In a Maine Frame of Mind

On a day like today when it's ninety degrees and the air is thick in NYC, my brain goes to Maine for a cooling mental respite. The sense-memory exercise, while refreshing, leaves me with an inevitable craving for lobster roll.

A roundup of assorted photos, oils and gouaches from Maine visits over the last few  years.

More Fireworks!

C.T. Brock, Britain’s, oldest fireworks company was founded 1698. They were the sole pyrotechnists to the Crystal Palace and were known their free displays, or “Brock’s Benefits” starting in 1826.

The company changed hands a number of times toward the end of the last century and even landed under Chinese ownership. Brocks Fireworks Limited is now once again in the UK and aims " To produce high quality Pyrotechnics back in the United Kingdom and to protect the history of the British Firework Industry "

These gouache paintings by Phil George are from a group of 34, found in “C.T. Brock & Co.'s Crystal Palace Fireworks.” The book is at Brown University’s John Hay Library, in the Paul R. Dupee Collection on Fireworks.

Pop Pyrotechnics

Many thanks to artist and designer April Rose for posting these explosive

Japanese treats!

Happy 4th!

Misc Files: See Spots

Walter Vogel photo of Pina Bausch, 1966

From time to time, I actually clear my computer desktop. Inevitably, I end up with loose images that I file in a folder labeled “Misc” Sometimes, when I go back into my "misc files," I find that affinities have formed.

Vintage Japanese stencil (eBay)

Bemelmans Bar mural detail

Photo by Kim Wood

Original gouache design for lace (eBay)

Servant bell board at Searles Castle, Great Barrington (L. Eckstein photo)

"Dot Fantasy" by Paul Rand

Design for Dutch archeology stamp by Walter J. Nikkels

Leather stamping tools (eBay)

A conservation analyst from the Israeli Antiquities department examines fragments of the 2000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls at a laboratory in Jerusalem. AFP PHOTO/MENAHEM KAHANA. Artdaily.org

Bela Csikos Sessia, Study for the Wake, 1896

 Modern Gallery, Zagreb (L. Eckstein photo)

This photo of MC Escher with his set of nested Platonic Solids shows up in many places, but no one has cited an original source (as in where the picture was originally printed, or who the photographer was, as opposed to which Flickr or Pinterest account it was grabbed from).

Farewell, Antiques Garage

After 20 years, the Antiques Garage is closing. Sunday, June 29th will be the last day before the space begins its transformation into a 270,000 square foot hotel tower.

Many of the vendors, like Janet West, below, who's managed to offer cool stuff there for 17 years, will migrate to the outdoor lot at 25th St. between Sixth Ave. and Broadway. I guess it might start to feel like the old Chelsea parking lot fleas. Which will be nice, but also means that it's just a matter of time ...

     

Sugar, Unsweetened

There are still two weekends left to see Kara Walker’s searing installation, "A SUBTLETY: OR THE MARVELOUS SUGAR BABY, AN HOMAGE TO THE UNPAID AND OVERWORKED ARTISANS WHO HAVE REFINED OUR SWEET TASTES FROM THE CANE FIELDS TO THE KITCHENS OF THE NEW WORLD ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEMOLITION OF THE DOMINO SUGAR REFINING PLANT."

Last weekend the wait was about 40 minutes on a line that stretched for blocks, so plan accordingly. Also check the Creative Time website for exact hours. I see they've just extended Saturday and Sunday viewing to 7 pm.

The space reverberates with the haunted past of the sugar industry and the damage—human, environmental, political, and otherwise—it has inflicted in satisfying our collective sweet tooth. The Domino factory, which during the 19th century refined more than half of the sugar in the U.S. will soon be erased by development, but the history will not.

You can  read more here, here, and here,  but this mother speaks for herself. And she’s gotten the walls to talk too.

The molasses figures are melting.