Mary Oliver

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?"









Monday, April 25, 2011

New York Continued: Brooklyn Bound

Continuing with my spring break adventure, Mere, Ryan, and I headed into Brooklyn on Friday. It was a gray, chilly, and damp day, but that was okay, as we had mostly indoor plans.

First stop was the Brooklyn Museum. I had no idea it was so large and beautiful.


This is the gorgeous tiled second floor, as seen from the fourth floor. I don't know if you are ever allowed to walk on it, but they were cleaning it while we were there and it was roped off.




This exhibit was on the first floor and I think it had something to do with architecture and/or design, but it was kind of other wordly feeling to walk around all of these fabric structures. It definitely changed the sound of the room, if that makes sense.




I found a knitted or crocheted piece, not positive which one it was.






But the real purpose of my visit was to see Judy Chicago's massive piece, The Dinner Party. My pictures do not begin to do it justice, it was so impressive.






There are nine (I think) needleworked panels leading into the exhibit.









This is just one place setting of the triangular table; it's representative of Caroline Herschel's work in the field of astronomy. Each of the 39 place settings includes a specially designed piece of needlework that is representative of the style that was common during the woman's lifetime, and a porcelain plate that represents the woman as well, in a more stylized way.



This one is for Sojourner Truth and has quilting as part of her tablecloth area.







The floor is covered with other notable women's names, written near the setting of the woman who lived during the same time period. It was truly amazing, especially when you know that it took five years to complete and was at one time a traveling exhibit.





This piece was on the same floor and it's a really interesting statement on the nature of marriage and the rites that it represents.





After the museum, it was on to Brooklyn General Store. Ryan generously allowed himself to be photographed with me, although I'm not sure he expected it!





After walking around in the cold, I popped into a coffee shop and lucked into some relaxation time in this fabulous and cozy leather chair. If Steve and I ever find one (or two) of these in a thrift store, we are bringing it home for our library.





We ended up our day in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Brewery for some micro brews. Delicious!








Back at their house, sweet Olivia kept her eyes on me,





while I modeled my just finished Spud & Chloe Fine socks in Calypso. I had bought the yarn at Brooklyn General last April, and was determined to finish the second sock on this trip. Success!






Sinon took the opportunity to walk across my kitchen mat that is in progress, using the Lion Brand Lion Cotton I bought the day before at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio.





Cats are like that, aren't they?

4 comments:

  1. What an amazing trip! I am jealous beyond words that you got to see Judy Chicago's Dinner Party. I could die happy if I saw that!

    My trip was much less eventful, very much about hanging out with family. I'm planning to come back in the summer and have more time. I'm counting on seeing you then!

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  2. Cats are the ultimate textile testers. When I had a cat, I had to cover the quilt in progress as she slept on it.

    That museum is awesome. But the exhibit? Wow! I would love to see that. Some day, maybe.

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  3. So glad you had a gret visit. Love the photos, thanks for taking us along.
    Meredith

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  4. Olivia always looks so worried. I'm glad you had fun; I was happy to see you!

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