art day

We had a marathon museum-going trip last Saturday. I wanted to visit the Neue Gallery for inspiration on a project, and Todd needed to prep his tour for the Whitney Biennial so we decided to make an adventure of the day and throw the Metropolitan Museum into the mix as well. All three museums are near each other on the upper east side, so it is actually logical (but still exhausting) to visit them all in one go. We took some photos in case you wanted to come along.

First up: the Metropolitan. We went primarily to see a couple of new shows there, but Tsia took photos of the permanent galleries. Art from the eyes of a five-year-old is always interesting (and a little blurry):











Then a stop for lunch at my favorite restaurant in the neighborhood, Cafe Sabarsky, which just happens to be located in the Neue Gallery building. If you go, the pickled herring sandwich with apple slices is amazing. Really, I should order other things on the menu sometimes, but I just love this one too much.

We sketched while we waited for our orders to arrive. Can you guess what this is?


Well, the chandelier, of course!


The current exhibit, Otto Dix, wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but here are some posters in the basement that caught my eye:




Then on our way down Madison Avenue Tsia had trouble choosing her favorite giant doughnut from the windows at Gagosian. Pink or sprinkles? I think we decided on the sprinkles:


Once we arrived at the Whitney, Tsia and I left Todd to his business and escaped to the fifth floor, where we found one of our favorite pieces by Lee Bontecou. I don't think we're allowed to take photos inside the museum. I always forget to ask but seem to recall being scolded for trying to photograph Todd while he was giving a tour once. And it's too bad, because this photo is really awful and doesn't begin to do the piece justice. Here is a photo of another Bontecou (at MoMA) so you can at least get a sense of her work and the dimension it has. Her work is often simultaneously creepy and enticing, which we all seem to love in our family. Here are Tsia's sketchbook renditions. (The first one was amazing until she started coloring it, but I was proud of myself for not intervening!):



Then home for a rest. Shall we take you to MoMA next time?

little designers

This morning it was my turn to talk about my job at Tsia's school, so we talked about clothing.

The kids were very excited to show what they were wearing and to discuss design details. This week at school they're celebrating spirit week with pajama day, backwards and upside-down day, and crazy hair day. Today was cultural heritage day, so one little girl was wearing a Flamenco dress and another was wearing a kimono. We discussed collars, ruffles, stripes, buttons, and pockets. I showed everyone my sketchbook so they could see my first sketch of the Jump Rope Dress, a sample of which Tsia was modelling.




Then we all got busy drawing. I gave everyone basic garment shapes outlined in dotted lines on a sheet of white paper. From there, they all went different directions. The boys designed lots of clothing with spider webs:


Some of the children really enjoyed adding details:

And others added color:




I was amazed at a few of the designs. One little girl who wears a lot of color had some spectacularly vibrant and detailed designs that fit her personality and style perfectly. Two of the children wanted to give me their drawings so I could go home and sew their designs for them. I was sorry to explain that we were just drawing this time, not sewing. And several of the children started cutting out the clothing and making paper dolls for themselves!

If you know anyone who would like to make some designs for him/herself, here is a pdf of the clothing silhouettes we used. Have fun!

first contract

At Tsia's school this year, the parents have all been taking turns teaching the kids about our careers. Since the East Village is a creative community, the kids have tried their hands at photography, learned about interior design, built a house from sticks (one parent builds treehouses when his band isn't touring), constructed cityscapes (three of the parents are architects), made jewelry, written books (literary agent), and learned to conduct interviews (journalist). Last week, they learned about contracts from the lone lawyer in the group.

I love how this career was presented. The parent introduced the children to the idea of contracts by negotiating with his daughter, who wants a computer. He left himself plenty of wiggle room (as lawyers are wont to do) while convincing his daughter that she shouldn't fight with her little sister. Of course Tsia came home from the experience wanting to negotiate her own contract, and she promptly sat down at the dining room table to fill out the contract template that came home from the lesson--even signing my name for me.

Anyway, last week Tsia and Todd sat down together to complete the census form, and they agreed that they will always complete their census forms together. The even wrote a contract to ensure that they're legally bound to do this. So they produced Tsia's first contract: copy below.

I wish I had my camera handy when they were negotiating and completing this form; it was really precious to see them leaning over the paper together, concentrating on the wording and signing their names. Tsia said she'll never move out (much to Todd's horror!), but I'm all for flying her home someday if she's living in Paris.

Nothing like a tradition and a little civic duty to hold a family together.

Wish me luck. This week it's my turn to talk about designing sewing patterns for children's clothing.

prints, prints, prints

Dig my 1970's vibe retro rain boots?

We went to the Liberty of London for Target preview sale yesterday after Heather called to say it was well worth the trip. I was hoping for an umbrella and maybe that fabulous raincoat, but very little was left when we arrived. There were plenty of rain boots (I'm sure we'll all be seeing the boots everywhere now!) and those ubiquitous long strapless sundresses that I just don't understand.

We did quite well in the girls' department, however: we purchased two dresses and a swimsuit for Tsia, and I found two girls' dresses for myself that I'll be wearing as tunics under jackets this spring, and with shorts or skirts this summer. (So I guess there is an advantage to being small- busted at times...)

Target and Liberty really did a wonderful job with this collection. Of course the fabric isn't the same quality as the original Tana lawn, and the dress styles are very simple. But the prints are clear and detailed and the collection looks great as a whole. Very fun!

smiles

When you spend a lot of time with a person, you sometimes fail to notice little details about them after a while. It isn't until we're going someplace and I see people smiling to themselves as they pass us that I remember Tsia isn't wearing just a hat or her sunglasses. She's wearing her funny hat with ears. Or her really cute red and white polka-dotted sunglasses. Which, come to think of it, are very amusing the first time you see them.

But Bear always elicits a response, and I'm inevitably surprised at the smiles he gets.


Because I forget that not every bear wears underpants.


Particularly with a little hole cut out for his tail.