Michelle Ward/GreenPepperPress Blog

As I mentioned in the last post, we visited the New York Botanical Gardens in 2006 when Dale Chihuly glass sculptures were on display.  Not just a few chandeliers, MANY.  Not just a few little installations of his orbs, spike, tendrils – MANY.  It was extraordinary.  My friend Anne and I were clicking away on the cameras, but we also took time to just admire.  To just experience it.  It was special to share the experience with my daughter and her friend who were 10 at the time.  Both of them fancied themselves roving reporters with film. Loved seeing them dash around the grounds, trying to get the most artistic view in the frame.

I had watched many of Chihuly's videos and understood the passion he brings to the process, with enough enthusiasm to power up the teams who create on location – like Venice.  That was my favorite.  Could you imagine being there and seeing colorful glass balls bobbing along the canal?  When you reflect on what he does – creating all those pieces, wrapping and shipping, unwrapping and assembling on location…..it makes you even more in awe that someone would go to those lengths to share beauty.  A visionary.  

Last summer on our road trip we stayed in an Indianapolis hotel with a lobby jewel.  Fallon and I gasped because we knew who made it.  Lovely.

 

 

 

If you are in Florida, near Coral Gables…..you have plenty of time to make plans before the end of May….

 

Thanks for coming along on my homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude and the 10th anniversary of The Gates – Central Park, New York City.  It was a soul-touching mind-bending joyful experience to witness in real life – one of those you-had-to-be-there events.  I was glad I did – twice!  How I envy those who got to see them in-progress, then visit daily.  I will always be impressed and respectful of the colossal undertaking, and the courageous vision behind the saffron curtains.  To walk under them was a privilege. Sixteen days was fleeting, ephemeral….wish it was a little longer.  But the short-lived existence adds to the specialness, and that was their point.  Sixteen days meant you had to make the effort to get there, to be part of it.  

Christo is still pursuing Over The River, a temporary fabric suspension over the Arkansas River in Colorado.

There is a new book on the artists, due for release March 24.  Christo and Jeanne-Claude In/Out Studio. Christo will be signing books on April 1st at 192 Books, from 7pm. (192 Tenth Ave at 21st Street, NYC)

 

 

Although The Gates was a once-in-lifetime event, there are many opportunities we can take advantage of as curious people, hungry for visual stimulation.  Nine years ago we got to see a Chihuly installation at the New York Botanical Gardens.  It was another example of getting to witness a grand vision by an artist.  There is a Chihuly experience awaiting you at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida through May 2015.  Wish I could see it!  Last summer I met with friends at the Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey.  I will be going back soon to see an art installation by Jae Ko – 20,000 lbs of recycled kraft paper will be transformed into sculpture along a 80 ft. wall.  I have plans to visit Storm King later this Spring – to see a monumental Andy Goldsworthy stone wall in real life.  Is there something going on in your neck of the woods?  Get out and see it!  Whether it's an annual flower show, a new museum exhibit, or a parade, or fireworks – it's good to make a change to our routine and expand our visual cues.

Obviously art isn't about being epic, but it is really cool when we can participate as an observer, something that is really big…..so big that you can experience it dimensionally.  Here's to the visionaries.  

Thank you Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

 

 

 

The final page of my Gates journal – using up the table cover newsprint, with a parody postcard. This image made its way around the internet ten years ago and recently I found a shop selling "The Crackers" at CafePress.

 

p.s  The Gates of NYC have never been far from my mind, particularly these last three years while our town is undergoing serious road construction….we have miles of saffron orange barricade curtains along our local roads.  Here are the daily views during summer and winter.

 

 

On the final weekend of the event, I visited a second time with my friend Anne.  Snow had fallen and the view was much different.  The clouds hung low and the sun barely made a presence, but the park was lit with color, and still filled with pedestrians, and photographers, to catch the last impression of an epic art installation.  It was very special to see with Anne, as we had been at the Met exhibit the previous summer.  

I could smack myself for passing up a saffron fabric tote, being sold the summer of 2004 at the museum.  I don't know what we were thinking….that perhaps they would still be available in February?  They weren't. So as a consolation prize, I ordered us each one of the Met logo bags last month….with orange base. After completing my Gates journal, I have moved all my remaining souvenirs – books, postcards, the HBO documentary dvd, a subway ad, and few other things that go with my Christo collection, into the tote.

 

 

More views of the park….with snow.