At the corner of Dance & Art - Petronio Art Auction

Plus: Say Grace
(Vogue's Grace Coddington, that is)

On Monday evening, we attended an art auction to benefit Stephen Petronio Company (SPC) at the Metropolitan Pavililion. We (and as you will see, several others) posed in front of Cindy Sherman's photograph.

We invited Debra Rapoport (above, left) to join us, and she came wearing one of her industrial felt millinery creations.  Debra used to arrange flowers, and ran into a friend from the same circle. (Small world!)

Photographer John Reilly and artist/designer Kirsten Hawthorne check out the Cindy Sherman and Krirsten gets into the act.

Choreographer Stephen Petronio greeted his guests and introduced his dancers who appeared in an excerpt of his newest work "LIKE LAZARUS DID", part of an evening length work with artist Janine Antoni and composer SON LUX with yMUSIC and the Young People's Chorus of New York.

Company dancers Joshua Green, Davalois Fearon, Nicolas Sciscione and Gino Grenek.

Partners! Stephen's husband, Jean-Marc Flack with his business partner Karen Erickson.

Bobby Tramontano II,  an avid Petronio supporter and auction participant (and fan of the Dumpling Diva!), bid on a number of items. Here he stands next to Annie Liebowitz' portrait of Stephen Petronio in mid-leap.  Jean and Bobby both placed several bids on it, but unfortunately, neither was successful.  Read on.

Photographer Sarah Silver, who chronicles SPC, was the successful bidder for Annie Liebowitz's portrait of Stephen. With her is Dean Sheremet.

Liz Gerring Radke (left) is a member of the SPC board of directors and a major supporter.

Publicist Mandie Erickson.

Dumitri Gorzo's "Head, 2011" is acrylic, water color and wood pulp.

Auction organizer Craig Hensala with DJ April Hunt.

Artist Fedele Spadafora and his wife.

Fedele Spadafora's "Choice, 2011", a crowd favorite.

Jean-Marc Flack and guest.

Doreen Remen (right) and artist Janine Antoni.  We loved Janine's necklace - a birthday gift from her husband.

Maria Caso (right) and Shelly Bromfield.

This piece (Untitled, 2006) is by Stephen Petronio and is acrylic and charcoal on canvas paper.

Stephen posed with Dancer Davalois Fearon and her friend.

Neil Goldberg (left), with Berhard Blythe,  donated a photograph to the auction depicting the face of a subway rider in whose face the F Train doors had just slammed shut. Priceless!

Another gorgeous couple at the event.

Denny Lee is obviously thrilled that he successfully bid on a painting for his girlfriend Carrie Mackin (who is on the SPC board).

This piece by Yoko Ono is called "Colours of the Globe, 2009".

Dancer Gino Grenek and his friend Stephen.

John Reilly and Jean pause for a photo.

The hors d'oevres were absolutely delicious and the desserts were mighty yummy -- little dark chocolate rolls and tiny pumpkin cheesecake squares. (You can glimpse Valerie's crazy green bird ring as she reaches for a tasty morsel.)

Kirsten successfully bid on Valerie Hegarty's "Pigeon, 2010" out of foil, wire, canvas, glue, paper, paint, plaster and tape. An exhibition of Valerie Hegarty's work will be at the Brooklyn Museum in April 2013.

Here's a shot of Kirsten, with the box containing her pigeon firmly placed in her basket, before cycling off into the night.

What we're wearing:
Valerie:  Vintage felt hat with striped ribbon, stamped Merrimac Hat Corp., from the recent Manhattan Vintage Show, Chrysler Building-like verdigris earrings, unlabeled bolero, poison green striped silk shirt by Suits Me, anonymous verdigris bracelet, Comme des Garcons pants, camouflage booties from Greenwich Village (label illegible).

Jean: Yves St. Laurent hat; Cynthia Rowley shawl sweater; Costume National pants; Rick Owens turtle neck;  silver metal ball necklace (flea market) and vintage aluminum wire and marble earrings; vintage bakelite rings; Underground creepers;  Tignanello red leather cross-body bag. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Say Grace

Searching for a holiday gift for your fashionista friends?

Grace Coddington, creative director of Vogue magazine, and a model as early as the late 1950s, has written a book entitled Grace: A Memoir. (Click here for the link to Amazon.com). She was recently interviewed by Terry Gross of WHYY for Fresh Air as part of her promotional tour. We thought you might like to hear 71 year old Grace talking with Terry about her childhood in Wales, her modeling career, the car accident that changed the trajectory of her career, and her life at Vogue. Click here to link to that interview. The interview is about 30 minutes long. If you fast forward to 14:30, you can hear her views on cosmetic surgery (she prefers aging naturally); at 18:30 her views on older models (she cites the ‘Fashion At Any Age’ Vogue series, not too convincingly), and at 26:00 the transition from models to celebrities on magazine covers (it’s probably here to stay, she says regretfully). If you're not in a hurry, listen to the whole interview. (And check out some of Terry Gross’s other wonderful interviews while you’re there!)

Our Heads in the Clouds

Having had so much fun in 2010 exploring Doug and Mark Starn's Big Bambu on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art two years ago, it was a no-brainer that we would also go to see Tomas Saraceno's Cloud City, which was constructed on the Met rooftop earlier this year and closed on November 4th. Big Bambu taught us that it was best to go on a weekday to avoid long waits, which meant pre-planning. Who, us, pre-plan? Ha! And when summer arrived, we specifically planned NOT to go in the summer heat. And then, what with one thing and another, suddenly it was the weekend before closure. THEN we planned to go and suffer through the long lines we envisioned, when what should happen but Hurricane Sandy. The best laid plans of mice and women... Oy!

When the final weekend came, we wondered whether Cloud City would be open to visitors, since the Met website specifically stated that the site would close during inclement weather. We had all our fingers and toes crossed. How could we possibly face our friends and admit we lived in New York City, had six months - SIX - to visit Cloud City, and failed to take advantage of this unique opportunity? Imagine our great relief and delight when we learned it had reopened for visitors. 


















The Met posted a list a mile long of what one can't bring into Cloud City, and we followed all the rules to a T, even going so far as to bring flat rubber soled shoes with us to change into before ascending into the structure. (One poor staffer had the job of telling people they couldn't go up with leather-soled or high-heeled shoes. She apologetically singled out Valerie, until Valerie showed her the flat rubber soles in her bag. The staffer breathed an audible sigh of relief, and then complimented us both on being prepared. Clearly, a number of would-be visitors had not read the not-so-fine print.)

In Cloud City, Saraceno, an Argentinian artist now living in Germany, provides a participatory experience similar to (although slightly less hair-raising than) last year's tubular slides in Carsten Holler's installation at the New Museum. Here and there in the photos you can see cables strung in web-like fashion inside some of the pods.  (See the second photo in particular.)  Unconventional construction for an unconventional structure.  We asked what extra measures they'd taken to hold Cloud City in place during the hurricane, and were told no special measures had to be taken since it was designed to withstand winds up to 95 mph.  Here is Valerie descending the stairs in the final section of the structure. 

Here is Jean doing likewise.

One of the benefits of placing such an art piece on the Met's rooftop is its proximity to Central Park. The historic Dakota apartment building is visible in this western view across the park.

New York Times art critic Roberta Smith referred to Cloud City as the latest example of "scientific-based fun-house formalism", and it was certainly that. Some windows were transparent and some were mirrored, making it somewhat disorienting, but always interesting, to navigate. Although we were expecting something much taller, from which it would be dizzying to see the rooftop, this molecular looking structure was only 28 feet high. While Big Bambu required a 20-minute guided tour (including stops at strategic locations for gaping and gasping), Cloud City was small enough that strategically posted employees could see us coming and going, and we could, to some degree, pace ourselves. (In truth, however, this was actually quite annoying, since it thwarted any attempts to flaunt the rules by taking surreptitious photographs.)

Composed of a series of 16 interconnected 12-sided and 14-sided polyhedrons that visitors can climb up into and walk through, each of the pod-like structures is comprised of clear plexiglass and polished steel panels. Walking through or under or over the combination of see-through and reflective surfaces is somewhat disconcerting, which is the idea behind the piece. Roberta Smith wrote that by being reflective or see-through, "they greatly complicate and even discombobulate the experience of the structure and everything around it."  We couldn't agree more.  Just the thing for us!

Jean took this picture of our reflection shooting upward, making us look about 4 feet tall.

The foreshortening effect of the reflections definitely contributed to the fun-house effect. Here we look like we're about 2 feet tall.  (Where's the angle that makes us look 6 feet tall, and size 6?  Sheesh!)

Before we departed the Met's rooftop, we paused to take advantage of the views. Looking south, the angle of the afternoon sun created an other-worldly effect.

We can't wait to see what they'll come up with next summer!

What we're wearing:
Jean is wearing an Amy Downs turban; quilted coat by HIGH use; slacks by Ronan Chen; flat, rubber soled black nylon trainers by Columbia.

Valeie is wearing an unlabeled vintage curly lamb hat, scarf by Tiiti Tolonen, coat by Searle, shirt by Jill Anderson (unseen), corduroy pants by Oska, great big fat flat comfy MMA-approved rubber soled shoes by Mountrack.

Philadelphia Story, Part II: Around 40 Shades of Gray

As we mentioned this past Sunday, there was just too much ground to cover in one posting, so we're taking another swing at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show today. Longtime readers know we like to showcase gray hair periodically. At first we thought we'd 'save' several of the artists and collectors for a separate 'Fifty Shades of Gray' posting at some unspecified time in the future, but neither of us really liked separating the people from the experience, so we decided against that. Besides, this is a favorite topic of ours.

Before we even got inside, this was one of the women who greeted us at the door.

Here's Deborah Kermode, who runs Kermode Woodturning together with her husband, Jerry.

Here's Biba Schutz, wearing one of her many fabulous creations.

Here's Dona Look, who, along with her husband Ken Loeber, makes wonderfully delicate jewelry. (She's wearing one of their creations.)

Jennifer Heller Zurick, with two of her willow bark baskets in the background.

We kept running into Candace (left) and Debbie (right). Debbie bought the Katie Mawson anemone scarf referred to in the previous post.

Our demographic - aka Women of a Certain Age - tends to flock to craft shows. Once we get over the "have to have what everyone else has" mindset of our youth, we learn to seek out what we really want. So it's no surprise that there is a smaller (though noticeable) youth contingent at craft shows. At places like this, we WOACA are in our element, with our "peeps", our "posse", so to speak.

As we were chatting with English artisan Annie Neill,we met local artist Diane Littman, who had a long mane of great grey hair.

Jean ran into her friends Laurie Feinberg and her charming husband, who are both collectors and appreciators of art and hand crafts. They had just gotten back from the SOFA (Sculptural Objects and Functional Art) exhibition in Chicago where they were told that SOFA New York (a highlight of our spring calendar for at least three years running) has been cancelled, in what seems to be a worrisome trend among the more serious art shows.

We met this wonderful duo at Joy Raskin's booth. While we were admiring their style, they were admiring Joy's beautifully crafted utensils and agreed that her email moniker (spoonladyjr) suited her perfectly.

We last met these three ladies at the New York Arts of the Pacific Asia Show where they were trying on modern silver Thai necklaces from Lee Chinalai that we coveted (or rather, covet). It was fun to talk to them again, and it was obvious they were having  a blast.

Elaine Unsicker designs pieces that resemble finely knit, slinky chain mail. The silver color of her metal top highlights Elaine's short grey haircut. Her gentleman friend is wearing one of her ties.

We ran into metalsmith Christy Klug in her signature platinum pixie cut, wearing one of her pieces - a Japanese-influenced neck plate whose center line references the horizon line on the ocean.

We met Betty Moore, a fellow craft lover, and fell in love with her look. When we complimented her on her stylish knitted headwear, she said it was made for her by a friend who had since passed. What a wonderful memento.

We had to show you Betty's hair, too.

Several times we crossed paths with this great threesome, each wearing a very interesting piece of jewelry. On the far left is Patti Bleicher, who owns Gallery Loupe in Montclair, New Jersey, known for its style-forward innovative work. The woman next to Patti made the terrific brooch she's wearing.  We were both intrigued by the necklace on the lady on the right. It resembled little train cars filled with giant red plastic lumps of coal. Our description is odd, but the necklace was great.

Did we mention that the show's proximity to Reading Terminal Market is just one of the many reasons we keep coming back? Jam-packed with restaurants, carry out and green grocers, the space is a treat. Food offerings run the gamut from authentic Pennsylvania Dutch desserts (shoe-fly pie and sand tart cookies) to French crepes, from Sushi to Indian, from Chinese to East Coast seafood. Although we usually manage to find common ground (Jean doesn't eat meat; Valerie doesn't eat crustaceans), this time, we split up. Valerie had crepes at a French eaterie that mirrors stereotypical French dining in the two most important ways: the great food and the condescending service. Jean had the lobster and crab bisque at the counter of Pearl's Oyster Bar and engaged in two of her favorite past-times: people watching and eating! While walking back to meet Valerie and buy some Pennsylvania Dutch Whoopie pies to take home, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw this sign in one of the markets.  It was the spit and image of DeeDee, her crazy Bombay rescue cat, she of the big head, great round yellow eyes and peek-a-boo personality.  Delightful!

Raise your hand if you thought our opening picture looked a bit dubious. Good for you! If you are old enough to remember Duck and Cover, the government's plan (plan???) for the protection of children at school should the Russians nuke us, you might also remember Pravda, the Daily News of the then-Soviet Union. Pravda means The Truth - not Daily News - which was kind of funny because, as was pointed out to Americans over and over again back then, Pravda often printed photographs that were patently not the truth. Raise your hand again if you remember your newspaper running before and after Russian photographs - before and after major retouching. So the above is our attempt at a Pravda photo. As usual, we didn't take enough photos of ourselves together (where is Annie Liebovitz when we need her?), so we photoshopped this one. See if you can find any "errors" in the picture, and write us to let us know. (Hint: Sunday's picture was The Truth. No, really. It was.) [This is how we find out if you read the blog, or just look at the pictures.]