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New York, NY "Creatures" Opening and Central Park "creatures" opening
The show dates for "Creatures" had been previously booked by three artists for sometime, when one of the participants had to pull out because of illness. The gallery director, Ruthie, felt my series "Immediate Family Portraits, 2000" would be a good last minute substitution. I was further convinced to join the Agora family because the date of the opening was exactly one year from my first day after leaving the newspaper in 1999. |
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I've always wanted to travel with my cats, but this probably worked out better. I frequently have dreams of having to go somewhere, and having to pack up my cats to take with me. I'm all the time putting them in boxes or plastic bags and then worrying about their welfare. By shipping the paintings beforehand, I didn't have to worry about any of them escaping or dying during the journey. When we finally got to the reception, it was so nice to have my kitty family there on the walls, waiting for me!
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The opening was really special for me because I got to see an old pal of mine. Liz used to be a roomie of mine for a while when I was at 806 China St. She attended the School of the Arts at VCU the same time I did and we have several mutual friends. She is also a wonderful musician and vocalist, a talent that runs in her family (her mother is a member of the group "Saffire").
Liz lives in Brooklyn now, so she was able to attend the opening with her husband Aaron and their daughter Georgia. Aaron writes screenplays and Georgia is a budding artist herself. I felt honored to have such a creative support group there for me.
Liz said that Georgia was talking about the kitties for days after the opening. I can only hope she grows up to be an art critic.
I think my "kids" looked great all hanging there together. I had hoped that I would be able to show them as a group, so it really worked out for me. My only regret is that shortly after I finished the series, I ended up adopting an abandoned kitty I found in a parking lot. She was a little skinny thing, so I started calling her Skinny Minny. "Minerva" (her formal name) didn't get to go to New York, but I'll try to include her in the future. I was hoping to get some kind of comment from her, but the cat never said a mumbling word. | |||||
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central park
We found that traveling by subway in New York is an easy way around the island. We were able to navigate to any area of the city we wanted to visit with only short walks after we emerged at our destinations.
Next, we headed to the Central Park Zoo and spent some time checking out the animals there. We visited the indoor Tropical exhibit with lots of birds and bats in a steamy plant-filled building. We saw the Snow Monkeys and the Red Panda in outdoor pens and the Polar Bears in their indoor-outdoor environment.
We also saw an otter and sealions swimming around in a pool. Even though they were cute to look at and they seemed to be happy, it still depressed me to think about all those animals being locked up for life. It just doesn't seem fair to me.
After we left the Zoo, we headed toward the lake and then over to the western side of the park to pick up the subway back to Penn Station. I took a few photos of some of the spetacular views you get from the park. It's strange to be in such a beautiful location and to see those giant buildings looming over the trees in almost every direction. There are places where you can't see any buildings, but not for very long.
I enjoyed visiting New York. I'll probably go back for more visits due to the nature of my business. But, I don't think I could ever really be comfortable there. I'm used to a lot of seclusion and space. I couldn't help feeling like I was just another monkey in the zoo!
Written on 10/28/00.
danafrostick.com | artwork | older work | statement | resume | more All artwork and text on this web site are Copyright of Dana Frostick except where noted | Contact: dfrostick@gmail.com |
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