena may strike one as out of the way in the great sprawl of greater Los Angeles.  It is not.  From downtown LA, we were a mere 20 minutes away.  I'm pretty sure people take longer trips for coffee in that town and, for what it's worth, I was utterly smitten!  So much so, I would consider building a trip around a visit to the Huntington. Yes, from this side of the country! It's that impressive and it's that inviting.  

 

A REGION THIS WEEK...THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY

by adeline talbot

So I'm stretching the concept here just a bit.  Usually it's city a week, not a whole region,  but, honestly, I don't know how else to do justice to this glorious area of the country.  The legendary Hudson River Valley is renowned for many things, including an outstanding garden heritage.  This makes it a natural choice for the first-ever members trip being planned by The Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden in  June 2016.  

I recently met with John Whisnant, executive director of the Ciener Gardens, and Nancy Beaver, garden enthusiast, to discuss the itinerary for this four day trip.  We could have talked for hours and hours!  That's because the list of 'must see gardens' in the Hudson River Valley is very, very long.

Boscobel, Olana, Lyndhurst, Innisfree, Stone Crop Gardens, Storm King, Sunnyside, Caramoor, Untermeyer Gardens, Kykuit--and that's before you get to the private residential gardens.  We'll be seeing our share of those too, to be sure! So if you would like to be one of the first to know the details, including full itinerary and pricing, about this exciting trip please click on the button on the left.  

In the meantime, I do have to ask this simple question--why wait until next June to see a gorgeous garden?  The Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden is just down the road in Kernersville, NC.  The perfect junket from almost anywhere in Central North Carolina and very, very worth the trip!. 

All images courtesy of Wiki-Images

A CITY AWEEK...LONDON

by adeline talbot

We'll get to London in just a bit but first a word about 'being on the beam'.  Sometimes you just feel you are in league with the universe in the best possible way.  Noticing what others are noticing and noticing what should be noticed.  I had this happen a couple of times this week.

 The first time was upon seeing the lead article in this week's Sunday New York Times travel section on Culinary Rome, CLICK HERE.  It would be so much fun to think that I had inspired the Times (...and completely delusional, very clear on that, just saying, you know, fun...).  After all, it was just two weeks ago that I wrote about Studio Traveler's culinary trip to Rome in October '16.  Even if it is a coincidence, it is still a nice one--and it means that cooking in Rome is being noticed and appreciated in a particular way and in this particular moment.  

Then just yesterday I saw an ABC News piece, CLICK HERE, on the syncretic religions of Cuba. It includes a mention of Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, the church we will visit where both Catholicism and the Afro-Cuban Santeria faith are practiced.  I don't think I had ever even heard of Santeria until I began to plan our trip to Cuba. Now I am utterly fascinated.  An entire other world within an already complex culture.   Oh and by the way, today we release the itinerary for that trip so CLICK HERE for Havana.

AND NOW FOR LONDON...PLEASE READ ON...

The more famous London quote is from Boswell’s Life of Johnson:  ‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life' but there is also Boswell's quote from his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides:  'By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.'  Both quotes serve equally well.  London feels for many of us like the vortex and source of much in this world that is interesting, entertaining and culturally vibrant.

Even so, London used to be more of a word town--theater, literature and certainly wit--but for the visual arts one thought of continental capitals and for fine food one thought of the entire continent, town or country, but not of London and her environs.

London may be enduring but it is also evolving.

The contemporary art scene is now one of the most vital in the world--and is it even possible to remember when ‘London restaurant scene’ was likely to mean mushy peas? It has been eons since this was true.

Which brings me to Cary Levine and our spring trip to London. Cary is developing this trip with Studio Traveler.  I think you need only read his bio to know what very good hands we will all be in:

Cary Levine is a professor of art history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, specializing in contemporary art. He received his Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and is a recipient of a J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Scholarly Achievement at UNC. In addition to his scholarship and teaching, Dr. Levine has been an active art critic, writing for several magazines and he has publishing numerous essays for exhibition catalogues. He also worked for three years in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Cary’s current considered set for our trip includes the East End galleries, a street art tour, The National Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, The Tate Britain, The Tate Modern, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Whitechapel Gallery, The Serpentine Gallery and The Hayward Gallery.

I love this list because it quite rightly is grounded in the historical as a basis for understanding the contemporary.  There’s great depth to this list and there will be great depth to this experience.

Oh and I should probably mention what I’ll be doing tagging along in this august company—I’ll be in charge of the food.  At the end of visually rich and engaging days, we’ll spend our evenings enjoying one of the world’s best restaurant scenes.

Click on 'early bird info' to sign up for early release of the London itinerary and registration.

I don't know about you but I can hardly wait!!

A CITY A WEEK...CULINARY ROME AND CULINARY PORTLAND, ME.

by adeline talbot

Having several interests must be a lot like having more than one kid.  You love them all.  I certainly feel that way about travel, art and food.  Please don't make me choose just one!  And truth to tell, good food has always been an important part of Studio Traveler trips.  This next year though we're going one better in offering two trips that focus primarily on culinary experiences: the rescheduled Culinary Portland with Terri Maultsby of think.eat.grow and Culinary Rome with Elizabeth Simari, a young, terrifically organized and fun Rome-based food journalist.  Every time Elizabeth is in touch to discuss trip options I just get more psyched.   She wrote this week after a weekend trip to a vineyard north of Rome.  I have asked her permission to share a snippet.  Scroll down below the photos, give it a read and see if it doesn't make you crazy--crazy in a good way.  Crazy to go, do, eat and drink!

...I am still looking into truffle hunting, Ostia Antica...etc....On Saturday my husband and I visited the Sergio Mottura winery and we spent the whole afternoon with Mottura himself. It was fabulous. He has a great cantina and makes a spumante wine which is an interesting process to learn about and is practically non-existent in this part of Italy. Anyways I think it is a definite must for us...It will be a matter of deciding what we want to do there. The tour and tasting was great, but they also have a dinner paired with something like 6 of their wines which is also supposed to be exquisite.  Take a look at the website.... I think that given the close contact to the winemaker himself that this winery provides, we should definitely go there. Not many other places have that kind of up close and personal experience.

ELIZABETH SIMARI

2016 DESTINATIONS ARE LISTED BELOW OR CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING HERE.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ELIZABETH SIMARI OR WIKI IMAGES

A CITY A WEEK...HAVANA AND....

by adeline talbot

2016 DESTINATIONS

OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS WE’LL BE TELLING YOU MORE ABOUT EACH OF THESE EXCITING DESTINATIONS.  WHO KNOWS--WE MAY EVEN ADD ONE OR TWO TO THE LINE UP!

IN THE MEANTIME, IF YOU FIND THAT ONE OF THESE SPECIAL PLACES HAS YOU SUFFERING FROM AN ADVANCED CASE OF ‘FOMO’ (FEAR OF MISSING OUT) THEN PUSH THE ‘EARLY BIRD INFO’ BUTTON.  THAT WILL LET YOU SIGN UP TO BE FIRST ON THE LIST—FIRST TO GET MORE INFO AND FIRST FOR SIGN UPS.

                

HAVANA, CUBA

FEBRUARY 21st to 27th

OFFERED BY

PRESERVATION GREENSBORO, INC. AND WEATHERSPOON ART MUSEUM

                 

LONDON ARTS

MAY 15th to 21st

LED BY

CARY LEVINE

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

GARDENS OF THE

HUDSON VALLEY

JUNE 22nd to 26th

Offered BY

PAUL J. CIENER BOTANICAL GARDEN

CULINARY PORTLAND

SEPTEMBER 8th to 11th

OFFERED WITH

TERRI MAULTSBY of think.eat.grow

CULINARY ROME

OCTOBER 2nd to 8th

OFFERED WITH

ELIZABETH SIMARI

Photo by RudyBalasko/iStock / Getty Images

BACK TO BERLIN

OCTOBER 9th to 15th

OFFERED WITH

KRISTIN PETERSON EDWARDS of kpeARTS

               

COPENHAGEN

OCTOBER 16th to 20th

OFFERED WITH

KRISTIN PETERSON EDWARDS of kpeARTS

A CITY A WEEK...XANADU...

by adeline talbot

...and all the places like it...

I've been thinking a lot lately about mythic destinations.  Maybe not Kublai Khan's stately pleasure domes or the lost city of Shangri-La but mythic destinations of another kind--real places that have outsized and enduring appeal.  


It's annual thing with me. That's because in anticipation of Studio Traveler's annual late summer announcement of 2016 destinations, I have spent the last several weeks making decisions about next year's trips. 

 I'm excited and proud of what I and my travel planning colleagues have come up with.   I'll even risk a bold claim--that next year's list is a wonderful mix of mythic destinations.  Places that will reward our time and attention with wonderfully rich cultural experiences, excellent food and that certain sense of je-ne-sais-quoi...the mysterious 'it' factor that makes a place special, unique and irresistible...

 I love a good puzzle so no captions for this week's scroll.  Just a few visual hints...

The big reveal comes next week when we tell all--or at least highlights--of these wonderful adventures ahead.

See you then and I can hardly wait!

 

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE, NEW YORK

by adeline talbot

Some places just feel familiar.  This seems especially so on first visits to much-imagined places.  And so it was for me last week when visiting the Adirondacks town of Blue Mountain Lake.

  I have to admit to being smitten. I loved everything.  The hiking, the boating, the 'Forever Wild' wilderness and deep and wonderful human history as seen in Blue Mountain Lake's incomparable Museum of The Adirondacks--and it all felt very, very familiar.  Oddly so for my first trip to the region.

My guess is that the Adirondacks are just one of those American places that inevitably seep through the pores of one's cultural skin. There is a comforting sense of the 'old fashioned'.  The decorative stick topdressing; the ubiquitous canoe-on-top cars; the flags and flowers;  more road-side efficiency cottages than one could ever hope to count; moose; pack baskets and everywhere as-far-as-the-eye-can-see-flat-out-gorgeous-drop-dead-heartrendingly-beautiful natural scenery.  

Then there is the astounding vision that created this state park--properly called the New York Forest Preserve--nearly 150 years ago and the stewardship that maintains it's 6.2 million acres today.  But one example of the continued success of this original vision and continued  stewardship is that the water in many of the regions 3000 lakes is still clean enough to be used unfiltered even as as many as 8 million people a year come through the park's lands. It feels good to be here in such a balanced place. 

Some places speak best for themselves though so I have probably said enough.  The pictures can do the rest.  

Hover for captions--and go when you can...

 

 

 

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...ELBA, ITALY WITH GUEST BLOGGER RODNEY OUZTS

by adeline talbot

Strictly speaking, I am fudging just a bit.  Elba is an island not a city.  Rather than quibble though over that small if factual distinction, I suggest just giving into the fact that this week's destination is likely to rocket to the top of you 'next vacation' list.  Thanks to Rodney Ouzts' swoon-worthy descriptions, I'm already checking flights for next summer.  Read on and you'll see what I mean...

[Hover for Image Captions]

ELBA – A Tuscan Alternative.

When one thinks of a beautiful island off the coast of Italy, most think of Capri.  While I agree that Capri boasts breathtaking landscapes, luxurious accommodations and is the place to see every nationality in the world who are attracted to its shops and piazzas, I find another island not far from the Tuscan coastline more appealing.

That island of 86 square miles is Elba, better known as the first place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte. Each year, it is a favorite destination of mostly Italians who love its clear blue waters, quiet beaches, fine restaurants, and wonderful boating and hiking opportunities.

It does not attract the glamourous, rowdy crowd who head to coastline of Sardinia.    Nor does Elba attract the day-trippers who clog Capri’s walkways every day during the summer season. Most visitors to Elba have homes on the island and travel there throughout the year.  In fact, the island has a year round population of 30,000 inhabitants. There is a sense of a real place that does not close up shop when tourists leave the island.  The landscape is more Tuscan, softer than Capri and much greener than the coastline of Sardinia. Sometimes you feel you are on a Caribbean island and other times, you feel as if you in the country, just miles from Florence.  Ferries leave the town of Piombino hourly. It is a pleasant 90 minute ride and cars can be taken onto the island.

Elbans are proud of their history and resilience. Before Napoleon’s arrival in May of 1814 , Elba was better known for iron mining and tuna fishing industries.  Soon after his arrival, Napoleon, as its new ruler, embarked upon a series of improvements to the island’s infrastructure, building roads, tearing down and reconstructing buildings, creating piazzas and fountains, all completed within a few months.  He even reduced trade restrictions, suppressed custom duties and tolls and some say, took the time to design a new flag for the island nation.  His love of architecture and interest in decoration is shown in the care he took in building and refurbishing two homes on the island.  As sovereign of the island, he conducted most of his business in the Palazzina dei Mulini located in the center of Portoferraio and in the summer, he retreated to the exquisite smaller Villa San Martino located in the hills above the port.

While in exile, he improved the social life on the island tremendously thanks in part to the visits made by his beautiful and glamorous sister, Princess Pauline Borghese.

As our host said one day while touring Palazzina dei Mulini: “It is quite remarkable that the only extraordinary thing that happened on Elba were those few months (300 days to be exact) that Napoleon spent on the island. Other than that, nothing much happened here but will always be remembered because of Napoleon who took his role as ruler quite seriously.”

Sadly for him, Napoleon Bonaparte did not spend his final days in the bucolic setting of his adopted “nation.” After attempting to reestablish himself as “Emperor Napoleon” in France, he ended his final days in exile on the less accommodating island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic.  ­­Today, we are able to enjoy some of the improvements made by the Emperor. Better than that, Elba can be enjoyed for what it is, a beautiful peaceful piece of Tuscany with or without Napoleon. 

Rodney Ouzts and his spouse and partner for life, Massimo, reside in Greensboro and travel as much as they can to Italy.

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...BLUE HILL, MAINE

by adeline talbot

Today’s post properly begins in 1972 on a surprisingly warm, late August afternoon, when I was fifteen and nearing the tail end of yet another Couch family vacation.  Our family made something of a specialty of long and elaborate road trips, meticulously planned and yet carried out always at break neck speed.  Two nights in one place was a long stopover.  Tent camping.  Campfire meals.  Family of six.  I don’t know how we did it—or really even why.  This was not a style dictated by the limits of the family bank account but I think rather by a certain, albeit Puritan-tinged, spirit of adventure.  We took long trips across the entire continent every summer.  (Though it coincided with us, the children, aging out of long, open-ended summers, the family seems to have finally met its match later that decade—car camping for six weeks in Mexico. While it would provide stories of all kinds for the rest of our natural lives it would also prove to be our very last epic road trip…) 

Blue Hill is the area's largest village. (Photo Credit: WikiImages)

But enough with the scene setting.  Back to Blue Hill.  Earlier on that long-ago day, we disembarked in Bar Harbor from the Blue Nose Ferry, arriving back in the US after two weeks in Canada’s Maritime Provinces. An hour or two later our car broke down—as luck would have it in the little town of Blue Hill. There we were, stuck for the afternoon.  I explored every inch of that gorgeous place and by the end of the afternoon I had fallen in love with this quintessential New England village.  But I am a lover of places—and was so even then—so being in love meant really no more than adding this name to an already very, very long list.…or so I thought... 

A view of Blue Hill Bay (Photo Credit: WikiImages)

Within a few years, though, I would return to Blue Hill and now, more than 40 years later, count it as one of my most ‘returned to’ places—and certainly one of my most loved.  This is because I married into a family that did not go on long family car trips.  They were of the other sort—the sort that found a spot and made it their own--in this case, mid-coast Maine.  For many years, this meant a month at Oakland House, the kind of luxe simple summer in New England place that I suspect no longer exists.  By the time I came on the scene however the family owned a beautiful 40 acre farm on Deer Isle, just down the coast from Blue Hill.  From that house, going ‘in town’ has always meant going to Blue Hill.  I have come to know the town very well over the years and I have also learned to appreciate it as far more than just one more pretty place.

The Fishnet, Blue Hill's version of a clam shack. (Photo Credit:WikiImages)

 Blue Hill has one of my favorite-ever literary bookstores, Blue Hill Books; maybe the best-ever county fair, The Blue Hill County Fair; a renowned chamber music festival, Kneisel Hall; one of the best fine restaurants in Maine, The Arborvine;  my all-time favorite clam shack, The Fish Net, and more galleries than you can count. All this in a town that the 2010 census listed as having 2686 inhibits.

Traditional shapes and glazes of the now highly collectible Rowantree Pottery. 

It was also home for many decades to Rowantree Pottery. Begun in the late 1920’s by Adelaide Pearson, a young woman of progressive spirit and proud Boston lineage, Rowantree’s produced distinctive hand-thrown pottery for 75 years. Though Rowantree closed in 2009, it is still so closely associated with Blue Hill that it is hard to mention one without the other. Fortunately for the contemporary visitor,  Rackliffe Pottery, founded by Rowantree alums, operates not far from the original Rowantree Pottery.

I seem to end every post with the same advice: ‘Go’, and this will be no different but I mean it as the highest compliment to Blue Hill when I say there’s no rush. Blue Hill is not frozen in vacation amber—nor would one want it to be—but it does have a timeless charm that I for one have been savoring for what has turned out to be more than half of  my life beginning with that long ago day...

Oh and though I have never been in need of a place to stay 'in town', The Blue Hill Inn gets rave reviews so I'd say one more reason to go...don't you think?

 

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...MILAN, ITALY

by adeline talbot

I couldn't resist posting this close up of a deeply affecting work by Damian Hirst.   'Lost Love' sits in pride of place in one of Fondazione Prada's large exhibition spaces; its steel and plate glass chamber filled with perfectly clear liquid, examining room equipment and an uncountable number of tropical fish.   'Pristine' as both a deadeningly clinical experience and as a pure and life-promoting necessity (...not to mention a plain old flat out gorgeous object...). Below there's more about Fondazione Prada, Milan's newest cultural destination, but in the meantime, click the button to enjoy the brief and fishy  show...

I do feel like a lucky gal.  Part of what I see as my job is to keep up with what's going on in the world of visual arts.  Increasingly what seems to be going on is that new museums are destinations all on their own.  Not precisely fair to Milan, long a destination for many, many things.  Business. Fashion. Industrial Design.  It is, after all, the fifth largest city in the E.U. and one of the of the most economically robust metropolitan regions in Europe.  Until May of this year, however, Milan lacked what many other far less cosmopolitan cities now boast, a significant contemporary arts institution.   All this changed with the May opening of Fondazione Prada.

Connected to one of Milan's core businesses but not directly of it,  Fondazione Prada, is a vast and hauntingly beautiful complex of buildings and grounds , designed by Rem Koolhaus, that includes exhibition space, a theater and, of course, the requisite cafe, though this can claim the singular--and singularly charming--feature of having been designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson. 

Nothing about Fondazione Prada is precisely what it seems.  It is not a museum, at least not according to Muiccia Prada, but rather "...the continuation of an intellectual process founded on the exploration of doubt and on extensive research.” It is most certainly not in or near the cultural center of Milan, instead being a 15 to 20 minute taxi ride to industrial area and wedged between a large railroad yard and a series of drab, low-rise warehouses.   One staggeringly beautiful and yet otherwise inexplicable feature is its gold leaf tower that seems to have no function other than to exist as nine stories of pure, radiant beauty.  Perhaps the most confounding feature of all for this contemporary art institution is its opening exhibition: 'Serial Classic', a gorgeously mounted exhibition of 'Roman antiquities as multiples'.  This Boston Globe review ( CLICK HERE ) gives a far better description than I could ever hope to of the complex and of the opening exhibition so I hope you will give it a read.

I will end with my usual advice and that is 'Go'.  In my experience, Milan is Italy's least expensive city to fly in and out of from the US  and yet it is central enough in this compact country to be a practical starting point to most Italian vacations. There is a lot to see and do but if you only have a day or just need starting point you simply cannot do better than Fondazione Prada. 

...and at the end of busy day of seeing the sights I hope you will consider booking a table at Cantina della Vetra where I had one of the best meals of my recent life when I was there in early June.  Just perfect in every way including the plus of its location in central Milan. 

 

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...FAZANA, CROATIA

by adeline talbot

As a young person, I read a lot. I wonder now if I was motivated solely by a love of literature.  Even more than in style or story, I delighted in the chance to visit all the various, vividly realized times and places to be found in classical literature. As time has gone by my interest in fiction has flagged a bit. It feels like a challenge to sit still that long for one thing but, honestly, I suspect the real problem is that traveling has supplanted reading as a way into the new and to the unexplored.  And that brings me straight to a mention of Fazana, Croatia and my recent visit to this wonderful new-to-me place. 

Nancy Doll, Weatherspoon Art Museum’s director, and I were there last week at the conclusion of the museum’s trip to Venice and The Biennale. It’s a very easy drive through Northern Italy, then across a little spit of the otherwise landlocked Slovenia and finally down into Istria, Croatia’s northern section.   You can be, as we were, at Venice’s Piazzale Roma picking up a rental car at 10:00 a.m. and arrive in Croatia in time for lunch. It's that close.

A view of Fazana from the beach walk

 This part of the world is full of surprises.  Partly I think one is just not sure what to expect. The ghost notion of the Iron Curtain is there along with an awareness of all of the harm and chaos that occurred as the former Yugoslavia dissolved in 1990’s.  This makes for an odd conceptual pairing with Croatia as a new ‘it’ vacation destination.

 We arrived in Fazana on the evening of a regional celebration of traditional dancing.  

So what did we find?  In Fazana, an absolutely gorgeous village centered around a medieval town square and with a pristine beach running as far as the eye can see in either direction.  A snow globe world with very real and very warm inhabitants.  We were utterly charmed with everything including and perhaps most especially our accommodations, Villetta Phaisana, where every morning we woke to church bells followed by a perfect Istrian breakfast of cured meats, fresh fruits, delicious pastry and strong coffee.

Fazana's small and lovely working harbor

Fazana's small and lovely working harbor

 If the lure of Fazana is to relax in the embrace of sleepy, old-world charm then the surrounding towns offer treats of an entirely different character.  It is in Pula, Istria’s largest city with just under 60,000 inhabitants, that you are most aware of the legacy of area’s communist past with its vast and dreary working port and harsh and crumbling concrete apartment blocks that ring the town’s center.  Just at the moment you begin to doubt the wisdom of the decision to leave the charm and quiet of Fazana, you catch sight of Pula’s crown jewel—one of the world’s largest extant Roman amphitheaters—and a mighty thing of beauty it is, too.  Beyond this stunning edifice lays the old and beautiful heart of Pula, steeped in Roman and early Christian history and replete with beautiful architectural examples of both.

Inside for Pula's Amphitheater

 Another architectural and cultural wonder is to be found up the coast from Fazana in the town of Porec where the Euphrasian Basilica is located.  The basilica dates from the 6th century and is the largest early Christian complex in existence.   A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, the Basilica has mosaics that rival any I have ever seen including those of Ravenna and Torcello.  Here one has the not only the sense of great age but also of a powerful centuries-old reverence for the holy that I have to admit stirred even this doubter's heart.

 A view of Euphrasian Basilica's 6th century mosaics.

 I should also mention one other standout feature of this area of Croatia—its agricultural products—wines, olive oil, honey and truffles. Yep--wine, olive oil, honey and truffles.  Really just about all you need for a complete and happy culinary existence.  The olive oil we had at the excellent Rosignola was some of the best I have ever tasted (actually, maybe the best…I’m trying to exercise some restraint here but, really, I think it was the best…) . The memory of the truffle pizza and local white wine that we had one day for lunch will be reason enough to keep living if ever all else is lost.  No kidding, it was that good.  Honey?  Well, we ran out of time before we could get to the honey sampling so that will have to wait until next time. But there will be a next time—in fact, I hope there will be many next times.  And to you, dear reader, I advise a visit sooner rather than later--before Istria loses that special innocence of a beautiful place that is not yet fully aware its of own appeal.  Fazana and environs make for that rare treat, a new and unexplored place...

 

 

 

 

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...BUENOS AIRES REDUX...WITH GUEST BLOGGER KRISTIN PETERSON EDWARDS

by adeline talbot

I am scrabbling around these parts getting ready to head out with Weatherspoon Art Museum director Nancy Doll on a WAM-sponsored trip to Venice and The Biennale---and I am so excited I could just about pop--but in the meantime one of my travel cohorts, Kristin Peterson Edwards, has been thinking ahead to our trip this fall to Buenos Aires.  The trip is a 'go'!--and we still have 3 spots left (...and definitely could budge in a 4th...) so read on about 'why Buenos Aires?' and see if you don't agree--it is positively irresistible...Oh and if you do find that you absolutely, positively need to come along let us know asap.  Time to finalize the plans and we'd love for you to be along for this wonderful saucy ride...

Why Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires is often referred to as the Paris of South America.  And perhaps that is what is drawing me there.  I have always had the travel bug but Europe seems to be my destination more frequently than not.  I lived in Paris twice while in high school and college and it was a family joke that I was born in Paris.  Perhaps part of that comes from having been born on Bastille Day, the French national holiday.  So for me, any reference to Paris is enticing – whether it is a cozy French bistro in New York or a city that boasts the vast Parisian architecture contrasted with quaint neighborhoods with cobble-stoned streets. Thus, the pull to Buenos Aires… Like Paris, it is a vibrant city whose characteristics and culture are unique to the city – beef is to Buenos Aires as croissants are to Paris, and tango is to B.A. as fashion is to Paris.

A city of broad avenues, stunning plazas and charming side streets, much of Buenos Aires still retains the old-world charm that the nostalgic natives are proud of.  But it is truly a beautiful mishmash of architecture that blends influences from Italy, France and Spain and contemporary design. The European style architecture from the 19 th century combines aspects of Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Neo-Gothic and French Bourbon. But around the turn of century, the more simplistic Neo-classical and baroque styles became more popular. Skyscrapers first arrived in the city around 1920 and since then many modern high rises have continued to built including the Repsol-YPF tower by world-renowned architect César Pelli creating the modern skyline along the waterfront. Buenos Aires is divided up into distinct neighborhoods – each with their own personality - and all worth exploring – Centro, Palermo, La Boca, San Telmo, Recoleta, Puerto Madero, and Belgrano.

 Buenos Aires has a remarkable history of political unrest and economic ups and downs.  The city has been growing in popularity as a destination and has been romanticized since the opera-based movie Evita, starring Madonna, was released in 1996.  Known as Evita, Eva Perón became a national heroine in her short reign with her partner and husband, Juan Domingo Perón, which was dedicated to empowering the working class of Argentina.  She died young of uterine cancer in 1952.  Since then, the Argentinian government has been lead by dictators and civilian presidents, who have at times been over thrown by military coups.  Finally a democratic state, Argentina is still known for protests, rallies and national strikes by political activists.

 Porteños, as the locals are called, are big supporters of the arts.  Like Paris, it is a haven for artists, writers, musicians and dancers.  The city is known for its opera house Teatro Colón, with acoustics so good “that every mistake can be heard.”  This is likely due to the influence of the many Italian and Spanish immigrants that settled there in the 20th Century. Buenos Aires has several art museums including the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, which has a wonderfully curated permanent collection featuring works by some of the most important international artists.  The new Museo de Arte Lantinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)  houses a historical collection of Latin American art.  The Fundación Proa has received recognition for many significant exhibitions over the last 30 years of international artists including Louise Bourgeois, Marcel Duchamp, Rosemarie Trockel, Mario Merz, Diego Rivera and Jenny Holzer, as well as many well known Latin American artists.  Buenos Aires now has a booming contemporary gallery scene and hosts arteBA, an International contemporary art fair, which is held annually in June.

Buenos Aires is famous for its steaks and wines, but the culinary scene has expanded well beyond that and porteños take their food quite seriously.  Café life is a large part of the city’s culture.  Café Tortoni is the most famous and has been serving espresso to the political, literary and entertainment worlds since it opened in 1858. 

Patagonia Sur in la Boca is chef Francis Mallman’s flagship restaurant and is likely Argentina’s most expensive restaurant.  In the neighborhood of Palermo Hollywood, Tegui, the ninth best eatery on the continent, offers up a fresh menu each week.  Diners can watch their meals being prepared in the open kitchen at one end of the contemporary space.  A feature unique to the Buenos Aires’ gastronomic offerings is the “closed door” restaurant, where local chefs have opened small dining rooms in their homes. This began in the midst of the country’s financial crisis over ten years ago.  These intimate venues quickly became popular and offer constantly changing prix-fixe menus that are often paired with local Argentine wines. One of the first of these puertas cerradas, is La Cocina Discreta. Reviews tout that each course is considered to be a culinary masterpiece.  There is an art gallery in the space, to boot.  Another “closed door” spot that comes highly recommended is Casa Saltshaker, with its eclectic combination of Andean and Mediterranean cuisines.   A meal in one of these extraordinary venues is a must when visiting BA.

 While in Buenos Aires, one must also experience Tango and spectate at a Polo match.  And we intend to do just that on our week long trip to Buenos Aires in October, when spring will be in full bloom.  Hopefully you have been teased enough like the carrot before the horse that you will want to join us on our Argentinian adventure.  We have a few spots left.  Please click on the link below to reserve your spot.

 

A CITY A WEEk...NEW YORK CITY AND THE NEW WHITNEY

by adeline talbot

  It would be silly to claim that these are anything but fraught times.  So much so that at this point nihilism has begun to seem like the easy part.   Mess ahead and worse to come.  What has begun to strike me as harder and more complex is to take reality as it is and make something joyful and generous out of it.  As I am not alone in observing, this is precisely what the new Whitney has done both in the physical fact of it's new building and in it's opening  exhibition, 'America Is Hard To See'.  

I spent the better part of two days there last week and I am still not done with all the new there is to see.  This is not simply because there so much to see but also because every single aspect seems so worth seeing.    

As is to be expected in a successful modern museum,  art of every media and scale appears to advantage in large, well-lit and warmly subtle exhibition spaces.   As odd as it may sound though it is not the success of the 'art spaces' that elevates the experience of the new Whitney but rather the inclusion of a variety of gracious and un-programmed spaces.  Take, for example, the 8th floor's side hall with it's gorgeous, broad leather benches from which no art can be seen but rather magnificent views of the city skyline and the Hudson beyond.  This is one of the areas that provides physical and psychic rest making the art both easier to see and easier to delight in.

And then there is the exhibition itself, which really seems nothing short of a visual summation of who we are as a nation.  No punches are pulled as far as I could see.  For example, there is a large wall of protest works on paper created by a variety of artists in the 1930's of graphic, soul scorching depictions of lynchings in the American South.  Around the corner is Calder's 'Circus' with all its makeshift joy.  Both types of work have the space and the context to preserve their dignity of purpose. Somehow embedded within this historical survey the power of the works are both amplified and integrated into the multi-dimensional experience of being an American.   This is who we are but this is not all we are.

Lines are long and memberships start at $85. I suggest you consider joining.  Not only will you be able to walk right in but you will be joining a great institution, one that has given us all a gift in this vision of what a museum can be and what we can be as a nation.  High flown rhetoric?  Maybe but if so the fault lies in the limit of my writing skills, I believe, not in the value of this new institution. It feels that joyful and that generous...and member or not, I hope you are able to get in a visit soon, ideally before 'America Is Hard To See' closes on September 27....

 

A CITY A WEEK...GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA WITH GUEST BLOGGER GEORGE SCHEER

by adeline talbot

Recently I had the honor of working with the Museum Trustee Association during its 4 day visit to North Carolina.  One can never see it all but this time around it felt like we came close to doing just that in our cultural visits in and around the Triangle and the Triad. I hesitate to single out any one institution (they are all great and I have never been so proud of NC...) even so on our Sunday morning visit to Elsewhere I was struck anew by its ineffably powerful impact.  I have long wanted to feature my hometown of Greensboro in 'A CITY A WEEK...' and that morning it suddenly hit me--Elsewhere could be the place to hang this particular hat. Elsewhere co-founder George Scheer has been kind enough to take a break from his very busy schedule to tell us more...and next time you are in downtown Greensboro--whether you have come from down the street or across an ocean--remember to check out Elsewhere.  It's got that certain something that makes it both of this place and a place like no other...

A spring perfromance on Elsewhere's storefront stage

GOING ELSEWHERE

Greensboro North Carolina and the Piedmont Triad (including Winston-Salem and High Point) host a broad spectrum for the visual arts. The Weatherspoon Museum, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and the Greenhill Gallery of North Carolina Art present a diversity of visual cultures, regional perspectives, contemporary and historical explorations. Differently nestled, among antique stores, restaurants, and downtown Greensboro businesses, sits Elsewhere, a living museum and experimental artist residency set in a former thrift store in this historic South Elm neighborhood. Founded in 2003 as a non-profit artist-run space, Elsewhere is part museum, part international residency, and part public studio. However, Elsewhere appears like a three story wunderkammer and installation artwork being sculpted from a former store still containing its vast collection of cultural inventories.

Sylvia Gray with  some of her vast collection of objects.

From 1939-1997, former proprietress Sylvia Gray amassed a vast collection of wares including 1500 bolts of vintage fabric, thousands of articles of clothing, classic board games, toys from each decade, books, furniture, and knick-knacks. Upon Sylvia’s passing the store remained, filled and without destination, literally overflowing its shelves. Re-discovered by Sylvia’s grandson and a group of artists, they declared, “Nothing For Sale” and transformed the inventories into a permanent collection and evolving resource for artists around the world to create new work within and for the museum.  Today, Elsewhere hosts 50 artists a year on residencies and curated fellowships, welcomes more than 10,000 visitors, and produces "I don't do boxes," a magazine made by LGBTQ youth.

Greensboro seems like an unlikely place to uncover an avant-garde experiment in emerging art practice, social engagement and urban placemaking. Many museum visitors simply stumble upon Elsewhere while shopping downtown. What they discover is a world of memories and curiosities, a place filled with artists constantly making, and an opportunity to engage with critical ideas in a contemporary but also playful way.

With three floors and two-storefronts there is a lot to see and touch in this contemporary house museum. There is a library, kitchen, fabric workshop, and “piano bouncy ball” a sound instrument made of piano parts that you can throw super balls at. A fourteen room former boarding house on the second floor hosts installations including a fabric fortress, ribbon room, and a wardrobe that is simply wall to wall of vintage clothing worn by artists. On the third floor, a wood library, toynado, army bunker, and artist workshop are just some of the projects created by artists using the store’s materials. Everywhere is a mixture of objects and artworks, interwoven into the very architecture of the building. Moreover, everything is always changing, and so visitors come to see the living museum as much for its artworks as for how those things are being transformed all the time.

You never know what you'll find or who you'll meet at Elsewhere!

There is so much art available in the Piedmont region of North Carolina that a trip to the area feels vital and full. The opportunity to get lost within Elsewhere will remind you why creative culture is important and cool.

                                                                                                                   George Scheer                             

 

 

A CITY A WEEK...NAOSHIMA, JAPAN

by adeline talbot

Sometimes dreaming is enough or should I say enough for now... 

This past winter I first heard of Naoshima from clients, now friends, who had visited there on a trip to Japan, sponsored by Penland School of Crafts.  The overall trip sounded wonderful!  This Japanese 'art island' sounded life-altering.  In fact, I just can't get it out of my head--and for now I don't mind that one little bit.  

The minute that the fates and the treasury line up,  I'll be off  for a visit to Naoshima but for now I am finding the dream of Naoshima has its own rewards providing a very pleasant refuge for those little mental escapes we all need from time to time from the drudgery of chores or the stress of responsibilities.  

I dream of Naoshima, a nearly deserted island in the Japanese sea covered with art.

See what I mean?  Just beautiful, isn't it?

CLICK HERE for more substantive information on Naoshima or simply watch the scroll for a few mesmerizing images from a magic island...a tiny vacation from the everyday...

A CITY A WEEK...ABIQUIU, NEW MEXICO

by adeline talbot

A few weeks ago I did a post for Cherri Megasko's blog 'Bucket List Travel Club'.  While Studio Traveler's focus is primarily cultural, Cherri's blog is all about adventure travel.   In discussing post options we thought it would be fun to 'bridge the gap' with a destination that would combined the two.  The perfect destination came to me almost unbidden--Abiquiu, New Mexico.  To read that post on Cherri's blog CLICK HERE.  

For a bit more on Abiquiu's most famous resident read on... 

Photo Credit: Paul Davies

As almost anyone can tell you Georgia O'Keeffe was a painter--and when I say 'almost anyone can tell you' I suspect this is not too much of a stretch.  Quite independent of our interests or pursuits, the stature of some  people just seem to be breathed in with our national air.  I offer as what I think as a rather compelling example of this truth the fact that I now know who Jordan Spieth is, how old he is, where he is from and most certainly what he did to make us proud.  Some knowledge you get from just being alive.  And so it is, I suspect, with Georgia O'Keeffe.

But familiarity is different from affinity--that all important sense of connection to the work itself.  For me a connection to O'Keeffe's work was a long time coming.  I liked the paintings well enough but was not moved by nor particularly interested in them.  That changed a few years ago with a visit to O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu, one of her two primary residencies for the second half of her life.  The sense of her aesthetic is so rich and vivid there that I found it created a kind of portal into her work.  

Photo Credit: WikiArt

This is not to say that a great house or a good life story, for that matter, can be made to stand in for talent.  The talent has to be there but when it is there is just something about seeing a house--with the undeniable intentionality of its domestic arrangements--that feels as intimate as visit and as useful as a map.  I found this to be as true at O'Keeffe's house at Abiquiu as I did on a visit to Donald Judd's house in Marfa, Texas.  Donald Judd's work has always had an appeal to me.  I just like it on the level of instinct.  I did not 'need' the house as a way into the work but it sure did to add pleasure and depth to the experience of it.  

Photo by SumikoPhoto/iStock / Getty Images

So go to Abiquiu if you are lucky enough to be out that way or to Marfa if you are really ready for your off the beaten track adventure. Both offer a chance to add to your knowledge and appreciation of two great American artists.  As it happens both are also areas that have have excellent wilderness experiences in close proximity.  Must be something about landscape.  These big spaces draw us all in.  It's the great and the talented among us that sometime decide to stay behind and make of it a world...

A CITY A WEEK...DURHAM AND THE NEW 21C

by adeline talbot

[Hover for Image Captions]

I spend a fair amount of time thinking about ‘local’ versus ‘away'.  Not too surprising I suppose for a cultural travel planner but it is not just love of home versus curiosity about ‘what’s up there around the bend...’ that has me coming back again and again to this notion.

I’ve written about this before.  When I was growing up, places like North Carolina felt very far from the cultural action.  In so many ways now this is not merely ‘not as true as it used to be’, but it is no longer even precisely the right way of thinking about where culture is located.

I was struck by this more forcefully than ever this past weekend when I visited the newest 21C Hotel and Museum just down the road in Durham, NC.

How do you explain a place like 21C?  It’s hard to fully do it justice in the absence of a visit. It really is a hotel and it really is a contemporary art museum.  I was charmed by the 21C that I visited last year in Bentonville, Arkansas so I was predisposed to like ‘ours’, the 4th in this nine-year-old enterprise.  I didn’t just like it.  I loved it.  And I found it hard to escape the impression that this hybrid beast has really hit its stride with the Durham iteration.

The two opening exhibitions ‘Found@Counting House’ and ‘Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art’ are very fine indeed, thoughtfully curated and very well presented.

And this brings me back to ‘here’ vs. ‘there’.  The concept for 21C was borne in 2006 in Louisville, Kentucky.  A great town I am sure but mostly known for things other than contemporary art—or so I would have said.  But, honestly, what does that even matter? Founders Laura Lee Brown & Steve Wilson didn’t just happen to have the means to act on a great idea.  They had a point of view, a vision and a through line—a through line that appears to have been informed by the great wide world.  Now they are picking towns—not unlike their own—small-ish, slightly off the center spot but interesting and full of possibilities—and using their concept as a vehicle not only for hospitality but for sharing and expanding a truly terrific contemporary art collection.  This idea did not have to go to New York or any other hot spot to be born.   And the same is true for the art work.  I saw some very good work by some of the stars of the moment—Kehinde Wiley and Mickalene Thomas, for example—as well as very good work from highly respected, established artists such as Nick Cave and Marilyn Minter, all of whom are working in the cultural centers of New York or Chicago. Such places, of course, do exert a potent cultural pull but the work in both of these exhibitions is from a much wider range of places than just the 'usual' spots—smaller cities in the US as well as Jamaica, Romania, Brazil, Cuba, Benin and so on...In fact, some these artists are living in places a lot like Durham or Bentonville or Cincinnati or Louisville and all of the work regardless of place origin is very good.

The world may be getting smaller but it staying pretty interesting.  In fact, if anything it’s getting more interesting.

Go.  You don’t have to stay the night as lovely as that prospect may be.  The museum portion of all 4 21C’s is open literally all of the time and is free of charge.  The hotel is great though and the food at the Counting House—delish! I ask you--how can you go wrong?

 

A CITY A WEEK...NEW YORK

by adeline talbot

ON KAWARA AT THE GUGGENHEIM

It's perhaps embarrassing to admit but New York pretty much means only two things to me: art and food. Should you ask me what shows I'll be seeing I always muff the answer.  I assume 'exhibitions' when the asker more often means 'If/Then' or  'Beautiful'.  Ask me where I shop, and I actually do have an answer but honestly, it's not why I go.  I go to see art and to eat wildly good food.  And so it was on a recent long weekend when I got to eat, see a lot of art and as it happens one perfect exhibition.

'One Thing', '1965', 'Viet-Nam' by On Kawara (Photo Credit: New York Times)

'One Thing', '1965', 'Viet-Nam' by On Kawara (Photo Credit: New York Times)

It is not often that an exhibition changes everything—the way you see and understand an artist’s work, the way you see and understand an exhibition space and, indeed, the way in which you see and understand an aesthetic movement.  Yet this was just the experience I had a couple of weeks ago when I was at the Guggenheim to see On Kawara--Silence.  It struck me as perhaps the most perfectly poised show I have ever seen.

Which has me thinking of my experience with exhibitions as framing devices and how fundamentally distinct this has been from my interest in a given artist’s work or my grasp of the curator’s intent. Perhaps more simply put--it has me thinking of the many ways there are to love exhibitions.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso (Photo Credit: WikiCommons)

There are the blockbusters with their catnip appeal of cultural excitement.  The first blockbuster I remember seeing was arguably the first of the genre: MOMA’s Picasso Retrospective in 1980. Everyone with even a peripheral interest in contemporary culture felt they simply had to see this show.  It was so fun and exciting to stand in line in the summer sun waiting your turn.  The buzz was almost physical. Truth be told, though, Picasso’s value has always had a certain opaqueness for me and I do not recall the show changing this in any way. I might as well have been looking at the 1000 plus works in the pages of a book.  This was not necessarily the exhibition’s fault—I’m on record—I have no affinity for this artist’s work, notwithstanding his status amongst the immortals. But really who cares whether or not this was any one’s ‘fault’?  I didn’t and still don’t.  I was there along with everyone else and it was great, great fun. And it was the first time I understood that this might be enough for an exhibition—for it to be the cultural equivalent of a great big county fair: fun, crowded and boisterous and where everybody, simply everyone, comes to see the show.

"Portrait of My Father" (1972-1979) by Stephen J. Kaltenbach,  "Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981," at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. (Photo Credit: Michael Owen Baker)

So if that was for me a somewhat aesthetically inert experience what of the other kind—the sort that in some way grabs the cultural moment and slings forward?  My own personal most perfect example of this is without a doubt the Pacific Standard Time (PST) series of exhibitions in 2011 and 2012.  A proposed collaboration initially generated by the Getty to a few fellow museums, PST grew—and in a very short time—to involve over sixty institutions across Southern California all engaged in documenting the story of the California art scene, post-war to 1980. This series of exhibitions not only had a number of excellent individual shows--Now Dig This at the Hammer Museum; California Design 1930-1965: ‘Living in a Modern Way’ at LACMA and Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981 at LAMOCA to name but a few--but collectively it could be said to have re-framed our understanding of the last several decades of American art.  Roberta Smith’s review in the New York Times was, in fact, titled A New Pin On The Art Map—and almost every artist who had a significant presence in one or more PST show has seen a complete and upward reevaluation of his or her career.

View of On Kawara--Silence at The Guggenheim Museum (Photo Credit: ArtNet)

So back to the On Kawara show which is neither county fair nor I suspect an exhibition that will fundamentally change or inform the larger cultural moment--and if it does that is not why I loved it. Quite simply, though, to me it was perfect.  Conceptual art can so easily seem like a lazy man’s one-off trick.  You say an idea and if someone buys or exhibits it then it becomes art.  I was aware of Kawara’s work and given its central unalterable fixation on the experience and recording of time it has always had its appeal for me.  But it has been until now the vague, sort of luke-warm-ish appeal of the ‘oh, yes, I get it’ variety.    To see as one does in the Guggenheim exhibition a thorough and utterly comprehensive survey of his work is to understand in a true sense the currently fashionable art word ‘practice’.   The works produce by this artist are not expressions of various and/or random ideas about time but rather an entire disciplined and immersive approach to living a life within the structure of these ideas about the nature of time and our experience of it.  And here is where the Guggenheim itself adds inseparably to the experience.  You move through the exhibition in very much the way we move through time itself in this ever-accumulating spiral of sight and experience until it ends at the top of what you have by now more or less managed to forget is a museum at all, it having merged with the work as an experienced whole.

For a far more comprehensive review please see Life Captivated By The Wonder Of Time, as it happens another Roberta Smith review from the NYTIMES.  One of the most glowing—even joyful—reviews I can remember.

Go see this show if you are in New York.  It’s really terrific.  Up through May 3rd.